“Just as a painter paints, and a ponderer ponders, a writer writes, and a wanderer wanders.”
Roman Payne
Travel is about more than collecting places.
The stories we remember are often about the people we meet, the cultures we encounter, the meals we share, the history we uncover, and the unexpected moments that change how we see a destination.
At Wanderers Compass, those are the stories we want to tell.
We are opening our independent travel media platform to guest writers and freelance contributors who share our passion for authentic, culturally respectful, and experience-driven travel storytelling.
Whether your story takes place halfway around the world or close to home, we are interested in compelling travel experiences from across the United States and around the globe.
What We Are Looking For
First and foremost, you must have personally visited the destination you are writing about.
We are not looking for articles assembled through internet research about places a writer has never experienced. Our stories should come from firsthand travel, personal observations, conversations, experiences, and discoveries.
We want first-person narratives written in your own voice. Please tell us what you saw, learned, tasted, discovered, and experienced.
Practical travel information is important. Your story can certainly include the best things to do, where to stay, where to eat, or how to plan a visit. But we are looking for more than another “10 Things to Do” article.
There needs to be a story behind the destination.
Tell us about the culture. Introduce us to the people. Take us somewhere unexpected. Explore the history behind what visitors see today. Share a meal that taught you something about a place. Tell us about a tradition you discovered, a conversation you remember, or why a destination surprised you.
Most importantly, give our readers a reason to care about a place beyond simply adding it to a travel list.
Sustainable and Respectful Travel
Sustainable tourism is an important part of what we believe in at Wanderers Compass, and we especially welcome stories that explore how destinations are working to protect the places travelers have come to experience.
We want to hear about what you witnessed firsthand.
How is a destination responding to overtourism? What is being done to protect its environment, wildlife, cultural heritage, or historic sites? Are local communities benefiting from tourism? Did you encounter hotels, tour operators, attractions, businesses, or community organizations that are finding thoughtful ways to reduce tourism’s negative impacts?
We are also interested in the challenges. Sustainable tourism does not mean pretending every destination has found the answers. Thoughtful reporting on the pressures created by tourism and the efforts to address them can be an important part of the story.
Sustainability does not need to be the focus of every article. Sometimes it is simply part of understanding a destination. We encourage our writers to look beyond what travelers can see and do, and to consider how tourism affects the people and places we visit, as well as what is being done to make that relationship more sustainable.
The Stories That Interest Us
We welcome a wide range of travel stories, including those centered on:
- Culture, history, and heritage
- Food, wine, and culinary traditions
- Architecture and the arts
- Nature and outdoor experiences
- Sustainable and respectful tourism
- Hotels and distinctive accommodations with a strong story, sense of place, history, cultural connection, sustainability focus, or another compelling reason for travelers to experience them
- Lesser-known destinations and experiences
- Meaningful encounters with local people
- Destinations addressing overtourism or environmental pressures
- Preservation of cultural and natural heritage
- UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the stories behind them
We are particularly interested in stories that help readers understand why a place is special, not simply what there is to do when they arrive.
Both international and U.S. destinations are welcome.
Please note: Hotel and accommodation stories are welcome, but there must be a story beyond the property itself. We are interested in places with a strong sense of place, fascinating history, meaningful connection to local culture or community, noteworthy architecture, sustainability initiatives, or experiences that help travelers better understand the destination. We are not looking for promotional property descriptions or standard hotel reviews.
Photography
Photography is an important part of storytelling at Wanderers Compass.
Most photographs accompanying your article should be your own original photography from the trip or experience you are writing about. We believe firsthand photography adds another layer of authenticity to a travel story.
We understand that there may occasionally be a need to supplement your photographs with images from a tourism organization, hotel, attraction, professional photographer, or other authorized source. All photography must be properly credited, and contributors must have the legal right to provide those images for publication.
Please do not submit photographs taken from websites, social media accounts, or other sources without permission and full credit.
Additional requirements regarding image size, resolution, captions, and submission will be provided to writers whose pitches are accepted.
Your Voice Matters
Our contributors do not need to sound like Wanderers Compass.
In fact, we don’t want you to.
We want your personality, perspective, experiences, and voice to come through in your writing. Articles should be primarily first-person and grounded in what you personally experienced.
Technology, including AI, can be useful for brainstorming, organization, research assistance, grammar, and editing. However, AI should never be the heart of your story or a substitute for firsthand experience, reporting, fact-checking, or your individual voice.
Personal experiences must be genuine. Facts must be verified. The final story should sound like you.
Accuracy, Sources, and Transparency
Trust matters to us. Articles published by Wanderers Compass should be accurate, transparent, and supported by reliable sources.
Writers are responsible for fact-checking their work before submission. When an article includes history, statistics, scientific or environmental information, or other facts that require verification, contributors should provide links to authoritative and credible sources.
Whenever possible, we prefer primary sources such as government agencies, official tourism organizations, UNESCO, museums, universities, recognized cultural institutions, national parks, and other reputable organizations rather than other travel blogs or unsourced secondary material.
Hosted and Sponsored Travel
Transparency with our readers is important to us.
If any part of the trip or experience you are writing about was hosted, complimentary, discounted, sponsored, or part of a press or media trip, it must be disclosed to Wanderers Compass.
This includes accommodations, meals, tours, transportation, admission, products, services, or other benefits provided in connection with the experience. Writers must also disclose if they were paid by a destination, tourism organization, business, PR agency, or other entity connected with the story.
Receiving hosted travel or other support does not prevent us from accepting your story. We understand that hosted experiences are part of professional travel journalism. We expect complete transparency.
When appropriate, Wanderers Compass will include disclosure language with the published article so readers understand the nature of the relationship.
Original Work and Publication Rights
Articles accepted by Wanderers Compass must be original and previously unpublished. Please do not submit an article that has already appeared on your website, another publication, Medium, Substack, or another online platform.
Writers retain copyright to their work. By accepting an assignment and submitting an article for publication, contributors grant Wanderers Compass exclusive digital publication rights to that article and the ongoing right to maintain it in our archives. The same or substantially similar article may not be republished elsewhere without written permission from Wanderers Compass. Writers remain free to create new and original work about the same destination or subject.
We encourage contributors to showcase their published Wanderers Compass work on their own websites and portfolios. You may include the article title, a statement that the story originally appeared on Wanderers Compass, a brief excerpt, and a link directing readers to the complete article on our site.
Contributor Credit and Links
Every contributor deserves credit for their work.
Published articles will include a contributor bio, and we are happy to link to your website and/or appropriate professional or social media platforms.
We want publishing with Wanderers Compass to introduce our audience not only to your story, but also to you as a writer.
Article Length
Most contributor articles should be approximately 1,500 words, although quality and storytelling matter far more to us than reaching an exact word count.
We are looking for substantive articles. A strong Wanderers Compass story should provide readers with useful information while helping them understand the destination through firsthand experience, history, culture, people, and a sense of place. Depending on the story, that might also include food, traditions, architecture, heritage, nature, or the challenges and opportunities tourism brings to a destination.
Practical information and recommendations are welcome, but an article should not simply be a list of things to do. There must be a story. We want to know what makes the destination interesting, what you discovered while you were there, and why it is worth understanding rather than simply visiting.
Some stories may need more than 1,500 words, while others may be better told with fewer. Tell the story well, give it the depth it deserves, but avoid adding words just to meet a word count.
Payment
At this time, Wanderers Compass pays $25 for each accepted and published contributor article.
We recognize that this is a modest rate, and we believe in being transparent about compensation before writers invest their time in pitching us. As Wanderers Compass and our contributor program continue to grow, we hope to expand the offerings we can provide our writers.
Who Will Read Your Story?
Wanderers Compass reaches a diverse community of travelers who want to experience destinations beyond the surface.
Our audience is predominantly based in the United States, with a growing international community. Across our social media platforms alone, our audience is approaching 160,000 followers.
Our readers are curious travelers interested in culture, history, food, heritage, meaningful experiences, and understanding more about the places they visit.
Writers and potential contributors who would like additional information about Wanderers Compass, our audience, and our reach may request our media kit.
How to Pitch Wanderers Compass
Please pitch us before writing the complete article.
We would much rather discuss an idea with you first than have you spend time writing a story that may not be the right fit or that overlaps with something already in our editorial calendar.
Keep your proposed story pitch to approximately 150–250 words. We don’t need the entire story yet; we want to understand what makes your idea distinctive and why it belongs on Wanderers Compass.
Your email should also include:
- Your proposed story and destination
- The angle you plan to take and the story you want to tell
- When you personally visited the destination
- Why you believe the story is a good fit for Wanderers Compass
- Whether any portion of the trip or experience was hosted, sponsored, complimentary, discounted, or otherwise supported
- A brief introduction to you and your travel-writing experience
- Links to two or three examples of previously published work, if available
Please use the following subject line:
Wanderers Compass Pitch: [Proposed Topic]
Send your pitch to: wandererscompassllc@gmail.com
We travel extensively and are sometimes away from our desks for extended periods. If you have not heard from us within two weeks, please feel free to follow up. We won’t mind the reminder.
Tell a Story With Us
Wanderers Compass began with a belief that travel can change how we understand the world and one another. As our platform has grown, we want to bring more voices, experiences, and perspectives into the stories we share.
We aren’t looking for writers who travel exactly as we do.
We want your perspective, your experiences, your photographs. Most importantly, your voice.
If you’ve been somewhere that left you with a story worth telling, we’d love to hear about it.
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