Welcome to the Junkets & Jaunts Media Kit. This blog came to life as a travel site in 2018. I’ve never been a fan of traditional travelogues. The best travel stories don’t come from guidebooks. They come from regional insights gleaned from bartenders, car-share drivers and casino dealers. From folks on the ground floor of the hospitality industry. They know where to find the best meals and deals. If you show genuine interest they’ll open up about their lives to you. And often, their lives will reveal the true nature of a city or region.
Travelogues do have some value: Go here. See this. Eat that. Fine. The award-winning Junkets & Jaunts interlaces the travel landscape with insightful first-person encounters.
Founder & Editor Ron Donoho
While executive editor at San Diego Magazine, I ran the magazine’s travel section for a decade. Before that, I was a New York City-based news editor for travel-trade publication Successful Meetings. In the travel sector, my byline has appeared in PopSugar.com, Westways, Hemispheres, FarAndWide.com and Wandermelon.com.
Over a three-decade career, I’ve been a full-time freelance writer/content creator. I’ve written for a slew of media outlets on a wide variety of topics. Politics. Sports. Nightlife. And much more. My work has appeared in: Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Maxim, Glamour, HuffPost.com, Los Angeles Magazine, Baltimore Magazine, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and dozens of websites, mangazines and newspapers.
For more career details, take a look at my portfolio. (Note: I’ve got a full lineup of freelance gigs, and am alway open to new opportunities. I can be reached at rondonoho@gmail.com.)
MEDIA KIT STATS
As the world recovers from the pandemic, travel opportunities are re-opening. Junkets & Jaunts’ numbers are rising as airlines, hotels and attractions mandate higher capacity.
Numbers: Across all platforms, Junkets & Jaunts content is viewed by 8,000-10,000 visitors/month.
Platforms: Along with the website, stories are posted and promoted on Facebook (4,500) and Instagram (3,500) pages and on a semi-monthly e-newsletter (1,000 subscribers).
Demographics: Readers are split nearly evenly among males (54%) and females (46%). Roughly one-third are between the ages of 25-34; 27% are 18-24; and 16% are 35-44. More than 90% of readers are based in the United States.
Sponsored Posts: I’m entering the market in this area. I would consider $250 for a sponsored post, based on negotiable circumstances.
Affiliate Marketing: Open to these programs.
Press Trips: Accepted.
MORE ABOUT JUNKETS & JAUNTS
After a year of compiling pieces for J&J, I published an anthology of travel stories. The book is Junkets & Jaunts: Avocado Margaritas, Surf City Soul and the Center of the World Pyramid. It’s available on Amazon.com.
According to San Diego Uptown News: “Donoho’s stories are often lighthearted and spattered with clever callbacks to previous adventures. Donoho details the characters of each place he visits yet does not get bogged down in being overly descriptive. Traveling, like writing, should be fun after all.”
In May 2019, J&J content began appearing in the 30-plus San Diego community newspapers in the Local Media Umbrella group. These newspapers are collectively mailed to 100,000-plus homeowners each month.
AWARDS
In its inaugural year, J&J stories, and thes site itself, picked up five awards from the Society of Professsional Journalists and the San Diego Press Club. Both organizations placed Junkets & Jaunts in the top three for local topic-based blogs.
The SPJ awarded first place to “A Huntington Beach Bartender Pours His Heart Out” (nondaily reporting and writing, feature story). The Press Club gave second-place nods to “A Californian in the Wisconsin Dells,” (online and daily newspapers, domestic travel); and “Marking Time During March Madness in Las Vegas,” (online and daily newspapers, light feature).
In 2020, J&J stories picked up four awards from the San Diego Press Club. J&J