Aspiring Travel Writers: How Does a Free Two-Week Trip to Argentina Sound?

The Obelisco looms large while looking east down Avenida Corrientes in Buenos Aires (Image: Pixabay)

If you've ever dreamed of being paid to write about your travels — *ahem* like me — there is an opportunity out there right now that you might like to know about. World Nomads, an online travel community that got started in 2002, has been offering travel writing scholarships for a dozen years now, and this year they plan to send three aspiring travel writers on a 14-day trip to Argentina.

Included in that trip is a four-day writing workshop with freelance travel writer Tim Neville, an old hand who has contributed pieces to The New York Times, Men's Journal, and The Financial Times, among other publications. After spending those four days under Neville's tutelage in the capital city of Buenos Aires, the lucky three chosen to travel to Argentina with World Nomads in May will then spend 10 days exploring the region with Say Hueque, a company that specializes in independent traveller tours in Argentina and Chile.

Wine tasting in Mendoza, tango lessons in Buenos Aires, and exploring the glorious outdoors in Patagonia are some of the choice options mentioned in World Nomads' promotional video. Of course, you could always get a little wet up in Iguazú Falls, too.

So, how to be selected as one of the three travel writers who will each receive free roundtrip airfare and travel insurance from World Nomads while on this two-week excursion? Well, you just have to do what you profess to be good at: write about one of your past travel experiences — though you must focus around one of three general topics. The choices are 1) making a local connection, 2) the last thing I expected, or 3) a decision that pushed me to the edge.

There is also a short writing section where you have to tell the judging panel — which includes Neville; Norie Quintos, editor-at-large at National Geographic Travel Media; and Charukesi Ramadurai, a freelance journalist and author — why you deserve to receive one of the scholarships. But you can do that part easy-peasy, right?

However, did I happen to mention that the application deadline is at the end of this month on Feb. 28? Because that's kind of important. Knowing you, dear reader, as the expert writer that you are, I'm positive you can whip up two short essay answers in a week's time or so, though.

Last year, when Logan's Run was young (as a travel blog) and World Nomads was offering travel writing scholarships to visit a handful of eastern European countries, I threw my own hat in the ring, submitting a piece about the time I visited the Jordanian desert known as Wadi Rum. And while that little write-up did not win me a trip to Montenegro, Croatia, Albania, and the like, I was pretty proud of the way it turned out.

By the way: I won't be applying this year, and just by virtue of that your chances have increased, like, ten-fold. (I kid, of course; not only did I not win last year, I wasn't even on the short list of runners-up (*hashtag* sad).)

More about the World Nomads travel writing scholarship application and so on and so forth can be found by visiting their cute little website. While you're there, you might like to take a look around, too — besides offering flexible travel insurance, they've also got lots of travel forums, information about vaccinations and tourist scams, and lots of other goodies. Plus, if you're more of a visual storyteller, they offer travel scholarships for photographers and videographers, as well.

-LTH