We were lucky to catch up with Amy Piper recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Amy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

Now that I am a travel writer it is difficult to disconnect from traveling through a writer’s eyes and not think about writing the story of a destination. To not take the pictures of the food or post on social media. As that’s all part of my work now. So even if I am on vacation, it is difficult to not think about all the possible stories.

That said, I do believe in taking vacations and recharging my battery. While in my corporate job, I always took my vacation. According to the U.S. Travel Association, more than half of all people who work in the United States leave paid time off hours on the table at the end of the year. Survey data illustrates that those who take vacations are happier and healthier.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As a program/project manager for a large IT firm that supported fortune 500 companies, my job was stressful, but on the positive side, I had the opportunity to travel. During my 35-year career, I traveled to 41 countries, and in 2008, I worked on five continents and visited a sixth enroute. While I was never home, I loved life on the road with all my new adventures. Additionally, I had opportunities to get to know the cultures in depth in many countries I worked in due to my expat assignments and extended stays.

My husband and I have a daughter and two granddaughters. My husband and daughter often accompanied me when I traveled for my job. In the last few years of my career, I began a travel writing career to capture memories.

Today I am a freelance travel writer, blogger, photographer, and author specializing in luxury and multi-generational travel. I am a native Michigander who travels through the lens of a food lover and have been to 41 countries and 45 states. While I have written for several publications, you can follow my adventures at FollowthePiper.com.

From getting chased by bomb-sniffing dogs in the middle of the night in Bogotá to being refused boarding my plane from Buenos Aires to Paraguay due to the wrong visa, I always have an exciting adventure to tell my readers and community of travel enthusiasts.

In 2022, I was recognized as the Greater Lansing Certified Tourism Ambassador Star of the Year and am the published author of two travel books.

100 Things to Do in Lansing Before You Die was my pandemic project. I had a ticket to London for my corporate job, and the borders closed. I want to keep writing about travel, now what?

Around the same time, Midwest Travel Network approached me about a group of writers authoring a book called Midwest Road Trip Adventures covering the 12 Midwest states. They invited one writer from each state to write about their favorite road trips, so I wrote the Michigan Chapter. That book was an Amazon bestseller and is now in a second edition.

Some of those writers had written for Reedy Press and suggested I pitch them a book about Lansing. After all, I believe you don’t have to travel far to have the travel experience. So, I became a tourist in my own town and authored the book.
The biggest challenge was getting the information during the height of the pandemic. I’ve lived in Lansing my entire life, so I am well-versed in the area, but getting details and wondering which of my favorite restaurants would survive, was a challenge. Then, as things re-opened, I could return to those spots and confirm facts before submitting the final book for publication.

The biggest joy was when at an event, people showed me they have the book and they have it marked with places they’ve been and want to go. It makes me feel happy that they are discovering places in my hometown.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

In December of 2022, I retired from my corporate job and became a full-time travel writer after six years in the travel writing business. I started travel writing in 2016 by taking a workshop over a long weekend, where they explained everything from pitching to familiarization trips. At the end of the workshop, they challenged everyone to go out and get a piece published within 30 days. I did that and haven’t looked back.

Some key milestones along the way have been starting my own blog FollowthePiper.com, where I primarily write about my adventures through a food lens.

Other milestones include writing for large travel sites that receive millions of pageviews a month, to writing for smaller sites, so that the destinations I write about receive maximum exposure.

I have a passion for telling the story of destinations and the people behind it. I tell a destinations story through a pairing of photographs and words to help them accomplish your business goals, whether “bringing travelers from one tank of gas away to your destination” or “encouraging locals to get off their couch and explore their hometown.” I showcase destinations by specializing in stories through a food lens–restaurants, ingredients, and festivals. Luxury travel and multi-generational travel round out my offerings.

Other milestones include having a books published by publishing companies.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

As a travel writer, the pandemic proved to be a time that required pivoting. I had a ticket to London in my pocket and was ready to go, when the borders closed. As a world traveler, I needed to be open to opportunity. I became a tourist in my own town of Lansing, Michigan. I was able to use the information I knew about my hometown and more information that I was able to gather as venues opened to write a book that helps locals and visitors to Michigan’s capital city to find things to do. I realized that my hometown’s region was a destination for millions of visitors each year.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://followthepiper.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amythepipertravels/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followthepiper
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amypiper/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/amythepiper
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb8mLZ9xOYQ9oA-qyAkevAA/featured

Image Credits
Amy Piper