What makes the difference is the reflection afterwards. When you write about your travels, you do not write it in order to report every second of the trip. Your goal is to extract and convey insights and thoughts. The conversion of events into meanings is the starting point for travel writing and often a point where travel blogs grow up or remain stagnant.
Experiences are messy. It can contain a lot of different things like sensations, conversations, waiting times, and changes in emotions. If you write too soon after the experience, your writing tends to be descriptive and lacks focus. Having time between the experience and writing gives perspective. It becomes easier to see what was important and what just filled time. Reflection is a filter that converts action into narrative, memory into structure.
A story has an intention. Every writing needs a silent question behind, even though it may not appear in the story. What changed after the trip. What was challenged. What was the one thing I couldn’t leave out. These implicit questions give direction to your writing and saves it from being a collection of statements that do not connect. Without an intention, the writing feels shallow even if it is beautifully written. With an intention, every trivial thing can be meaningful.
A story leaves room for the readers. It doesn’t explain everything. It doesn’t need to prove anything. It leaves things to readers’ interpretation. Giving readers the space to think and connect the dots makes readers engaged and trustful. When the writing explains everything, there is nothing for the readers to discover. When it shows and suggests, the story leaves room to breathe. Such implicitness is a sign of confidence and clarity of mind.
Lastly, a story is more about the curation and editing rather than the creation. There is already a story in the experience. You just need to dig it out and edit it to give it a presentable form. When travel blogs focus on meaning rather than motion, they grow up and transform from personal records into a literary genre that can have an impact beyond the trip itself.
