Here's how I chose destinations for an AARP travel feature

Hi friends,

Greetings from NYC, where it’s been below freezing for about 12 days straight, but also delightfully sunny every day.

I’ve had a huge flurry of articles published in the last week (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, AARP, and National Geographic), so I’m feeling accomplished and exhausted. I’m actually taking the rest of the day off to go sit in the sauna, work my weekly volunteer co-op shift, then meet a friend.

Before that, here are a few updates, plus some behind-the-scenes on a recent AARP Travel feature.

Cassandra

Many of you who reached out personally (or left comments on my LinkedIn posts) about my new grief and loss newsletter, Some Days are Shit. Thank you so much. It’s difficult and painful to write about the many deaths of my family members and the continued grief I experience, but I know that it will help others, and many of you told me as much.

It’s actually quite hard to build a newsletter following, especially when, like me, you don’t use Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. As such, referrals are so critical to helping my grief Substack grow, so I’m asking for your support.

If you want to learn to support others who may be grieving, please check it out. In my experience, most of my friends have been wholly unable (or unwilling) to be there for me in the ways I needed them to be, partly because they have never experienced significant loss or grief, and they didn’t know any better. Don’t let that be you.

Subscribe to Some Days are Shit

On a positive note, I’m heading to Mexico later this month for a wellness retreat in Cancun (my first birthday trip in over a decade - woohoo!)

I’d like to extend the trip to go scuba diving around Tulum and Sian Ka’an Biosphere, and I’m open to hosting at a property there, but only if it has a strong focus on sustainability or a strong connection to scuba diving.

Do you rep a resort there that has significant conservation efforts? Or do they have a PADI dive shop on the property? Are there shore dives available from the property’s beach? Something else?

To pitch me:

• Subject line: Tulum hotels

• Email: cassandra@escapingny.com

• Pitch by: EOD Monday, Feb 9

Let me start by saying that AARP is probably the most highly sought-after outlet I write for. I get ridiculous amounts of pitches every time I put out a pitch call, regardless of the topic. Unfortunately, most of them are off base because AARP is so specific about which destinations and activities appeal to its audience.

To help you out (and to increase the number of good pitches I get), I created an AARP Travel Pitch Call Explainer last year, including very specific tips along with an example of an incredible pitch one PR sent me that I included in an AARP piece on berry-picking destinations.

My latest piece for AARP Travel was in December on 7 unique afternoon tea experiences around the world. I’m a HUGE tea lover (the pic above is of my niece and her friend joining me for afternoon tea in Milwaukee during Christmas break), so I already had a few places in mind that I wanted to include. But here are other considerations.