Does the World Really Need Another Travel Blog?
Does the world really need another travel blog?
Ever the pragmatist, I wrestled with this question before making the decision to toss one more set of opinions, especially on coastal travel, out into cyberspace. There are already millions of travel blogs online, some terrific, many run by bloggers who work their tails off and have mastered SEO and social media, and have followings that will probably always be many times larger than I’ll ever have.
All signs point to no. So why bother?
Simply put, because I didn’t see the kind of travel stories I wanted to read. You can find a “10 best things to do in [name the city]” article on hundreds of sites—hell, I’ve even been paid to write them myself. But good travel writing, the kind that requires exploration of an unfamiliar place, that digs past the surface of what you can find on Wikipedia, and that isn’t obsessed with a Hollywood-ized version of adventure and the physical hardship that comes with it, is few and far between in the digital realm. And when you factor in the water, well, the pickings for coastal travel blogs get awfully slim.
I started Once More to the Shore out of the selfish desire for a resource for thoughtfully crafted, personal travel narratives that just happen to focus on waterside destinations. My definition of “coastal travel” is fairly wide, and includes the ocean and sea, lakes and ponds, and rivers. So any place with a substantial body of water is game—which means you’ll be just as likely to find an article about traveling along the Mediterranean in the north of Spain as you will about an under-the-radar Hudson River town.
I also wanted to create a place for “small” travel stories—the kind of diminutive towns and cities, and the decidedly non-famous people who populate them, that major travel magazines rarely deem worthy of the printer ink.
This is partly because one of my great thrills in life is finding some intriguing little “nowhere” town—and I say that lovingly, having lived in such a town for a couple of decades. The other part is because, in the age of climate change and covid-19, the future of tourism depends on a slower, less wasteful, more reflective approach to travel. It’s also a path toward making travel, and travel writing, more inclusive.
When it came to naming the blog, I toyed with a bunch of titles, most search-engine friendly or punny. None of them worked. One day, a friend recommended I read E. B. White’s 1941 travel essay “Once More to the Lake.” Minus a handful of squirmy, now-un-PC references, it’s a beautiful rumination on place and our connection to it, both during and long after we travel. It stuck with me for days after I read it. With the tweak of a word, my blog had a name. Thanks, E. B.
Once More to the Shore is not the kind of coastal travel blog where you’ll find articles that have been search-engine optimized to within an inch of their lives. You won’t find generic city roundups or “best of” posts that repeat what can easily be found in an online search, without ever putting your feet on the ground in a destination. And you have my word that you’ll never, ever find clickbait here. I’m not interested in getting you here, only to make you question why you wasted several minutes of your life reading something irrelevant.
I write for people who love stories and quality writing, love the water, and want an honest, warts-and-all guide to coastal travel. I also write for folks who think travel writing can often be a deadly serious business, and who appreciate a little humor and irreverence.
Because I’m just one person, visiting a new place while dragging along all of my own preferences, opinions, and cultural conditioning, these stories are grounded in my experiences. Yours won’t be exactly the same. But if you’re like me, and you believe that travel isn’t about checking items off a to-do list, I think you’ll enjoy looking around, and learning about places that might not have been on your radar—and might just be your next great day trip or vacation.
