Boldly Go Solo

Love this piece on what might happen when a travel writer takes the podium.

Happened to me just the other day. What he talks about.

Someone looked at me as if the clouds just parted. Lit up and said, "You're a travel writer…"

It's the beginning of a sentence I've begun to dread. Because what comes right after that is some version of, "…have you been to Ankara?" "…do you know of a good B&B in Charlottesville?" or "…what's your favorite restaurant in Santa Monica?"

As if I know everything about every place. That's not possible. Not even for a travel agent, whose job is more in the realm of scouting out places to recommend. Nor for a food reviewer, whose entire life is spent eating out and going back to places to eat out at them again. And that's just in one city!

So why would I know everything about every place? Hotels. Restaurants. B&B's. I can only sleep in one place at a time and I don't usually spend a lot of time visiting other hotels and B&B's so I can be conversant in everything a city or country has to offer.

I'm
thinking even a baseball player would be more familiar with a lot of
American cities than I would. After all, they travel for months, stay in hotels
and eat out. And they go back over and over again. So next time you run into a baseball player, try asking those questions and you may get very lucky.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't ask me about a place I've just been to, or visited in the last three years or so. And I might know a little more than folks who don't travel at all.

But just because I went to Greece decades ago, doesn't mean I can name one place I stayed or ate without looking at very old notes. If I still have them. Nor can I guarantee that, even if I could find the names of places, they would still be there. Or be the same as they were when I was there. 

Usually I end up feeling like a fraud. But really, I actually do travel. And get travel stories published in newspapers. It's just that there are a whole lot of places to visit in this big, glorious world.

Speaking of which, do you happen to be able to recommend a funky, interesting hotel in Atlanta? I'll be heading there next month.

What do you mean you've never been to Atlanta?

(Shoot – and I was just at a Nationals – Braves game last night! I could have asked an Atlanta Brave player a question or two.)