Beth Reiber

Life on the Road

I have earned a living as a travel writer for more than 30 years, first from writing travel articles and selling them to newspapers across the country, including the Los Angeles Times, Minneapolis Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Washington Post, and many more. After four years of hitchhiking in Europe and driving around the US in my old Datsun writing about every place I went, I moved to Tokyo and worked as editor of a travel magazine there. It was then, in the mid-1980s, that Frommer's asked me to write a guide book on Japan and Hong Kong combined. Since then the book has split into three separate guides (<span style="font-style: italic;">Frommer's Japan</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Frommer's Tokyo</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Frommer's Hong Kong)</span>, all of which I update every two years, and I have written or contributed to more than a dozen other guides, including many that are now defunct (like <span style="font-style: italic;">Frommer's Europe from $85 a Day, The Serious Shopper's Guide to London</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Frommer's Walking Tours Berlin</span>). Of the many other travel writing projects I have done, most recently are my two apps, <span style="font-style: italic;">Hong Kong Explorations</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Branson &amp; Beyond Traveler</span>.<br><br>Because of my long relationship promoting tourism to Japan through <span style="font-style: italic;">Frommer's Japan</span>, the Japanese government made me a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Visit Japan! Ambassador</span>, the only recipient of the honorary title living in the United States. This year I also received the Langston Hughes fiction award for my short story (hopefully someday a novel), <span style="font-style: italic;">Rife with the Tokyo Brews. </span><br><br>For me, travel writing has never been about the money (if it was, I'd be in a different profession). It is my belief that travel changes you, makes you more aware of all our differences and similarities, and makes you more tolerant and compassionate. By living frugally and staying at cheap places, I've been able to introduce my two sons to the world of travel (like our Peru trip in 2008, where we stayed for a month on a total of $3,000). Still, if I had to choose between travel and writing, I'd choose writing, for that is my true passion. When not on the road or working, I cook, garden, work on my house, hang out with friends, keep the peace between my dog and cat, and try to stay one step ahead of my teenage sons.<br>

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