If you live in northern Victoria come along this week to a travel writing talk I'm giving at local libraries, about my 2019 trip through Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France and the UK...
Now free for all to read... When COVID-19 struck in 2020, many of my commissioned travel articles had to be put on ice. Then I rescued them all, one way or another:
I guess it's about time to mention one of the massive projects I'm working on this year. I'm updating Frommer's #Iceland guidebook for the publication of a 4th edition.
One of the most painful elements of travel writing is the sourcing of photos to accompany my stories. Can be painful.
Currently I'm trying to get a tour operator to send images to go with a piece I've written about his tour in Spain. It's a struggle. How difficult can it be to just lob a few images in a Dropbox/Google Drive folder? Very difficult, apparently.
That was interesting. I just wrote a Patreon post for next week, totting up all my travel articles that were put on ice by the pandemic then revived later - in one form or another. There were 15 in total! All of them survived to be published another day... one as late as 2024.
What a time that was. Glad to be in the future now.
Just dashed off my Monthly Report for February 2024, for the eyes only of the two highest levels of patrons at my Patreon.
These ever-lovely (and intellectual, good-looking etc) First Class and Sleeper Berth patrons receive, in addition to three new travel-related posts each week, a monthly report in which I discuss the ins and outs of my month of travel writing, and they enjoy a previously unshared photo from the month which has an interesting story attached.
They also get a personalised postcard in the mail each Christmas, created from one of my travel photos and with a message from me on the back.
If you'd like to join this exclusive gang of highly intelligent (and attractive, good-natured, sophisticated etc) patrons, please visit my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/timrichards
I did my quarterly tax yesterday (yes I know, the glamorous travel writing life), and it reinforced my pleasant surprise at the outcome of the second half of last year.
I didn't travel at all overseas in that period, which is unusual for me, but as a result I had a very successful half-year financially – because I was here and available to accept work and to pitch for work (including working my way through all the potential stories from my big Europe trip earlier in the year).
That was an interesting result, and a bit unexpected. Makes me wonder if I should do less travel more often in the future – though obviously I have to travel at some point, or I have nothing to write about. Hmmm
It's twenty years this week since I became a freelance writer, so we marked the occasion today by having lunch at the Nepalese dumpling place down the street (Momo). Look - 20 dumplings!
Each year I send a special postcard to the patrons of my Patreon on the top two tiers. It always features a photo I've taken on my travels, with a descriptive message on the back.
This year's was of the Vestibule within the old town at Split, Croatia. The day I took this shot, the space was full of beautful music courtesy of an a cappella group singing klapa, traditional songs from Dalmatia.
A reminder that I have a Patreon in which I write about travel - with three exclusive posts released to patrons each week.
There are posts about rail travel, different parts of the world I've visited, eternal travel topics (such as turndown service being my mortal enemy!), and stories connected to photos taken on my travels.
Visit https://www.patreon.com/timrichards for more info or to sign up - subscription starts at $3 per month. Hope to be writing for you soon!
Initially, I wanted to get an anamorphic lens with neutral-coloured flare for my full frame camera, but seeing this makes me just want to stick with the blue flare which most people associate with anamorphic lenses.
Now free for all to read... Looking through my laptop, I found a short article I'd written about the reasons why I travel. They are varied, but often involve history:
On the front page of my website, I list the 10 most recently published of my travel articles. I use that as a rough indicator of how things are going – if the 10 articles are spread over six months, that's not so good, but if it's two or three months then things are tracking well.
At the moment things are going well, as the last 10 articles were published over 75 days. Basically if I have four articles published a month, I'm happy.
Being in #Reykjavik city centre, there was not a hope in hell of me seeing the #AuroraBorealis (#NorthernLights) with the naked eye. But I could find the Big Dipper with the naked eye, so I simply pointed my camera at the saucepan in the sky and fired off a few shots in the dark. This was one of those shots.
A reminder that I write about travel three times a week exclusively for the patrons of my Patreon...
There are a mix of posts - sometimes about the places I'm travelling in (eg my recent Europe and Queensland trips); sometimes photos from past travels with stories behind them; sometimes a quirky tale from wherever I am at the moment.
Recently I've written pieces about crossing international borders by train, ferry and on foot; a quirky sculpture garden in Cornwall; a Melbourne literary guide; Street art of Düsseldorf, Germany; fado music I experienced in Lisbon, Portugal; and the disconcerting overtourism of Venice.
I often also write about trains, eg a recent profile of my three-stage journey aboard the Spirit of Queensland sleeper train between Brisbane and Cairns; along with lots of items about my 20 trains across Europe in May-June this year.
I hope you'll sign up to gain access to these exclusive posts, and to read more! Join my merry band of patrons at https://www.patreon.com/timrichards
My patron numbers at my Patreon dipped below 40 this month, and I don't like it - 39 seems an untidy number. Sign up today and you'll receive three brand-new posts about travel each week, exclusive to my patrons. Also you'll make me happy with a nice rounded number. :)
Just a reminder that I have a travel-related Patreon which you are very welcome to join.
Each week I write three new posts for my jolly, clever and good-looking band of patrons (along with providing free flattery), sharing travel experiences and occasionally having a travel-related rant.
For example, on my recent six-week rail journey across Europe I kept my patrons entertained with over 20 posts as I traveled from Portugal to Serbia by rail.
You can join up at the link below - starts at $4 per month, and you can cancel anytime.
so easy to make fun of Xlon but also, there's probably a multisyllabic german word for the feeling of grief at losing a thing that used to be a source of such connection and delight.
There seems to be a lot of new people on Mastodon, so here's a fresh introduction post.
I'm a freelance travel writer in Melbourne, Australia, often writing about trains. In addition to writing travel articles for various publications, I write about travel regularly at my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/timrichards
To all you rail travel fans... I'm off to Portugal tomorrow for a six-week Eurail journey, from there onward to Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
I'll be catching trains all the way, and sharing the highlights of the trains and cities via three exclusive posts each week for the patrons of my Patreon.
If you'd like to join the gang and follow my epic rail journey, you'd be very welcome! Patronage starts from $4 per month and you can cancel anytime.