Where are you based?
Los Angeles
What topics and places do you cover?
There's no specific topic or region I specialize in -- I'll write about any place if it interests me and if I think I can get a story out of it. But I was talking to our managing editor, Rachael Levitt, who said that most of my stories are about me being afraid of things -- so maybe that's my beat (or shtick). I'm either battling fear or neurosis constantly, so I'm usually terrified at least once on every trip. I find good stories live in fear for three reasons: it allows for a narrative, it allows for humor via self-deprecation, and it allows me to face my neurosis through some form of exposure therapy.
Separately, as an editor, I should say that Fodor's covers all topics and places so long as there's a good angle and a destination plays a leading role in the piece.
What outlets do you usually pitch (and write for)?
I write for Fodor's.
Are you in-house or freelance (or both)?
I'm in-house as the digital editorial director.
What is your approach to press trips?
I look for a press trip where I think I'll be able to snag a story. If it's just a nice hotel on a beach, I'll almost always say no -- there's no story in sunbathing. Any time I suspect a trip will be merely pleasant, it's a pass. Pleasant vacations make for bad stories. It needs to have the possibility of being interesting or incredible (or terrible).
What are your professional pet peeves?
This is a loaded question. I have some Larry David tendencies, but I realize my pet peeves are usually my problem. So I can't blame others for things that irk me. Though I will call out two small things and one big thing.
The small: rudeness makes me nuts, and I hate a bait-and-switch (which writers sometimes do with angles, and PRs sometimes do with press trips).
And the big thing: I find it very annoying when destinations or hotels will not allow freelancers on press trips without confirmation of an assignment. I recognize this is not the fault of the PR (and most PRs seem to agree that confirmation shouldn't be necessary), but businesses and DMOs must understand that press trips are, by nature, a gamble. If they want a sure thing, buy an advertisement. (And I'll gladly connect you with our director of sales if that's the case.)
In your past professional life, you were …
For two and a half weeks, I bartended at Trader Vic's in San Francisco. I mainly cut pineapples into cubes. When I finally got the green light to mix drinks, I spilled booze everywhere and broke a half dozen glasses. A shard hit me in the leg and I bled everywhere. I'm afraid of blood (because, of course, I am), so I had to lie down in the manager's office. Whenever I picture the incident, I'm sprawled out on a Victorian fainting couch -- but I know that can't be true. Anyway, they fired me the next day.
Where would you like to return to?
I always want to go to Venice. My wife has agreed to allow us to move there at the very end of our lives. I want to die while sinking slowly into the lagoon.
What's on your bucket list?
There are four countries for which I'd planned to travel but had to cancel: Portugal (covid), Morocco (covid), Egypt (my wife's work obligation), and Thailand (twice -- work obligation and covid).
Where do you travel for fun?
Greece -- I go every year.
Your funniest (or most harrowing) travel story is …
A man named Bobo took me and my wife on a bike ride through Croatian vineyards. Turns out you can forget how to ride a bike, because I veered toward a barbed-wire wrapped ledge, slammed my (helmeted) head into a metal post, fell off the ledge, dropped six feet, and landed in a rose bush. Bobo rushed me to his apartment, and I sprawled out bleeding on his sofa (which I remember as being a Victorian fainting couch). Also: it was my honeymoon!
What advice would you give your younger professional self?
Don't take things so seriously.
What nugget would you like to add that we haven't touched on?
I've probably said enough.
How best should people contact you?
Via my Travmedia profile here.
