A Traveler’s Tale

by Kate Donnellan 

The travel writer is a vendor of dreams. It might seem that his primary task is to describe the sound of waves breaking on a beach in some exotic corner of the world, but the real job at hand is to make sure that that surf roars in the imagination of his reader. If he’s good at translating the sounds, sights and (most importantly) the feeling of a faraway place into a momentary reality for someone who has never been there, then he has the basic skills. 

However, other less easily-identified skills are also necessary for success in this highly competitive genre and, frequently, are more elusive and difficult to acquire. One, for example, is learning how to wait calmly and quietly for a good travel story to evolve; better not board the plane with a preconceived idea mapped out ahead of time. Take my word for it, the tale you thought you were going to tell will likely evaporate into thin air. But, with patience, another, better story will find its way to you. 

Allow me to illustrate. Last month, my husband and I were off for a long-needed holiday in relatively-nearby Sri Lanka. Much of Southeast Asia is just a few hours’ flight from where we live in Arabia and this jaunt, as with all my trips, was destined to be for both business and pleasure. I’d done a fair amount of research on the beautiful island nation, formerly known as Ceylon, just off the southern tip of India. So, I felt sure of finding a few good story lines enroute to weave into the requisite historical, demographical details I had at hand. I already had enough about each stop on our flexible itinerary to jump-start a travel feature from any number of angles. The laptop, for essential journal-keeping each evening, was packed and ready to go. 

Serendipity 
(One note in my fact-file was particularly interesting: before taking the name Ceylon, the island had been called Serendib -- the etymological source of the much-in-fashion, too-used, catch-all word serendipity, meaning a pleasant, unexpected surprise -- the significance of which was not lost on me later.) 

Before we left, our excellent travel agent pointed out that for the same, all-inclusive fare, Air Lanka offered a stop-over in the Maldives, a tropical curve of coral islands in the heart of the Indian Ocean. From plenty of previous experience traipsing around the Third World, we knew that Sri Lanka would be wonderful -- but far from restful. We might just want a few days of total relaxation to finish off the trip. I could crawl under a five-star beach umbrella and read a good book. He’d nap. We’d both swim. (“Why not?” We both agreed.) So, we booked a totally unplanned extra leg on the journey to parts completely unknown. 

The interesting thing about traveling without preconceived ideas -- whether you plan to write about your trip or not -- is that the very lack of expectation often paves the way for serendipity. Our only program for the three days in the Maldives was to find a palm tree and crash; yet, as we stepped out of the small airport into a scene Winslow Homer might have painted, I somehow knew these would be the busiest few days of the entire trip. A place of such mythic beauty was surely going to have a tale to tell. 

This is neither the time nor the place to list the glories of these islands but, when we were finally settled in our hotel room facing the beach, there was no lack of sensory material upon which to draw. To begin with, this wasn’t just any beach. This was the definition of beach. Dream beach. Tropical perfection. The problem was getting the facts, “the filler:” population figures, a bit of history, political details, demographics (the stuff of travel features that some readers want and all travel editors seem to insist upon). Maybe even an interesting interview? So, after the first perfect swim in that heart-stopping beautiful sea, I casually strolled down to reception to present my credentials and ask for a little technical assistance. (This, by the way, is the critical moment in the life of a travel feature: luck either chooses to smile or, instead, lead you down Nowhere Lane. It depends very much in whose hands you find yourself.) Was there a Tourist Board? Or some other organization disposed to helping a travel writer not exactly in distress but on the lookout for some basic information? Fortunately, the pleasant young woman at the Front Desk promised to look into it for me. Having put my unborn feature in the hands of fate, I returned to the tree I’d already come to think of as My Palm with that excellent book and a high-factor sunscreen to spend a blissful afternoon. 

When we returned to our room there was a note from reception with three contact names and phone numbers. I began dialing from the top. Mohammed Sim, Secretary-General of MATI, the Maldivian Association of Tourism Industry, was eager and able to help a travel writer who would in turn promote his beautiful product. I explained what I was after, and he immediately came up with an excellent lead, “You must give Ahmed Mujuthaba a call. He was the country’s first minister of Tourism, but now he’s retired from public life and has his own resort. It’s unique -- completely ecological. I’m sure you’ll find him helpful and Ihuru Island very interesting.” Sim had more serendipity in store: his wife, Mariyam Zulfa, was launching a new magazine, Explore Maldives, in September and was badly in need of good free-lance material. “Perhaps you’d like to give her a call?” A few more phone calls and an appointment was fixed with the ex-minister to visit the Ihuru Resort the next day. Delightfully unpretentious, intelligent and completely committed to ecology, Mr. Mujuthaba arrived at lunchtime in a broad-beamed boat and a blowing tropical storm to take us to see his pride and joy, one of the country’s first serious attempts at ecotourism. This man wasn’t just paying lip service to an idea whose time had come. I had my story now, and it would be a good one. 

Happy Endings 
As for happy endings, an abbreviated version of the master feature was sold to Mariyam for the first edition of Explore Maldives, just out this month. Sim asked me to do a small piece on our delightful hotel for another local publication. And if you’re flying Emirates Air in October, look out for "The Maldives: The Good Sense of Ecotourism" under my byline in Emirates Inflight magazine. We haven’t been back yet a month, and it has already sold three times. In an international marketplace, that’s only the tip of the copyright iceberg. Mariyam is also talking about a coffee table book but, of course, I’ll need to make another trip to the Maldives to handle that. How’s that for serendipity? 

   -- KD 
   © 1998 Kate Donnellan