About:Keeping the travel perspective

Introduction

This is a travel guide. Hence, it should be written from a traveller's perspective. While some people might love to read a 3,000 word account of how iguanas reproduce, chances are that the average traveller won't. Information like that is probably better suited to Wikipedia, which is a general encyclopaedia. Let's keep this guide about travel.

Is this worth knowing when you're travelling?

Is this worth knowing when you're travelling? Ask yourself this question as you write your article. Would the average traveller benefit from the information you are including in your article? Travellers need to know how to get from place to place (getting there, getting away), what kind of visa they can get for the country they're visiting (red tape), what they should see and do while they're there (sights, activities), the country's major cities and regions (cities, regions), and so on...

That said, we don't mind if you want to include a bit of background information about your subject. For example, we thought it would be fitting to include the Aboriginal legend behind the Three Sisters (Australia), because it adds something which could be of interest to travellers. That's why we don't mind if the article about Toronto includes a brief run-down of Toronto's history; or why we'd love it if you added a section about Mayan culture to the Guatemala article.

2-3 paragraphs about these kinds of topics is entirely acceptable. If you desperately want to write more, start a new article dedicated to the topic, rather than including it in the general article. So if your section about Toronto's history is running into its 17th paragraph, it would be better if you stuck it in a new article entitled History of Toronto, rather than overloading the general Toronto article.

Use article templates

A great way to make sure you stick to the traveller's perspective is to apply a template to your article. If you're creating a brand-new article, there will be a button above the editing space that says "Apply a template". On subsequent edits, you can find this same button just above the "Save" button.

Applying a template will insert all the recommended section headings for your type of article. This is dependent on whether you are writing about a global region, a country, a national region, a city, a town, a neighbourhood within a city, or a specific sight.