Mattress Sniffers Only
Some people think writing travel guide books must be the greatest job in the world.
Perhaps. I once had a conversation with Wayne Bernhardson who wrote for a long time for Lonely Planet - Argentina:
Uruguay & Paraguay, etc. And over a beer he told me that if my idea of "great" was rooting around third world
bathrooms and sniffing mattresses then I should go for it.
I never did, but still can't shake the notion that writing a guide book would be cool…hey, I'm not averse to a little
mattress sniffing. Come on, EVERYBODY'S DOING IT! And so this little
class caught my eye. The INSTITUTE FOR TRAVEL WRITING and PHOTOGRAPHY May 20-22, 2005. Taught by several
travel book long-timers and under $400, seems like it could be a fun and educational thing to do.
5 Non-Tourist Destinations in Beijing
Belize it or not: Living in harmony with M&Ms (monkeys and mosquitoes)_thumbnail.jpg)
Enter to win an autographed Anthony Bourdain No Reservations poster!
Big in Africa: Things to do in Nairobi besides getting mugged
Are frequent flyer programs dying?
_thumbnail.jpg "Soulard Mardi Gras: St. Louis, Missouri")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dec 18th 2005 @ 5:07PM
Wayne Bernhardson said...
Erik, you may forgive me if I do not recall having met you, but I have never written about Venezuela and have never, to the best of my recollection, ever said or written anything about sniffing mattresses. That said, a lot of people do have the mistaken idea that writing guidebooks is being on permanent vacation, when in fact a lot of it is tediously repetitive tasks such as hotel inspections--leaving far less time for more enjoyable activities that true vacationers can indulge themselves in.
Wayne Bernhardson
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