Mindie Burgoyne is a storyteller from a long line of storytellers. She uses that capability today as a travel writer, blogger, author, tour operator and speaker. Her focus is traveling within the context of a story to mystical – magical places that stir the heart, mind, and spirit. Her tour company, Travel Hag Tours, LLC has two subsidiaries –Thin Places Mystical Tours provide group and individual travel opportunities to mystical/sacred sites in Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and the USA; and Chesapeake Ghosts – a trail of 8 regional ghost walks on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Travel Hag Tours – provides group packages and tours for women, girlfriends and true Travel Hags.
Mindie is the past president of the Eastern Shore Writers Association and has written six books on regional travel. Her writings and photographs have been featured in the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, CBS News, National Geographic Television Network, USA Today, the Today Show, Maryland Life Magazine, What’s Up? Magazines, Coastal Style, the National Catholic Reporter, Guideposts, the Vancouver Sun, Metropolitan Magazine, and Notre Dame Alumni Magazine as well as numerous business and travel websites. Mindie currently runs four blog sites – three focusing on travel and one is an opinion blog.
Writing Has Led Her Success
Formerly the publisher of Trinity Music and The Pastoral Press in Washington, DC, Mindie and her husband, Dan moved to the rural Eastern Shore of Maryland in 2002 where she has a government day job. Mindie does extensive freelance writing and runs two tour operations – Travel Hag Tours and Chesapeake Ghost Tours. She speaks at conferences and events on travel, travel writing, and marketing communications.
“My writing has driven all of my income” Mindie states. “Writing about places of mystery whether they are haunted sites, ancient monuments, or images in the landscape that stir memory and intuition. Then my use of social media to promote my writing and tours led to an interest in training and speaking about the uses of social media platforms.”
Mindie readily admits that while she loves the tours and speaking, writing is her passion. It’s where all the “newness” happens. She is, however, not fond of the writing process. “Crafting written work is art. It’s making something out of nothing, and that creation is seen only in the reader’s imagination. It’s hell. But the sense of accomplishment that washes over you when you discover people are actually reading your work and being changed by it is the addictive element that drives you to do it all over again.”
Life on the Eastern Shore of Maryland
Mindie makes her home on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Though she still feels like a native Washingtonian, she’s been on the rural, unpopulated Shore – where tidal water is never more than 20 miles away – for the last 21 years. It’s home and the landscape of Chesapeake Country ignites her creativity.
WRITER / AUTHOR
Mindie is the author of six published books –Her next book, Thin Places: Celtic Doorways to the Otherworld, is about mystical places in Ireland – or places where the veil between this world and the eternal world is thin.
BLOGGER – Mindie blogs
The Travel Hag
Thin Places Mystical Tour of Ireland
Chesapeake Ghosts.
Thin Places Podcast
CBS NEWS Travel and Outdoors
- Maryland Wine Trails; Scenic, Cultural, and Homegrown Fun
- Annapolis: Government Up Close
- Best Cold Weather Fun in Maryland
SPEAKER / TRAINER / STORYTELLER
On Travel – Mindie speaks on a variety of travel topics and does “virtual tours” from the podium for travel groups, conferences, community colleges and non-profits associated with travel and outdoor recreation. Subjects include travel to haunted and sacred places, mindful travel, and travel for women.
TOUR OPERATOR
Chesapeake Ghost Walks
Thin Places Mystical Tours
FREE NEWSLETTER – Mindie has free monthly / quarterly e-newsletter called the Travel Hag News. In it she highlights travel, family, business and mystical places.
Sign up here to be on the Travel Hag News mailing list.
