IL Postcard

Your Passport to a New Life Overseas

Date: 06/22/2008

Monday, June 23, 2008
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Read more about fun ways to make money overseas in International Living Postcards—your daily escape

You need a “story” when you move to a new place. Some identity that the people you’ll meet can latch on to. A way to fit in.

That’s been my experience, both in Malta and Mexico. When I first moved from Washington, D.C., to Gozo, the smaller of the Maltese Islands, I was a curiosity. Had I tried to explain that I was moving someplace interesting, exploring the world, escaping U.S. politics, my story would, no doubt, have elicited blank stares.

So I didn’t try. Instead, my story was about the “new” me. A travel writer. A journalist. And my reinvented self fit right in.

I’d taken a couple of travel writing workshops through AWAI that gave me the grounding and confidence I needed to get started. Moving overseas gave me my chance to use what I’d been taught.

My first efforts found success at a national women’s organization magazine. Then Transitions Abroad took an article from me.

That encouraged me to write some more.

In Malta, I produced articles about all sorts of things…a mushroom grower…a shy vintner whose red wine was popularly paired with hot red chili peppers to create a “Gozo Aphrodisiac”…local craftsmen who make unique crèches. My attempt to milk a goat resulted in a story on sustaining family farms…

Last December, after four years on Gozo, I decided to move to Mexico. Malta was farther away from the States than I wanted to be. (Plus, an infestation of termites had recently munched through my papers and clothes, which I took as a sign it was time to move on.)

Now I’m in Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s Pacific coast. And once again, I’ve found that my “travel writer” identity works as my passport in this new community.

While there are expats the world over who spend every afternoon playing bridge and gossiping, it’s not my thing. I lose at cards and gossip gets old fast.

I prefer to have deadlines than have not enough to do. And there are other benefits to travel writing, too. I get paid for my work—not a lot, but enough to defray some of my expenses—and I’m also able to give back to my adopted community by writing about local charities, which, for me, has been the greater reward.

My latest assignment is for a hardcover tourist guide that sits in all the hotel rooms in town.

I’m writing about dining out, which offers me an excuse to explore the local restaurant scene and talk with celebrity chefs. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it!

Becoming a travel writer has made an enormous difference in my experience overseas. In fact, it’s made all the difference.

Barbara Bode
For International Living

Editor’s note: Barbara did it, and so can you. The most efficient, enjoyable, and effective way to gain the skills and confidence you need to successfully reinvent yourself as a travel writer is with the same workshop that launched Barbara’s career. It only comes around once a year. And the next one is in July in San Francisco, Calif. Find out more about the AWAI Travel Writer's Workshop and how you can get an early bird discount.

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