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Over a hundred views, ten comments, multiple retweets, and hours of online conversations later, I'm still not done complaining about the jerks that run the travel writing industry .   Yes, I'm still bitter. Even though I received overwhelming support from people I don't even know or expected to yell at me, I'm still not done with my complaints. Why? BECAUSE IT'S STILL GOING ON! And I'm not the only one who's pissed off. Writers that are way more #BFDs than I ever will be are making the same observations and I feel there's a need to speak up, be critical, and start changing this notion on our own.    I'll start with the phonies. Can someone explain to me why everyone is sucking at Matt Kepnes' teet? In the words of my trusted salesman, Jim Halpert: "God, this is so sad, this is the smallest amount of power I've ever seen go to someone's head."   Let me guess, you can't figure out how to make money by traveling so you talk him up so that a "cool by association" will hopefully give you some kickbacks. But what has this guy really done? Honestly. I've read his blog, I've seen his travel photos, I've met him in person. I'm not sold. Not in the slightest. In fact I think he's up there with people who have lost sight of the true meaning of travel. Now everyone just wants to make a quick buck so they're running around the Internet desperate to exchange links, get ad commissions, and rank up on search points. You're all forgeting about the writing, the stories, the people. Since his site is flooded with that crap, I see people first hand eager to converse with him at events, set up bar hang out time, and offer content partnerships just so they can have bigger exposure to the frat boy readers that love Matt's site. These are the same people that when I mention Nomadic Matt, they make the same stink eye that I do, agreeing that he isn't a nice person, or a fantastic writer, but instead an egotistical loser, but upon Matt's arrival will kiss him between the cheeks. I DON'T GET IT. Don't be a hypocrite, if you don't like him professionally or personally, don't give him the time of day. There are far better, more talented people out there (especially writers) that deserve your attention. Also, don't sign up to be his "intern" because while you're slaving over SEO grunt work on his site and not receiving a dime, he's shouting to the world how much money he's making and working on a book deal. Let me give you some advice: MOVE ON.    Really? Him?     Next up: the "circle jerk" that has become the travel writing platform. Stemming from a few statements above, I don't like that everyone is playing grabass with each other to climb the totem pole. I like to think that as a PR rep I choose and pitch wisely. I connect with people I feel are relatable, genuine, funny, and talented, not so that I can get your business card and say I know you for my own bragtastic reasons, but because I like meeting new awesome people. I happen to enjoy sharing travel stories. I happen to not like fake people who only talk to certain people to gain this sort of "celebrity status" online or off. I've been purposely ignored before because I'm not some big shot traveler. I also see other friends of mine who are starting out in travel writing that get rejected from conversations. Unless we continually praise you for your writing or experiences, we don't get any opportunities. I don't think that's fair. There shouldn't be this reign of superiority going around, or exclusivity that can only be attained through the number of Twitter followers you have or web site hits or Facebook fans. Who cares about that? Why not find out more about the person within and their travel passions instead of getting their data analysis.    In addition I feel like there's a generalization that all travelers share the same interests. FALSE. We do not. As Mike Barish gloriously exclaimed in this piece , not all of us want permanent travel. Not all of us want to see Asia - teach English in China or backpack through Cambodia or swim in Thailand. We all want to travel for different reasons and hold different inspirations. So what's it to you if someone hasn't completed a round the world journey? Are you really going to judge me because I didn't leave for my first solo trip til I was 24 and I chose to chill on the beaches of Spain instead of saving monkeys in Africa? Get out of here.   Also can we please stop the endless self promotions?    After a nice response to Mike's rant, some broad left this as her final message. Way to completely miss Mike's point.    To which Spencer Spellman jokingly replied with the above   Will your life really be better because you have 5,000 Twitter followers? Do you really need to send our rotating messages about clicking on your new site? I understand that you want to spread the word about your projects but blatantly asking people to retweet a post or click on your site is just unnecessary. Let people make up their own decisions to support you or not. We readers know what we like and don't need to have you shove repetitive, unwanted messages in our face.     Continuing along. Get a life. Since when did travel talk turn into a giant dating pool? Enough with the flirtatious replies and creepster posts, guy. Just because you have no one to travel the world with doesn't mean we want to read up on your loneliness. It angers me that someone actually proposed the idea for a dating set up during the next TBEX. Again - is this what the industry has come down to? OOF.   Speaking of events, when did we become alcoholics? I can't remember the last time I was at a travel event that 1.) there wasn't booze 2.) I actually LEARNED something and 3.) met someone new for a professional collaboration. It'd be nice if there were interesting, inspiring, informative events hosted by and for travelers that foster meaningful relationships (oh wait, there is - Meet Plan Go ). Often times we are there to network, but really nowadays that means go home with a buzz on and business cards from people you won't remember the next day. That's lame in my book. I want to be able to walk out of an event having had some thought-provoking conversations with people I'd like to partner up with for a future project. Is that possible, in a world?   So to recap, here are some ways people in the travel biz have pissed me off:  sucking at the teet of circle jerk leaders begging for promotion one-upping each other's travel experiences looking for travel hook ups being ignorant Want more evidence of this kind of crap? Read the following posts by some friends of mine who share similar sentiments:   Spencer Spellman vs. HuffPo & Pay/No Pay Travel Writing Mike Barish says STFU to judgmental travelers Another reason why TBEX was disappointing RTW travel isn't a charity case   I'm sure I've angered people with this post but so be it. I've had enough of the nonsense and needed to take a stand and speak up. While you're ignoring me on your high horses, I'm planning my trip to Uruguay .    Dish out in the comments if you please.