Meagan Drillinger: Wandering Freelance Writer and Travel Weekly Editor

I recently got to hang out with Meagan Drillinger at Mexico’s largest tourism conference and then for a couple days we were both by chance staying at Hotel Makaaba in the Lake Bacalar area at the same time. The odds of that happening were so unfathomably slim that I had to take it as a sign and get her story for this travel writing blog. She’s the Mexico editor at Travel Weekly, a freelance writer, and the woman behind the Drillinjourneys blog.

How did you break into travel writing?

I realized in college that very few subjects actually truly held my interest. At the age of 21, picking a career for “the rest of your life,” as we’re taught to think, is overwhelming. I knew I wanted to do something that I was never going to be tired of. The two things I loved most were writing and travel. I was determined to build a life where I did both of them together, so I only took internships at travel magazines. By the time I graduated college it was 2009 and no one was hiring, but I did manage to score a temp position at a travel trade magazine, which eventually was able to hire me.

What were you writing about at first and how has that changed over the years?

At first I was writing about travel trade subjects. My first internship was at a travel trade magazine, which is where I really cut my teeth in travel writing. I loved learning about the trade side of the business — how retail travel works, travel agencies, the relationship between suppliers and buyers, tour operators, etc. It really helped to lay a foundation. It also helped me understand travel as a business when you see how destinations are marketed as brands.

While I still write for trade publications, over the years I have tried to get back to my roots of traveling. I like to go off the beaten path and disappear into the local landscape. I grew up traveling with my family in peculiar ways — overnight buses from Mexico City to Zihuatanejo, staying in centuries-old convents in the hillsides of Italy, road tripping around Molokai in Hawaii. This is my preferred method of travel, and the experiences I like to write about most. I think it’s important to tell the local story and to help uplift local communities when we visit them, rather than develop other nations’ land and take without giving back.

You’ve gotten your work into some major publications as a freelancer. Any pitching tips for the readers of Travel Writing 2.0?

Try, try, try! Sometimes a good idea is still a good idea no matter how many times it gets rejected. Don’t let a rejection scare you away. Keep coming back. The good editors will tell you why they rejected a pitch and how you can improve upon it. I was rejected about 15 times by Travel + Leisure before they finally accepted a pitch.

My other piece of advice is to have a solid pitch template. Every publication is different, so you will have to tweak your pitches slightly, but on the whole, a solid pitch template that gives a teaser of your idea and tells the editor a bit about you as a traveler and a person can go a long way. And make sure that you show why your pitch is right for this publication, which means staying educated on how that individual publication operates.

As the Mexico editor at Travel Weekly, what’s the difference in writing for a trade publication compared to writing for consumers?

It is often not as drastic as you may think, especially now when the trend is to market experiences. The main difference is my audience for trade is travel advisors. They are looking for the trends, the new hotel openings, destinations that are on the rise, and how to sell them to their clients.

In the end, though, travelers are looking for the same information. They, too, want to know the trends, hot new destinations, and new hotels. As travel has evolved over the last few years to be about moments and experiences, rather than disappearing to a resort for a week or two, so has writing for a trade publication.

What journey you’ve made during these last two challenging years has been the most enriching and memorable for you?

My partner and I did a cross-country road trip in 2021. It took us five months to get from New York to the west coast. We were on an adventure to see the country, but to also find the next place we wanted to call home. Since we both work remotely we could really take our time in driving from coast to coast, and we used the website TrustedHousesitters.com to score free accommodations as we went.

It was an incredible luxury to be able to be gone for so long and spend so much quality time together. I learned so much about what I actually need on a day-to-day basis. I pared down my wardrobe and belongings considerably. We also learned so much about our relationship and how to get along 24/7 in the confines of a car. And it was remarkable to see so much of the United States together. There were times we felt the enormity of this nation, and the world, and how very small we truly are in it.

Meagan Drillinger used to be a New York-based travel writer, until she gave up her permanent address in 2021 to travel full-time. She was once told that if you stick with this gig for 10 years, you’ll see the world. This she can confirm, having traveled everywhere from Sydney to Inner Mongolia, Patagonia to Dubai, and most everywhere in between. Her passion is and always has been Mexico and she has been featured in publications like Lonely Planet, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, and more. She is the Mexico editor for Travel Weekly.