Over the years, I’ve enjoyed working on a range of nature and travel writing projects. Since 2010, these have included paid assignments for Google and Insight Guides, as well as those linked to my ecotourism ventures in Portugal and Brazil. My personal writing projects, in the form of blogs, social media and community magazines have been part of the parcel too!
In 2010, I wrote Twenty Two South, a year-long travel blog focused on nature and adventure in Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana and the Caribbean. It traced a return to my childhood roots in Rio de Janeiro, along with journeys to wild places in the region. The blog was partly funded by ecotourism companies that I discovered as I travelled. From 2014 to 2020, I worked for Google as a food and travel writer. On Google Maps, I produced thousands of short descriptions of geographical points of interest and restaurants. For Google Travel and Google Search, I covered a range of destinations around the world, including countries, regions, cities and areas of natural interest. OnGoogle Earth’s Voyager, the focus was on This is Home, a cultural series about traditional houses and livelihoods. Between 2015 and 2017, I wrote monthly articles for The Umbrella, a community magazine in Rio de Janeiro. Entitled the Great Outdoors, my pieces focused on themes related to nature in and around the city. Wildlife, travel, adventure, art, sport and food all came into play!
In 2011, I started Hideaway Portugal, an online bookings platform focused on rural tourism. Written content included information about the country’s regions, wildlife and outdoor sporting pursuits, as well as descriptions of charming properties in rural areas. Although the site is no longer online, it was a fun entrepreneurial project (and huge learning experience) that lasted until 2014. Hideaway Portugal currently exists as a Facebook page, and there’s always a chance that the business will get a new lease of life in due course!In 2015, I co-wrote a new edition of Explore Rio de Janeiro, a booklet by Insight Guides aimed at independent, adventurous travellers. Comprising the bulk of this travel guide, I created a dozen self-guided walking itineraries to explore the city. Taking tourists beyond the famous sights, I used my local knowledge to highlight points of historical, cultural and natural interest. I also produced the back-of-book section related to the Brazilian food scene and recommended restaurants in Rio. Active on social media, over the years I’ve looked after several pages. Some of these have been for companies and organisations I helped. Others have been my own. My current page on Instagram is a photographic and written account of nature in Brazil. It covers trips I’ve made within this vast country as well as my ecotourism stay in the Atlantic Rainforest near Rio de Janeiro.
Between 2007 and 2009, I was working at a winery in Aragon, a vast, rugged, sparsely populated region of northeast Spain. During my lunch break, I would head up to the mountain hermitage that overlooked the vineyards. Sitting on a rock in the sunshine, among wild herbs and gnarled oak trees, I’d eat my sandwich…
ALEXANDER CORRIE 