Want To Write Trip Reports? Here Are 9 Tips

These are all great points - I especially think #8 is the biggest one. Once you start procrastinating, it becomes increasingly harder and harder to get around to writing things (especially if you start traveling AGAIN somewhere else....)

Hey Ben I've written the odd trip report myself and yes, it's incredibly time consuming.
I assume after years of doing it you've become more efficient at it? Ie you wouldn't need to delete or edit so many photos because you'd know how to take the ones you want?
How long does it take you to write a trip report for a normal flight?

WordPress resizes the photos for me so they appear nicely on my blog...is that just me?

I guess the most important thing is to develop your own style. I used to copy section for section off your blog and replace everything with my own words, people can just come here to read that and that makes me a wannabe. Now that I'm writing whatever I want to every time I actually get views.

Don't procrastinate? Where are your ANA biz and first class reports you published previews for (and promising full reports later) from a month and a half or so ago?

@ Bennett -- I'm not perfect. 😉 I was providing tips based on my experience. That's exactly the problem with that trip report -- I didn't resize the pictures right away, so now first have to do that, then have to write the actual report. But I'll cut myself some slack, because overall I'm happy with the pace at which I've been getting out reports this year.

@ Alvin -- Great points, and you're right about resizing. That's something that takes just minutes. I do it out of habit, though in theory it's not even necessary. It's the editing that's time consuming.

@ Ben -- I've gotten really fast at the actual process of writing trip reports. I'd say a 3,000-4,000 word trip report about a single segment takes me maybe 90 minutes to write, proofread, etc. Then it probably takes another hour to pick out pictures, edit them, etc. I actually take more pictures nowadays than ever before, since I always want to be able to pick out the best ones. So while I might include 60-80 pictures in an actual trip report installment, I usually take 300+ pictures.

Actually, can you tell us how you edit your photos? I think that's the most important part. I don't edit my photos, and I guess that's what makes them look badly composed compared to yours.

I have a hard time pictures of the cart. Even when it stops at my seat, it's just so awkward.

ALL OF THIS. But #7, this works in your favor often. If the crew thinks you're inexperienced, they are often a lot nicer and they are flattered by your excitement.

Great post, Ben — thanks!

In line with comment 8, when will you stop procrastinating and post the trip reviews of Ford's birthday trip. There were a lot of "10 photos of X" but no reviews since. As you're not travelling some overdue trip reviews would be welcome.

Ignore the haters and whiners and include the reviews of the Amans.

I think deciding on your focus is important too. Obviously for this blog you're writing about the flights and hotels. Personally I almost never take any pictures on the plane or of the hotel room. I focus on the destination and what I did and saw. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other. I also typically will talk (probably to much) about the planning process, flight booking, how many times the airline changed things on me, etc.

I'd expand a bit on #2 by saying "know your audience", particularly in terms of the level of detail you include in your report, and particularly if you're posting on someone else's blog or on a public board. I like Ben's level of detail, and since it's his blog he can select the format and detail he wants.

OTOH, if you're posting over on airliners.net (I've posted a few over there), it's common to includea LOT more detail, particularly about the more..."mechanical" aspects of a flight. Tail numbers, which livery the plane was in (if an airline has more than one, particularly if they're in transition), specifics about the taxiways and runways used and the course flown (it's not uncommon to see waypoints noted), and so on (and sometimes on...and on...and on...)

It also depends on whether you want more of a "report" or a "review". I usually like to write more about the unusual, funny, and just plain strange things and people I encounter, and not as much about the onboard service, particularly the food. But I'm usually in coach, so there's less onboard service and food to write about.

Then there's the question of whether the reviewer wants a more of an educational role for the review, the "how I do it" aspect. Ben provides quite a bit of detail on how he books the flights and hotels, which makes sense and works into the "mission" of the site in that he concentrates on earning and using miles as effectively as possible and, more recently, has been really focused on using a variety of airlines, which means he has a lot of good information to share. My flights were (and still are) mostly domestic, mainly with cash, and so the booking usually amounts to "I went to Kayak and found the cheapest fare that didn't include a ridiculous layover or flying on Southwest." (I have a - largely irrational, I'll admit - disdain for Southwest.)

On pictures, hitting the right balance can be a challenge. I've seen reports over on a.net where there can be a dozen or more (not an exaggeration) virtually identical pictures taken out of the window in a manner of a minute or so. This gets dull. But I'm usually in an aisle seat, so window photography is usually not possible for me, and being in coach means it's harder to take pictures of the food, IFE, and such without people looking at you strangely. (I've done it, but not nearly as much as Ben.)

And if I could add a #10, it'd be "take criticism with a grain, or more, of salt." Sometimes you'll get great feedback, with lots of helpful suggestions. But a lot of the time, especially if you have your own blog, you'll get a lot of comments that amount to "you suck". Or show that readers just aren't understanding your viewpoint and goals in writing.

Totally agree! Here's my first trip report that I wrote, and all those nine points resonate. It is the sense of satisfaction that makes it all worth the effort!

https://hightechflight.com/2016/05/05/review-singapore-airlines-first-class-singapore-moscow-houston/

Thanks for the tips - will definitely do that on our blog (we're newbies so every little bit of new info helps) 🙂

Well done, Ben. When I left my earlier and admittedly, snarky, post about procrastinating, I never thought it would see the light of day after I saw that it was being reviewed before being posted. But it was indeed posted and you didn't shy away from responding to it. Kudos! Looking forward to the reviews (and yes, I agree, your reviews are generally posted with light speed) as I have been accumulating points and lusting after ANA international award travel in first and business.

I, too, would love to read of the boys' experiences with ANA and the Amans.

All good points and although I'm in a completely different business, I write a lot of trip reports about wine and one thing that helps me with time management is drafting a shell of my report on my laptop prior to the trip. While actually doing wine evaluations, I take notes in a small bound blank book, about the size of an iPhone and like you, they are in code. The code is easier to hand write than to type on a phone. I fill in the report every night in the hotel or on trains, etc as it develops.

Another practice that has saved me is having excellent organizational skills. There is a lot of data in my work and everything needs to be super organized and this also saves time. I am so thankful for iCloud and the ability to retrieve and back up my work without the risk of losing everything in the event of theft or computer breakdown. All this gets easier every trip thanks to technology. Thanks Lucky!

Great post and I couldn't agree more about taking notes. Too many times have we found that we have tons of great photos but struggle to remember the "fun" point about the experience to put into a good trip report that keeps it entertaining.

Could've used these tips BEFORE my Maldives trip back in April 😉
Time consuming indeed. And I'm a procrastinator, so I'm only up to Abu Dhabi. I've forgotten a ton, and there were times I took fewer pictures than necessary to avoid stares or confrontations.
But I only do the blog for self-reference and interested friends/family.

All of your points are valid 100%, and I would add two things:

1. SAVE YOUR WORK. It doesn't matter how, having it saved somewhere is way better than the soul-crushing feeling of losing thousands of words, and those that make this mistake never do it again. (I learned this the hard way)

2. Use an app like FlightTrack 5 for iPhone to keep track of the details, so that if you procrastinate, couldn't get reg, forgot flight time, etc. you can take the hassle out of getting this info. It will make your life 100X easier, trust me on this one!

Nice post, I have written a few TRs on Flyertalk and enjoyed doing that, more as a way to remember some nice details of the trip than actually sharing it with others.
The only downside to me isn’t the time it takes, it’s the fact that I’m not just enjoying the flight/hotel/lounge but keep taking notes or pictures of everything.

Thanks, Lucky. These are very useful tips for newbies like me! And I love the teasers!

Great post, Ben.

What do you use to edit and resize your pictures?

Can this all be done on an iPad any way?

#10 - Don't worry about the commenters that feel free to criticize your reports when they haven't invested the equivalent of 100's of hours worth of work in the photo, preparation, linking and posting of what you have written. It's one of the worst parts of the internet that people can fling unjustified criticism then not stick around to participate in the discussion.

I find it so difficult to get photos without people getting weirded out. I recently had an FA come to my seat and ask me to delete all my photos.

I'd rather have people's permission (even though in many cases it's not required) than have to be stealthy and sneaky.

So far, what works best is acting like a total newb who's all about taking pics of everything (hard to do this as I age out of the Instagram demographic) but I haven't found a better way yet.

Time consuming to edit the photos is my biggest issue. I laugh when readers say "I didn't realize what I'm missing in the lobby experience from your report" In my former role as Corporate Travel Manager/Buyer involved, I had to be extremely picky to add to our preferred list for clients/staff and even now I leave engineering notes in hotels. I treat each part of the trip (air,hotel, tours, activities) with that level of detail to help my clients plan their trips.

On my last flight BA First and Concorde Room it helped that it was Moms first trip to Europe as I was taking a ton of photos everywhere without a problem to document her trip (and my blog)!

I appreciate the detail you include to set expectations as well as your readers comments to add context to their experiences as we all share to have a fantastic memory of our travels.

Gonna use these tips for my Trip Around the World 2017 report! Flying Etihad Apartment and SQ Suites Double Bed with the wifey!!

@bilal really? Save your work? What is this? 1995 and the disk drive is a novel concept? I think most people know to "save" their files. But I will say that Ben seems pretty technologically chslleneged. I don't he uses any type of cloud backup.

Perhaps a slight variation on item 2, is finding an original take on subject matter that's been covered to bits. Every experience is of course subjective, but making the write-up interesting, descriptive and compelling while also giving the audience something new to chew-over is a formula that takes time to decipher.

And without wanting to sound like a sycophant, people come here for a reason. Whether its going outside your norm to travel on obscure airlines for review purposes, or in the outlandishly creative routings you fly, it has plenty to do with the fact that you keep the content interesting, so well done.

SUCH great points, Ben! The procrastination issue is real. I've got enough material for probably 50 different reviews and tons of trip reports and unfortunately, I just can't bring myself to do them. Thinking about it is quite daunting. I applaud you for providing such detailed reports so regularly!