Where are you based?
I'm based in the Berkshires, in the hilly hinterlands of western Massachusetts. My home airport is BDL, about an hour from my house.
What topic and places do you cover?
My stories fall into two big buckets. The first is food and wine. The second is wild places — those remote destinations with an end-of-the-earth vibe. There's no place that's too far for me to go. The lonelier and more desolate, the happier I am.
What outlets do you usually pitch (and write for)?
I'm editor at large for TRAVEL + LEISURE, so that's my main jam. I also pitch FOOD + WINE.
Are you in-house or freelance (or both)?
Freelance.
What is your approach to press trips?
Because I write deeply reported long-form destination features and also shoot my own photographs, I need a lot of control over my schedule. I tend to move either very slowly (for example leaving half a day totally unscheduled so I can wander around and look for opportunities to report or shoot) or I need to move very quickly (having three dinners in one night because I want to try out multiple options). I also make a lot of spur-of-the-minute adjustments as my reporting unfolds. (It's one reason I've done so many road trips — a solo road trip is the ideal way for me to report from a time management perspective.) Put all that together, and my way of working doesn't suit group trips, and I don't do them. Once I have an assignment in hand, I'm happy to work with DMOs and operators to craft solo reporting trips.
What are your professional pet peeves?
Press releases and other a mass mailing. Do not send. They go straight to trash. It's a waste of your time and a major annoyance on this end. On the other hand, I'm always delighted to hear from colleagues (including cold approaches) who have a story idea or just want to share news. I'll do my very best to respond.
In your past professional life you were …
A society reporter. Does anyone remember society?
Where would you like to return to?
So many places, but if you gave me a magic ticket to return to anywhere I've ever been, I'd fly to Japan. I wish I had a year to explore.
What's on your bucket list?
Again, so many places. Forced to name one, I'll say Chiloé. A close second: Christmas Island.
Where do you travel for fun?
To Tennessee to see family and to Maine to shop for antiques and eat seafood.
Your funniest (or most harrowing) travel story is …
Not funny: I was flying to India via Zurich and was having a pleasant breakfast over the Alps when suddenly the captain shouted “emergency descent" over the intercom, the flight attendants starting running up the aisle, and plane went into near nosedive. The plane started shaking so hard that things were flying around the cabin. I turned to my traveling companion and wife and said some words I shouldn't repeat here. The ground started to approach VERY fast, and then, suddenly, the plane leveled out. After an endless minute or so, the captain came on the intercom again to explain that an emergency warning light had flashed on indicating a loss of cabin pressure, a failure of the oxygen system, or some similar potentially catastrophic thing, so he had to descend as rapidly as possible to a lower altitude. Fortunately, he added, it was a false alarm.
What advice would you give your younger professional self?
Embrace professional insecurity: don't be in a rush to take "a steady, well paying gig" when you're young. Instead, go do what you most want to do. Life settles us all down soon enough. The opportunity to be a carefree wandering spirit is fleeting.
What nugget would you like to add that we haven't touched on?
I understand that digital platforms define the media landscape we all live in today. But still there's no reading experience as immersive, luxurious, beautiful, and transporting as looking at pictures on paper and reading a story on the printed page. Also, if I may plug a new project I'm so proud of: my new cookbook, THE COOK'S GARDEN: A GARDEN'S GUIDE TO CHOOSING, GROWING, AND SAVORING THE TASTIEST VEGETABLES OF EACH SEASON was just published by Knopf and is available everywhere books are sold.
How best should people contact you?
Via my TravMedia profile here of course! As another option, if you go to my website kevinwestwriter.myportfolio.com, you can see my clips and read my bio BEFORE you email me using the form on the contact page. You can be 110% certain that I look at every single email that comes in via my personal website.
