Student Worksheet

Travel Writing From Home - Activity Instructions

Look around you - do you think you know every nook and cranny of the space you’re in? Or might you be able to see it from a new angle? The best travel writers bring a scene, a place or a person alive for us. In this activity, you’ll do that too - except you’ll be writing about a place you know very well - your own home.

Part A: Travel Writing... From Your Home

Step 1.

Read the below extract from ‘Another Life in Paris, thanks to Airbnb’ (https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2014/10/03/another-life-paris-thanks-airbnb/14122957881047), which was written from inside a home (and is completely set inside that home).

“It’s summer in the 19th arrondissement and the smell of rotisserie chicken is wafting up from the street below. I’m five plane trips and three oceans from home, and my host has the exact same Ikea blanket that adorns my bed in Melbourne’s inner-east.

'Out here, this is the real Paris,' the housemate tells me over a buttered croissant in the morning. She’s slaving over her psychology thesis on a small wooden desk awkwardly perched in the hallway of the two-bedroom apartment. I suppose she tells me this to shatter some of Woody Allen’s romantic illusion from the night before. But as she talks, I can’t help but notice the ornate crafting and weight of the butter knife in her hand, the stitching of the heavy maroon books that fill her desk, and the way her handwriting has all the controlled curves and flicks of a purposeful love letter.”

Step 2.

What techniques does the author use to bring her scene to life? Look for examples of:

Close attention to detail
Use of the five senses
Description of the outside world and how it affects them inside.

Highlight or underline any of these techniques you notice in the text.

Step 3.

Now read this next article, explaining why now is a great time to try travel writing. Check out some of the examples they mention (including the one excerpted above). https://theconversation.com/great-time-to-try-travel-writing-from-the-home-134664

Part B: Write Your Own!

Step 1.

Choose one of the below prompts to base your own piece of writing on:

A walking tour of your bedroom, pointing out all the important landmarks, sites of significance, ways the locals (you) live
A nature documentary script based on what you can see in your garden, balcony or out the window (you might consider people walking past as animals too)
A description of your home from the perspective of a tiny insect, a neighbour (looking in) or a pet

Step 2.

Investigate the space you will be writing about. Try to view it with new eyes and take notes on smells, sounds and other sensory details for at least 10 minutes.

Step 3.

Write away!

Taking It Further

Share your writing with others! Start a blog or send it to someone you trust. Consider taking some supporting photos and turn your writing into a proper article.

Travel Writing From Home

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