A peek behind the scenes at Budget Travel
We just finished sending the last few pages of Budget Travel's September issue out the door. While I hope the final product appears effortless, you might be surprised to learn just what happens behind the scenes—all in the service of providing you with the best affordable vacation ideas your $4.50 can buy. Here's a taste of the highs and lows at our offices (and outposts) this month:
Number of images considered for the September cover: 88
Number of images considered for the first Table of Contents page: 30
Number of editors who got married in the middle of producing the issue: 1
Earliest morning by an editor: 7 a.m., working on a piece about Ely, Minnesota
Latest night by an editor: 8:45 p.m., working on a piece about how to reduce your data rates abroad
Number of hotels considered for the Essentials section on Europe's Best Values: dozens
Number of hotels that made the final cut: 5
Number of minutes spent trying to assess whether a person pictured in an image (page 20) was actually wearing clothes: 3
Number of people involved in assessment: 4
Final answer: yes, a bikini
Price of parking ticket a photo editor received shooting the image on page 37: $10
Most heated response (from a contributing illustrator): "I'm afraid I've been in this business too long to be fulfilling loopy, trivial requests like this."*
Second most heated response (from a contributing writer): "one more question and it's coming out of your salary."**
When you'll be able to see the fruits of all said labor: August 24th
*the person who comes closest to guessing what the request might have been will win a copy of Budget Travel's newest book, The Smart Family's Passport: 350 Money, Time, and Sanity Saving Tips.
** we think he was kidding, but we're not sure.