“Wow, I am actually getting dressed to go to a multinational travel magazine.” It just hit me as I stood at my wardrobe looking for the perfect dress to impress. “How did I get here?” I questioned myself. I was about to go to an office for the first time.
My summers generally comprised of working on my travel blog and spending time with my parents, who live in Dubai. A press trip to Nepal in May was the only thrilling thing I thought I’d have, to look forward to this summer. Then the obvious drill to go back to college in USA during fall.
Life however, as unexpected as it is, had other plans for me. Come end of July, I got an offer from Condé Nast Traveller Middle East, to be a Junior Assistant under the Features Editor. I wasn’t one to turn down an offer as rewarding as this. To travel and to write are my two hobbies, and to turn them into a career and become a travel journalist has been my long-time dream.
I withdrew from my university (for a semester), left my job as an international student recruiter for my college, and got someone to sublease my room in my apartment in US, all of this just to risk it for thing I love the most – travel writing. I crossed my fingers and hoped it would all work out for the best.
So here I am, 9-6 lifestyle condemner being a hypocrite. Two days in, and not a single complaint about what I do. I start at 9 am, and get through the day looking up travel news stories, making pitches to the Features Editor to cover them on the magazine’s website. I also work with the latest press releases sent by reputed PR agencies across the UAE. I fact check (edit) articles and work through the website CMS to upload articles in line with those in the earlier online and print issues. On top of everything, my work gets edited by the features editor, who’s experience in the industry is of utmost value to my growth as a writer.
With everything springing down on me in just the past two weeks, I have been so busy, that I haven’t gotten the chance update my social media with my whereabouts. I have in fact retracted from it and taken time to write articles for my regular commitments, The Odyssey Online, Trot With Arushi, and now, Condé Nast Traveller ME. What’s more? I am working on my YouTube Channel that I will officially be launching in December. I have some exciting travels coming up this fall, so stay tuned!
Until next Saturday,
Arushi Sachan
Trot With Arushi 
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