Ever feel like you’re scrolling past the same shots of Santorini sunsets, Icelandic waterfalls, and Moroccan doorways—over and over again. Travel, once a gateway to discovery, can start to feel like déjà vu – especially in the age of Insta-everything. Every place has been geo-tagged, filtered, and narrated a thousand times. Every ‘hidden gem’ is shared, every ‘off-the-beaten-track’ destination posted online.
As a travel writer, you might wonder: What’s left to say?
The answer is everything— that’s if you’re chasing wonder, not likes.
Here’s how to rediscover curiosity in a world where it seems like every story has already been told.
First of all, remember: no one sees what you see. Yes, Paris has been written about. A lot. But no one else will see the same girl singing on the Métro, or taste the same croissant after missing a train, or even feel the same sense of wonder when they stand before Monet’s water lilies.
You bring you to the page—and that matters more than location.
TRY THIS: Instead of asking, What’s special about this place?, ask:
What surprised me here? What did I expect—and what actually happened?
Secondly, it’s a good idea to wander without a goal. Guidebooks and Google Maps can shrink a destination to a checklist of must-sees, must-dos – curated for you by someone else. Wonder doesn’t live on checklists.
Let yourself get a little lost. Sit somewhere without an agenda. Put away your phone. Ask directions instead. Follow a street musician. Talk to a street vendor. Take the long way on purpose.
Curiosity doesn’t require coordinates.
TRY THIS: For one afternoon, don’t look up anything. Just wander. Take notes on what you notice, not what you’re “supposed” to see.
Thirdly, shift your perspective. Focus small, not big.
The grand monuments have been photographed endlessly. But what about the way a city smells in the rain? The tiny, broken shrine hidden under a futuristic motorway bridge?The way a waitress folds your receipt like origami? Perhaps you saw an Argentinian couple dancing the tango in a starlit square in Sicily, or you were drawn into a local street festival no longer just observing. Or you sat with a couple of old fishermen on a harbour side and listened to their stories of what life was like on the island thirty years ago yet how they still love what they do.
Details are where wonder hides.
Good travel writing isn’t about scale—it’s about specificity.
That shift in perspective, in seeing outside of yourself is key. Try travel through a different lens.
Every traveller carries invisible baggage: expectations, stereotypes, desires. To shake them off, try looking with fresh eyes. For example, write a story from the perspective of a child. Or the history of a single building. Or your past self—who had never been here before.
Shifting perspective reinvigorates observation.
Travel is not about the distance covered. Go deeper, not farther.
You don’t need to fly across the world to feel wonder. Sometimes, the most powerful stories come from staying in one place long enough to notice. Visit the same café every day. Learn one word of the local language and try using it over and over, learn another, and another – until you’re holding conversations. Ask a shopkeeper about their life. Help a stranger on the street. Wonder blooms from intimacy, not novelty. That open-hearted connection will reveal more of a place and its people to you.
Try not to write with an agenda. Where possible, write for discovery, not validation.
It’s tempting to chase clicks and algorithms. But wonder doesn’t come from writing what you think people want to read—it comes from chasing what you want to understand.
When you write to explore, your readers come along for the ride. Authentic curiosity is contagious.
One last thing to bear in mind – wonder is a practice.
In a world oversaturated with content, wonder is radical. It asks us to slow down, to look again, to care more deeply.
You don’t need a new destination to be a better travel writer—you need a new way of looking.
So go on. Turn your phone off. Pick up your pen. Step outside.
And discover the wonder that’s been waiting all along.
Over to You
What resonated with you from today’s post? Have you struggled with finding wonder and curiosity to fuel your writing? I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions, or your own travel writing experiences.
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Keep exploring, keep writing—your next story is just around the corner. Thanks for coming on the journey with me!
Laura McVeigh is an international bestselling author and travel writer. She has authored books for Lonely Planet, DK Eyewitness Travel and leading publications. Her work has been featured by Newsweek, BBC, Traveller Magazine, New Internationalist and many more. Her writing has been translated worldwide. She is Founder of Travel-Writing.Com – Helping aspiring travel writers build careers they love, and Publisher of Green Travel Guides – www.greentravelguides.world . She also loves to write about the art of storytelling and writing with purpose.
Learn more about Laura’s writing at lauramcveigh.com / lauramcveightravel.com