Great Escape Publishing

Posted October 20th, 2010 by The Photographer's Life & filed under Travel Photography.

When I think of travel companions, I remember my friend Tamara. We lived together in Paris in 1996 and traveled to more than half a dozen countries together on weekends and during breaks in our work and class schedules. Tamara was a great roommate but a horrible travel companion. She never wanted to get out of bed before 9:00… She always took one to two hours to get ready after that… She insisted on eating “breakfast food” when she finally stepped outside even though everyone else was ready to move on to lunch… And if she ever wanted to lag behind and stay a few extra hours somewhere, she’d set a meeting time with the rest of us and then show up an hour or two late. I don’t know why you’re so surprised, my friends would say. She’s exactly the same way at home. And she’s the last person most people would pick to travel with. But I liked her. And (most of the time) I enjoyed traveling with her despite her quirks. It meant I always got to sleep in, after all. And she had a knack for finding cool things to do and striking up conversations with the most interesting people that led to even more cool things to do. So I put up with the idiosyncrasies. I was reminded of Tamara the other day when I came across this video online: When elephants retire, they’re shipped to a natural-habitat elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. Typically, the elephant finds a friend and spends the rest of its life with that friend in the sanctuary. But in this report, Tarra, the elephant, befriended a dog instead of another elephant and now the two are inseparable. Do you have a favorite or unlikely travel companion? Do you prefer to travel alone or with a friend or colleague over a family member or spouse? Or is your spouse or sister your best bud for traveling? Answer a quick survey here and let’s see if we can detect a trend in the way you like to travel: Click here to take the survey. On Friday, based on the survey results, I’ll feature some publications looking to buy articles and/or photos from travelers in different groups — single travelers, girlfriend-getaway travelers, couples travelers, and more. Stay tuned. –Lori Lori Allen Director, Great Escape Publishing [Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel. Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]