When I teach my travel memoir classes each summer in Paris, I often do a lecture based on Thomas Swick’s “Roads Less Traveled: Why so much travel writing is so boring.” This essay astutely outlines seven key things that tend to be missing from generic travel stories, including imagination, insight, and humor. Swick notes that…

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This photo of “kastom” dancers was taken our second full day of traveling through Malekula Island (and its surrounding islets) in the Vanuatu archipelago. Kastom is a pidgin word (a play on the English word “custom”) that refers to traditional art, ceremonies, religion, and magic in Melanesia. This troupe of men and boys from the…

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Rosie Bell is a location-independent freelance writer, editor, and author of Escape to Self. She writes for publications on both sides of the Atlantic, including Condé Nast Traveler, BBC Worklife, Travel + Leisure, National Geographic Traveller, Atlas Obscura, Lonely Planet, Hemispheres, and Fodor’s Travel. She has appeared as a travel expert on the likes of ABC News, NBC News,…

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