Oliver Smith is an award winning travel journalist based in London. For 10 years he traveled the world working for Lonely Planet Magazine. Today his work can be found in various outlets – FT Weekend, The Times and National Geographic Traveller – he also writes a regular walking column for Waitrose Weekend. Oliver has been named Travel Writer of the Year on four occasions in the UK, and is the recipient of the Lowell Thomas Gold Award for reporting in Outside Magazine in the United States. His first narrative travel book: On a Holy Island: A Modern Pilgrimage Across Britain, sets out to radically reframe our idea of ‘pilgrimage’ in Britain by retracing sacred travel made across time, and was published in March 2024 by Bloomsbury.
How did you get started traveling?
I traveled a fair bit growing up – but the big, landmark moment really comes the first time you travel on your own. The experience is so much richer: everything is heightened. You notice more, you are more approachable, you meet people. When I was in my early twenties I saved up for a budget airline flight to Istanbul, caught few long distance buses and went solo backpacking around the Middle East – that was truly a life-changing journey. I had little money – I hitch-hiked, slept on people’s roofs in Syria and once in a cave in Jordan. I’ll never forget the hospitality people showed me as a clueless young man on that trip. Many of those people will have suffered greatly in the years since then, which makes those memories bittersweet.
How did you get started writing?
I went to journalism school, and was fortunate (by a very roundabout route) to get a retainer at Lonely Planet magazine about 18 months later. This later turned into a full time job. I think there are many routes to being a good writer, but having that working environment where you can learn – with wise and generous editors and a network of fellow writers – was indispensable to me. I owe everything to it.
What do you consider your first “break” as a writer?
I’m not sure! There’s been a number of markers – winning a few awards for my journalism, getting a publisher for my book. But personally I’d be nervous about saying I’ve ‘broken’ it – it’s always an ongoing struggle! Right now I’m promoting On This Holy Island, and hoping its message breaks through. I’ve been very fortunate so far.
As a traveler and fact/story gatherer, what is your biggest challenge on the road?
The most important ingredient for me is voices. Finding the person that speaks for a particular place: whose insight and anecdotes animate a certain location. Many great travel writers can make it work without such encounters – but for me it’s essential. I did an article last year on Chesil Beach for the FT. The piece wasn’t working until, at the 11th hour I found the right interviewee – suddenly everything clicked into position. It felt like finding the right key for a secret, locked room.
What is your biggest challenge in the research and writing process?
Finding an environment where you can fully focus. I recommend a library and I also recommend using web-blocking software like Freedom.
What is your biggest challenge from a business standpoint?
There are multiple travel writers called Oliver Smith.
Have you ever done other work to make ends meet?
I do plenty of content work for corporates, which I enjoy and find fulfilling. It’s a nice counterpoint to travel writing. I wouldn’t want to be doing 100% travel writing non-stop. That would be exhausting.
What travel authors or books might you recommend and/or have influenced you?
When I was a teenager I was off school with chicken pox for some weeks (I got it quite late, and it was quite painful). I was bedbound. Someone brought me a copy of Dark Star Safari to pass the time. There have been many guiding lights, but for me Paul Theroux is possibly the brightest. I also like the AA Gill quote about travel writing:
“My editor asked me what I wanted from journalism and I said the first thing that came into my head–I’d like to interview places. To treat a place as if it were a person, to go and listen to it, ask it questions, observe it the way you would interview a politician or a pop star,”
What advice and/or warnings would you give to someone who is considering going into travel writing?
Read everything. This is how you get better as a writer.
What is the biggest reward of life as a travel writer?
Having a license to nose into other people’s business, even if only for an afternoon!
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