Travel is

Travel is...

All I seem to be doing these days.

Traveling, ticketing for future travel, trying to find reasonable hotel rooms and, oh yes, writing about various travels for various publications and Internet sites. My work involves turning all those on-and-off airplane and cruise ship experiences into dollars - monetizing I suppose is the word - and while it's fun, it can be hard work.

The work is considerably different today from the way I began freelance writing 25 years ago.

When I began freelancing I had a monster-sized and already-antiquated Radio Shack Model 3 that had been in a back room at my husband's office. It was as big as the desk it sat on in an empty bedroom, and the program I used was also a dinosaur. I printed out copies on an early-model printer, sent them off to magazine and newspaper editors and eventually made some sales. In time I learned to use a modem and that metallic connection sound haunts me even today as the copy transferred over telephone lines. But I learned to use the procedure.

Research meant long hours in the library and shlepping home armsful of books.

Along came the Internet and research was right there in my office with me, I opened an email account and suddenly all the rules I'd learned in college, at the newspaper and in my early years as a freelancer were passe. Reaching out to touch someone eletronically became easier.
It is a technology that my grandchildren take for granted, but one I appreciate and respect.

I go back on the road again this week, dragging my laptop and hoping for wireless access, taking notes and taking pictures. I head to a four-day press trip in Gulf Shores, AL and a week later to a meeting in Mexico.

And when I return, I'll write about it all.

Stay tuned.