My name is Bonnie McKenna. I grew up in California. I am now in Texas, and as the saying goes, “I got here as fast as I could.” I have been traveling all my life, as a child, the entire summer was spent on ‘road trips’ traveling around the western United States. As a young adult, I was selected as a Peace Corps volunteer for Thailand. Two years later I went to work in Vietnam as a medical technologist for the NGO Project Concern. When I came home I did not fit in. A newspaper ad led me to become an international flight attendant for Continental Airlines (now United). Travel writing and photography have always been a natural extension of that lifestyle. After 35 years of walking across the world, I retired. I was looking for something to do when I saw an ad for writers and photographers in the local newspaper. I was hired as a stringer by the Houston Community Newspapers and later by the Houston Chronicle. Formerly, I was co-editor of Scuba H2O Adventure E-zine. I am an avid SCUBA diver and underwater photographer. Diving in the Indo-Pacific is my passion. Web: http://www.sealandjournals.com. Goal: Write more travel stories and continuously work to improve my photography.
1. What got you into travel writing?
Writing for the newspaper.
2. What’s the most challenging part of being a travel journalist for you?
Finding unique angles to interest editors and readers.
3. What is the most rewarding aspect of travel journalism?
Meeting people, learning about different areas/cultures and languages of our world.
4. What is something you wish people knew about travel journalism?
There is no mystique about travel journalism – it involves work and deadlines.
5. What have you enjoyed most about being a NATJA member?
Meeting other journalists with diverse backgrounds and interests.
6. How have cross-cultural experiences shaped your point of view of the world?
I am more convinced than ever that we are one world.
