The Future Calls

Here’s an interesting little secret about magazine editors: We’re time travelers. Yes, it’s true. Okay, it’s not the kind of time travel Hollywood gushes over.  We’re not armed with flux capacitors or sleek looking DeLoreans. I have no idea how the stock market will make out in 2012, what the Red Sox rotation will look like next year, or when Donald Trump’s hair will finally be granted full citizenship. Our powers are a bit more modest, constructed as they are, entirely around issue planning. This time of year is an especially busy stretch. Just this week I’ve been delving into March-April, planning out a travel story that will run next November-December, and poring over story ideas for 2013, and in a few cases, 2014. Most recently I’ve been concentrating on the Best of New England selections for our May-June 2012 travel issue. We publish some 300 each year and as the editor of the section, it’s a real treat to work with our travel writers on the places they’re seeing open, change, or just continue to thrive. Even as a born-and-raised New Englander and a longtime Yankee editor, it’s impossible to know, in detail, every nook-and-cranny of every state. New shops open. Inns are restored. Fresh owners of familiar stops emerge. Then there are longtime local favorites that for whatever reason haven’t popped up on my radar screen yet. It’s the kind of desk work that makes a man want to hit the open road; to fill up on country fare in Maine, or conquer my fear of heights with a zip line tour in Massachusetts. There are pretzels to gorge on, inns to relax in, and miles and miles of hiking trails to explore. Of course, I suspect you’ll get the same feeling in May-June when our travel issue comes out. I’m just doing the favor of reporting back from the future to let you know what you have to look forward to.