*jots down Travel Writer as Something To Be When I Grow Up*
Not man, Man. Grrrrrrl here.
Those are very difficult assignments to get, even more difficult now then back in the pre-internet day when I traveled. I'd been in publishing since I was 23, recognized a name on the masthead of the airline magazine on a flight I took to SanFran as an early friend in the biz. He'd become production manager of a company that created and published inflight magazines for TEN airlines. He introduced me to their travel editor and voila! I wrote a lot of nontravel stuff for them as well and got paid for those articles.
I think that each airline produces its own magazine today, and they're not as good as they once were. Still, there's some opportunity. Query them with ideas for nontravel pieces or destination pieces about interesting spots near your hometown -- provided that the airline services the area. Work up to the plum assignments.
Come to think of it, assignments have always come rather easily because I was inhouse editor at various magazines and book publishing companies. So you might take that route. When I was editorial director at a non-NY house, I found it extremely difficult to hire editorial assistants who could actually do anything. Bad spelling, grammar, even guys with masters in journalism. Why? Because their allegedly good universities graded on political correctness, not writing ability. So I do recommend that you become expert at grammar, usage, spelling, editing -- even proofreading. Really, you have no idea how rare those skills are and how valuable to publishing houses.