In the old building I was working in there was a floor downstairs where the offices seemed barren and cold. So you
can imagine my surprise when I discovered that these were the new offices of a travel magazine called Travel Savvy. The place seemed dead, and yet, when you walked in, they did
have free issues of the magazine for visitors to peruse. I did so on a few occasions and was, well, not blown away, but
at least interested. The magazine was, at the time, transitioning from a glossy that covered the itinerant experiences
of the rich and famous, to a magazine dedicated strictly to top favorites lists done by celebs and other
well-knowns…as in Andy Garcia’s favorite Cuban restaurants, Sarah Jessica Parker’s sexy hotels, and (this
was cool) Michael Palin’s favorite train rides. But it seemed at times that most of them, as Tim points out, were
likely written by PR scribes rather than the celebs themselves.
I spoke with one of the Assistant Editors
about the new format, and she got me rather fired up on it. But when I saw the first issue, I was kind of unimpressed.
The list concept sort of fell flat for me after the first few pages. So it was not a big surprise when I read Tim Leffel’s blog and discovered that they shut the
thing down. Still, as Tim says, it was cool to see someone try something new, and I was somewhat hopeful to see the
magazine succeed, if just because travel magazines are great and as far as I’m concerned there should be more of them.
But alas, Travel Savvy was not so savvy, and it will be no longer. So we bid the magazine adieu and wish the folks who
ran it better luck next time.