For the fifth consecutive year, the HI Travel Tales team of Michael Hodgson and Therese Iknoian earned top honors for their photography and photojournalism skills, taking home four gold medals and one bronze in the 31st annual NATJA awards competition.
WORK WITH US
Long-time journalists, savvy travelers, outdoor adventurers, and award-winning photographers — that’s us, Michael and Therese at HI Travel Tales. We offer a skillful combination of travel expertise and adept journalism paired with humor and curiosity that results in precisely what a destination wants.
Destination partnerships
We will consider all opportunities to work with appropriate travel brands and destinations. As earned media, we listen carefully to a destination’s needs, then go above and beyond in meeting them. For example, hosted trips to destinations have included:
- Mendocino, Calif. – four nights that resulted in (so far!) four stories, including two hotel reviews and two attraction stories.
- Carson Valley and Virginia City, Nevada – two nights resulting in two destination pieces (so far!), one about Virginia City and one about Genoa in Carson Valley.
- Jefferson Parish and River Parishes, Louisiana – five nights that resulted in (so far!) seven articles, including one restaurant experience, one on Whitney Plantation museum of slavery, one on exploring the Great River Road area, and a bonus recipe.
- Kitzbuhel, Austria – five nights, with (so far!) four pieces, including our signature “what to do through the eyes of locals” and several “what to do” stories, such as this one about hiking the “Streif” ski run.
- MidCoast Maine – five hosted nights with (so far!) five pieces, including hotel reviews and activity pieces.
Why do we keep saying “so far” about our resulting content? Because we insist our stories are pertinent and simply hum, which is often why additional ideas for stories, personal essays or photo essays will occur to us on or after returning from a trip – and continue to appear for months afterward. Plus, our ongoing social shares of existing stories throughout the following year on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn provide the extra juice that keeps eyeballs on our stories and readers interested in the destinations year-round.
Want more proof about our skills, quality and flexibility? Read these testimonials from our thrilled hosts.
Sponsored content
We are happy to work with brands and DMOs to create sponsored posts that are in line with our editorial focus and our brand image. We will only work with companies we trust, and that provide travel services or travel products we will use ourselves. We are also experts at creating marketing packages for destinations and others. Please use our contact form to briefly describe your company, its services or products, and your specific ideas.
Product Testing and Reviews
As experienced product testers, we will (selectively) accept travel-related products to use and test for an extended period in the field. If we like the product, we can potentially include it in a photograph, product roundup, gift guide, or how-to. Please use our contact form if you have a product or line you’d like us to consider.
Advertising
We have very limited display ad opportunities and use these for our content marketing partners and affiliate friends. We will consider advertising-only partnerships on a case-by-case basis, and only if the advertising is specifically related to travel.
Guest posts and influencer/brand links
We do not accept any pitches for guest editorial posts from sponsored writers or commercial businesses. We also do not offer free links to brands or influencers. We will consider paid no-follow links to select brand partners within existing editorial content only if the link makes editorial sense. Please use our contact form if you have a pitch and for our terms.
If you want to submit a query for guest post, read our guidelines here.
What next?
Find out more about what makes Michael and Therese tick at our About Us section and then download our Media Kit. We’re certain you will quickly discover working with HI Travel Tales is fun!
Our Most Recent Travel Stories
My tips to keep your hands warm during cold weather photography
Photography is my passion. But I also have something called Reynaud’s that makes me more susceptible to the cold, especially my hands. So I had to come up with ways to keep my hands warm for cold weather photography. Here are my DIY tips to keep shooting and staying warm, too.
Switching seats on a plane? Why I often say ‘no’ to swapping seats
I often say “no” to swapping seats on a plane. I do get asked to switch seats on a plane often enough, and sometimes, though infrequently, I am the one doing the asking. There is an etiquette to seat swapping to keep the skies friendly.
Grass Valley travel bloggers win multiple gold medals for photojournalism
For the fifth consecutive year, the HI Travel Tales team of Michael Hodgson and Therese Iknoian earned top honors for their photography and photojournalism skills, taking home four gold medals and one bronze in the 31st annual NATJA awards competition.
My tips to keep your hands warm during cold weather photography
Photography is my passion. But I also have something called Reynaud’s that makes me more susceptible to the cold, especially my hands. So I had to come up with ways to keep my hands warm for cold weather photography. Here are my DIY tips to keep shooting and staying warm, too.
Switching seats on a plane? Why I often say ‘no’ to swapping seats
I often say “no” to swapping seats on a plane. I do get asked to switch seats on a plane often enough, and sometimes, though infrequently, I am the one doing the asking. There is an etiquette to seat swapping to keep the skies friendly.