Do you ever wonder why so many travel books are dreadfully boring?

It’s because they are written by hacks who are simply writing for a buck.

Now I’m not against being paid to write. It’s how I’ve earned a living.

But travel writers, like all of us, must give customers enough value to warrant being paid for it. Most don’t.

I gave up on travel magazines years ago. Their writers extol the wonders of wherever they go like shills for the airlines, cruise ships, hotels and resorts. That’s what they are.

They took a free cruise or flight to somewhere exotic and are paying their hosts for the food, booze and comfy beds they enjoyed.

The best travel writing comes from writers who are there on their own dime or paid by publishers who figure they will earn the money back plus a profit.

Mark Twain

Great writers – Mark Twain, Saul Bellow and Ernest Hemingway – are the better travel writers.

They are keen observers, take notes and distill what they learn from the journey.

That takes talent but can become an acquired skill.

Mark Twain wrote travel books for a living and lectured on them to send money to Livy and their children

His books are enriched with digressions into more than travel. He was padding them for his publisher who found people would pay more for a hefty book.

In my opinion, his best travel book is a classic American novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

You may not have thought about a work of fiction like this but he reached the height of his powers of observation in writing about people along the Mississippi.

Ernest Hemingway called the novel “the best book we’ve had. All American writing comes from that.”

Ernest Hemingway

Being a journalist, I always felt a kinship with Hemingway. Reading his “Green Hills of Africa” while in the Army cemented my passion for storytelling.

Aside from a collection of his newspaper reporting – well worth reading – Hemingway mostly wrote fiction. “Death in the Afternoon” and “Green Hills of Africa” are exceptions as they are personal memoirs.

In the latter, Hemingway is unsparing with himself. He reveals his immaturity and highly competitive nature in writing and hunting.

“Green Hills of Africa” is about travel on several levels but failed to get the glowing reviews he desired.

This spurred Hemingway to write a pair of his fin est short stories, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.”

Saul Bellow

Before I left for the Middle East almost 40 years ago, a friend gave me his copy of Saul Bellow’s “To Jerusalem and Back.”

Reading it during the flight was amazing. It finetuned my own senses of observation for the adventures that lay ahead.

Bellow, like Hemingway a Nobel laureate, draws you into the world he sees.

Flying to Israel in 1975, the novelist kept a journal of his experiences and impressions. His notes became this passionate and thoughtful retelling of the trip and those he talked with.

“If you want everyone to love you,” he wryly notes, “don’t discuss politics,”

No truer words can be said about 1975 in Israel and 2020 in America.

In this slim book, Bellow evokes places, ideas and the fascinating Israelis he met almost 50 years ago.

Free advice Becoming a journalist was a great advantage for me. It made me far more observant and taught me to take notes on everything.

As a fitful sleeper and early riser, the hours before first light have proved an ideal time for me to ruminate and record what happened during the day before.

When next you travel or just go to dinner, take along a journal or make oral notes in your cell phone when you return home.

You’ll thank me for this. Your power of observation will increase, and your journey through life will turn into a far richer experience.