This document provides guidance on how to write an effective travelogue. It explains that a travelogue should describe personal experiences in another country, including local customs, attractions, and culture. When writing, one should take thorough notes during travel, collect photos and materials, and outline their experiences before drafting the travelogue. The text advises including useful information for others while conveying the atmosphere through vivid descriptions and interviews with locals. Both positive and negative experiences should be addressed to create an engaging account.

2. A travelogue is a person’s account
of a journey to another country or
place. It can either be a written
report with many factual details or
a narrative story about personal
impressions and experiences
supported by images.

3. Step 1
Decide on the purpose of your
travelogue. Whether it is for a
magazine, for friends, or for
yourself—determine your writing
style.

4. Step 2
While traveling, take notes about what you
see, places you visit, and people you get
acquainted with. Keep a diary of your
impressions. If you don’t have enough time
to write, perhaps a recorder would be a smart
option for keeping a diary. Also, collect
various brochures, tourism maps, and guides.
They may come in handy when you start
writing a travelogue.

5. Step 3
Take as many pictures as possible. A
photograph doesn’t necessarily need
to capture an historic or famous place.
Sometimes, a photo of a crowded
street, neon signboard, or an old man,
conveys a stronger impression of a
place you’ve visited than the images
of monuments anyone can see on the
Internet.

6. Step 4
When you return home, take time
to review your recordings. Sort
them out by date, personal
importance, or based on any other
criteria. Choose photographs
which best illustrate the brightest
moments of your journey.

7. Step 5
Create an outline of your
travelogue. This must not be a
detailed report yet. The outline is
necessary for you to structure
your thoughts and to see if the
story flows logically and is easy to
understand.

8. Step 6
After you’ve completed the
outline, write the full travelogue.
Try to make it as interesting as
you can. Add vivid descriptions,
historic and factual information,
and educate your readers on the
customs and traditions of the
country you’ve visited.

9. Since a travelogue is written after your trip to another country or
place, the main topic of this type of writing is a description of
your experience there. Though your travelogue can contain may
areas of focus, when writing a travelogue, you can concentrate
on:
 local customs and traditions
 cuisine
 depictions of places of interest, local history,
and culture
 your adventures
 prices and transportation
 entertainment

10. 1. A description of nothing but places you’ve
visited and exotic food you’ve eaten will most
likely be perceived as a boring travelogue
rather than an interesting read. A travelogue
needs a central idea, which will be the
backbone of your whole piece of writing. Life
lessons you’ve learned during the voyage, your
reflections about the differences between the
place where you live and the place you’ve
visited, or at least some historic theme could
serve as such a backbone.

11. 2. Deviate from the common
tourist routes and make
explorations on your own.
This way, you can add lots of
interesting, distinctive places
into your descriptions, which
will definitely add value to
your travelogue.

12. 3. Keeping a travelogue within the structure
of an essay is a sound way to present your
material. In the introduction, you can
provide some background about the place
you are writing about and also describe
your traveling conditions. In the main body,
introduce the information you want to
convey to your readers based on the
recordings and notes you’ve made during
the journey. Finally, summarize the
experience from the trip. Share your
thoughts about it, your findings, and what
you will be contemplating after in regard to
the trip.

13. 4. You don’t necessarily need to
write about the attractiveness of
the place you’ve visited. The
journey most likely won’t consist
only of nice events, places, and
people. Describe the difficulties
you faced, strange customs,
sanitary conditions, etc.

14. DO
Do include not only personal
experiences, but also information that
will be useful for those who will want
to visit the country you describe. Give
your readers an idea about
transportation costs, hotels, and
resorts. Give advice about the
entertainment in the area or about
places of interest to visit.

15. Do try to convey the
atmosphere of the place you
visited. Talk to the locals
about their lives or problems
and benefits of living in that
place. Include fragments of
these interviews.

16. Do provide a historical and
cultural background about the
place you’ve been to.

17. Do add some humor in your
writing. You might want to
describe some funny situations
that occurred during the voyage
or a humorous spin on some
serious problems you managed to
solve.

18. Do proofread and edit your
travelogue.

19. DON’T
Don’t shoot pictures of yourself in
the background of historical
monuments for a travelogue. Such
pictures are okay for your
personal photo album, but for a
travelogue it is better not to
choose them.

20. Don’t repeat or retell the
information that is usually
typed in various tourist
guidebooks.

21. Don’t use stock photos or
other photos that can be
found on the Internet.

22. Don’t indulge in the judgment of the other
country’s customs and traditions and don’t
mock aspects of that country that are
unusual or weird to you. Some cultural
peculiarities may seem odd and uncommon
to you, but don’t claim them to be bad or
stupid. This doesn’t speak in your favor and
prevents your readers from having their
own opinion. It can facilitate prejudice
against the country you are describing.

23. Don’t wait long to write your
travelogue. Do it immediately
after you return home, while
your impressions are fresh and
you can recall events clearly.

24. 1. Focusing only on factual
information. Though it is
important, a lack of emotions may
turn your story into a boring log.

25. 2. Being excessively enthusiastic
about describing your feelings
and thoughts.

26. 3. Relying only on memories when
writing a travelogue. You can never
remember all the details, all places,
all the impressions, and all factual
information. Therefore, ignoring the
importance of taking notes during
the journey will probably result in a
raw and inexact travelogue.

27. 4. Being too critical or too in
awe. Try to describe both
positive and negative
moments of your journey. This
way, you will create a fuller
and more vivid story.