Adventure Travel Writer and TV Personality Jennifer Broome

I caught up with Jennifer Broome at the SATW convention in Bogota, just as she came off an honorable mention as the “Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year” there. See her full bio at the bottom, but she’s a former TV meteorologist, blogger, adventure travel freelancer, and TV host, appearing in more than 50 TV markets.

How did you transition from being a local TV personality giving weather info to travel blogging and writing?

I was realizing that I was basically working to travel so I started a blog while I was still working full-time as a television meteorologist in Houston and it just kind of went from there. In 2016 my brother passed away, my only sibling. I made a promise to him right after he passed that I would not stay in a job or a relationship if I was not 100% happy.

I was hosting a television show in Houston and just with, you know, the personal things that were going on, I realized I wasn’t happy and I needed to go and find my joy and find what that life is supposed to be. To live not only for myself, but live for my brother, because in the last 18 months of his life he couldn’t live.

For himself and myself I decided at that point I was going to go 100% freelance, also partly to be able to take care of my mother in the last years of her life and be able to quickly get back and forth to South Carolina (where I grew up and where she lived) as needed.

Ironically, I left Houston just as Hurricane Harvey was hitting, and it was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done because being a meteorologist, it feels like being a public servant. But as I was driving out and going through the evacuation lanes, I realized, “If I don’t do this now, I will not ever change my life. It was such a pivotal point.

I can picture the movie version. So where did you end up after that?

I moved to Colorado, but then as soon as I got there, I went on a 3000-mile road trip. Getting back in touch with myself on the open road by myself, I went to places like Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks and started really feeling strongly that this is what I’m supposed to do, who I’m supposed to be. I’m supposed to be doing and telling the stories, whether it be through an article or pictures or video, live segments, social media, whatever way I can get the stories out. Sharing my journey and all the things I learn along the way.

Do you consider yourself a specialist in any area or is there something you do more articles about than other things?

I do everything from a three-mile hike to trekking to Everest Basecamp, so some things are not so approachable, but I’m more about the outdoor adventure and also the impact of our actions on nature. The weather background can sometimes play into that, so I do a lot of reporting on climate and sustainability and sustainable tourism. Those are kind of my niche areas.

I really love sharing info about the national parks and I’m on a quest to go to all 423 U.S. national park sites. I enjoy going to those areas that people don’t visit so much, the smaller spots where sometimes I feel like they’re completely off the radar. That’s often where you learn the most about history and culture.

I’m also really good about going into a destination and showing how do you get the most from a destination in 48 to 72 hours because a lot of people do not have the ability to go and travel extensively for longer than that. Try to go for a week, sure, but if you only have a few days, how do you go fast and furious to really make the most of the place you’ve landed in that time?

Besides your own blog Do you have steady gigs anywhere that you are contributing to on a regular basis?

I write for a few AAA publications including the large national one, AAA Colorado, and a few other regionals as well. But I was really happy after the pandemic when AAA national came back. It was a sign that, “OK, We’re going to start traveling again!”

I do videos for Local Now, which is a streaming service division of The Weather Channel. Those segments are a little bit longer than the minute to 1:10-minute time that you might get in a newscast. So it’s a little bit more fun for me to have that opportunity to do a piece that might run three minutes or five minutes, maybe longer if it is warranted. I can share four to five things to do in a destination.

What advice do you have about getting rehired by an editor, getting multiple assignments instead of one-offs?

I honestly just went through this with Matador network. I’d written for them for a while and then they had an editor change and, you know how that goes. Since it was a new person who had never heard of me, I was just getting crickets. Then out of the blue I got an email asking, “Can you write an article about Colorado state parks?” I guess they finally realized I lived there.

I said yes of course and then went above and beyond on everything, including phoning the Colorado state parks office to get more info, securing photos, providing assets and links for them, everything I could to make their job easier. I was also adamant with myself that I would turn this in before the deadline.

Whether it’s writing or digital or videos, always over-produce for your editor. Give them a little bit more than they asked for. And even if you’re only 24 hours ahead of the deadline, that’s still being ahead of the deadline, plus it gives you a cushion so you’re not slammed at the 11th hour and scrambling.

What is something you’ve worked on lately where you were really proud of how it came out?

I was taking my best friend’s 18-year-old son to Moab for the first time and we hiked in Arches National Park and we got a permit to do Fiery Furnace. And in Fiery Furnace, there’s sort of a trail. But not really. You’re supposed to be following these tiny little arrows.

I was filming video the whole time and we had moments where we got completely turned around. It’s like you’re standing there and there are canyon walls all around you and you have, at least five different ways you can go. That problem-solving evolved in the video. It wasn’t intentional of course; I was just documenting, but it turned out to be one of the most special moments, personally. It was seeing a place that I love through not only just new eyes, but seeing it through an 18-year-old’s eyes and watching that young man put away his electronics and everything.

He was so engrossed in the hiking and the experience and then going down these different canyons on a rudimentary trail, finding hidden arches. We did it all in January, at a time when there aren’t a lot of people in in Moab, one of the best times to go.

The most memorable live segment was my attempt to broadcast from Everest Base Camp in Nepal, for a segment that would air at 5:25 in the morning in the USA on the Weather Channel. I had terrible altitude sickness, I was exhausted, it started snowing, and we were up against a time limit to get lower on the mountain before darkness hit.

I don’t know how it came together, but it did. Just being in that moment and accomplishing something personally, even though I was only halfway done with the trek, that will be one I will never forget.

Any packing tips, based on your experience?

A lot of the work is in the prep: I got through a process I call “the layout.” You lay everything out and fold everything. You start a pile of “maybes,” and if there’s room, those maybes go. And then you leave everything folded and you really go, “OK, what do I have too much of and what’s really essential? Then there’s the packing phase of putting everything in and you ditch what doesn’t fit and isn’t essential.

So I actually do a lot on the front end to make it much easier, which includes figuring out which items in neutral colors I can pack. I am often a solo female traveler, so I don’t want to stick out more than I already do naturally. And of course not packing anything that I’m only going to wear one time. Plus for me, packing cubes are a lifesaver.

Jennifer Broome is a freelance multimedia travel and environmental journalist for broadcast, digital, and print outlets including The Weather Channel, AAA, Local Now, The List TV Show, Matador Network, and multiple television stations in the top 50 markets. She has 28 years of experience as a television meteorologist. She is an on-camera travel and outdoors expert, host, and reporter. She’s also a content creator, blogger, and speaker.

Based in Denver, Colorado, she has traveled to all 50 U.S. states, 2 U.S. territories, 125+ U.S. National Park Service sites (including 32 national parks), and more than 40 countries. She was awarded an honorable mention for the 2022 Thomas Lowell Travel Journalist of the Year, which is the most prestigious travel journalism award in North America. See her work on Instagram, Tik-tok, and YouTube.