Friday Fix – 10th Oct

Posted on in Announcements by Sarah Rodrigues

Hi everyone,

Does anyone else start their day with coffee and the NYT Games? Is anyone else irritated by today’s Mini?

I’m too cross to write anything else, and I’ve a deadline looming, so I will save my words for that and wish you all a lovely weekend.

All the best,

Sarah

PS – I got Connections with no errors, though …

Webinar 30th October: Sustainable Travel Journalism – Free for Members

With the BGTW Better World symposium postponed until January, we’re delighted to announce that members can still enjoy an informative sustainability fix this month, as we’ve arranged access to Travel Writing Webinars’ upcoming session as a Member Benefit. Details as follows:

Webinar: What makes you a good ‘sustainable travel journalist’? Here’s what any ‘sustainable travel writer’ needs to ask:

With so many journalists exploring, writing about and specialising in sustainable travel, are we asking the right questions to ensure we can confidently call ourselves sustainable travel writers or journalists with ‘expertise in sustainable travel’? From carbon to culture, what should we be asking of hotels, tour ops and providers?

More information.
Panellists: Justin Francis OBE, co-founder and executive chair of Responsible Travel; Lebawit ‘Lily’ Girma, multi-award-winning travel journalist and founder of Tourism Lens Media; Mirjam Peternek-McCartney, founder of Lemongrass PR, specialising in meaningful change in travel communications. Moderated by Meera Dattani, BGTW Member, founder of Travel Writing Webinars, executive editor at Adventure.com, and a freelance travel and culture journalist.

Date: Thursday, 30th October at 2pm-3.15pm GMT Live (also recorded)

Receive your free access code by signing up via this form for the live webinar, and/or to access the recording and resources afterwards. A link and code will be provided to those registered nearer the date.

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Gala Tickets: Limited Discounted Availability

With just under a month to go and a majority of tickets sold, this year’s Gala Dinner is poised to be a sparkling, sapphire success. As some finalists are now being hosted by their Award sponsors, we’re putting back on sale some of the sold-out, super-discounted £65 tickets. If you’d like to order one of the last tickets, please do so via this form using the password 202565. The subsidised £95 members’ tickets (£294 for industry) will remain on sale until capacity is reached.

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Final Call: BGTW Algarve Trip 6-10 November:

We now have a draft itinerary for our November Algarve convention trip, including a walking festival, a winery visit, arts and crafts workshops, and some fantastic meals.
Only three places are remaining. If you are interested in attending (even if you haven’t yet confirmed a commission), please add an “expression of interest” via the form so we can share your interest with the destination. Commissions from nationals, high-circulation regional newspapers, travel magazines, and high-traffic websites are preferred. If you have applied, but haven’t yet heard from us, please contact charlotte@bgtw.org for an update.

Note: applications are currently only open to Full Members.

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Anthology Contributor Copy Reminder (Responses by 14/10)

Thank you to all ‘Around the World in 65 Years’ contributors who have replied regarding author copies. We still require responses from 20 contributors by October 14 at the latest. Please check your spam folders (sent 1 October) or contact daniel.clarke@bgtw.org if you can’t find the email and haven’t yet completed the form. For those contributing to Shebs’ podcast, please supply your videos to him by October 24.

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Oxford Visit

BGTW’s visit to Oxford on Monday, 27 October is planned to begin at 3pm and last until 5.30-6pm, although members may opt to stay on for dinner should they wish. We’ve planned an earlier end for those of us with long train commutes to and from Oxford. However anyone wishing to spend the night can enjoy a discounted rate of £150 at the new-ish luxury hotel, The Store, which is kindly hosting us for coffee, tea and cake in its private dining room. It’s a chance to discover some of the city’s unexpected treasures thanks to the Oxford Guild of Tour Guides. We’ll also be joined by The Oxford Sausage, a blogger who writes about the weird and wonderful side of the city and lives in a historic sausagemaker’s house. The deadline to RSVP is Friday, October 24th, and no commission is required. If you’d like to go or have any questions, please get in touch with Alicia Sheber at alicia.sheber@bgtw.org

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Christmas Cheer

Mulled cider, anyone? If any members are interested in helping organise and host regional, pre-Christmas socials to celebrate the season with Guildies in your corners of the UK, please get in touch with Alicia at alicia.sheber@bgtw.org

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2026 Save The Dates: AGM & Better World

On Wednesday (8/10), a “save the date” email was sent to all members with advanced information regarding the AGM: 2 February 2026, London, 11am-6pm for the AGM, followed by a social.

Next week, ticketing details for the BGTW Better World Symposium/Post-Christmas Party will be circulated, but the headline details are: 19 January 2026, London; 10am-6pm for the Symposium, followed by the “Christmas Party” until 9pm.

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Complimentary invite to Bradt Guide’s Latin America Travel Festival (8 November)

Bradt Guides – in partnership with Wanderlust magazine – is hosting the inaugural Latin America Travel Festival at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington on 8th November (at the end of WTM week). And they are offering BGTW members complimentary tickets! To claim your free member ticket, email marketing@bradtguides.com directly with BGTW in the subject header.

Several members of the Guild are participating in the festival. Nori Jemil will be giving a photography masterclass; Shafik Meghji will be speaking about his new book, Small Earthquakes; and Mary Anne Evans will be interviewing some of the contributors of Latin America tales to the Guild’s very own anthology, which is publishing that same week. Come along and give them your support!

Others on the festival line-up include TV director Rory Jackson, who will describe what it was like living with the Waimaha community for an episode of Bruce Parry’s Tribe, and Mary Ellen Moriarty, contestant in the celebrity series of Race Across the World. Hilary Bradt, Lyn Hughes and many others will also be speaking. It promises to be a colourful and entertaining day. For more info, see the website here.

As well as providing complimentary tickets for BGTW members, Bradt is also making available some discounted tickets for BGTW friends and associates – these give access to the festival for £15 (70% off the standard price of £50). If you know anyone who might like to attend, please ask them to book tickets here and enter the code BGTW15 at checkout. Feel free to circulate the offer via social media feeds too – it would be great to drum up support for the festival, given the Guild’s involvement!

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Member Congratulations

Congratulations to Alastair McKenzie, whose blog, Mechtraveller.com, has been shortlisted for the Best Niche Voice in Travel Award at the 2025 TBEX Travel Creator Awards.

A number of Guild members have also been shortlisted for the AITO Travel Awards. Congratulations to James Stewart, Meera Dattani, Shafik Meghji, Rashmi Narayan, Stuart Forster and SJ Armstrong.

Best of luck to all of you, from all of us.

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Side hustle or career?

There’s been a fair amount of consternation surrounding this information from our good buddies, HMRC.

Lots of conflicting information … if anyone has any solid intel they’d like to share, please feel free to get in contact so that we can communicate this to the rest of the Guild.

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Tree planting in Ambleside – a message from Richard Villar

If there are any members who have a spare day in November/ December and might be happy to help plant some trees in Ambleside, I am bringing together some volunteers at the moment. It would be my pleasure to welcome Guild members if there are any in the vicinity. The key to whether or not they would be sufficiently fit – most folks’ worry – is to find a treadmill in the gym and use the following settings: 6 km/hr, 9% incline, 30 minutes. Holding on is permitted. If they can handle that, they can handle a Lakeland fell! Previous experience with tree-planting is not required, but a sense of humour definitely is.

Please contact Richard to join in.

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Sarah Rodrigues
By: Sarah Rodrigues Freelance Travel Writer