InsideOut Travel—Tom Swick

by Kelly Westhoff

Thomas Swick had used up his passport. Every page was filled with colorful stamps and exotic-looking visas; there wasn’t space for one more border crossing technicality. It was time to send in for a new little navy blue book. But how did he fill up all those pages in the first place? Well, it was his job.

Swick is the travel editor for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a daily newspaper in the greater Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton area. He has held his post for 16 years. As travel editor, Swick has been to Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, Turkey, Romania, Trinidad, Cuba, and the list goes on. But before he was a travel editor, Swick was an expat. He spent extended periods of time in England, France and Greece; plus, he lived in Poland for two and a half years and worked as an English teacher.

	A TRAVELER'S LIFE
	Tom Swick: Expat Turned Travel Editor
	by Kelly Westhoff Thomas Swick had used up his passport. Every page was filled with colorful stamps and exotic-looking visas; there wasn’t space for one more border crossing technicality. It was time to send in for a new little navy blue book. But how did he fill up all those pages in the first place? Well, it was his job. Swick is the travel editor for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a daily newspaper in the greater Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton area. He has held his post for 16 years. As travel editor, Swick has been to Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, Turkey, Romania, Trinidad, Cuba, and the list goes on. But before he was a travel editor, Swick was an expat. He spent extended periods of time in England, France and Greece; plus, he lived in Poland for two and a half years and worked as an English teacher.				Swick is the author of “Unquiet Days: At Home in Poland” and “A Way to See the World: From Texas to Transylvania with a Maverick Traveler.” His essays have been published in Travel & Leisure, National Geographic Traveler and several editions of the “Best American Travel Writing.” "...I saw lots of backpackers. In some ways, I envied them because they were usually in pairs and I was alone. But at the same time ... I sometimes suspected they weren’t getting a real experience." What credentials does someone need in order to become a travel editor for a newspaper? There are four specialty sections in a newspaper: food, fashion, home and garden, and travel. If you think about it, three of them, with the exception of travel, all require some specialized knowledge. Even fashion – there is a vocabulary you have to know to write about fashion. But for travel, lots of editors think, there isn’t really a body of knowledge you need. I think this is quite a bit of a misconception. more >> << home << discuss article >>
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A TRAVELER'S LIFE

Tom Swick: Expat Turned Travel Editor

by Kelly Westhoff