Transitions Abroad's Writers' Guidelines

Transitions Abroad is a planning guide for cultural immersion travel—both short- and long-term. Founded by a trained and experienced journalist, professor of modern literature, and award-winning study abroad adviser Dr. Clay Hubbs in 1977 to provide practical information on educational travel abroad, Transitions Abroad was the pioneering magazine and TransitionsAbroad.com is now the leading website for independent travelers who want to extend their time abroad through work, study, or low-cost travel. Its title suggests the changes that result from immersion in another culture. Our travel writers provide both the inspiration and the details ( "nuts and bolts") that readers need to make their own plans. We consider it "hip" when thoughtful writers provide stories and information which inspire others to seek out and engage in their own travel experiences. 6,500,000+ visitors (and growing) come to our website yearly in search of a wide variety of information, so your contributions will be seen and valued by highly educated, sophisticated, curious, and passionate travelers globally.

Due to our mission and the nature of our coverage (work, volunteering, study, travel, and living abroad), our notion of "travel writing" is much broader in scope than most other publications and websites who have attempted to imitate aspects of our editorial. Please see our travel writing editorial requirements below.

This section focuses on interaction with local people and cultures and the avoidance of superficial tourist routines. Articles may involve such activities as a finding a home stay or a rural bed and breakfast, a 1- or 2-week language study course, or pursuing a special interest or activity like cooking, music, dancing, visual arts, writing, photography, hiking or biking. Travelers of all ages are invited to share their experiences, as the passion for travel and the desire to learn have no age limits. Striking a balance between practical and inspirational travel writing is preferred.

Submissions by travel writers to qualify for inclusion in the Cultural Immersion Travel section should describe (and provide supporting information for) travel that involves active participation in the life of the host community:

1. Cultural Travel: Travel that includes interaction with the people of the host community. It goes beyond conventional tourism to the deeper experience that makes travel exciting, enriching, and educational... travel that includes immersion in another culture by living, working, studying (or playing!) alongside your hosts.
2. Community-Based Travel: Travel that profits the host community. If an organized tour, the organizer and guides should, whenever possible, be from the host community.
3. Travel for Pleasure: The Slow Food® movement, born in Italy but now spreading its influence globally in the form of a slower mode of travel and living, has demonstrated the intrinsic connection between ethics and aesthetics, responsibility and pleasure. In a new series of travel subsections described below, we wish to explore and expand upon this notion while keeping interaction with the host community to the fore.

These three complementary principles of Cultural Immersion Travel are the primary basis of our editorial preferences for the following subsections featured on the TransitionsAbroad.com website and our new webzine.

The types of submissions from travel writers we are seeking are listed here in alphabetical order:

• Adventure and Sports Travel
  First-hand accounts or overviews of adventure travel experiences ranging from rafting to cycling to motorcycling to mountain climbing, from independent adventure travel to participation in small alternative group tours.
• Art Travel
  Detailed itineraries which chronicle independent explorations of various forms of fine art — whether the art takes the form of painting, sculpture, architecture, music, theater, dance, traditional rituals or combinations thereof - as well as small thematic group tours through regions, countries, or cities.
• Budget Travel
  A key section which provides current information on best-value-for-money travel opportunities. Very often travel bargains are also a most rewarding form of cultural immersion travel. Be specific about websites, dates, contacts, etc. either in the body of the text or in accompanying sidebars.
  See the Budget Travel section for many and varied examples.
• Cultural Travel and Alternative Tours
  While our focus is on independent travel, we recognize that there are many occasions when locally-organized tours are the least intrusive and most efficient ways to see the local sights.
  See our Cultural Travel section for examples.
• Disability Travel
  Travelers with disabilities have found plenty of opportunities for immersion travel, volunteering, interning, and studying abroad. In cooperation with the National Clearing House on Disability and Exchange (NCDE), Transitions Abroad encourages submissions on projects, programs, how-to information, and planning advice for travelers with disabilities.
  See the Disability Travel section for examples.
• Educational Travel: Lifelong Learning
  First-hand reports on a travel-to-learn or study programs such as a cultural history, musical studies, archeology, or eco-friendly safari tours. This could include cultural immersion experiences that travelers would find difficult to organize on their own.
  See the Educational Travel and Language Study sections of our site for varied examples.
• Family Travel
  Vacation overseas with the kids? Short-term and long-term family travel can be inexpensive and enriching. Submissions can focus on local family tour operators, home stays, vacation rentals, camping, and independently planned itineraries with an emphasis on cultural and community-based travel.
  See the Family Travel section for examples.
• Festival Travel
  One of the best ways to immerse oneself in another country or to enjoy music and the arts in historical settings is through itineraries following festivals which spring up year-round. Detailed accounts of thematic festival travel and experiences in another land should be supplemented with supporting links and information to enable others to follow your trails. See some examples here.
• Independent Travel Itineraries
  Detailed itineraries that take independent and solo travelers off the tourist trail—whether to the less-visited areas of Europe or to remote regions of the rest of the world.
  See the Independent and Solo Travel section for many and varied examples.
• Language Vacations and Studies
  A key section which consists in first-hand reports on language-learning vacations. This often includes home stays and other cultural immersion experiences that travelers might find difficult to organize on their own.
  See Language Study sections of our site for varied examples.
• Long-Term Vacation Home Travel
  Whether renting a home or apartment for the long- or short term, or staying in an Italian agriturismo, there is no better way to immerse oneself in the country being visited. Instead of being a tourist reliant on food and lodging from ubiquitous "tourist traps," you can shop and cook your own food, take daily trips at a leisurely pace, read or daydream, and invite locals or other visitors to join you.  Detailed descriptions of experiences seeking, renting, and living in vacation homes and how this helped immerse you in the local community at your own pace.
  See the Vacation Home Travel section for examples.
• Responsible Travel, Green Travel, and Ecotourism
  Department editor Ron Mader welcomes information on how local communities abroad organize and profit from ecotourism, plus details on responsible ecotour organizers. Topics may also include a discussion of the ways in which you may have given back to the people in the countries where you have traveled or ways you have attempted to limit the impact of your presence on the host environment through low-carbon emissions, for example.
  See the Responsible Travel section for many and varied examples.
• Senior Travel
  Among the most noticeable features of global travel today are both the age and the sheer numbers of older men and women taking active, adventurous vacations with a strong learning and service focus. Whether short-term vacations or retirement sojourns, editor Alison Gardner is looking for 50 to 80-year-olds to write about ecological, educational, cultural, and volunteer travel. Topics may include home stays and hospitality exchanges, international tours with substance, educational programs, and service-learning.
  See the Senior Travel section for examples.
• Solo Woman Traveler
  More and more women are traveling solo or with other women. Submissions should emphasize the advantages of independent solo travel and precautions regarding health and safety.
  See the Women Travel section of our site for examples.
• Spa/Relaxation/Meditation Travel
  Whether through yoga retreats in Asia, meditation stays in Buddhist monasteries in Nepal, or spas in European mountain villages, travel which allows the soul to regenerate itself in the company of welcoming hosts has historically been a great way to reconnect with the world. Please detail the locations, organizations, and people who made the experience possible.
• Student Travel: High School, Gap Year, and College
  The first exposure to travel overseas is often as a teen and college student, and the experience is therefore very often all the more intense and transformational. We seek practical yet inspirational articles which describe summer, semester, or longer-term travel abroad which have resulted in a change in the perception of others and of yourselves through immersion in the culture you have visited. All such travel is inherently educational.
  See the Teen Travel and Study and Student-to-Student sections for examples.
• Travel to Cook
  Cooking school vacations provide a chance to combine travel with educational activities which enliven all the senses. You can work with established native cooks, admire the local lands where the food is grown, hear and learn to speak the local language of food, work with local produce, and taste the product of your work. Details of such tours or independent travel which translate your experience such that others may be inspired and perhaps even follow your footsteps. 
  See the Travel to Cook section for examples.
• Travel to Eat: Culinary Travel
  Culinary vacations are growing in popularity. Movements such as Slow Food® highlight the fact that food provides an intrinsic connection to the land from which it is produced. Detailed itineraries describing culinary travels and off-the-beaten-track discoveries of distinctive local food.
  See the Travel to Eat section for examples..
• Travel to Drink Wine
  Since wines are being cultivated in more and more regions of the world, wine tours - whether in small groups or solo - have long been one of the most relaxing ways to travel. Detailed itineraries describing wine tours, including references to the people, land, and foods which accompany the experience.
  See the Travel to Drink section for examples.
• Travel to Shop (for local produce and products)
  Shopping in-and-of-itself is much more satisfying when the produce and carefully created material products are produced by natives who use the money to feed their families and continue the traditions which have created the very foods and arts and crafts. Detailed articles describing unique foods and arts and crafts within the context of the local markets and shops in which they are bought from natives.

The working abroad section deals with the varied ways for travelers to support themselves while living for an extended period abroad. For many, the work is not an end-in-itself, but provides the possibility for a more deeply rewarding experience though immersion in a foreign culture. For others, international work is a great way to build a global resume.

Articles in this section should provide the practical information necessary to prepare for and to find work abroad of both a long- and short-term nature. A discussion of the process by which work permits are applied for and obtained for each of the following types of jobs—if such is not covered in a program you have participated in—is much appreciated and is of great use to those who are looking for work abroad in a new country.

Writers are encouraged to include an evocation of the specific culture or the experience of cultural immersion and/or culture shock within the context of an information-based article.

As always, inclusion of annotated links and resources greatly increases the likelihood of publication.

• Teaching English Abroad
  As the world rushes to acquire English, the new lingua franca of international commerce, diplomacy, and higher education, the bulk of job opportunities abroad are for English teachers. Your "credential" is simply being a native speaker of the English language. In this section we seek information on how to prepare to become an English teacher, choosing an ESL program, how to research and find a good job, what to expect in the way of demands and rewards, and your cultural immersion experience living abroad in this role.
  See the Teaching English Abroad section or examples.
• Volunteer Work Abroad
  A very popular and rewarding way to extend a trip abroad is to exchange work for free room and board. In many cases volunteer programs may be quite comprehensive — including language learning, internships, excursions, etc. — and the cost is correspondingly higher. Such programs are excellent ways to combine or extend your travels with participation in a useful service, which some refer to as volunteer vacations or voluntourism. First-hand reports on how to do this are welcome. Articles by participants in the Peace Corps or other dedicated long-term volunteer veterans are also welcome.
  See the Volunteer Abroad section for examples.
• Internships Abroad
  The best time to seek work abroad and to prepare for an international career is while you are a student or soon after graduation (though some internships also exist for those seeking a career change.) You may be considering an overseas work experience for many reasons: an adventure, a chance to gain in-depth knowledge of another culture and of yourself, an inexpensive way to improve foreign language proficiency, or as preparation for an international career. First-hand reports on how to do this are welcome.
  See the Internships Abroad section for examples.
• Short-Term Work
  Your experience in finding and maintaining a short-term job abroad (from crewing a yacht to leading an adventure tour to freelance travel writing and publishing to working as a journalist) is of great interest to our readers, especially as a way to extend your stay. You should include resources and practical information for how readers can find a similar work experience. Articles can focus on topics such as the pros and cons of particular jobs around the world, tips on how to make the most of your job, and opportunities for creating your own work as a freelancer or entrepreneur.
  See the Short-Term Work section for examples.
• Teaching K-12 and University
  Travelers with K-12 certification have a wide range of options for teaching abroad. Articles in this section include work in private international schools, Department of Defense schools, teacher exchange programs and volunteer organizations. First-hand evaluations of experiences are welcome.
  See the Teaching Abroad section for examples.
• International Careers
  In many cases international careers are sought as a result of previous travel, study, or short-term work abroad.. Submissions should focus on securing long-term jobs abroad and discussing ways to prepare for a successful overseas career and what inspired such a choice. Emphasize practical information and insights based upon experience in an international career (which may include international work in the U.S.)
  See the International Careers for examples.

The best way to learn about a country and its culture is to live there (or short of that to travel like a local). For longer stays nothing beats exchanging your home for a comparable home abroad or renting or buying a vacation home. Often you may extend your stay by working or studying in the host country as well, so living, working, and studying abroad are often inextricable.

Making the move to live abroad is for many the ultimate transition—often the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, in other cases the result of chance and circumstance. We are seeking inspiring articles which also provide in-depth practical descriptions of your experience moving and living abroad, including discussions of immigration, personal and family life abroad, housing, work, social interactions with the natives, food, culture, study, language learning, and potential prejudices encountered.

Apart from practical considerations what were the most important physical, psychological, and social adjustments necessary to integrate into the local communities? Feel free to include anecdotes about locals who may have aided in your adjustment to the physical conditions and social mores of the host community, as well as the role of other expatriates in providing information and support.

A listing or reference to the most important websites, publications, and other resources which have aided you in the cultural adjustment process or enhanced your current life abroad is necessary to help others who may find themselves in similar situations or even similar locations. Such sidebars should include supporting details and resources that are not in the body of the article.

As always, we do not seek diaries or personal blogs, but your own perspective in which the host country remains the primary focus, such that the culture remains in the foreground.

See the Living Abroad section for many and varied examples.

Transitions Abroad ’s student section deals specifically with learning and studying abroad for pre-college, college, and graduate students, as well as living, working, and volunteering abroad for this same audience of 17- to 25-year-olds. Articles should be 750-2,000 words. All student-written articles are eligible for consideration in the annual Transitions Abroad Student Writers Contest.

To see a collection of articles recently published by Transitions Abroad go to the Study Abroad section of our site.

Well-researched supporting material and annotated web links in sidebars greatly increases the likelihood of publication; we cannot emphasize enough the importance of providing others practical information which they can use.

Note: Busy international educators are encouraged to email conference presentations, rough drafts, outlines, or ideas to webeditorial@TransitionsAbroad.com. Transitions Abroad’s editors will be glad to help you turn promising ideas or material into a polished piece for publication. Transitions Abroad maintains that anyone working in the field for more than five years has something valuable to say to his or her colleagues about what works in advising students.

Features articles in which currently enrolled or recently graduated students share information and experience with other students contemplating an educational experience abroad, whether formal study abroad, volunteering, or work abroad. Students write articles that emphasize essential practical information such as: how they selected a program or arranged their own independent study or job or internship. Many examples can be found in our archived section dedicated to Student to Student articles.

Students returning from a program abroad evaluate the program based on their own first-hand experience. Informational sidebars provide details on the program (contact info, costs, etc.) and a selection of similar programs—with contact info—so that other students can plan a similar experience. Many examples can be found in our archived section dedicated to Student Participant Reports.

Both Student to Student and Student Participant Reports should focus on practical, usable information based on personal experience. Think about what you were looking for when you were planning to travel and study abroad:

• What did you need to know before you traveled abroad?
• Once you were abroad, what did you wish you had known before you left?
• Since you returned, how have you been able to fit what you did and learned abroad into your life—academic, career, and otherwise?
• Think of yourself as an adviser or counselor and your reader as a student like yourself before you decided to study abroad.
• Be specific: vague and flowery evocations of the place(s) you were and what a wonderful time you had there are not helpful to someone preparing for his or her own travel.
• Think of yourself as a journalist seeking to tell a story with as much objectivity as possible in order to reach a wide and educated audience.
• If you write about your experience as a student with a specific program, remember that the appropriateness of the program depends upon the individual.
• If you write about one program or independent activity, please provide a list of similar programs you researched for your reader to choose from.
• Emphasize essential practical information such as how you selected a study abroad program, arranged your own independent study, or student internship.
• Optionally provide photographs which will help evoke what you experienced abroad and inspire others to do so..

Note: These are only suggested guidelines to help you focus; you do not need to answer all questions or provide all information. Look at winners of our annual Student Travel Writing contest for some good examples. All submissions are eligible for the contest (with a $500 first prize) if you so choose.

Started in 1980 by the late Lily von Klemperer , a legend in international education, to provide practical information for advisers to use in their day-to-day work to make their efforts more effective, efficient, and rewarding. Many examples can be found in our Study Abroad Advisor archives.

Students and especially education abroad professionals are encouraged to submit articles on the following topics:

• Work, Intern, and Volunteer Abroad
  Started by William Nolting in 1993. This section is dedicated to information and experiences specifically for students or recent graduates. Work, including volunteering, is the only affordable education abroad choice for a great number of students. What are the opportunities both paid and unpaid? Practical information and evaluations on service-learning opportunities for students which often involve volunteering abroad. How can students find and use them? Is credit available for service learning? How can students tie service learning into their on-campus academic curriculums? What is the value of experiential education? Sample topics: English Teaching Jobs Abroad, International Internships, Volunteering Abroad.
• Point: Counterpoint
  Introduced in 1990 by Bill Hoffa, a leading spokesman on international education and an author and editor of the most important reference guides for international educators, to call attention to trends and issues in international education, this column explores timeless topics and controversies in the field with no immediate “solutions” but which must be continuously addressed by all international educators. Sample topics: Coming Home from Study Abroad: Relationships, Roots and Unpacking, Defending Study Abroad, Virtual Advising, Traveling to Learn, International Education is not a Commodity.
• International Career Advisor
  Focuses exclusively on student preparation for an international career. Sample topics: Build on an International Employment Profile, Living and Working Abroad.
• High School Exchanges and Study Abroad
  Practical information on all educational opportunities abroad for high school students. May be written by administrators or by students (or both).Sample topics: Summer Abroad: Opportunities Abound for High School Students, An Australian Exchange, Amazon Teen Exchange in Ecuador.

Transitions Abroad's monthly Web magazine ("TAzine")—which continues the tradition and expands upon the content of the pioneering magazine founded in 1977 by Dr. Clay Hubbs and with a circulation of over 600,000 visitors monthly—will follow the editorial schedule below. Web magazine issues include columns from our regular columnists who write about experiences, issues, and both inspirational and practical ideas relating to work, study, travel, and living abroad. Each travel webzine issue will also include reviews of books, films, music,. and much more, Transitions Abroad's writing contest winners are published in the Web magazine. We will publish a submitted piece prior to its appearance in the webzine if the author so wishes. We welcome submissions from travel writers interested in covering practical and inspirational aspects of the issue focus—in depth and from their own perspectives. January Webzine Issue Focus: Work Abroad: Short-Term Jobs including Work/Travel and Summer, Volunteering, Internships, Teaching English Abroad, Teaching Abroad (K-12 and University), and International Careers February Webzine Issue Focus: Narrative Travel Writing contest winners, Independent, and Cultural Immersion Travel March Webzine Issue Focus: Living, Working Abroad and Expatriate Writing contest winners April Webzine Issue Focus: Study Abroad, Language Study, Educational Travel, and Student Writing contest winners May Webzine Issue Focus: Independent Cultural and Adventure Travel June Webzine Issue Focus: Budget and Cultural Travel in Europe July Webzine Issue Focus: Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean August Webzine Issue Focus: Asia and Australasia September Webzine Issue Focus: South America October Webzine Issue Focus: Africa and the Middle East November Webzine Issue Focus: Budget, Off-Season, and Cultural Immersion Travel December Webzine Issue Focus: Ecotourism, Responsible Travel, Voluntourism, and Slow Food

Articles

Manuscripts should be sent electronically and addressed to webeditorial@transitionsabroad.com. Include your contact information. Please attach only Microsoft Word documents: if you use another format, please cut and paste your article into the text portion of your email message. You may send photos which illustrate your piece electronically as attachments after acceptance of your piece. The author's name, address, phone and fax number, and email address should appear on at least the first page of the manuscript of the attached document. 

Photos

We recommend that you let us know whether photos are available with your article, as even a single photo adds visual context for your article. If you do have photos available, please send high resolution digital photos or scanned photographs in .jpg format via email after acceptance of your piece to webeditorial@transitionsabroad.com.

Important Submission Considerations

All material is submitted on speculation. We purchase first-time rights only; rights revert to writers six months after publication. However, we reserve the right to reprint published print articles in part or whole on our website or in our newsletter with the author's permission. Since ours is not the usual travel website, writers are strongly encouraged to review articles on our website for style and content.

• Please read carefully our writers' guidelines to save your time and ours.
• Please do NOT submit to us previously published travel writing and material; we are looking for original first-time rights for original articles and will conduct a web search to verify (we recently have had a slew of previously published material sent to us without disclosure).
• Please include a short biographical note at the end of each submission. You may optionally include a head shot photo of yourself, and link(s)s to your blog/website,.
• Please include your name, address, telephone numbers, and email address on at least the first page of your manuscript.
• Initial response time to manuscripts is normally about one to two weeks if we are interested (due to the very large volume of submissions). If we do not respond after two weeks, we likely have no space for the piece and you should submit it to other publications. We cannot provide status reports by phone.

Please email all submissions electronically to: webeditorial@transitionsabroad.com.

We are currently reviewing articles and queries for our webzine on TransitionsAbroad.com, which receives well over 6,000,000 visitors yearly (as of September, 2009) from a rapidly growing worldwide audience.

Our contributors consist of professional travel writers, freelance travel writers, and passionate travelers with practical information and inspirational ideas to share; we are more interested in usable first-hand information than in polished prose—though we certainly appreciate engaging writing which requires little editing.

Transitions Abroad is always looking for experienced (published) writers to become regular contributors, columnists, or contributing editors. Fees for regular contributors, columnists, or contributing editors are by agreement and are negotiable.

We are as highly selective about the articles we publish online in our webzine as we have been in the print magazine, and would please request that you very carefully read and follow the writers' guidelines described above—and browse through some of our featured articles—before sending us your original, previously unpublished, submissions.

Articles with digital photographic illustration are preferred—in order to help set the context—but not absolutely necessary.

For publication in Transitions Abroad's website and webzine, payment is on acceptance, ranging from $50 to $100. Payment for first-time submissions follows the schedule below and is made via check or PayPal:

• $100 for 1500+ words of edited text (all text including sidebars).
• $75 for 1000-1499 words of edited text
• $50 for 500-999 words of edited text

The rates above are standard. We do reserve the right to offer lesser payment if an article is likely to generate limited traffic, as we are therefore unlikely to recoup payment—for example NGO work in small developing countries or festivals in small towns in Mongolia. If we were a non-profit, we would love to and could afford to publish all such worthy and important travel pieces.

Finally, our experience is that longer travel articles are not necessarily better when viewed on the Web. Please be as concise as possible. The use of bullet points as part of the topic or sidebar tends to be far more easily scanned by the eyes of those who read travel writing online, as much research has demonstrated.

Please submit your article or query via email to webeditorial@transitionsabroad.com.

See a sample Publication Rights Agreement for travel writers below which may be modified under special circumstances: