About Austin Travels

Taking on Travel, One Adventure at a Time

Austin Travels is a women-owned, Austin-based travel magazine committed to highlighting destinations in Texas and beyond through the lenses of diverse and talented writers.

Formed during the pandemic by three veteran travel writers who found travel coverage in many traditional media outlets to be increasingly lacking, Austin Travels Magazine aims to showcase the wide world around us while treasuring a broad array of perspectives. Our co-founders have been deeply touched by the sense of community and unity they have experienced through their own travels and understand the importance of bringing many people to the table and treating those people with respect.

Note: In light of the pandemic, travelers should always research hotel and destination COVID-19 protocols before making any travel plans and take all recommended CDC safety precautions.

Our Travel Expertise

Countries

Cities

Continents

blog posts

Meet Your Guides

Founders of Austin Travel

Mauri Elbel

After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin, Mauri Elbel moved to St. John in the Virgin Islands where she worked as a reporter and editor at the island’s only newspaper for several years before moving down under to Australia where she earned a master’s degree in journalism from The University of Queensland in Brisbane. Back at home in the sun-soaked capital of Texas, Mauri keeps busy raising three kids, writing about family travel and design, and as the co-founder and vice president of Carrying Hope––a 501c3 nonprofit which positively impacts the way children enter foster care throughout Texas. Over the past decade, Mauri’s work has appeared in dozens of publications and she’s been a regular contributor to the Austin American-Statesman, Austin Monthly, Austin Woman and Austin Home.

Kristin Finan

Kristin Finan grew up roadtripping to U.S. destinations in the back of her family’s Volvo station wagon, an experience that instilled in her a great love for the open road. An Air Force brat and University of Texas graduate, Kristin is a former staff writer and travel editor of the Houston Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman, where she was fortunate to visit locales spanning Barcelona (her favorite city) to Singapore (durian tasting? Check!). She is also the author of four travel books and the co-founder of Carrying Hope, www.carryinghope.com, an Austin-based 501c3 nonprofit that provides comfort items and essentials to children entering the foster care system. A foster and adoptive mom herself, Kristin most enjoys exploring the world with her husband and six kids, who most recently have set a goal of visiting every U.S. national park.

Pam LeBlanc

Pam LeBlanc grew up in Austin and attended Texas A&M University. She worked at the Plano Star-Courier and The Monitor in McAllen, Texas, before joining the staff of the Austin American-Statesman in 1998. During a nearly 21-year career at the Statesman, she wrote about fitness, travel and adventure. She’s on the loose today as a freelance writer specializing in stories about outdoor adventure and recreation, from backpacking and scuba diving to paddling and snow skiing. Her work has appeared in Texas Monthly, Texas Highways Magazine, Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, Real Simple, AARP, Austin Monthly, Texas Co-op Power, Tribeza, the Houston Chronicle and more. Her first book, “My Stories, All True: J. David Bamberger on Life as an Entrepreneur and a Conservationist,” was released in September 2020.

Contributors

Becca Hensley

For more than three decades, award-winning travel writer Becca Hensley has roved the world to find the meaning of life. Living EM Forster’s words from Howard’s End, “Only Connect,” she delves deeply into every encounter, turning travel into a feast for the senses. Her work has appeared in nearly every major magazine and newspaper across the globe, including Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Afar, Architectural Digest, Elite Traveler, Organic Spa, Robb Report, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle and Austin Monthly — where she held a travel column for almost twenty years. Currently, she serves as Travel Editor for New Orleans Bride and Contributing Editor for Insiders Guide to Spas. A poet, mother, and gadabout, she is a luxury expert. 

Casey Chapman Ross

Casey Chapman Ross is a native and current Austinite, living here with her husband and three kids. She earned a B.A. in Studio Art at the University of Texas and has been a full-time freelance photographer for eight years. In 2019, she opened CCR Press, a publishing label focusing on progressive titles. Currently, she focuses on growing her travel writing and hospitality portfolio and involving her family in these assignments as often as possible. As a champion supporting the causes she holds dear, including unique properties that help visitors explore their natural environments, Casey is tireless in her efforts to lift up those causes with positive, powerful imagery.

Anne Keene

Anne Keene is an Austin-based writer, swimmer, sometimes horseback rider, and author of The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win WWII. For other stories visit www.annerkeene.com.

Addie Broyles

Addie Broyles is a writer, podcaster and tarot card reader in Austin, where she’s raising her two sons and building community around food, family, travel and intersectional feminism. Read more of her work at https://thefeministkitchen.substack.com/

Jeff Jenkins

Jeff Jenkins is an award-winning content creator and travel journalist who is the founder of Chubby Diaries. He is the co-founder of Black Travel Alliance and sits on the The Points Guy Advisory Panel. Jeff has been featured in notable publications such as Forbes, New York Times, Washington Post, Google, Travel Noire, and more. Jeff’s enthusiastic personality, charisma and contagious big smile makes him one of a kind! Learn more about him at https://www.chubbydiaries.com/

Maximiliano Mauriz

Maximiliano Mauriz was born in Santiago, Chile, but came to Texas as fast as he could. He lives in Austin with his partner, their 3-year old Vizsla, Boston (aka Boss), and 1-year old foster pup, Philip. He enjoys time with family and friends, travel, running and swimming — and taking images of the people (and animals) he loves and the places he visits.

Melanie Moore

Melanie P. Moore is a writer in Austin. Her work has appeared in The Georgia Review, Atlanta Magazine, Creative Loafing, and Austin Fit Magazine. She was previously the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Badgerdog Literary Publishing, where she started Austin’s first writers-in-the-schools program (now a program of the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation) and re-launched American Short Fiction. She’s a graduate of the University of Georgia with an MA from Georgia State University.

Become A Contributor

Thanks for your interest in writing for Austin Travels Magazine. Please email your submission to info@austintravels.com only after you have carefully read through our contributor’s guidelines and editorial policies. Submitting your work to Austin Travels Magazine acknowledges that you have read and agree to the guidelines outlined below.

Writer's Guidelines
  • Austin Travels Magazine publishes authentic travel features told through the lens of diverse voices that are both informative and inspiring for our Austin and Central Texas readers.
  • We are only able to accept a very limited number of freelance submissions each month.
  • While we do not currently offer compensation for submissions, if we are able to run your feature, we will highlight you as a contributor on our website. If your article is selected for publication, you will be asked to send us a brief 100-word bio, high-res photo and your website/social handles that you would like us to link to.
  • If you have not written for us before, please also include a link to at least three (3) published clips in your pitch.
  • Our travel features are generally between 800 and 1200 words in length and they must fit into one of the following categories: Texas Travel, Family Travel, Adventure Travel, Staycations, Day Trips and Beyond Texas Travel.
  • Features should focus on the angle of traveling from the Austin/Central Texas region.
  • Please attach your article in a Word document and also paste the article text in the body of your email.
  • Please include 1-2 proposed headlines with your submission.
  • Each article should be accompanied by 4-5 high-res photos. The caption of each photo should contain a cutline describing the photo/destination as well as the name of the photographer to credit.
  • Each feature should contain a brief “IF YOU GO” section at the end, listing out the following: Distance from Austin, Where to Stay, What to Do, Where to Eat/Drink, an Insider/Pro Tip and a website where readers can learn more information about the destination. Please include hyperlinks.
  • Austin Travels Magazine will not accept work that has been previously published or is owned by another publication. Please only submit original articles that you own the rights to.
  • Before pitching your story, peruse our website and archives to make sure the destination has not been recently covered and that your story has a timely angle.
Austin Travel Magazine’s Editorial Policies:

Founded by seasoned travel journalists, Austin Travels Magazine understands the costs and expenses associated with travel writing, and at the same time, realizes that freelance journalism is an underpaid profession. We consider media discounts and media rates standard practice in travel journalism and an affordable way for a writer to experience and write about multiple destinations. We do not accept articles that have been approved or edited in any way by an organization, property or person being featured, nor do we accept editorial articles that a writer has been paid to write by an organization, property or person being featured. We do not promise coverage or write about subjects we do not believe would be of value or interest to our readers, and we stand by the reporting and ethics of our writers. Contributors should not promise or suggest that their work will appear in Austin Travels Magazine without a written confirmed assignment from an editor of Austin Travels Magazine. All advertorial and sponsored content that appears in Austin Travels Magazine will be labeled as such.

Latest Travel News

Banff Film Fest returns to Paramount April 27-28

Banff Film Fest returns to Paramount April 27-28

Heads up, outdoor people. The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns to Austin April 27-28. The two-day festival features a selection of short films about people adventuring in the great outdoors. Mountain biking, snow skiing, rock climbing or paddling your...

The 10 best things to do in Telluride in winter

The 10 best things to do in Telluride in winter

Telluride always tops my list of the best ski towns in Colorado, and it’s hard to whittle the reasons why down to a short list. Still, I’ll give it a try. I’ve skied there, ridden a fat tire bike through the snow, gone snow mobiling and dog sledding, ridden a sleigh...

Austin Travels Sponsors

Want to see your brand on our site? Contact Austin Travels at info@austintravels.com. See below for Ad pricing and specifications

Tier Pricing
TIER 1: $2,000
  • One staff-written 500-word article labeled “sponsored content” related to your business to run in an upcoming issue of Austin Travels Magazine
  • Online advertisements in two upcoming digital issues of the magazine linking directly to your website
  • Two social media shout outs on Austin Travels Magazine platforms
TIER 2: $1,500
  • Online advertisements in two upcoming digital issues of the magazine linking directly to your website
  • Two social media shout outs on Austin Travels Magazine platforms
TIER 3: $1,000
  • Online advertisement in one upcoming digital issue of the magazine linking directly to your website
  • Two social media shout outs on Austin Travels Magazine platforms
TIER 4: $500
  • Online advertisement in one upcoming digital issue of the magazine linking directly to your website
Ad Specifications
Horizontal
  • Desktop Banner Ad: 728px x 90 px
  • Mobile Banner Ad: 320px x 100 px
Sidebar
  • Desktop Vertical Sidebar Ad: 250px x 300px
  • Desktop Horizontal Sidebar Ad: 300px x 250px
  • Mobile Vertical Sidebar Ad: 100px x 320px
Social Media

Facebook: Link to site, 400 or fewer characters

Twitter: 3–5 images, link to the site, 280 or fewer characters, 1–3 hashtags, Twitter handle

Instagram: 3-7 square images minimum 600 x 600 px, ideally 1200 x 800 px, all horizontal. 

All images to arrive with credits and captions with 400 or fewer characters. Quality of ideas is key: think travel (people doing things or beautiful places) and think Instagram-worthy. Submit 15-20 hashtags and Instagram handles that need to be tagged.

All images must be at least 72dpi and set to RGB. Accepted image formats are .jpg, .png, .gif, .webp, and .svg

Austin travels also accepts HTML5 banner ads with tagging.

Austin Travels reserves the right to format media for optimal web performance.