How to Write a Travel Column

Task: students are asked to write a travel column about a place that they have visited. 

Examples of Great Travel Authors: Bill Bryson and Paul Theroux

10 Components:

1. a starting destination and a finishing point

2. a mode of transportation i.e. on walk, by mechanical power (car, train, plane), by wind (sailing, windsurfing), by paddle (canoe or kayak), by two-wheeled device (bike or motorcycle)

3. personal reflections as you started the trip and how you felt at certain points

4. narrative series of chronological events

5. a summary of the cultural, geographical, historical, literary, environmental and political events

6. internal monologues with oneself or dialogues with others

7. acknowledgement of previous writers

8. the use of humour

9. a message or theme

10.                        revelations or conclusions at the end

Step 1: Choose a trip that you recently experience. 

Step 2: Using a timeline, start to indicate what you did on our voyage.

Step 3: Begin researching various things that you encountered. Take notes under the various columns numbers 1 to 10. This will constitute your body.  You still need to work on your introduction and conclusion once this is done.

Step 4: Write you rough draft. Edit and revise each day.  Allow yourself the occasional day off to reflect.

Step 5: Complete your final draft for submission. Find simplified maps to help the reader follow your journey or to locate the area that you have travelled.

Working Title: The Humber River

Start & Finish: the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Bridge at the mouth of the Humber River and the bridge by the Old Mill in Etobicoke

a)      trail

b)      pier plaque

c)       white bridge

d)      Grand Dame of Towers

e)      Lakeshore overpass

f)       Graffiti

g)      QEW overpass

h)      Food Terminal

i)        Sobey’s Development

j)        Marshlands

k)      Elbow bend in Trail

l)        Marshlands

m)    Sewage Treatment

n)      Abandoned Centennial Project

o)      Woodlands

p)      Suburbs and mixed housing

q)      The Berry Plaza

r)       apartments

s)       Drop in cliffs

t)       Parklands

u)      Yacht club

v)      Cemetery

w)    Landscape and deer

x)      Bridge and development

y)      Hurricane Hazel

z)       Old Mill