Travel writer Carolyn Heller starts with FOOD

HALLIE EPHRON: Years ago, when I first thought I might like to write books, I took my first writing classes and joined my first writing group. That’s how I met Carolyn Heller. She was raising twin girls, discovering her passion for travel,  beginning what would grow into a stellar career as a travel writer.

Nowadays, Carolyn lives in Canada, and she's a regular correspondent for the Forbes Travel Guide where she reports on luxury travel, culture, and food, and for Hotel-Scoop, where she shares the scoop on lodgings around the globe. She's also a Vancouver local expert for Google's new Touring Bird site.

Reminiscing, now, on how she got started writing travel.

CAROLYN HELLER: In the early 1990s, I was doing marketing work for a software company in the Boston area, and I realized that what I enjoyed most about my position had nothing to do with software; it was the writing and traveling I got to do.

With no real idea of how to get started as a “travel writer,” I found two classes at our local adult education center: one was an introduction to travel writing, while the second was called “The Business of Freelancing.” Taught by the editor of a technology magazine editor who dabbled in freelance travel writing, the latter course was a fantastic introduction to everything from where to find ideas, to how to pitch stories, to how to manage your time. During that class, I sold my first travel piece – about a family trip to the Caribbean with my then two-year-old twins – to the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and several other newspapers.

When the course ended, I asked the instructor to think of me if she was ever approached about a travel project she couldn’t do. And not two weeks later, she called to say that an editor at the Fodor’s guides was looking for writers to help update a New England guidebook, and should she give them my name? That was my entrée into guidebook writing.

HALLIE: It’s all about making opportunities for yourself, and following your passion. Carolyn, you’ve gone on to write slew of articles and books for various publishers.

CAROLYN: I’ve since done numerous assignments for Fodor’s, spent several years as the Boston editor for the Zagat restaurant guides, and write regularly for both the Moon guides and Lonely Planet. Between these 50+ book projects, I’ve been writing travel articles, too. 

Whether you’re writing a full book or contributing several chapters, travel guides are big projects with lots of short writing – often you’re describing a restaurant, sight, or place to stay in about 50 words – so even a 500-word article can feel like you have plenty of room to spread out!

HALLIE: And your latest book is on Ontario in your adopted country, Exploring Ontario with Travel Writer Carolyn B. Heller.

CAROLYN: I moved to Canada from the United States in 2003, and as a travel writer, I’ve been able to do lots of exploring in my adopted country while calling it “work.” I’ve written three travel guides covering different Canadian regions, including two books – Moon Vancouver and Moon Vancouver + Canadian Rockies Road Trip – about western Canada, where I live. Writing Moon Toronto and Ontario, available this month in a new third edition, let me get to know another part of the country. 

Most people know Ontario for its largest city – Toronto – and for its most famous attraction, Niagara Falls. But as I found while researching Moon Toronto and Ontario, there’s so much to discover in this diverse region.

HALLIE: What's your approach to writing an entire guidebook?

Start with the Food

In any place I visit, I always start with food. Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities on the planet, where you can eat your way from dim sum to bibimbap to baclava. I’ve tried Finnish pancakes in Thunder Bay (which has a large Scandinavian community), checked out local wineries and craft breweries (of course, I had to try “beer pie”), and sampled my way along a “cheese trail” through southwestern Ontario. I was excited to discover gooey, sugary butter tarts, too, which might be Ontario’s signature dessert. You can even follow a “butter tart tour,” traveling from bakery to bakery to find your favorite.

From Outdoor Adventures to Indigenous Cultures

And there’s more to Ontario than food. Bordering four of the five Great Lakes, Ontario offers plenty of outdoor adventures. You can canoe on the lakes, hike trails that border Caribbean-blue waters, or snorkel among surprisingly intact 19th-century shipwrecks.

In central Ontario, Old Order Mennonites still travel by horse and buggy and sell homemade preserves at local farmers markets. With Ontario’s large indigenous population, you can take a hike with an aboriginal guide or watch a performance at a First Nations-run theater. Ontario has lots of great museums, too, where you can check out everything from Inuit carvings to Elton John’s platform shoes.

HALLIE: Do you prefer writing about where you live, or where you don’t?

CAROLYN: As a guidebook author, I’ve covered places where I live and destinations that are farther away. Writing about an area that’s not my home base is exciting, since I love exploring new places, although it’s definitely a lot more work. ]

When I researched the first edition of my Ontario guide, I was on the road for almost four months. It’s a big province! For this new third edition, I still spent eight weeks traveling around the region. There are always new destinations to discover and new experiences to try. And of course, lots of new things to eat.

HALLIE:  Start with food! That’s why Carolyn’s travel books are perfect for me.

Anyone else out there ever toyed with the idea of being a travel writer? Seem daunting? Carolyn will be dropping by today to answer your questions, or to hear your WISH LIST of what you're looking for in a travel guide.

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On traveling and writing and living in Canada...

Time for something a little different... Welcome Carolyn Heller, travel writer and author of "Living Abroad in Canada". . .

HALLIE: I first met Carolyn Heller when I was just getting serious about writing fiction and she was getting serious about fulfilling her dream to become a travel writer. A fearless traveler, since then she's contributed to multiple editions of Lonely Planet's China guidebook, guides to New England and Vancouver for Fodor's and Moon, not to mention taking on the Zagat Survey's guide to eating in Boston for several years running. She's also written about travel for the Boston Globe, SmarterTravel.com, FamilyFun, Real Weddings, and many other publications.

A few years ago, Carolyn relocated to Vancouver, Canada with her husband and twin daughters. Her newest venture is a guide, "Living Abroad in Canada," and a web site www.livingabroadincanada.com where she blogs and provides great advice, from the 10 top places to live in Canada, to the basics of planning a trip, to getting a job, to becoming a permanent resident. I asked her to give us some insight to some of the surprising things she didn't know – positive and negative – before she moved to Canada.

CAROLYN: When we first came to Canada, many little things surprised us. We didn't have to learn a new language, but we came across plenty of unfamiliar words and phrases. Instead of “sneakers” or “tennis shoes,” Canadians wear “runners.” Canadian students don't take exams; they write them. And everyone in Canada needs to know the word “toque,” which is a knit ski hat.

We also knew embarrassingly little about Canadian history and government. While I knew that Canada was historically part of the British commonwealth, I was surprised to learn that the Queen of England is still officially the ruling monarch in Canada.

HALLIE: Were there bigger things that surprised you, too?

CAROLYN: Yes, I think that most important were the social differences. Canadian society prides itself on being very multicultural, but unlike the “melting pot” ideal in the U.S. that emphasizes assimilation, there's a greater focus on preserving diverse cultures. Quebec and its francophone culture may be the obvious example, but in many parts of the country, there are large Chinese, South Asian, Filipino, Ukrainian, Italian, and other distinct communities that are encouraged to retain their traditions. Canada is also pretty tolerant, so issues like gay marriage (legal) and abortion (also legal) aren't a big deal here – unlike the situation in the U.S.

We've also had some interesting experiences with the health care system. Everyone has health insurance here, so people don't worry about paying for the care that they need. The downside, though, can be waiting for that care. If your condition isn't an emergency, you need to wait behind the people whose situation is more urgent. Fair? Sure. Frustrating? Definitely.

Overall, though, Canada can feel like a kinder, gentler place than the U.S. The pace of life here seems slightly calmer, and people are a little more laid-back. Of course, my experience may be skewed, since I live in the city that's nicknamed “Lotusland!”

HALLIE: What kind of reputation precedes us, as Americans, when we travel to Canada?

CAROLYN: Canadians know far more about Americans than most Americans know about Canada. Canadians watch U.S. TV shows and movies, listen to American music, and avidly follow American national politics. Many Canadians feel that Americans are less tolerant and more politically conservative than the average Canadian is. Before President Obama was elected, I don't know how many times I had to answer the question, “How could someone like George W. Bush be elected president?” Americans also have a reputation for being kind of pushy and loud compared with Canadians, who think of themselves as patient and nice.

HALLIE: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to break into the travel writing business?

CAROLYN: One thing I didn't know when I first started in travel writing is how much easier it is to get work writing about where you live. A glossy magazine is unlikely to send a newbie on assignment to the other side of the world, but a local publication might accept a short piece about a new restaurant or a community event, or a guidebook publisher might hire relatively inexperienced resident writers to help update a guidebook to their hometown. Good travel writers can discover interesting places wherever they are.

HALLIE: How about blogging? Are there more opportunities for new travel writers to blog or write online?

CAROLYN: Plenty of writers these days start by creating their own blog or website. While it's unlikely to pay the grocery bill, a blog can give you a place to polish your writing and gradually build an audience.

Unfortunately, blogging seems to encourage budding travel writers to blather on about every mundane thing that happens from the moment they left home. No one – except your mother – cares how long your plane was delayed or where your dog is staying while you're away. Find the story, which may not start sequentially in time, and shape the details of your trip into a narrative that gives your readers a real experience of the place.

HALLIE: If you were setting a murder mystery in Canada, where would you set it and who would be the murder victim?

CAROLYN: Hmm, I'd probably set my mystery somewhere in British Columbia, since that's the part of Canada I know best. Maybe I'd base it in the Okanagan Valley, which is the region's increasingly popular wine country. The victim might be a long-time farmer or perhaps a know-it-all newcomer from Vancouver who's plunked down some serious cash to open a new winery. I'm a foodie, so the Okanagan's growing restaurant and wine scene – it's not Napa yet, but it's trying – would definitely be part of the story.

On the other hand, there are so many parts of Canada that I haven't yet had a chance to explore. Perhaps I should craft a mystery that required research in all the far-flung parts of my adopted country – that would be my sort of adventure!

HALLIE: Join the conversation! Please, share your experiences, comments, and questions on traveling/living in Canada and travel writing... and where would you set a mystery in Canada?