Welcome to "The Story I Never Get to Write"
Travel writer Deborah R. Huso
For better or worse (and often it’s for worse), most people believe what they read, especially if it’s in a book, magazine, or newspaper. If it’s on the front page of a major U.S. newspaper, it must be true, right? Well, journalists are kind of like attorneys.
More often than not, it’s our job to negotiate the truth.
Does that mean we lie? Well, not really, though we occasionally do omit…. As a longtime travel writer, omission has been a particular friend of mine. No glossy travel magazine wants to publish an article about a weekend beach rental where an innocent man (my husband) was attacked by fire ants or about the front desk clerk at an art museum who sent the security staff after a supposedly dangerous yet completely innocent patron (me).
Because publications don’t want to scare their readers away from the very thing they’re trying to sell–travel–or offend the purveyors who are advertising in their pages, sometimes the real story (or at least some of the best and worst parts) gets glossed over, only subtly recorded, or, most commonly, left out.
The result is that I have a horde of truly incredible experiences that have never made it to print and likely never will. Sometimes I feel my readers are being misled into believing it’s perfectly enjoyable to walk around the Mayan ruins at Tulum when its 101 degrees outside or that you’ll never be seated at dinner on a cruise ship next to a couple from Kentucky who still use the term “colored” when referring to human beings who live down the street from them. At the same time, they are also missing out on the utterly ridiculous experiences that make vacations so memorable.
So I decided it was high time the rest of my travel stories made it into print…and video…even if only on the web. Stay tuned. Your access to the band leader of a group of marching pink flamingoes and some upside-down flute players dangling from a 100-ft. pole will soon be but a click away….
Deborah
P.S. If you’d rather stick to the conventional stuff, however, you can visit my web site at www.drhuso.com. Happy travels!