The life of a travel blogger is a super glamorous existence filled to the brim with endless sunny days, gorgeous hotels and idyllic destinations. Right? That’s not exactly the whole story! Travel blogging is an all consuming love affair which requires unlimited amounts of dedication and extremely hard work. We thought it was time we gave you a glimpse into the realities of life as a travel blogger…enjoy!
1 | Free Time? What does that mean?!
Life as a travel blogger is busy. Extremely busy! And incredibly hard work. When we’re not travelling we’re dreaming of travel, planning travel, talking about travel, researching travel, writing about travel, editing travel photos… I can’t even remember the last time we had a day that wasn’t filled with one of the following: travelling, blogging, catching up on social media or trip planning. Downtime is a rare commodity in The Whole World is a Playground House!
Nowhere is off-limits for blogging!
2 | Vacation days are allocated years in advance
The world is a big place and we’re determined to see as much of it as possible. With full-time jobs our travel opportunities are hard fought for (check out our tips on how to travel more while working full-time) and we have to make some tough decisions. We have a huge bucket list of places we want to visit and as soon as the calendar turns January 1 and a new holiday allowance arrives we get planning. Within one night our entire holiday budget is used up and a rogue unplanned day off throws everything into disarray!
3 | A million Photographs
The husband is a tortured soul. Every second of his travels has a purpose. He must get the best photographs possible wherever we are (no pressure my favourite husband!!). We’re not allowed to eat a morsel or take a tiny sip of a drink until it has been photographed because, after all, it’s the photographs that make an article. I may laugh when he’s climbing walls, lying on the ground in the middle of deserted ruins or making me stand all alone in the dark as the bushes hiss while waiting for the sun to rise but the photographs are totally worth it!
It doesn’t end with the snap of a photograph though. Those photographs must be sorted, edited and published. Not an easy job when every trip results in thousands and thousands of photographs!
4 | A holiday isn’t a holiday
I can’t remember the last time we sat on a beach and chilled out for a week. It was probably 2010. The hard work starts the minute we enter the airport and, from that moment, every detail is documented! We’re addicted to seeing all that a location has to offer, driving miles and miles out of the way to check out a random site and running around like lunatics trying to do everything we want to do. And it all has to be photographed (see point 3) and written about. I’m exhausted even thinking about it!
5 | We have no shame!
Airline lounges and airplanes are the worst. Photographing these two things requires extreme confidence. While everyone else is sitting quietly and minding their own business we walk through the lounges and planes snapping everything of interest. I’ve been asked countless times if I’m on my first flight or if we’d like our picture taken. No thank you, I just want to take pictures of the seat, the food, the cabin… noone needs to see my face! It’s a hard life when the frequent travellers are looking at you like you’re crazy!!
6 | Google Analytics is our TV show of choice!
Who needs TV when we can watch our website statistics in real time? What do you mean there’s noone on the website right now? Seriously? OK so we’re not quite as addicted as that but it means a lot when all our hard work is being read and the information is being used by other travellers. Travel blogging is a hugely competitive industry and every click is hard fought for. It’s taken blood, sweat and tears to increase our traffic every single month (20k a month now if you’re interested but we’re aiming for 100k!!) The bonus? It gives us a chance to crack out the champagne when we hit our biggest milestones!
7 | Emails be crazy!
Emails, press releases, nasty comments and crazy requests, we’ve seen it all in our inbox! It usually goes something like this – Dear The Whole World is a Playground: ‘Can you?’, ‘Will you?’, ‘Are you stupid?’, ‘I love your website and our content is so aligned, I think your readers will love this sponsored post about car engines’. No, we’re pretty sure they won’t! But in the midst of all that comes a gem that makes it all worthwhile: ‘Thank you for your great advice’, ‘I love your attitude’ and, our personal favourite, ‘You inspire me’. Totally worth all the spam!
8 | BUT THE BIGGEST REALITY OF ALL? WE WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING!
Travel is our favourite thing on the planet. Nothing beats experiencing a new city, immersing ourselves in a different culture and seeing as much of this beautiful planet as possible. Writing about it is even better. Some nights when I can’t sleep I read The Whole World is a Playground and pinch myself at the thought of this crazy, wonderful life we lead. Travelling allows us to discover so many things about ourselves and the world and we truly believe it helps us to be the best version of ourselves. We’ve met so many awesome people in the blogging community and have shared so many stories and giggles. We love blogging and every visit, email and comment makes all the hard work worthwhile. I for one hope we never stop!
Pin this post for later!
I’m in awe of your travels. Wish I could do just half of what you have done in such a short time. Keep us the good work! I so enjoy reading, with the hope of visiting some of the places you have brought to life for me!
Thanks so much Kathleen, we’re so happy to hear that! Here’s hoping we both squeeze in lots more travels!
Elaine
Great post Elaine! While I am very jealous reading all of your amazing posts I do appreciate the hard work and effort that goes into creating such content. You have highlighted places that I never knew existed: next time I go to Paris I will make sure to visit the Monet gardens and next time I’m in Norway I hope to be more adventurous and do a hike or two!
Thanks so much Donna! I love reading your blog too although I’m not sure I can promise to use any of the recipes – my travelling skills are slightly more advanced than my cooking skills!!
I love the no shame part of this. I’m still working on that trait!