The Argument For Free Time on Press Trips

Fair enough, ultimately. I’m visiting to work, after all, with people paying for me to be there. Those same people therefore have a right to my time and, quite reasonably, want me to see as much of their destination as possible. This might be due to their pride over it. It could be a desire to make sure I have the maximum amount of material for articles. Or it might be to pander to as many stakeholders or friends as possible; something which looks good on reports.

What frequently tends to be lacking in these itineraries is free time. I crave this for two reasons: firstly, because I have weekly jobs such as this very Roxhill column to fulfil, and secondly because it allows me to have more authentic, instinctive experiences.

Ultimately, a travel article involves the writer telling other would-be travellers (i.e. readers) what to expect. As such, the closer that travel writer’s experience can be to the one the reader might potentially have, the better. Given those would-be travellers aren’t going to have dinner with the hotel owner, or visit a wine-maker, new treehouse camp and history museum inside one afternoon, it can quickly become harder to relate my trip to their potential one — meaning that any chance I have for more natural, more feasible exploration becomes invaluable.

I appreciate that free time is a challenge for those arranging press-trip itineraries – less definitely doesn’t feel like more. Leaving big periods of space, or simply allocating longer per activity may seem wasteful, and over-indulgent. It might just make for a much better, much more successful article, though.