Mike met a lot of wonderful people during fetchingly weird circumstances in many places, some dauntingly out of the way, others easily reached, and a few happily stumbled upon as if they were invisible breadcrumbs set out just for him, marking the way forward. His latest assignment was an expeditionary cruise to the Great Bear Rainforest of Canada with Maple Leaf Adventures. Then Mike wrote Zen and the Art of Bear Watching for a tolerant editor at the Calgary Herald. He has been a staff and freelance journalist, and a travel writer, for more than 30 years, yielding various writing and photo awards along the way.
What got you into travel journalism?
An accident that causes a swerve in the road, leading to somewhere you didn’t know you wanted to go but, once there, you feel your inner compass swing to “aha!” I was a reporter. An editor redirected a cycling tour of wineries in Germany’s Moselle Valley assignment to me. I went, and once I started down that curious path, I didn’t stop.
What’s the most challenging part of being a travel journalist?
The travelling to get to the travelling. Planes, trains and automobiles required to get to the place you plan to write about can be threaded into the story though often, point A to B to C offers a grind. While always keeping in mind that you’re fortunate to be on assignment.
What is the most rewarding aspect of travel journalism?
You open doors for the reader into aspects of the world you’re exploring. Of course, it’s filtered through the scrim of your mind, so every travel writer has a different view, and every reader brings something of their own to reading, watching or listening. When you can entrance, everyone, including you, discovers anew. And sometimes, depending on the gravity of the subject, you’ve got to try and grab the reader by the collar and go, “Look!”
What is something you wish people knew about travel journalism?
Travel journalism requires attention and diligence and meticulously micro dosing caffeine. You’ve got the world on drip with your eyes wide. Pen or camera or iPhone poised.
How have your cross-cultural experiences shaped your point of view of the world?
It may sound corny but every person is your teacher. Every place invites you to learn and to change. Every culture is a hive that buzzes to its own frequency. Lean in and listen to what it’s telling, you can throb like a tuning fork.
What have you enjoyed most about being a NATJA member?
The community and the willingness of NATJA members to continue exploring during strange times when roadblocks are, it seems, everywhere.
