from Kayte Deioma, Chief Editor, Writer, Photographer, Blogger

I’m not by inclination someone who greatly appreciates the rain. Since I make a good portion of my living as a photographer, it can be downright inconvenient. Like most people, I prefer clear weather for my travels, and would rather be outdoors roaming the streets and countryside shooting culture, city life and landscapes rather than indoors. However the weather gods don’t always cooperate.

Rainy Day Traveler was born in 2004 after a particularly wet June in Europe visiting friends and family in England, Ireland and Germany, with a quick side trip to Prague. I was looking for a way to put to use all the rainy day and museum photos I shot that weren’t likely to make it onto a magazine or tourism publication page.

I knew, from my trip, that it was useful to have options for things to do in case of inclement weather, so I created Rainy Day Traveler as an online travel magazine to provide recommendations for fun activities to keep you out of the rain – or snow, or heat, depending on the destination.

On the road for Rainy Day Traveler I’ve been to some destinations that get very little rain, and I’ve had adventures outside in miserable conditions that make entertaining stories. In order to include a broader selection of content, I migrated Rainy Day Traveler to a new platform that is not dependent on the former destination issue format. The site still includes recommendations for indoor activities to keep you out of the weather in destinations around the world, but you’ll also find travel essays and adventure tales, whether under clear skies or 100% humidity.

Some of the attractions mentioned on Rainy Day Traveler were visited on sponsored trips or as a guest of the venue, but that in no way influences what I have to say about the place or the trip, other than sometimes being a part of story itself.

A Little History of Me

My love of travel was born on the pages of a Harlequin Romance I read when I was 10 years old (before they got racy). A description of wild horses running across the Camargue at sunset stirred my wanderlust. I begged my father to let me be a foreign exchange student, but he didn’t relent until I was in college. I spent a semester in Spain, where I bought a guitar that accompanied me on a backpacking trip around Europe. During my semester in Guadalajara, Mexico I ended up with a gig singing with a couple guys in a piano bar and in my free time hung out with poets at a local café. I spent my final university semester in Germany, where I stuck around for an international market research job for three years. A scholarship to the University of Southern California for grad school brought me to Los Angeles, where I still live.

You might wonder what I was studying that allowed me to do all that travel abroad. I started out in voice, which involved a lot of language study, then transitioned into communications and journalism and convinced the University of Cincinnati to let me build my own major in International Communications. Interestingly, there wasn’t enough space on the diploma to fit the entire description of my self-constructed major, so on paper, I have a BA in Honors Independent Study. I think that’s very apt, since I’ve never been able to stay inside one box, and the independent study continues.

All that international education left me with pretty decent German and Spanish language skills, and I managed to pick up enough French and Italian along the way to get me into trouble, if not to get me out of it. I can also barter pretty well in Khmer, but that’s another story…

What Else Do I Do?

You may notice that my busy freelance schedule sometimes leaves large time gaps in Rainy Day Traveler content. I am a professional photographer and writer. I don’t have some other day job or rich spouse to support my travel blog. When I’m not traveling for Rainy Day Traveler, I write and shoot freelance assignments for editorial publications, tourism bureaus and other clients. My photography website, which includes a searchable stock database, is www.KayteDphoto.com. You can see some of my print writing clips there under Travel Writing. If you’re interested in hiring me to write or shoot for your publication or organization (NOT related to Rainy Day Traveler), you can contact me at kayte (at) kaytedphoto (dot) com.

I still sing – mostly cabaret/jazz and children’s music. If you want to invite me to sing my lounge set of international jazz standards in your Paris, Rome or Rio hotel bar, I’m available for that too (and I’ll write about it!).

Guest Writers and Photographers

Rainy Day Traveler does not solicit stories from other writers and cannot provide compensation for guest posts or photos. However we do occasionally publish guest posts on things to do on a rainy day in the context of specific destination issues, or great rainy travel adventure tales from fellow writers. The Shot in the Rain photo gallery also includes some rainy day photos submitted by other photographers.

Copyright

All text, photos and other material on Rainy Day Traveler are copyrighted and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Reprint licensing may be available for print publication.

Contact

For questions or issues regarding content on Rainy Day Traveler email kayte (at) rainydaytraveler (dot) com. Follow my travel-related tweets and conversations on Twitter @RainyDayTravelr or my tweets about Los Angeles  @KayteDeioma.