Saratoga News

Photograph courtesy of Kristy Garcia

Among the scenic places travel writer Kristy Garcia visited was Arches National Park in Moab, Utah.

Saratogan explores country for travel guide

By Shari Kaplan

Like many students, Saratoga resident Kristy Garcia has found herself writing about what she did over summer vacation. Unlike most students, Garcia not only wanted to write about her experiences, but saw and did so much that she could have written a book about it.

Perhaps that's why she's a researcher- writer (also called an R-W) for Let's Go Publications, a student-run company in Massachusetts that's been producing budget travel guides and map guides for 38 years.

Currently a senior at Harvard, Garcia spent seven weeks last summer traversing states for the 1998 edition of Let's Go USA, which is now available in bookstores. The 22-year-old English major says she'd wanted to do this since her freshman year, but it wasn't until the end of her junior year that she got the opportunity.

"Let's Go books are entirely written, edited and managed by Harvard students. Kristy saw the posters around campus, felt the travel bug, applied and landed the job," explains Anna Portnoy, a Let's Go student editor. "It's pretty close to a dream job--a paid license to rove."

To become a rambling rover, Garcia first filled out an application and applied her pen--and her creativity--to several sample essays, such as why she wanted the job. She also had to write a descriptive piece about a place she knew very well. She chose Los Gatos because she and her friends frequently ate, shopped and hung out in Los Gatos during their teen-age years at Saratoga High School.

After landing this "dream job," Garcia discovered her slices of the American pie to cover were Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

"I pretty much was assigned them. I thought the Southwest would be cool to do, but Frank, my editor, offered me the Rockies and that area sounded cool, too," she says.

Although some R-Ws go wayfaring alone, Garcia began the trip with a friend, Sebastian Gladney, and finished it with her dad, Dan. She drove her own car, with Let's Go paying the mileage. The company also paid a stipend to cover accommodations and other basic expenses, but because she was writing for a budget guide anyway, she kept these low.

"It was a good section [of the U.S.] to get because there were lots of youth hostels and also good camping opportunities," she says. Among the places this happy camper laid her head were several national parks.

Her job consisted of investigating handfuls of cities in each of the four states. She frequently visited restaurants, nightclubs, museums, parks and other tourist attractions to verify information other R-Ws wrote about in last year's Let's Go USA. She also discovered more places and faces of her own.

"It was a lot of work, but it was really fun. It was pretty much 24/7. You get to see a lot of cool places you normally wouldn't," she says.

Her favorite states were Colorado and Wyoming, especially for their scenery, which she describes as "breathtaking." She also met some eccentric people. A man named Mike in a Denver youth hostel claimed he met aliens in South America. The hostel owner was friends with Mike and had the eerie alien photos to prove it.

Garcia later ran into Mike again near Aspen. The hostel owner there wasn't into aliens, but he did have an extensive--and expensive--record collection he allowed guests play at all hours.

"Every hostel owner wanted to tell me their life's story," Garcia adds with a chuckle.

The entire R-W experience was so funny, fun and edifying that Garcia says she has already applied to do it again--this time in Alaska or Australia, she hopes. Down the road, she plans to work as a paralegal and perhaps attend law school.

Information about Let's Go is available on the Internet at www.letsgo.com.

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