Tips for travel bloggers include getting down to the nitty-gritty. Recently, Lisa asked me a few questions about packing and insurance and I thought I would answer them in this blog post.
Travel blogging is a fun, freeing way to see the world.
Prospering online while circling the globe liberates you. No longer do you need to sit in a cubicle at specific times to receive green strips of paper. Now you can see the world, profit, and render a useful service to aspiring or current world travelers.
Travel blogging is not all infinity pools, attractive men and women on Instagram, and hotel rooms comped at influencer rates. I have circled the globe as a traveling blogger for 10+ years. For all the freedom I enjoy I learned a series of honest lessons along the way.
First off: travel blogging is work! Real work. Keep these ideas in mind if you intend to become a travel blogger. So here goes my experienced tips for travel bloggers below whether you are a new travel blogger or a seasoned one.
First off: travel blogging is work! Real work. - Ryan Biddulph #travelbloggers
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Tips for Travel Bloggers While Traveling
Travel bloggers need to be:
– Careful observers to spot travel details
– Diligent recorders to remember and store travel details
– Skilled writers to convey those details via blog posts
– Savvy entrepreneurs who effectively monetize the process to eventually go pro
I bet ya thought travel blogging was snapping a few snazzy Instagram posts, writing a casual blog post once monthly then gobbling up travel blogging pro income, seizing hotel room influencer rates, and circling the globe freely, eh?
Nope.
I have blogged for 10,000 plus hours since 2008. I have circled the globe as a traveling blogger since 2011. Travel blogging is a highly developed skill only a few folks on earth hone to the full-time, professional level.
Many travel bloggers who seem to be full-time are part-time bloggers who return home to work full-time jobs. I have personally observed this sobering truth as a decade-long world traveler who blogs.
A few folks do it full time, which clues you in; this is fun, freeing, rewarding work that triggers your deepest fears, unearths your greatest discomforts, and reveals your tender inner weaknesses.
However, the payoffs are infinite freedom, peace of mind, astounding experiences in exotic locales, and a sense of fulfillment, service, and love that you will never know unless you become a professional travel blogger. – Ryan Biddulph with tips for travel bloggers.
The upside staggeringly outweighs the downside.
The payoffs are infinite freedom, peace of mind, astounding experiences in exotic locales, & a sense of fulfillment, service, & love. #travelbloggers
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Convenience
Travel bloggers should always be prepared for the unexpected. Having lockers at various train and bus stations is one way to ensure that wherever your travels take you, you have the necessary items on hand. For example, the lockers Termini Station in Rome can provide an ideal spot for storing valuables if you plan on visiting some of the city’s famous sights for the day.
Not only can lockers at Termini offer convenience, but they also allow travel bloggers to keep their items safe while they explore. Along with lockers, travel bloggers should consider other methods to help make their travels more convenient such as purchasing a pre-paid SIM card to stay connected while abroad or researching what scenic locations are nearby before they arrive.
Overall, there are many ways that travel bloggers can make even their most impromptu trips go smoothly. And by being aware of what practical items or services are available in each destination, travelers of any kind will enjoy a stress-free journey every time.
Packing
I pack:
– 1 week’s worth of clothes
– My laptop
– A Chromebook
– My basic phone
– And my passport
– Adapter for outlets according to the international location I travel to (do your research before traveling to find out the configuration of outlets to be able to plug in and charge your laptop and phone)
….via my carry-on and backpack. I no longer use a suitcase.
Traveling with a suitcase led to overpacking. I brought along clothes and things I never used. Why lug around stuff you never use? Why pay for luggage you never use?
I got tired of the extra workouts, tossed out clothes and things, and simply filled my carry-on and backpack to pack light, to travel seamlessly, and to save myself mental and physical baggage.
Pack as lightly as possible. Every location has access to at least water and laundry detergent. 99.99% of the places we visited offer laundromats. Wear clothes for a week. Do laundry. Wear clothes for the following week.
Pack as lightly as possible. Every location has access to at least water and laundry detergent. #travelbloggers
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Research for Travel Bloggers to Do
Plan by researching climates. Pack a sweatshirt and sweatpants if temperatures cool off quite a bit during evenings. Pack sunblock for mercilessly sunny tropical climates. Or simply purchase some clothes or sunblock at these locations. But let go of everything else to streamline your travels.
Note; unless you travel to incredibly remote places you will easily be able to purchase virtually anything you need at that location, save core travel blogger investments like a laptop. This is why I travel with my laptop and Chromebook; having a backup in place gives me peace of mind. If both crashed I’d simply travel to the nearest city to buy another laptop and/or Chromebook.
Packing feels uncomfortable for many travel bloggers in the Western world because we tend to fill our lives with useless or largely useless things that we attach to and believe we need to travel with to be secure, happy, safe, and complete.
Traveling the globe for a decade and ruthlessly analyzing my mind through mental training – see below – made me a minimalist by function and choice.
Traveling light makes sense for a full-time digital nomad but also seems wise to someone who sees stuff-things as being relatively worthless compared to the experiences or enjoying international locations.
I will hike through a remote cloud forest in Costa Rica after writing this guest post. Minus clothes and sneakers, what else do I need to enjoy this bliss, peace of mind, and yes, perhaps slight discomfort?
Enjoy experiences in exotic locations. Leave your things in storage, throw them in the garbage or give ‘em to folks who’d use ‘em. Pack light. Travel light. Coast through your travels mentally and physically.
Health Insurance
I can only share my intimately personal experience as a travel blogger; doing anything otherwise is tantamount to lying to you. This question from Lisa inspired me to write these tips for travel bloggers today.
My wife and I never purchased travelers’ health insurance because we do not fear getting sick abroad. We do not fear getting sick abroad because all bodily sickness begins in the mind and we’ve spent many 1000s of hours mastering our minds through:
– Meditating
– Doing Kriya yoga
– Doing yin yoga
– Studying and applying for A Course in Miracles
First, you become ill mentally by suppressing fears in your mind. Physical illness follows. Master your mind. Be well mentally. Live a life of health, peace, and freedom.
The only times I suffered through severe bodily illness while circling the globe is when I stepped away from mastering my mind. I stopped investing in mental health insurance and paid the price via my body. Lesson learned. Spending 3-4 hours daily mastering my mind has kept me mentally fit, physically fit, and dis-ease free.
OK; for those who prefer not to conquer the fear of dis-ease (to live at ease) simply Google solutions for travel blogger health insurance. Most top travel bloggers have a page 1 Google ranking here and there sharing timely, affordable solutions for you.
I am just a no-nonsense guy who figures it’s best to get rid of the root of disease before it manifests in your body. Again; I can only share my tips for on the move bloggers and live from an authentic space.
First, you become ill mentally by suppressing fears in your mind. #travelblogging
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Your Turn
Have you considered becoming a travel blogger? What other tips would you add for new travel bloggers today?
We’d love to know more in the comments below about travel bloggers and if you have other questions for us on this post.