Robert Fear hosted his annual travel writing competition on his blog and was thrilled to receive a higher than usual number of entrants than previous years. I was equally thrilled to be asked to be part of his judging panel because it motivated me to read and assess every one of the Travel Stories submissions.

There’s no better way to improve your own travel writing, than by reading great writing from others.

A Koh Samui Shirt by Mark Boyter

Mark Boyter is a traveler, educator, marathon runner, and recovering academic. As a traveler, he spent years in Asia and the Middle East, combined with shorter stints in Europe, South America and Africa. In Asia, he discovered Buddhism and Zen, both of which have informed everyday of his life since. As a teacher, he taught in Japan, the UAE, and Canada. He holds a MA in Teaching degree. As a runner, his races have been more local in nature, but in that locality have given him an ever deepening marveling for the capabilities of the human body and spirit. It also gave him fabulous legs. Throughout, Mark has carried a deeply felt sense of spirituality and place. He lives happily in Vancouver, sharing his life with his long time partner and her three cats.

2nd place went to Consequences by Lindsay de Feliz

3rd place went to Terror in the Desert – Egypt 1991 by Alison Galilian

The six runners-up were:

• To Marry a Mockingbird? by Valerie Fletcher Adolph
• Poor Economy by Frank Kusy
• ​Words of Magic by Ronald Mackay
• Navajo Sally and Kokopelli by Patricia Steele
• Escaping a Gulag by Ben Stamp
• Seaspray by Robyn Boswell

Read all of the 2018 Travel Story Entries

There was one entry that stood head and shoulders above all others, and it wasn’t just the quality of the travel writing. A Koh Samui Shirt by Mark Boyter resonated with me, and will speak to anyone who has spent an extended period of time backpacking around distant shores. I’m so pleased that the other judges in panel also chose Mark’s travel story as the overall competition winner.

When you have a limited wardrobe you become very attached to the clothes you do have, and they stop being clothes and become vessels for retaining travel memories. At the end of the trip, there’s just no way you can toss them absently in the bin, and each time you look at them they transport you back to a time and place.

When I relocated from Los Angeles to Turkey, lock stock and barrel a few years ago. I had to make a decision what to do with the clothes I’d dug out of the back of my wardrobe, that I’d been lugging around the world for nearly 20 years (and never worn again once). Among them were tee-shirts I wouldn’t be seen dead in, but I couldn’t bear to throw them away.

One was a hand painted batik tee shirt I painted during a batik class in Yogyakarta, Java during a stifling hot day in a wooden hut. The other was a tee shirt painted by a fellow traveller while we were stuck inside a hostel on Lake Toba, Sumatra during a torrential downpour. I can still vividly remember those two memorable days during my seven month backpacking trip, and those memories were intrinsically tied to those garments.

If those travel memories took place in toady’s world I’d have a dozen photos of them taken on my phone, but back then I was limited to 36 frames on my SLR camera, and so memories have to be triggered by mementos and not photos.

So what did I do with those tee shirts when I decluttered before the big move? I turned them into cushion covers! Now my memories are sitting on my couch and are constant reminders of memorable days, rather than being stuck in the back of a wardrobe, taking up space.