Journal #2

     I believe that Roughing It certainly describes Primeau's idea that Americans have treated the high way as their sacred place, in the pre-interstate times of course. While I was reading Roughing It I noticed that Mark Twain was always excited when he was traveling. The way he described his travels was always in the exciting fashion. If we are going on a true road trip like from Ohio to Florida we are going to have some exciting stories that we are going to tell. We will also have those boring times on the road trip that no one will ever know about though too. Mark Twain told the more interesting stories on his road trip and what he brought. We make a list of things to bring on road trips just like they had to back then so they would not forget anything. It was more important for them not to forget anything because now we can just buy things that we forget depending on the price.

     Mark Twain met people on his road trip in Roughing It just like we will meet other people on our road trips unless you do not like people at all and avoid conversation. The point is that we are going to meet some nice people on the road that we can be ourselves around and have a good time just like Mark Twain did while he was out on the road. We are going to have travelers alongside us to have a conversation with to keep our sanity. They will not be strangers like Mark Twain had to deal with, but there will be people that you can laugh and joke around with. Being yourself is like being in your sacred place only certain people see it and those should be the people you travel with.

     Today an abundance of people get lost in their own thoughts on the highway especially if it is just a long straight road where nobody is around you. I even did it today thinking back to my high school days while traveling home to visit my parents and brother. I was listening to J. Cole as well and he will defiantly get you thinking about life. Traveling is about getting lost in the scenery and having fun while doing it. In Roughing It  Twain does get lost in traveling and tells us all about his experiences with other travelers and him explaining his hardships. We do treat the highway as a sacred place because that is often when we are traveling and get caught up in our thoughts while looking at the scenery. 

travel writing journal #1

Michael Dudics

1/23/15

Ron Scott

Journal #1

Travel Writing

I believe that there are many reasons why we read Herodotus in a travel writing class. One reason is what we discussed in class today. It has to deal with getting more in depth with your writing so that others can actually visualize themselves being in the spot that you were. You want to let other people know what to expect when they travel to the places that you have traveled. If you are not very descriptive with your writing the person might not know what they are getting themselves into.

Another reason why we read about Herodotus is to get an insight on how a great travel writer like Herodotus writes. For rookie travel writers they need to gain an understanding on how to travel write. One of those ways is to read blogs and brochures about the places you want to travel. Once you do travel you can throw your own twist on what you have experienced. The start of travel writing should be reading a professional travel writers blog or articles to get a sense of how to actually write like a travel writer. Herodotus is one of the best travel writers and that is why we read about his experiences.

Herodotus has traveled to many places and experienced many different environments. I think that we read his pieces because it shows that if people want to experience something different and enjoyable they should travel. There are a lot of experiences people are missing out on because they just want to sit at home. Herodotus writes so well that it can get people inspired to go travel and write about their experiences. Of course not all travel experiences will be enjoyable and some may be very hard to experience, but that is why you travel to experience it and gain an understanding of different cultures. If you become knowledgeable about different cultures you can educate everyone else about that culture. Herodotus does a great job describing his experiences and inspiring people to travel and that is another reason why we travel.

One point that we brought up in class was about soft travelers. The travelers that should not go to certain places because they might not be emotionally sound in those certain places. Some of the places that Herodotus traveled to would be places that soft travelers should not go to. If we travel to places and become an experienced travel writer we need to make sure we warn people about places that some people wont be equipped to go to.