When travel writers strike...

I recently came across an hilarious article by Thomas Swick, travel columnist at Sun-Sentinel.com. He puts forward a list of demands that might be put into use should travel writers decide to strike Hollywood-style.

I can see his list (below) being printed and stuck on cubicle walls the world over!

DEMANDS

1. We don't insist on flying first class, but we would appreciate getting special preference for window seats (not over the wing).

2. The placement, in every airport arrivals hall, of a driver with a sign reading "Travel Writer."

3. Any hotel boasting of famous writers who've stayed there — Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad — must give us their rooms at the rates they paid.

4. On hearing "table for one," maitre d's, instead of looking pained, must smile and ask if we'll be taking notes.

5. An international travel writer ID that gives us unlimited access to weddings, bar mitzvahs, cotillions, powwows, frat parties, society galas, mob meetings and anything else we feel like dropping in on.

6. More shelves in bookstores devoted to travel narratives.

7. On hearing what we do for a living, people must replace "Wow — I would love to do that" with "Wow — I could never do that."

8. No one is allowed to ask us, on our return from a trip, how our "vacation" was.

9. When we check that the purpose of our trip was "business," immigration officials can no longer smirk, even when they see us coming off a cruise ship.

10. A Pulitzer category for travel writing.

Swick's article goes further, describing what tactics could be employed and the terrible consequences of life sans travel writing. Go and read it here.