PRESS RELEASE
21 June 2016
Australian Travel Writer Fiona Harper has announced a vacancy as a Travel Writer’s ‘Plus One’. A travel writer road tests holidays in far-flung holiday hotspots across the globe, reporting on their experiences in the media while a ‘Plus One’ may accompany the travel writer on assignment.
Well-travelled, highly acclaimed and much published, a typical day for Harper involves dropping into far-flung landscapes before sunrise, disappearing over the horizon bound for the next destination before the sun sets. Travel may be by sea plane or balloon, helicopter or hovercraft, kayak or camel, yacht or yak. Cocktail in one hand, lobster in the other, she’s been known to run a marathon, race a mountain bike and hike to sickness-inducing altitudes while hunting down travel stories.
Her passport reads like a who’s who of the United Nations. It sounds like a dream job doesn’t it?
“If I had a French Pacific Franc for the number of times someone has said to me ‘being a travel writer is my dream job,’ I’d be bunkered down on a yacht in the Isle of Pines with a hot man and buckets of cold champagne,” Harper says, agreeing that the lifestyle suits her gypsy tendencies.
The downside to a life on the road is the loneliness that comes from having no-one to share the discoveries, conversations and joys of travel with.
In a bold bid to find a life partner Harper has launched a campaign to find a Travel Writer’s ‘Plus One’. Highly regarded traits include an ability to travel at short notice, an aversion to the mundane along with a sense of humour and adventure.
Harper’s travel writing colleagues agree on the relationship challenges their mobile lifestyles create.
Award-winning travel writer Christine Retschlag, the author and architect of travel and dating blog The Global Goddess www.theglobalgoddess.com writes about the challenges of meeting men who aren’t intimidated by smart, successful, independent women.
“Date a girl who travels, they say, she’ll be exotic and interesting and engaged in the world. But every time I mention I’m a travel writer, Aussie blokes run for the hills,” Retschlag says.
“We don’t always get to travel with partners, as travel is actually our job so we’re working hard at hunting and gathering great stories and pics. But on the occasions we do, it’s an awesome gig for a partner.”
“Over the years I’ve had opportunities to take a ‘Plus One’ sailing in the Whitsundays, glamping in gorgeous Outback gorges, nights in luxury New York hotels…the works,” she says.
Seeking a ‘Plus One’ in the 45 to 55 age bracket Retschlag has a spare seat beside her on a trip to the Maldives. “Four nights in the new beautiful Outrigger Konotta Maldives Resort in a beach pool villa with daily breakfast. Any takers?” she asks optimistically.
Four-time ASTW Travel Writer of the Year Louise Southerden, who blogs as No Impact Girl www.noimpactgirl.com concurs.
“Being a travel writer is exciting, challenging, interesting. And sometimes lonely. It can be hard to meet a special someone who matches you in all the important ways when you’re moving around so much and your world view keeps changing,” Southerden says.
“Add to this the hermit-like lifestyle the writing part demands and you’re pretty much condemned to a life of solo travel. Unless… Well, we all hope don’t we? And to be honest, it’s kind of fun not knowing who I’m going to meet from one week to the next and whether that special someone might be waiting for me to walk into a café in Oslo or at my local beach. Life is an adventure, after all,” she says from her current home base on the northern NSW coast.
Do you have the stamina, or indeed the interest, to be a Travel Writer’s ‘Plus One? Click on the link for more information
www.travelboatinglifestyle.com/travel-writers-plus-one-wanted
ENDS
Media contact
Fiona Harper
0425 795 453
fiona@fionaharper.com.au
www.travelboatinglifestyle.com
PO Box 242
Cairns 4870, Queensland Australia
