I don’t write very often about the actual work I do for Global Traveler because, quite frankly, I doubt many people would find it very interesting. I telecommute, working thousands of miles from my coworkers, and I’ve actually visited only a small number of the fascinating places written about in the pages of our magazine. I truly enjoy my work (who wouldn’t love reading about all the amazing places we cover?!), but when folks ask what I do for a living and I tell them I am a proofreader, usually their eyes begin to glaze over and I imagine them thinking, “Oh, how boring, nitpicking all day about where a comma should go!”

Believe me, there are times when I wish I could wow someone with an exciting and unusual job description. Just the other day I was listening to an interview on NPR with a young woman who, as a graduate student, worked as a “date” booker for a high-end call-girl agency. Now there’s a person who I am sure provides plenty of stimulating conversation at parties! Conversely, her work might be an awkward topic around the family table at Thanksgiving; my profession might be terribly mundane, but it isn’t likely to cause Grandma to choke on her turkey!

However, my purpose goes beyond merely making sure punctuation is properly used, the right words are capped, spelling is correct and the rules of grammar are observed. I fact check and keep an eye out for inconsistencies and style issues. These are things which editor in chief Lisa Matte and associate editor Jan Hecht watch out for, too, and periodically we put our heads together and hash out a solution or answer to some issue which crops up as we’re reviewing an article. If you’re not asleep yet, let me give you an example.

Several pieces in each issue provide contact information for hotels, restaurants and places of interest in destinations all over the world. Whenever possible, we provide addresses, phone numbers and website addresses so that our readers might be able to visit those locations, or at least easily get further information about them, on their own. The question arose the other day as to what form we should use to present an address. For instance, in some cultures, street numbers follow the street name rather than preceding it, as we are used to here in the United States. Should we “Americanize” the address for the majority of our readers or present it in the form typical of the country of its origin? Should we use abbreviations and spellings familiar to English-speakers or use the form in the original language?

Such questions may appear to be so much dithering over unimportant details, but let me assure you that the editorial staff at GT seriously consider that our readers are real people who will use the information we provide to help them make travel plans and visit the places written about in the magazine. Our decisions usually are made against this final arbiter: What will make the most sense and be most useful to someone in a different culture who doesn’t speak the local language?

In this particular case, we imagined travelers jotting down the address of a fabulous restaurant that had been praised on our pages, eager to try the unique cuisine offered there. It might be on their first night in a city completely new to them, and they might not be able to speak the local language. Hungry, tired but excited to step out in this fascinating destination, they hail a cab and hand over the name and address of the eatery to the driver. What will make the most sense to HIM, the one responsible for getting his passengers to their destination? An “Americanized” version of an address, or a form familiar to him and used throughout his city or country? Voila! The answer is clear, yes?

It’s the attention to those little, seemingly inconsequential yet important details that I believe helps make Global Traveler an excellent, reliable source for the business and leisure traveler. And, while it ain’t very glamourous, I’m proud to do my part!

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader

This month’s issue of Global Traveler has a wonderful article on London, with plenty of great suggestions on what to see and where to stay and dine. I shared the piece with daughter Jenny, as she and her fellow students would be spending a month in the area during their study abroad experience. Our family had actually stayed in London for several days a number of years ago when Jenny’s big sister was studying in England, so she had already had the opportunity to experience some of that delightful city’s offerings. We visited St. Paul’s, the British Museum and the National Gallery, shopped at Harrods and took in a play in the West End. There was not enough time to see everything we wished, so Jenny has been looking forward to getting back to London.

 In just the last two weeks on daytrips in to the city, she has toured the Tower of London (and has decided the jewels alone would make it worth being Queen of England), spent some time in the museums, visited Harrods (again!) and thoroughly enjoyed a production of Sister Act: The Musical at the Palladium Theatre. That is not all she’s taken in, though. No, as a nursing student, Jenny has also visited some lesser-known attractions in London that have been, at the very least, eye-opening.

First stop was the Hunterian Museum, located at the Royal College of Surgeons. John Hunter, an 18th-century surgeon, collected and preserved thousands of specimens of plants and animals (and assorted human body parts) in order to better understand anatomy and improve medical treatment and surgical techniques. His original collection was purchased by the government in 1799, given to the Royal College and grew exponentially over the decades. Even though a large portion of the collection was lost during the bombing of London during World War II, Jenny was amazed at the number and variety of items on display.

They then proceeded to the Old Operating Theatre, dating back to the 1820s and the oldest in all of Europe. It’s actually located in the attic space of a church which adjoined St. Thomas’s Hospital — convenient, I guess, whether the surgery was successful or not. Actually, a large skylight just above the operating table provided good light, and the gallery gave apothecaries and physicians-in-training the opportunity to observe and learn. This was, of course, in the days before anaesthesia was available (except for opium and alcohol, that is), so speed was important. Jenny’s group saw a demonstration of how an amputation might be done, including the knives and other instruments used. Her one-word assessment: “Gross!” Usually, these modern nurses-to-be would also visit the Florence Nightingale Museum, also located at St. Thomas’s, but it is closed right now for updating.

Just this past Wednesday the group took in a little more medical history when they visited St. Mary’s Hospital and the lab where Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. Fleming had been working with staph bacteria before he’d left on a two-week holiday. On his return, he was clearing away Petri dishes that had become contaminated with mold and happened to notice that the bacteria in those dishes seemed to have been killed by the mold. Jenny found this quite instructive and deduced a few nuggets to live by: Taking a break from work can be good for you in unexpected ways, and perfection in housekeeping could be detrimental, also in unexpected ways. (I would say that when she was a teenager in our house, she had already embraced that last philosophy!)

It just goes to show that there are always fascinating places to see and new things to learn that are often off the beaten track from the usual tourist destinations in the cities we visit. Follow your own interests and inclinations, grab a map or Google a bit and create your own personalized tour.

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader

Earlier this week, my favorite publisher, Fran Gallagher, discussed Hawaii’s questionable marketing strategies. It is a bit surprising that marketing for something as important and big as Hawaii would be so misguided, but I have seen many inept plans on a smaller scale.

When I worked at (the now defunct) Lerner Newspapers, one of my responsibilities was the distribution of Visitor Guides for certain areas. These guides were jointly produced by Lerner and various Chambers of Commerce or Tourism/Visitors Bureaus.

I would think these guides were meant to attract others to these areas. Instead, most times, The Powers That Be felt the guides should be distributed only in the areas covered. This certainly made distribution easier and quicker, but I doubt it did anything for the economy of the area. Ironically, The Powers That Be would often complain afterward that they didn’t receive any response from the guides, nor did they see any spike in tourism.

Another failed project involved a shopper publication. The newspaper consisted entirely of ads for local stores, many including coupons. I was shocked to learn that The Powers That Be wanted the entire run of the publication to be delivered to local businesses. After a few minutes of this pointless exercise, the project was abandoned based on the lack of consumer response.

How does this happen? I understand there are knuckleheads in every walk of life, but why didn’t someone see the silliness in these two examples?

Of course, on their resumes and in their minds, these projects were probably classified as successes. They probably bragged about their brilliance in promotion and marketing. They might even have parlayed these experiences into better jobs, like maybe at the Hawaiian Visitors Bureau.

– John Wroblewski, distribution specialist

Yesterday afternoon, the Global Traveler editorial staff completed work on the January 2010 issue of the magazine. As usual, it was a fast and furious push to get the final approved files to the printer by deadline. That is not to say that we aren’t well organized, but it is the nature of the business that there may be last-minute changes to the layout due to the purchase of additional ad space and late-breaking news that requires changes to content. Generally, too, the editor’s and publisher’s letters are written close to deadline to allow for timely commentary.

Allow me to draw aside the veil on producing an issue of Global Traveler, from my somewhat limited perspective:

Sometime in early fall, editor in chief Lisa Matte produces the editorial calendar for the coming year. It outlines the proposed major features and destination articles, aiming to provide an interesting mix of subjects from around the world relevant to our readers. Nothing is set in stone, however, to accomodate events which may affect travelers. For example, late in November of 2008 Mumbai suffered attacks by terrorists on sites frequented by foreign visitors. Six weeks later, contributing writer Patrick Adams was in Mumbai, and his article in the February 2009 issue of Global Traveler described the city’s reaction to and recovery from the assault.

While Lisa and associate editor Jan Hecht may receive the raw text for articles well in advance of the deadline for the issue in which they will appear, most of the work on an issue occurs within the four weeks prior to the “files to printer” date. Plying their red pens, they address length and formatting issues, edit for clarity and focus and confirm facts and details. The text then passes on to art director Tracey Cullen, who fits the words and accompanying photos and graphics into the allotted space for each piece. Often, if the writer has not done so,  she must chase down images for obscure places and activities. I don’t pretend to know how she works her magic, but I am always impressed with the results!

Generally, Lisa or Jan look over the first pdf of the proposed article before it is presented to me. I then do my grammar-teacher bit on punctuation, spelling and sentence structure as well as checking for consistency in style and format (bold this, italicize that) and confirming facts, web addresses and the like. I send my list of edits to Tracey, and she then sends back an amended pdf reflecting those changes. We continue that dance until I send a final “No correx” message, and Lisa gives her final seal of approval for release to the printer. 

Most of this occurs via email, as each of us lives in a different city (and I live in an entirely different time zone). Although it may sound quite dry and isolated, we actually have established a very lively communication. While we debate style issues and confer on editorial content, we also share personal anecdotes and the occasional silly photo from our pasts. It makes for a friendly, fun and intellectually interesting working relationship that I very much treasure.

I will enjoy a bit of a lull now (and hopefully my co-workers will, too) before work begins on our February issue. I’ll spend the next week catching up on my Christmas to-do list, but I look forward to reading the next batch of articles coming my way — and yours –  soon!

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader 

Have you seen the trailers for the new movie, Up in the Air? This film, currently in limited release and opening nationwide on Christmas Day, looks like a movie for frequent business travelers like all of you! And the movie is attracting serious awards buzz, so I think it’s safe to say the life of business travelers is a hot topic.

George Clooney stars as an executive sent around the nation to terminate employees at other companies. He spends his life up in the air, at some 300-plus days on the road. Traveling is home to Clooney’s character. As his company shifts to more teleconferencing, panic sets in.

I only caught a brief clip, in which Clooney is training a young new employee. He is giving her pointers on how to choose the best, fastest security line. The tips rang true to me as I also have my own tricks for navigating the airport. I think many more parts of the movie will ring true for business travelers.

So, if you are looking for something to do over the holidays, perhaps this film is worth checking out. If you have seen it during its limited release, let us know how it is!

Click here to participate in the American Airlines/Up in the Air sweepstakes.

– Kimberly Krol, eFlyer editor, circulation and public relations executive