Wednesday, January 28, 2009

"I'm A Travelin' Man" Uh. I Mean Woman.

One of the most exciting times in my writing career was when I was able to write the post about talking to my editor, which resulted in me writing a blog for the local newspaper. But the other day I had something even more exciting happen.

Most of you know that I am planning to retire in the spring after twenty years as a library media specialist in an elementary school. There are a lot of things I want to do when I retire, but first on the list is to TRAVEL. Tom and I want to see the world, preferably from the deck of a luxurious cruise ship, reclining in deck chairs, as someone brings us fabulous chocolate desserts on a silver tray. And I want to write about all that. But I got to thinking how nice it would be if someone would actually, you know, PAY me to write about travel and, in a lovely and ideal world, PAY ME TO TRAVEL. So. I designed a blog (with quite a bit of help from my graphic designing daughter), came up with a presentation and approached a local travel agency. And whadda ya know? They actually like the idea.

They are not quite ready to pay me a huge salary and send me on a cruise around the world but they are ready to give me a chance and that's all I ask. We are tentatively talking about putting me on some sort of commission basis. I just hope this is not like the time I worked for McDonald's and I was giving out samples of Chicken Nuggets because, yes, they were a NEW PRODUCT and I am EXTREMELY OLD and we were supposed to get a credit for every person who ordered chicken nuggets, based on our recommendation. Since I was actually the only one giving free samples of this luscious new product, I technically got credit for everyone who ordered them. This did not make me popular in the break room. There may have been some hair pulling. Some ketchup packets squirted in my direction. Some french fries left in my locker.

Oh, not really. But there totally COULD HAVE BEEN. Wouldn't that have been a much better story if there had been?

And can't you see what a great travel blogger I will be when I am so easily distracted from my story about the great beaches of Thailand by a story about working at McDonald's?

I know you can't wait.

Check it out here: http://thetravelauthority.blogspot.com/

And let me know what you think.

And if you are the teensiest bit interested in writing about that fabulous trip you took or sharing videos or photographs from it? Contact me. I might be able to use some of your stuff.

3 comments:

I'd rather be camping... said...

wow thats AWESOME! sounds like a dream job to me!
MMmmmmm wonder if I could do one from an RV instead of a cruise ship! lol... I have some time to set that up, errr 25 years or so:)

Unknown said...

Congrats! What an awesome thing to happen. I'm looking forward to reading your travel blog!

Boo said...

Sounds great! Just remember me if you need a summer traveling buddy!!