I stumbled upon Kim Foley MacKinnon’s travel writing two years ago before departing on my first trip outside the United States. I had been looking for exotic travel tips on exploring Europe, staying in hostels, and finding myself—and instead found her “Sleeping in Unusual Airbnbs Across the US.” Her article advised travelers on making the most of a rushed family vacation, and reminded me that it’s the spirit of travel, more than the destination, that make for exploration.

MacKinnon is a Boston-based travel writer and journalist who specializes in the New England area but also tackles global destinations. As I discovered during our interview, MacKinnon’s career began when she undertook a co-op with the Boston Globe while studying at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She received her training in journalism at the Globe before becoming a freelancer and then a guidebook editor.  After editing and contributing to guidebooks for a number of years, MacKinnon began to write her own guides and eventually became a full-time travel writer.

Just minutes before MacKinnon and I were about to meet, I received an email from her saying that she was stuck on the phone filing an insurance claim. Despite being in a car accident the night before, she met me with enthusiasm. Her insistence on continuing with the interview spoke to the spirit of creativity and adventure that appears in her travel writing. Aside from her creative article about staying in strange AirBnBs across the United States (highlights ranged from a renovated school bus to a converted hardware store), MacKinnon’s writing also includes pieces about staying in a Snow Hotel (quite literally made of snow) and taking a jazz-themed cruise on the Queen Mary II. MacKinnon believes that it’s her unique perspective and desire to find new angles for stories that has contributed to her success as a journalist: “Every time that I think that I’m pitching a crazy story, that’s the one that gets the most attention, that’s the one the editors want to read.”

Though her writing is unique and adventurous, MacKinnon tells travel writers that their work doesn’t have to be about distant and exotic locations to be interesting. In fact, MacKinnon encourages young writers to learn strong journalistic writing at their local newspapers and to not be afraid to cover local travel topics. MacKinnon herself has become an expert on her local New England neighborhoods, making her a valuable reference and contributor to Boston-area guidebooks. In her own writing, MacKinnon describes places she has encountered on family vacations or hidden treasures she has discovered in her own neighborhood, bringing alive day-to-day stories and transforming them into original travel narratives.

Much of MacKinnon’s writing is defined by a spirit of creativity that has less to do with where you go and more with what you do. MacKinnon emphasizes that the best travel advice she gives and follows is “to talk to people.” In her travels, MacKinnon herself talks to everyone she possibly can, embarrassing her teenage daughter no end. Yet MacKinnon continues. “You talk to people, it opens doors and breaks down barriers.” For good travel and personal growth, MacKinnon urges travelers to stay open-minded about different cultures and destinations. Despite the uncertainties of travel, MacKinnon says that’s why she keeps traveling: “to see what’s different and not what is the same.”

——————–

Edited Transcript

Cecilia Nowell: What is your day-to-day life as a travel-writer like?

Kim Foley MacKinnon: I don’t really have any sort of defined schedule. I work from home, so depending on what assignments I have or what I need to write or work on that dictates my day. For example, I’m doing a story for the globe today and I have to do research at one o’clock so I’ll be leaving here and it’s about two hours to drive up north to do an interview. Then I’ll come home and download my pictures and look at my notes. And then, it’s sort of a two-part thing, so I have stuff to do next week so after I do those interviews then I’ll assemble it all together. Meanwhile, I’ll be working on four other things at the same time. As a freelancer, you’re happy to have the current thing that you’re doing, but you’re always looking for the next one. So, I’ll be answering emails, I’ll be emailing people, and trying to think about other ideas for stories.

C: How do you look for good ideas for stories?

K: A lot of it comes from travels that I do. Some of it is something will catch my eye; I’ll think it’s interesting. There are a lot of public relations people who will reach out to me and send me ideas. So it’s sort of a mixed bag.

C: Can you speak more about your coverage of domestic travel?

K: New England is basically my bread and butter work. I write guide books, I contribute to guidebooks about New England and Boston. There are policies at lots of magazines where you can’t take any free vacations or get any perks from anybody and there’s a lot of that in travel writing. There are a lot of trips that people will pay for, but the Boston Globe is not one of those newspapers. So, I do work locally for them that I pay for. I will be doing that research, and nobody’s giving me anything for free. That’s the benefit of working locally: you become the expert in your area. And then people will come to you. Like some photographers came to me to update a couple of their books because they had seen my work in New England and wanted to work with people who were local and know their towns or neighborhoods. So if you can become a local expert or whatever it is food, or hiking, or whatever thing it is that you’re interested in then people will come to you.

C: Do you have a favorite place that you’ve ever traveled in New England or outside New England?

K: I mean it’s usually wherever I just was or where I’m about to go. But, for international travel I’ve been to India which was really cool. Thailand is really nice. My family is doing a family trip to Italy where we love to go if we can and we’re doing that with two other families so I’m turning that into a couple of stories and that’s a family vacation but I’m going to turn it into some travel pieces. Locally, there are so many places in Massachusetts. I’ve written hiking books so I’ve explored a lot of the state. I love Martha’s Vineyard; it’s one of my favorite places. We go down there a lot.

C: Is there any clear path that journalists take to becoming a travel writer?

K: No, I don’t think so. It really depends. It’s a little bit different than when I was growing up in journalism. I was a co-op. I went to U-Mass Boston and did a co-op at the Boston Globe. I did the midnight shift, I did transcription, I wrote obituaries. I eventually left the Globe as a staffer and did freelance for community newspapers. I covered school board meetings, I did all of that. I then became the editor at a guidebook and then, after editing for a while, I wrote a guidebook. And then I really, I’ve always loved to travel, so I started doing travel pieces and that’s that. But I know there’s people who were life-long straight-news people who later decided to turn to travel writing and then there’s people nowadays—with blogs you can go straight into it and if you’re good at it you can make a living. It didn’t used to be that you could go straight into travel writing, but it seems a little more like you can do that now.

C: Do you have any good travel advice that you give people?

K: To talk to people. I talk to everybody. It horrifies my daughter, she’s like “Why do you have to talk to everybody?” But you talk to people and it opens doors and breaks down barriers and people like to talk about where they live and what to do. I talk to everybody.

C: Have you ever traveled anywhere where you’ve had a strong language barrier or cultural barrier and how have you worked through those differences?

K: I’ve been to the Philippines and India, it’s pretty foreign. I’ve been in positions where you do have some barriers, but I think that generally most people in the world are usually pretty friendly and will help you. When I went to the Philippines there was a miscommunication with the people who were supposed to pick me up and I had a lot of different strangers help me figure out where I needed to go. I think I was alone for twenty-four hours in the middle of nowhere and it was a little bit scary at times. But in the end it was completely fine.

C: How do you prepare before you go out on these stories?

K: When I have a story I do do my homework. I read, see what else has been done, I like to come up with a new angle. I write a lot about food, and that’s an exciting thing: everybody likes to eat and talk about food which is a really good way to get into whatever culture you’re looking into. People like to share their traditions and favorite things. When I don’t know what I’m doing, then I just try to keep an open mind and my eyes open.

C: Do you find stories from speaking with other people or going into new situations?

K: I think it’s both. Sometimes you don’t know what a story is until you’re in the middle of something. And something will fascinate you or be really interesting and you just ask more questions until you figure it out.

C: It seems like you like to write about things that are interesting, different, and weird?

K: I don’t like writing and I don’t like reading straight-up pieces of news. Everybody has read about Caribbean beach vacations. I’d rather find someone different to talk to or a different kind of experience. I like quirky things and I love AirBnB. That article about AirBnB was fun, and a lot of research and a lot of work to do. But it was a really good time in the end.

C: Do you have suggestions for how to come up with original content?

K: It’s so trite to say this, but you really have to be true to your personality and how you think about things rather than conforming to what you think people want to hear. Every time that I think that I’m pitching a crazy story, that’s the one that gets the most attention, that’s the one the editors want to read. So I’ll be like, “I have a really crazy idea,” and they’ll be like “I love it!” So you have to take some chances and not be afraid to sound crazy.

C: Where do travel writers get published the most?

K: There is no answer to that question. It’s such a changing landscape for journalism, especially for travel journalism. There’s a lot less pages and it’s just a moving target.

C: What tips would you give to aspiring writers?

K: You have to be willing to work really hard, you need to be creative, you have to believe in yourself. You have to have a certain amount of ego to think that people want to read what you’ve written. I would say definitely start out small. You’re not going to start out at Travel and Leisure and you need to not be too proud to write for your local paper. That’s when you learn how to write fast and write accurately and make contacts.

C: Do you have a favorite travel story?

K: I think being open-minded is just the best thing you can have. When I went to India, and I went with a group, and half my group couldn’t stand it and half my group loved it. I loved India. But it was one of the most intense experiences, and stimulating, and there’s the people and the poverty and there’s just a kind of liveliness there that I’d never experienced anywhere else and I think that’s why I travel. To see what’s different and not what is the same. I don’t want to have the same experience that I could have in Iowa when I’m out of the country. That’s what I love. I’m completely addicted to traveling, so that’s what I love.