Our Top Fears of Traveling and Running a Travel Blog
I know that this is going to sound strange, but we have big fears about actually traveling and running a travel blog. Last year was the first time that we had a blog while traveling and it wasn’t exactly professionally run. We went for days without updating and we hardly ever included photos. We were in some very remote areas of Africa after all and hey, we were just posting for friends and family to keep them informed of how things were going.
Things are different now and we have been trying to really market ThePlanetD as a brand. We have sold some ads and are working on creating a little income on the road. So a random post here and there is not going to cut it.
These past few months have been a full time job. Every free moment has been spent on the internet working on the site and once we are traveling the world, we need to figure out how we are going to keep up a quality blog from the Himalaya’s in Nepal or from the Deserts of Mongolia. We will keep you updated on how things are going, but in the meantime….
This post is about what we fear the most about traveling and blogging.
1 – Not keeping regular posts
This can definitely be the death of a travel blog. If you aren’t posting, people will stop checking. We are afraid that we will be in some iscolated places in the world and not be able to post for a few days at a time. We really don’t want to have that happen. It is going to be a lot of juggling.
We are planning on posting several articles at a time and then scheduling them over several days if we head into a remote area or if we are on a long trek. That is the plan and we will see how it all works out.
2 – Missing out on social networking
We thoroughly believe that the community is one of the most important things in travel blogging. It is very important to give back and advertise other people’s blog posts and websites on places like twitter and stumbleupon. We have a fear that we won’t have the time to really visit other people’s sites and give them the attention that we deserve. If we don’t spend time promoting other people’s posts, why should they tweet or digg ours?
We don’t plan on this happening and we plan on visiting everyone’s blogs as much as possible. It is just a fear.
3 – Trying to figure out how to post from an Iphone or Blackberry whichever we may choose
We have always been pretty basic when it comes to technology. No Iphones or Blackberry’s yet, but we are going to invest in one before we go and hopefully make it work. We have to get it unlocked, we have to get some sort of plan once we land in Asia and we have to figure out how to use it efficiently. It can be done, but it is going to be a lot of learning on the road.
Once we get our Ipone, we need to learn how to post from it, join twitpic etc. and then hopefully don’t spend hundreds of dollars a month on it. We have no idea what to expect. Believe me if the phone becomes a great expense, we will not be using it for long.
4 – Making Quality Posts
The last thing that we want is to be too busy to actually write interesting and exciting posts. We don’t have a desire to simply post a photo of the day just to put up content. We also don’t want our posts to become just long rambling journal entries. Our goal is to keep each post as a mini article.
We are hoping that it won’t turn into a long boring list of what we did and what we saw. Things could easily become monotonous for our readers just as travel can become monotonous for the traveler. So that is going to be our challenge.
5 – Spending too much time at the internet Cafe
And now after all of those fears, we need to find a balance. Just because we want to keep a quality blog going, we also don’t want to spend every minute glued to our computers. We want to experience our travels. We want to take the time to just be. We want to remember how to enjoy ourselves and relish the freedom of traveling the world. That has always been what travel is about for us. It has been a cleansing of the mind, body and soul and I would hate for it to turn into something else.
So the goal is balance.
There are some of our fears of running a travel blog while traveling. This summer has been almost a full time job working on the blog. While I love it very much, I want to make sure that I don’t spend 8 hours a day on it on the road. I am happy that we are starting in Asia where wifi is popular. Dave and I aren’t partiers, so I am sure that instead of watching a bootleg movie every night in a bar, we will be happier sitting in a cafe or in our guest houses common room working on our articles and photos every night. We didn’t have that luxury in Africa, we were camping in the middle of deserts. And maybe once we move on to Mongolia and Nepal, we will have figured it all out and things won’t be so complicated.
All we know is that we love this travel blog, we love sharing our stories and we love this community. We hope to be a part of it for a very long time!
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Sorry to hear that you guys are stressing out
I have found that regular posts and social networking are definitely a lot of work – but I would like to think that the community understands that when you’re out there on the road your tweeting less and the such! AndyH had a tip about getting the posts ready in advance and if you continue your “themed week days” then you can have some patent posts ready to go in case you can’t get to the computer – that’s my plan for next time I travel – to go with a stock of maybe some that could be put up in an emergency 
Thanks Shannon, It is great to have people like you that are on the road doing such a great job as an inspiration. I think that you are right, themed days, and posting ahead of time is the key. Plus, like I said, we are not big partiers and club goers, so wifi at the guesthouses will be the key. It will give us something to do at night!
We have this same concern. I am writing a whole bunch of posts (about 20 or so) in the next couple of weeks that I can use as a backlog to publish when I don’t have time. I have a feeling that our Twitter feed is going to suffer but I think I should be able to keep up with other people’s blogs just using our RSS feed.
On a side note, unlocked Iphones are ridiculously expensive (over $600) and it is not clear that they work outside of Europe. So, I think your better bet would be an unlocked Blackberry. I found one on amazon for about $160.
Thanks for the advice on the iphone. That is crazy expensive. Although I do know of a place in Toronto that unlocks cell phones, we might check them out before we buy anything. I have to follow your lead and get ahead of the game with posts. Between keeping up with unique article wizard, twittering and writing posts, I don’t know where I will find the time to write 10 to 20 extra posts, but it definitely has to be done. Good for you! You two are so organized! You rock!
I can understand your “fears” yet they haven’t occured yet, so just keep working at it. Although the travel blog idea is great, and I consider it also, it’s not the real reason you travel is it? I’ll be interested in seeing how the iphone vs blackberry works for you. I sometimes have a hard time preposting, but if you feel the need for everyday posts that seems like the way to go. One visited place could easily provide for several posts with pics. I’ll keep following to see what transpires, even if you don’t post every day.
You are right. It is quite silly to stress about things that haven’t happened. That is my personality I am afraid. Dave goes with the flow much better than me:) It is going to be fun learning how to use the blackberry/iphone. Our phones are so basic right now. And you are right, we can finish visiting a place and then put 5-10 scheduled posts up about it while we are traveling and then do it all over again. But you are absolutely right. Traveling is not about posting and sitting at your internet everyday. Although we have been traveling solidly for 10 years and are looking to try to sustain ourselves with revenue from writing and travel blogging this time around. I will let you know how it goes:)
These are all good things to think about and I’m thinking about the same things myself. It seems overwhelming! I haven’t even been able to work on our blog anywhere near the amount of time I want to but I’m out of work in 2 weeks and it will have all my focus!
Anyway I was going to suggest not using the blackberry. I have one for work and I thought it was awesome when i got it. It is a pretty cool phone but Randy recently got the IPod Touch and that thing is freaking incredible! Seriously it does EVERYTHING. And it does it faster and better than the blackberry, I cannot believe how much better it is. I thought it was frivilous to buy but now I see this is going to be a mainstay during our travels, I’m not even bringing my phone. The newest one is coming out in a month or so and will have video and a camera. The best part is about it too is that you can download skype and use it as a phone too as long as you have internet connection! (The Wifi Finder is awesome and seems to find signals everywhere, you can also text on it as well) That’s what we’re going to do. It is super quick on the internet (much quicker than the BB). The best part? NO MONTHLY SERVICE FEES. Seriously I am so psyched over this thing. I highly recommend it. If you want to try it you can buy one at Costco and you have 3 months to use and return it for a full refund if you don’t like it. Or return it and get the upgraded one when it comes out. It is much more user friendly and has TONS of travel apps to go with it. Check it out, it’s one of the best travel tools I have ever seen. It’s like a mini computer & phone all in one.
Awesome! Thank you for all of that advice! We are going with the iphone. We are Apple People anyway, so it makes sense. I don’t even understand how everything works, but I am sure that we will be able to figure it out. I can’t believe that there are no monthly service fees. That rocks! That has been our biggest fear. We don’t want to have a plan from Canada because we will be spending an astronomical amount of money. So I might just give this a try at Costco. We leave in 2 months, so that will give me time to learn it and figure out all of my apps. Thanks Bethany!!!
I’ve been thinking about this, as well. So far my only big trips recently have been just over 2 weeks at a time, so it’s manageable to just make a few internet cafe trips and some iphone updates (though I definitely don’t do as much social networking or posting while abroad). But I’ve been trying to plan a longer trip, and I’m wondering how to keep up with the online world. Staying at hostels and hotels with free wi-fi will definitely be a goal, though in lesser-developed countries, it may be harder to find a good internet connection. Definitely something to think about, though you could always write some evergreen posts before you go and have them automatically posted while you’re away, or have some people write guest posts while you’re gone.
Good to hear that others are having the same concerns. I agree staying in Hostels with wifi is going to be key. We didn’t have that luxury in a lot of Africa, but I think that Asia is going to be much easier. And you are right, posting in advance will help a lot. We are flying into southern India first and we are going to spend a week or two chilling on the beach, so that is where we will probably be able to get ahead of things. Looking forward to seeing how things work out for you too!
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we have found this to be true when we were traveling in Asia this past summer. We were not even blogging as much either and we have a child in tow who needs a lot of attention (blogging or not). We don’t plan on earning money from our blog so it is less pressure for us in that dept. We do it strictly to share and to inspire. However, I can totally see your concerns here. I do hope you find the right balance for you and continue blogging. We will read them. I wish you the best and looking forward to learning and being inspired too.
take care!
Something else to consider is the level of services where you’ll be passing through – you may find yourselves in places that have phone service but no internet – while not ideal it can still be workable….
WordPress has a built in feature to accept posts from emails, where the subject line of the email becomes the post title and the email message body becomes the post body. When my brother and his girlfriend go on hikes (long distance, months at a time type of hikes), he uses a PocketMail device to send their posts by email using regular phone service, and I edit them for typos, etc before they get “published” – then when they get to places where there is internet he can log in and reply to any comments, or make other modifications.
It’s not a system for everybody and yes, it is a bit archaic, but it’s cheap and works well in areas where you can get dial tone but little else. Hopefully you will find better services in Asia!
Emily’s suggestion is also one I was going to make, about scheduling some posts in advance and lining up a number of “guest posters” to fill in the gaps and to keep up activity on your site in between your updates from the road.
Thanks Trisha, all of this advice is awesome. You are right, that is something we have thought of too about phone service. That is why the iphone might be better for us. Dave saw a place on the internet that shows you how to unlock the iphone. Don’t know what the site is offhand, but it could be an option. I will definitely look into the WordPress feature. All of this technology is overwhelming.
I kind of liked the days when I had to make an appointment to make an international phone call. It was much simpler:)
Just wanted to clarify – it’s not the Iphone (that does have service fees). It’s the IPod Touch, which is basically just like the iphone (minus the phone part). But you can download skype and use it like a phone – brilliant! The current IPod Touch does not have a microphone but you can attach a mini microphone to use for the voice so you can make a call. But the new IPod touch (which i think comes out in about a month or so) has video (and corresponding microphone) and camera built right in so you shouldn’t have any problems. I have not tried it yet but everything else on the IPod touch works fantastically so I would imagine it’s fine. It’s like free internet everywhere there is a signal. I love it. I would check the return policy w/ Costco in Canada but here in the U.S. you can buy any electonic from Costco and return it in 3 months and get your money back, which is a cool way to try things out. My boyfriend is addicted to their return policy i think. hahah
Glad i could help!
Thank you very much! I have heard about this ipod touch. Now I definitely going to look into it! I am addicted to their return policy as well:)
Not to worry you….but your concerns are valid! I have wrestled with these very issues throughout my own active travels, and achieving balance must be a top-of-mind priority that, coupled with some good time-saving apps and procedures (like scheduling posts in advance so you don’t have to scramble for an internet connection), will have you traveling and blogging like the pros that you are in no time!
I hear you on these fears, but I think you have the right perspective: it’s all about balance. You want to run a quality and successful blog, but you also don’t want it to detract from your travel experiences. The goal is for the website and community to enhance the experiences on the road because you are able to share them with a wider audience and expand the conversation.
We’ve found that taking breaks from constant movement and travel help a lot – not only for finding the right mental space to write quality posts and organize photos, but for avoiding travel burnout.
Asia is a good place to start – wifi is easily available and it’s pretty fast. That’s where we built our website – it would have never gone online if we had started in the Caucasus and Central Asia
Thanks for your reply Audrey, I was actually thinking about you while I wrote the post. You manage to keep such a quality blog while traveling in remote areas and riding chicken buses. I think that like you, we have a lot of time to travel, so we will be stopping a lot to organize and relax. Thanks for the encouragement!
Fear is just another 4 letter word guys. Better to try and fail then to never give it a shot.
The things you list are easily overcome…
1) write your posts in advance. Have some fall back posts like “picture of the day” for the days when you won’t be able to post.
2)It is just a fear.
3) sort it out before you go and you’ll be fine. Really, most places have internet so you should be able to use email service to send it through if you can’t access your blog.
4) While your travelling your posts will be quality because you will actually BE travelling instead of writing about travelling. Know what I mean?
5)Internet cafes suck so much that you wont want to hang around.. haha.. trust me.
GOod luck!
You are right Zoe, I know that we will loose the fear when we are on the road. It is just the anticipation and thinking about everything while we are here. I am sure that it will all fall into place as we go. And I can at least share with everyone what we are doing to keep things up and running. Cheers. And yes, it is silly to worry about posts while we are traveling, we are going to be seeing amazing things and how can the posts not be interesting? Coming up with ideas while being at home is the hard part. Thanks for all of the advice.
Consider getting a netbook – you can get a very small 7″ for less than $200, and if you’re Mac people you could even get a Dell and turn it into a Hackintosh. This way, you can blog “on the road” (with something like Windows Livewriter) and upload whenever you get wifi connectivity.
Ian
Hi Ian, thanks for the replies. We are actually going to be taking our laptops. (I know a little crazy) We are packing light with everything else. I like the email posts that Trisha and Zoe suggested. I didn’t even know that I could post on the blog from email until Trisha told us about it. That is what I just love about writing posts like this, we all learn so much:) That netbook is a great deal though! Wow.
I’d suggest when the traveling gets heavy don’t stress yourself out and just break up on really good post into a series. My posts vary but if I’m finding I’m traveling so much it’s hard to post, I go with 3-500 shorter word posts. The shorter posts are a nice change of pace for reader too I find.
If you guys need any help with anything let me know and I’ll do my best to help!
Thanks Anil. You run such an interesting and organized blog, we will definitely be looking to you for advice. That is good advice to break up posts into a series. You don’t want the posts to be too long anyway and I know that when I am traveling I can write for days. People will start to lose interest after 1200 words anyway. I am definitely going to do quite a few series.
Those are all very realistic concerns! Lets see how you fare
This is a great post — you raise issues that all of us grapple with, I think.
I hope you keep writing about these issues. I would love to hear about the technological solutions you discover, and how you manage to balance the actual traveling with the writing about it. (I have no doubt that you will find that balance!)
I enjoy these posts that help everyone too. I find that when we have issues, others seem to have the same concerns and we can all learn so much. Thanks for the comments and we will keep you updated on how everything goes!
great post that these are definitely some of the worries i have abut blogging while away. i know you’ve gottta put the work in but i dont want it to negatively impact immersing myself in my travelling and meeting nww people. so hopefully we can find a way to balance
I can definitely relate to this post having just wrapped up a 20-month RTW trip, blogging the whole way. Once I left home, I didn’t touch the design of the blog (or even upgrade WP) for well over the first year. I was simply in maintenance mode – drafting/scheduling daily blog posts, uploading photos and video. I made it a point to respond to 99% of all comments left on the blog, however I did not spend additional time trying to keep up with other people’s travel blogs, let alone commenting on them. I’m sure I lost some readers for that reason, and my # of comments did go down as the trip wore on, but overall, my traffic stats and RSS # increased the whole way!
Scheduling and time management are key! I was always proud when I could schedule 1 week ahead because it gave me days at a time away from updating the blog.
I think consistency with your posting schedule is more important than posting daily. Nomadic Matt has been posting a few times a week, and readers are use to that. I prefer to try and post 6-7 days a week, and while I was away, I would get feedback from family, friends, and old colleagues that they would read my posts every morning when they got to work (or at lunch). That gave me extra motivation to stay consistent.
Thanks for the information Dave. I agree with keeping it consistent is the key. Wow! 20-months that must have been quite the trip. Welcome home.
I’m not sure I agree that if you’re not posting, people will stop checking. I rely heavily on my RSS feeds to know of other people’s updates and have done so for years. And if I know someone is travelling, I’d much rather know they’re having a great time rather than stressing over their website.
I’m about to go on a trip shortly and while I may not post with the same frequency, I’d be collecting research material for later use. I’d rather live it than write about it immediately. My site is new, but in your case, you have established readership. I can’t see them disappearing just because you don’t update daily
.
You are right, my the RSS has been a big help. It is so easy to take a quick glance and see what people have updated and added. And you are also right about not stressing to keep up with posts. It is far better to live in the moment than to rush to the internet! Thanks for the comments.
Hi davendeb,
Great post – I have been loving reading your blog and Twitter posts.
Regarding the iPhone v. Blackberry question, I agree, its a tough decision. I am a Mac person too, and have the iPhone. I loved using it during a recent trip to Spain – maps, dictionaries, skype, etc are all at your fingertips and, as bethany mentioned, FREE with wifi. The only issue I have with the iPhone (which makes me miss my Blackberry at times) is actually writing on it. Although I have no trouble typing on the iPhone, it lacks an autotext feature that automatically changed words like u -> you, w -> with, etc. Now it takes me much longer to compose a message to anyone other than a good friend. One other thing, I find the iPhone data services very pricy – we traveled around the world for 5 years using Cingular’s unlimited worldwide data package for ~ $65/month – the only place it didn’t work was in Yemen!
That said, you can’t go wrong with either phone. Have a great RTW trip – I look forward to reading about your adventures!
Jennifer
Jennifer, thanks for the information. Our data package in Canada is terrible, Cingulars is a steal in our books. We will try to look into it. Wow, 5 years around the world that is awesome! Looking forward to doing that ourselves. Thanks for the comment and advice!
I’m facing the exact same problem right now updating AOB, my personal blog, and my music site. Tons of work but heck it beats going to an office sitting in a cubicle all day!
.-= Skylab´s last blog ..By: Dave and Deb =-.
Hey Dave and Deb, that’s so true! I had a hard time trying to keep up my blog while travelling through Latin America for the past few months. Just picture climbing the Volcan Pacaya one day and having to blog about it the next! It sure makes it sound like blogging is a chore, but when we were on the road, it really did. So I ended up blogging only once every three weeks, and my readership suffered. I’ve always focused more on writing for magazines and guidebooks, so the blog has always been a channel for readers to know more about my work. It’s secondary to me, but still I see the importance to keep people coming. Anyhow, I’d say keep up the great job, you guys are doing awesome! You’ll do terrific on the road!
Thanks Nellie, Your words of encouragement are appreciated. I really want to focus on magazines and newspapers more as well while I am away. It is hard to juggle everything isn’t it. You did awesome though and you are right back in the mix of things. You are right, the blog works almost more as a place to advertise your work and let the readers get to know you better. Mag’s etc. is the best way to fund travels I am thinking. Thanks for the comment.