Lost in the Wilderness
Describe a challenging travel experience in a remote or rugged location that tested your limits. Focus on how you overcame these difficulties, the skills you used or developed, and how the journey transformed your perception of self and the world around you.
Suggested length: An essay or article: 800 to 2,500 words
Start the clock
Pick a sprint, press start and keep going until it stops. Momentum beats polish on a first draft.
Make it yours
Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- Use one example from your own life.
- Open with a specific story, then widen out to the big idea.
- Write for a curious friend, not an expert.
Writing travel books
Somewhere else, seen through someone's eyes.
Travel writing takes readers somewhere they may never go, through the eyes of someone who did. Guidebooks tell you where to eat; travel narratives tell you what the journey did to the traveler.
What readers expect
- A strong sense of place
- A curious, personal narrator
- Encounters with local people
- A journey with a shape
A tip before you start
The trip is the frame; the traveler's change is the story. A list of places isn't a book.
More Travel prompts
- A Solo Pilgrimage HomeDiscuss a solo travel experience to a destination that holds significant personal meaning to you, whether it's retracing family roots or following the…
- Traveling on a Small BudgetWrite an article aimed at budget travelers by sharing a series of tips and tricks that you learned through personal experience for making the most out…
- The Vacation I RememberReflect on a family vacation from your childhood, describing how the destination looked through your young eyes versus how it feels in your memory…
- A Memorable Train RideWrite a memoir of your most memorable train journey. Include details like the scenery, the people you interacted with, the sounds of the train, and…
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