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Yesterday I ran part one of my interview with Cindy Price who is a freelance travel writer for the New York Times. Below is the second installment.

What has been your most dramatic travel experience? What has been your most “creative” meal while on the road?

That’s a tough call. For sheer drama, probably going to Rome for three weeks when I was 19. I grew up in a family of six in Jacksonville, Florida, so we couldn’t exactly foot six airline tickets. Most of our travel had to be by car. We took a lot of trips to Orlando, chilled on the People Mover, then beat it home.

So Rome blew my mind. I don’t know what I expected – I was a sheltered American kid. I think I thought all the women would be squat and walking around with pots on their shoulders like those old Sicilian renderings you see at Olive Garden.

I assume when you put “creative” in quotes, you mean what is the freakiest thing I’ve tasted. I often find the weirdest foods are the blandest tasting – cow eye tacos in Santa Barbara, fried grasshopper in Mexico, blood sausage in Puerto Rico. I regularly try to eat things that gross my Mother out, but she’s stopped giving me the satisfaction of shocking her, which is disappointing.

For someone who might be unhappy in their current career, what advice would you give to them if they were hesitant about taking a “mini-retirement” or extended trip?

I think a large part of it depends on money. The current economy has people a little jumpy about giving it to the man, and rightly so. One of my good friends here in Brooklyn, Darryl, is kind of our local lifestyle coach – the joke is that she’s always saying, “Quit your job. Quit your job.”

It actually worked out well for me, so I owe her many thanks. On the other hand, the new joke is that Darryl’s recession mantra is, “Take the job. Take the job.”

As a rule of thumb: if you can even barely afford it, you should go for it. Life has a very lovely way of working itself out. But don’t go in without a very, very solid game plan, would be my advice.

It also helps if you don’t have 14 babies.

Where is the one location that you absolutely want to go to whether as a paid assignment or during your personal time?

I want to go everywhere, all the time. But in particular? Vieques. (Editor’s note: Ah, have you been to Culebra? :)) I go to Puerto Rico at least once a year. I dream of retiring there, of buying a place, of writing the novel I’ll never finish. Collioure, too – which is this little Catalan town in southern France, near the Spanish border.

Do you think that there is a market online where money could be made via a site that focused on travel, culture, and food?

I sure hope so. Otherwise, I’ll be out of a job in a few years. The web is where people are reading their news, lifestyle, you name it. I get the Times delivered, leave it folded, and go online to read it.

I think the trick is to make the site specific, engaging and accurate. The spread of misinformation is the big danger – especially with travel, where readers rely on the boring bits (addresses, phone numbers, etc.) to be accurate. Those are things that a clever blogger might find tedious, especially without an editor around to crack the whip, but they couldn’t matter more.

Someone recently wrote to me and they said that this summer they will be traveling and trekking to the Everest base camp. Specifically, they wanted to know, “How can I write about my travels this summer and get it published as a freelance article?” What advice would you give this person?

Entire books have been written about this subject, but in a nutshell: think of an angle that is wholly unique. Stick to the story. Don’t try to jam facts in that everyone knows already (this is particular to Mount Everest b/c it has been done so often). Then try submitting it to smaller papers, alt. weeklies, and magazines.

One caveat: most editors that I know are looking for writers (of any sort) who are traveling, rather than travelers who want to try their hand at writing. That said, there is so little money left for travel budgets at papers and magazines that they are turning to the latter demographic.

Do travel magazines or newspapers want freelance writers to submit their content/articles for free and if they use them then they get paid? Or, how does that work?

I think it depends on the paper or magazine, but as a rule of thumb – if it’s your first piece, and you don’t have solid writing clips, it’s very hard to set it up where you’re traveling for the publication on advance assignment, per se. In that case, you may show them a finished piece that they could opt to buy for print.

For more established writers who aren’t necessarily travel writers, you would try to get in touch with the editor before the trip.

What do you say to your friends in New York who have a more traditional career and are envious of what you do?

I put this question to my friend Keller who told me to say: “Look at my paychecks.”

Honestly, very few of my friends in New York have traditional jobs. And if any of them were jealous of me, they’re way too big an asshole to admit it, thank god.

Do you have any projects that you would like to plug or any upcoming articles that we should be aware of?

My next piece is a wooden roller coaster tour of Pennsylvania. I have a feeling I’m going to miss that old People Mover.

Thank you for your time and effort on the questions Cindy!

If you would like to read some of Cindy’s work you can check out the following - Video: 36 Hours in Hollywood, The Days of Wine And Yoga and you might also want to check out her soon to be husband’s great photography at www.taylorumlauf.com.

Editor’s note: since it is a long weekend in some parts of the world, if you have some spare time you might also enjoy reading some of these other interviews I have done:

Shana Albert - Interview with Online Entrepreneur and Social Media Aficionado Shana Albert

Dan Clements - Escape 101 - Taking a Sabbatical or Career Break Without Losing Your Money or Your Mind

Tina Su - Ten Questions - Interview With Tina Su of Think Simple Now

Scott Rigsby - Do The Unthinkable - The Scott Rigsby Interview

Darren Rowse - Ten Questions - Interview With Darren Rowse of ProBlogger

Skellie - Ten Questions With Skellie of Skelliewag.org

Leo Babauta - Ten Questions With Leo Babauta of Zen Habits