November 21, 2014

Travel Blogging Is Awesome – Hear These Travel Bloggers Out!

Travel Blogging Is Awesome – Hear These Travel Bloggers Out!
Well, this is my first collaborative post (I’m super nervousexcited)! So, let me rub my hands as the spotlight rests on these 8 wonderful travel bloggers, who are also the friendliest people in the blogosphere. I’d like to acknowledge that these people have made my blogging journey so much easier and more fun by supporting me throughout in different ways.

So, today I invite these lovely travel bloggers for a chat over a cup of coffee. The topic is travel blogging! Let’s start the conversation –

Agness Walewinder of Etramping (Poland)
When did you start blogging? What exactly tickled you to blog about your travels?
It was back in 2011 when Cez felt an urge to set up his own website and create a travel community where people could share their travel thoughts and experiences, and I wanted to start blogging about my life and work in China. One day, we came up with an idea of combining these two desires and start working together.
How has travel blogging made you a better traveler? Do you travel differently now?
Of course, the fact we are travel bloggers has changed the way we travel. We don’t forget our cameras when going somewhere, we write prices and names of places down in our diary and speak to locals a lot in order to share locals’ travel tips with our readers.
What do you love most about travel blogging?
Meeting fellow travel bloggers with who we can share our travel experience, stories from the road and eat a lot of delicious food!
What is that ONE valuable lesson that travel blogging has taught you?
As we have met a lot of fellow travel bloggers on the road, such as Sam of Nomadic Samuel, Audrey of That Backpacker, Sarah of The Further Adventures of Bennett or the Guy of Flights and Frustration, we have learnt that interactions with others are crucial if you want to be a successful blogger. Lessons learnt? It takes time to deliver a good quality content, we should never force ourselves to write if we feel like travelling and taking notes is important!
Justine Lopez of Travel Lush (California, Expat in Indonesia)
When did you start blogging? What exactly tickled you to blog about your travels?
I started The Travel Lush in March 2014 – so my blog is only nine months old. I started my own blog is because I was inspired by all of those amazing travel bloggers out there. As I was backpacking around Southeast Asia, travel blogs were my main source for travel information. Not only did I come to depend on them for 90 percent of my information, but I found that I really loved reading about other people’s travels. After months of avidly reading travel blogs like Alex in Wanderland and Adventurous Kate, one day I just decided to start my own!
How has travel blogging made you a better traveler? Do you travel differently now?
Travel blogging has made me a better traveler in so many ways. It has definitely opened up the world of solo travel for me. Before I started blogging I would have never considered traveling by myself – partially because I didn’t have a reason to, and partially because I was too scared. But I’ve been so inspired by all the solo female travel bloggers out there (like Renuka!) that I’ve started taking side trips by myself. I move much slower now, I take the time to talk with complete strangers and learn new things, and I really embrace the opportunity to soak in the atmosphere of new places.
What do you love most about travel blogging?
The community. I have made so many wonderful connections with like-minded people since I started blogging. It’s seriously amazing how nice and helpful people have been – whether it’s seeking technical help with my blog, or exchanging travel tips, or welcoming me into their homes when I travel to their home countries.
What is that ONE valuable lesson that travel blogging has taught you?
I’ve learned to appreciate the path that I’m on and the semi-nomadic life I’ve chosen to live. I’m originally from California, and I’m so grateful that I now have the opportunity to travel and live in Indonesia. Blogging has made me realize that I’m not the only travel fiend out there! There’s a whole community of amazing and like-minded people out there!
The Guy of Flights and Frustration (England)
When did you start blogging? What exactly tickled you to blog about your travels?
I began in late September 2012 so I’ve been doing this for just over 2 years. I’ve been travelling for so long now that so many of my experiences were just becoming forgotten memories. Places I’d been, experiences which really moved me were gradually fading in my mind. Without a documented record I’d struggle to remember the name or location of something if I ever returned. Now with a documented blog I would always have some written record to return to.
How has travel blogging made you a better traveler? Do you travel differently now?
I’m not too sure if I’ve become a better traveller. I think what has changed is that I’m more inquisitive now on my travels. I have more get up and go about discovering new places and things to write about it. I need to get out, explore and appreciate my surroundings more than ever – even if I’ve been there a dozen times before.
What do you love most about travel blogging?
Undoubtedly it is connecting with people with a similar interest and passion. Knowing that what I write, see and do is of interest to other people helps me feel a connection, a bond.
What is that ONE valuable lesson that travel blogging has taught you?
Wow, narrowing it to just ONE? Well for certain travel blogging is not easy. The commitment of time dedication, effort, emotion, administration and so on is immense. Yet having said that, if you have a passion for it, enjoy what you do then it is most definitely worth it.
Rachel Jones of Hippie In Heels (America, Expat in India)
When did you start blogging? What exactly tickled you to blog about your travels?
I started blogging one year ago (last October). After backpacking India the first time, I started to get all these Facebook messages from strangers saying, “My friend knows you and told me to message you. I’m going to India and don’t know how to start planning. Can you help?” I realized then that a blog could be my new career, as at the time I knew I was moving to India and leaving nursing.
How has travel blogging made you a better traveler? Do you travel differently now?
I still mess up all the time (wrong terminal at the airport, showing up late for flights… ) so I don’t think I’m the best traveler anyways. I have changed my travel style though from backpacking to just traveling. I used to take long trips on money I’d saved all year, so I was a cheap backpacker. Now, I go on more trips that are smaller and spend a bit more. I actually changed my tagline on my site from “glamourous travel on a backpacking budget” to “glamorous travel in India” as I realized I wasn’t on a budget so much anymore.
What do you love most about travel blogging?
For me, I love that people in the U.S. that wouldn’t have had the guts to come to India, read my blog, then e-mail saying they feel safe now, or that they feel like after seeing my stories they think they can handle India and have booked their flight. I love that even Indians, especially girls, message me saying that they feel inspired to go see their own country and had been afraid before reading the stories on Hippie in Heels​.
What is that ONE valuable lesson that travel blogging has taught you?
To have thick skin. Between travel blogging and being a Thai yoga masseuse, I get a handful of pervy messages a day from men in India. Of course when I first started blogging it would make me cry (people accusing me of being an escort, trying to buy me for a night in Goa, or wanting a different type of massage), but now I just ignore these things because I know I can’t change their mindset. Just yesterday, I put a photo of a beach on IG that I wasn’t even in, and someone commented, “are you topless?”, so I replied “grow up”. Sometimes it’s hard because I think I should quit so that I stop getting messaged like those, but then a girl will e-mail saying how much I helped her plan her trip and it makes it all worth it.
Francis Cassidy of The Stray Photographer (Ireland)
When did you start blogging? What exactly tickled you to blog about your travels?
I started back in March 2013 when this current journey, which is still yet to end, began! I’d never really written before, although I do remember one of the few things I enjoyed at school. So I think blogging was something I was destined to try at some point despite never being consciously aware of it and it just happened that I stumbled upon it as I set off for a stint of extended travel.
How has travel blogging made you a better traveler? Do you travel differently now?
I’d like to think so. I’m not much of a tourist really, so spending my time around the typical tourist attractions in a given place doesn’t really do it for me. Having a blog gives me that extra motivation to seek out these experiences. I know I’ll get something different, whether it be some good material for a story or a photo which shines a different light on a particular location.
What do you love most about travel blogging?
Having a platform for those spontaneous moments of creativity that pop into my head from time to time. Sometimes I’ll be on a bus, in a restaurant, or simply wandering the streets with a camera slung over my shoulder when some creative thoughts will spring to mind.
What is that ONE valuable lesson that travel blogging has taught you?
Humility. To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. Not long after starting I had some big ideas about getting a ton of traffic, building a large following, and making some money online to support my travels. It was not to be however. It’s difficult, and requires a huge amount of work in a variety of different disciplines. If anything it has taught me to become more inwardly humble, more willing to learn and more willing to listen to others.

 

Anu of Country Hopping Couple (India, Expats in Scotland)
When did you start blogging? What exactly tickled you to blog about your travels?
I had been blogging about our travels on my personal blog since 2007, and it always received good attention from the readers. As a couple, we had already been to a lot of countries and we wanted to document our travels as well as make it a source of inspiration for people like us – expats, couple travellers, and working full time. That’s how our travel blog country hopping couple came into being.
How has travel blogging made you a better traveler? Do you travel differently now?
Simply put, it inspires us to travel more. Travel blogging has certainly helped us put a certain structure to our travel, guided us to focus on what we enjoyed the most. Of course our travelling style has changed over the last 6 years. What hasn’t changed is that we take things slow, hit a local bar or coffee shop, strike a conversation with locals, visit a flea market, spend hours in squares watching people, walk the quaint, quiet streets, and follow the heart and feet.
What do you love most about travel blogging?
The fact that it helps me connect with other awesome travellers across the world!! Nothing can beat that feeling of making friends with someone who share a common interest with you, someone you’ve never met, yet you can talk with them for hours if you get to meet them!
What is that ONE valuable lesson that travel blogging has taught you?
Don’t get addicted to the numbers and statistics. What’s important is how genuine you are with your writing and experiences. Do what you have to do, and the rest will follow.

 

Tim Blight of Urban Duniya (Australia, also visits Pakistan frequently)
When did you start blogging? What exactly tickled you to blog about your travels?
I started blogging in March 2013. I had been living in India for a year and a half, and when that ended I was in a bit of a rut – I didn’t like what I was doing, and where I was going in life. After a couple of weeks of wondering, I decided to change everything, and take control of the journey! I applied for a job overseas, booked some flights and started my blog – and I haven’t looked back!
How has travel blogging made you a better traveler? Do you travel differently now?
Hmmm… I don’t know about a better traveller, but certainly a more aware traveller. I think much more about where I go now – what I can write about it, how others might perceive and experience it. I guess that’s a good thing!
What do you love most about travel blogging?
I love all the great people that I’ve met, and I love the stories they have to share. And the photos – some of the pictures I see of beautiful places around the world remind me of how beautiful this world can be.
What is that ONE valuable lesson that travel blogging has taught you?
Travel blogging, as a whole, has allowed me to live the life that I want. The whole experience has taught me that if I throw caution to the wind, and do what I really want to do, things will be OK in the end. I can be anyone who I want to be 🙂
Niranjan Das of Tales Of A Nomad (India)
When did you start blogging? What exactly tickled you to blog about your travels?
I have completed 5 years of blogging at ‘Tales of a Nomad’. When I decided to start a blog, I did not exactly have any topic/ genre in my mind. Travel was the only topic that popped up and I had a number of stories to share. It was an opportunity to share my travel experiences and also sharpen my writing skills.
How has travel blogging made you a better traveler? Do you travel differently now?
Travel blogging has opened the window to a plethora of things. It has introduced me to like minded travelers/ bloggers, opened before me various perspectives of travelling (backpacking, solo travelling, solo motorcycle rides etc), made me study interesting itineraries, made me learn new cultures and much more which were new to me before I started blogging.
What do you love most about travel blogging?
Blogging and travelling goes hand in hand. The more I travel, the more I blog as I love sharing my experiences and making my readers travel to all those wonderful places. The more I blog, the more I need to travel as I run short of stories for my blog. Hence travel blogging makes me travel for blogging and blog for travelling.
What is that ONE valuable lesson that travel blogging has taught you?
Travel blogging is definitely one of the first steps to becoming a professional travel writer. The more you write a better writer you become, and the more you travel, a better traveler you become.
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Do you think travel blogging has inspired more travel in your life?
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Filed Under: Travel Blogging, Travel Inspiration