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 Perrin may be a friend in need. |
Wendy Perrin '87 is consumer-news editor for Condé Nast Traveler magazine, yet confesses she is "scared to travel." Her three-year stint as author of the magazine's "Ombudsman" column gave her the knowledge to write Wendy Perrin's Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know (Fodor's), but it also taught her more about the not-so-glamorous side of travel than she ever wished for. "I'm better prepared, but I'm more paranoid," she says. "I'm so worried about every little thing that could possibly go wrong."
Perrin's magazine experience began with an internship at New Woman the summer before her senior year, and she returned to work there once she had completed the Radcliffe Publishing Course. But after a year and a half, she says, she realized "the whole women's magazine thing wasn't for me at all. I'd always been much more interested in the arts, in history and literature, in travel." She planned a trip around the world in between jobs, but circumstances kept her in New York City until she started at Traveler in 1989. "I think somewhere deep inside me I'm trying to make up for that trip I never took," she says. "Now, unfortunately, my job seems to keep me tied to my desk a lot more than actually traveling."
She has spent much of her time investigating readers' travel complaints, playing part-arbitrator, part-author as "Ombudsman" editor. The column aims to help readers with travel problems the company at fault won't resolve. Perrin has run the gamut from a pet cat run over by a baggage truck, to a two-day car rental that cost $7,000, to a cruise ship where the air conditioning broke, forcing passengers to sleep on the deck. "There aren't a lot of places for people with complaints to go in the travel industry," Perrin explains. Readers have certainly agreed; Perrin says she helped resolve 10,000 or so disputes during her three-and-a-half-year stint on the column.
"The idea for Secrets actually came a long time ago, and came from our readers," she explains. "They seemed to enjoy the column's helpful tips and funny stories, so while I was still writing the column I pulled together all the anecdotes and made a lot of notes, and came up with the format for the book."
The job change to consumer-news editor came at Perrin's request. "I thought travel was supposed to be so glamorous," she jokes, "and here I am thinking, Where are the gorgeous views and the romantic hideaways and those penthouse suites? All I get to hear about are the people who didn't buy their car rental insurance." Now she writes longer articles on the more exciting aspects of travel as well as the "Perrin Report," which gives practical advice based on her "Ombudsman" experience. She also represents the magazine on television and radio; she's often the person producers will call when they have less than a day's notice and want a live report from La Guardia Airport at 7:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve.
When she's not working late hours gathering information from other time zones for an article on the choicest suites in the best luxury hotels, Perrin cochairs an alumni subcommittee interviewing Harvard applicants and enjoys music and theater and "New York City show business." And after some more time away from travel disasters, armed with her own savvy advice, she may finally take that trip around the world.
~ Brooke Donovan