Ha, travel through a blog — the view of a lot of pro bloggers making their livelihood from training they sell. I propose a more nuanced and less subjective opinion of things — a realistic point of view on the part of a person who has been traveling for a long time and who has recently been traveling and blogging.
There’s no harm for travelers to keep a travel blog, simple and without monetising it. It’s a new roadmap. A way to share your trip without too much compromise on travel time.
Blog and travel
The word trip has become a marketing argument for many bloggers, especially the big ones. The journey makes people dream especially if you tell them that at the same time you can earn a lot of money online by working a few hours a week.
I find a little sad, no doubt you will say, I take things a little deep at heart. That said, if you really like trips and have traveled a lot already, then that’s amazing.
The reality, however, is different for most. Developing an income from a blog requires a lot of work. It’s time-consuming. Moreover, those who spend a lot of time on their blog, they are more expatriates than travelers. They are sedentary travelers.
I have been for five months in Colombia. This remains a good experience of course. But a different experience of the inexperienced traveler. Besides, I can’t say if there are lots of travelers around. Because a lot of people stayed in France.
And I’m not talking about those who “fail” to say that they finance their trip primarily through their economy. Marketing…
Be sure that these bloggers are working hard on their business. And that the trip goes to the background.
Or travel and blog? Blogging: relative freedom
I have experienced expatriation and several long trips. Since the few months, I started this blog so that it brings me an income while traveling. It has recently funded my entire trip to South America.
To be honest, for the moment, my best memories and sensations are my long journeys. Freedom was then total.
And then, there are certain forms of travel that a pro blogger cannot do. A long trip by bike or on foot? Difficult. If he does, he will lose money, which will stop him.
What to do if I want to make the way to Santiago de Compostela? Or cross Mongolia on horseback? Or Canada on foot?
And then, the blogger-traveler is a traveler of specific urban areas, due to internet connection requirements.
Time…
If you do not blog for a while. The stats go down even by automating because you ignore the comments on other blogs in particular. There is no secret you must be present on the web.
Automation at its limits, you can not automate everything, starting with business contacts.
In my previous travels, I spent much more time on photography and reading. The blog takes me time and energy. Sometimes I tell myself it’s a shame.
And connections on a trip?
It is clear that generally, you can do fewer things in a certain period on the net than in France. The speed is slower, the connections are random, and the WIFI is less common. And cybercafés? No thanks, I now prefer to avoid, too noisy and uncomfortable.
More loneliness?
Moreover, one of the pleasures of traveling is to share the road with others met here and there. It can take a day or a month. However, it seems difficult to do this when you are going to have a slower pace because you are going to work harder.
Also, if your partner does not have the same activity, it seems difficult to do this for a long time in nomadic mode. Or, must you stay single.
The contradiction of the blogger travels
A travel blogger can sometimes graze the contradiction. Indeed, blogging time is always down on travel time. Now, the author blogs about the trip. Whether he travels or not, at some point there will be a problem.
If you blog about other topics, this contradiction is less present. It’s even absent if you talk about blogging. Indeed, it’s normal that the person spends time blogging …
There a little reflection on my trip to Central America, I was twice less present on the web. So my stats probably went down a bit, and then slightly increased. And yet, I’m traveling, and I’m talking 100% trip ….
You will tell me; the stats do not mean anything like a comparison. Not wrong, it should be better to use a clue “time in front of the screen/visits”.
Blogging, an alternative among others for traveling
I love blogging since I launched in September 2010. But I blog since 2005. But with this blog gone “pro,” I got caught up in the game. Is motivating to see how this can fund his passion.
Money is not the primary motivation. As I said before, I do not need the money from this blog to travel. I could travel long months without it for years, especially in budget mode and using various possibilities.
So why do I blog?
During my trip to Indonesia last summer, I felt a certain weariness with backpacking, as I have been doing for a long time. I happened to be a spectator. So, you will tell me, “spectator of the world,” it’s a beautiful hobby. And you’re right; I will not say the opposite!
But then? I think it’s according to everyone’s experience and personality. To develop in an activity that we love, to have a thread, it is also a good thing. More than money, blogging fulfills this role, at least for the moment.
It allows me to improve in an activity that I like while being able to travel. It’s like a red thread. Although sometimes it has been rather sedentary. The blog allows me to learn a lot, in different areas.
Finally, for my part, besides the importance of the activity, there is also the fact that I began to get tired of these periodic CDD-long trips. Not long trips, but jobs between course! That said, it’s still a great way to have time to travel!
I’m probably less a fan of blogging than some. Moreover, I am far from having the eyes riveted every day on Google Analytics to detail the provenance by keywords, even to count the number of Like coming from Google or I do not know what else.
There are other ways to “work” while traveling: journalist, photographer, dive instructor, teacher, humanitarian, etc. Moreover, some of these activities may bring more than blogging: richer at the level of human contact (and real contacts). And some we probably have more sense.
Lucidity
But that does not stop me from being lucid; I do not carry the blogging naked as I can sometimes read here or there. I know too much that every activity has its bad side, that the world is rich with other possibilities.
Recently, a reader asked me for advice for a future long trip. My blog had inspired her, but she hesitated (a pleasure in receiving this kind of mail).
She wondered about the need to keep a blog. I replied that I advised she rather leave being the least connected possible to fully enjoy these three months of travel. She’ll have plenty of time to get started if she wants to. The opposite is less obvious.
That’s the same answer I would make in this case to everyone.
Well, it was a more personal article than usual.
Here is an article for those who want to create a travel blog?
What do you think of all this? Would you rather blog and travel or travel and blog?