The Travel Wire: best travel reads #42

The Travel Wire is a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads from around the web, edited by James Clark from Nomadic Notes.

Travel reads

• Scenic and charming: Sri Lanka’s Main Line railway has been called the world’s most scenic train ride [Escape]

"Is this the world’s most scenic train ride? At the very least, the day-long railway journey through Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands is a strong contender."

• One day at the Saigon Zoo [The Shanghai Literary Review]

"Developed by French colonial authorities in the 19th century, Ho Chi Minh City’s greenest corner is arguably its most precious piece of land in more ways than one."

By Our Man In Saigon, Connla Stokes.

• I’m a travel blogger and I’m mad at everything [Indie Traveller]

"Some thoughts on how the internet is breaking (and maybe taking travel blogging with it)."

Not a travel read, but some important points for travel readers. As more travel content becomes AI-enhanced (or purely by AI), a future skill for travel readers will be the ability to discern human-written content from AI-generated content.

I am a member of several travel blogger groups, and I've noticed that travel bloggers are using AI to assist with article writing. I know some sites that are 100% AI. As Marek points out in his article, there will come a time when there won’t be enough original content for the AI bots to make a plausible article. This at least presents an opportunity for writers to become a trusted source of non-AI content, if they can survive the current publishing upheaval.