Global Roam ink.™ accepts queries and submissions
for the following departments:

What has travel taught you?
At Global Roam ink. ™, we know that close encounters with far-off lands and foreign ideas expose us to new ways of thinking and being. Even when we don’t set out to learn a thing, travel teaches us about what we hold dear, what we fear and what we hope to be.

Submissions should be 350 words or less and clearly state where your travels took you and what you learned as a result of the trip.

Your first name, last initial and home state will be published with your story. If you want us to publish a link to your Web site, we can do that, but only with your understanding that your anonymity may be diminished.

Submit your story in the body of an email. Emails with unsolicited attachments will not be opened. If your story is accepted, you will be asked to supply a digital photo, something that shows you in the act of travel, or even just a headshot so that we can connect a face with your experience.

There is no payment for Travel Teaches submissions. Global Roam ink. ™ reserves the right to edit or deny any story.

Photo essays that appear in the Eye Spy column feature a series of 7–10 photographs united by a common theme—rush hour in Cairo, scenes of Auschwitz, roller coasters of Japan, street vendors of Honduras, etc. The photographer also provides a roughly
250-word commentary to accompany the shots.

Query and gain our interest before sending massive photo attachments. Unsolicited photo attachments will be deleted. Describe your work in an email or send us a link so we can see examples of your work.

Pictures are right-click protected and the photographer retains copyright.

Global Roam ink.™ will create lesson plans based on accepted photo essays.

Essays that appear in the Been There column are first-person travel essays that share an encounter with a local, an unlikely adventure, a friendship formed on the road, a lesson learned, a personal epiphany, etc. Stories that attempt to sell a particular place or activity will not be accepted.

Articles that appear in the Brave New World column focus on travelers who’ve undergone a transformative experience on the road and felt compelled to act in some way because of it, perhaps by founding a nonprofit organization, raising awareness in some way, collecting funds to provide disaster relief, persuading others to join in a mission trip, writing a book, etc.

Articles that appear in the Border Crossing column tell the personal stories of people living in countries where they were not born. The person-in-question could be a refugee, an immigrant or an ex-patriot and does not need to have done anything miraculous. The process of adjusting to a new culture is key.

Since geography students are one of the site’s target audiences, mention of landscapes, languages, societies, cultures, histories and/or the like are ideal. Because schools are using the site, a certain level of “appropriateness” is called for. Everyone enjoys the well-told bathroom, throw-up or underwear story from the road, just keep it clean—or as clean as possible when writing about vomit.

That said, Global Roam ink.™ is not interested in dumbed-down language, issues or themes. Write for the average adult reader. If a student encounters a new concept (like fair trade) or learns a new vocabulary word (even one in a foreign language), so be it. We’re in the business of creating global citizens.

We’re also in the business of publishing truthful articles and will make every attempt to fact-check stories. Provide source information at the end of each submission.

Word count should hover around 2,000. Submit essays in the body of an email. Emails with unsolicited attachments will not be opened. If your story/article is accepted, you will be asked to supply some digital photos to accompany the essay.

The author retains copyright.

Global Roam ink.™ will create lesson plans based on accepted articles and essays.

Send queries and submissions to info@globalroamink.com. Please write the name of the department about which you are writing in the subject line.