How to be a guidebook writer

By Charlotte Hindle

Travelling the world and writing down its best bits – is being a guidebook writer the perfect job? Charlotte Hindle sifts the facts from the fantasy

Close your eyes and picture the scene: it’s 5pm and a bikini-clad travel guidebook author is relaxing at a seaside bar. That morning she had a late breakfast, checked out a museum and a church and spent the afternoon “researching” recreational opportunities at the local beach.

When you’re a guidebook author, you get paid to be on holiday, right?

Wrong. A guidebook author provides detailed, practical travel information that needs to be researched accurately and quickly. You work long days, trawling the streets, checking out restaurants, pacing out maps and trying to find the best places in town in the shortest time. Time for relaxing on the beach? Think again.

What does the job involve?

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