In case you’re curious
I know I was curious about press trips before I took one (I’ve only taken two) and I’m no expert but I can tell you how these two press trips worked in case you’re curious, too.
For one, journalists usually can only get press trips if they have a record of placing articles or if they have an assignment. Some press trips are scheduled and journalists are invited whether they have stories or not the same way a writer might get a written press release. An actual travel writer could point you in the direction of getting on those lists but I do know some folks subscribe to notices like MediaKitty.com. Then they get information about available press trips and if they’re qualified, they can try to go on them or else they can go to their editor and say they’d like to be sent there.
Now a lot of press trips are comped (when everything is free) but a lot aren’t — it depends. For travel reviews it’s not really kosher to get a free trip because you’re getting special treatment and you can’t really give an accurate review when you’re first in line and everyone’s on their best behavior. But other travel stories (like this one) it’s kosher because my assignment was to get to know the places so I can give some basic info. Like, for example, if a particular attraction was safe for a toddler or was better geared to a teen. You can get some of that info by calling up the people or reading their web site but a lot of the details are easier to get in person.
For this assignment I had a list of places to go with instructions to write on several but not necessarily all but I did end up seeing all but (I think) one. This is a testimony to the hard work of the visitor’s bureau rep who tried very hard to give all their many attractions equal time. (She was so great — thank you notes will be going out as I write the assignment because everyone was wonderful.)
On this press trip most of it was comped. We paid for some meals and our travel costs but the admission prices, a couple of lunches and hotels were paid for by either the PR/marketing people in charge of the attraction or by the visitor’s bureaus in the areas we were seeing. Now that sounds like a lot of fun (and it was) but it’s definitely work. Noah would start whining about the hectic scheduling and we’d have to remind him that this was how we were earning the vacation.
Our itinerary was insane. (Even the people we met for the tours commented on this!) so, for example, on Friday (our first day) we drove into town and to our first attraction at 11am, got a tour; our second attraction at noon, got a tour; met the visitor’s bureau representative for lunch; got another tour at another attraction at 2:30pm; another one at 3:15pm; a massive tour at a resort at 4:30pm (happily the kids and Brett were off the hook and played in the water park during this part) then dinner on our own; then at 7:30pm another tour and finally to our hotel (and a quick introduction to its amenities by 8:30pm only because we cut the last tour short. Then we started the next day with a boat ride at 9am.
I had planned on leaving the kids at some of the stops on the way to hang out while I hit attractions but it didn’t work out that way since we were so on the move, which means that they had to sit through a lot of lectures. Noah’s at the right age so he mostly enjoyed it (he was only dragging towards the end) but Madison, of course, had a rough time. I think it’s pretty unusual to bring your whole dang family on a press trip but the editor said it was ok and the people who helped pull it together said it was fine, too. I was very grateful for the patience of the guides and also for Brett’s willingness to silently remove Madison when appropriate.
In any case, we were at the mercy of the scheduling because some of the people had opened up their shops and things just for us and we didn’t want to keep them waiting. It was definitely interesting and I certainly got all the info I need (and more — I want to think about some other ways to pitch some of it) and as hard as the scheduling is I loved getting the inside scoop about things. But I wouldn’t want to be a travel writer as a career even without kids. As much fun as the occasional press trip might be, I think I’m just too introverted to do it on a regular basis. But I loved having this opportunity. There’s a whole lot of Ohio I didn’t know anything about.
How funny, I just got done writing about my take on press trips over at my blog too and then saw this! We are on day 4 of our travels, and it has been pretty much like what you describe. But at least when we travel on our own with our families, we have the option of skipping or postponing something if the schedue is way too crazy (I’ve had to do that once on this trip–the CVB way overbooked us and there was no way we were going to make it to all the destinations they had on our list) and you don’t have to drive around with strangers! I’m not sure I could handle that kind of press trip. Though like I said in my post, traveling with the family can also have its interesting downsides.