Capturing memories through words

Travel blogs

To travel is a beautiful experience that allows you to discover and rediscover yourself. It could be travelling with known people, alone or strangers, but it is an enthralling experience.

As part of a conference arranged by ‘Social Media Week’, a session on travel blogging recently took place in the City, where six travel bloggers, Arun Bhat, Sam, Deepti Asthana, Sangeetha, Mansi Pal and Sankara Subamanian, shared their experiences.

While most consider travel blogging a hobby, Sankara has made it his career. He is a passionate traveller and also monetizes from his blog, which is called ‘beontheroad.com’.
“Travel is my life, my career, a passion and an inspiration,” he says. There are several opportunities for travel bloggers to make money. Travel blogging is like a start-up business says Sankara.

“You build your brand first, then comes credibility. Then you use your earned credibility and inherent skill to address your reader’s need. Thus, you offer value and you have reached a stage where you will start to create money-making opportunities.”

Despite creating a brand out of his blog, Sankara never compromises on the quality of content. “My reader gets a disclaimer saying if they click on a particular link on my blog, a certain percentage of money will come to me. There is always a disclaimer where the readers can decide if they want to click on the link or not,” he adds.

A good travel blog needs quality content and photographs are an intellectual property.
Deepti, who is a full-time working professional and travels out of sheer passion, feels that travel photography, specifically in India is majorly male-dominated. She, therefore, provides inspiration to her fellow aspiring female photographers to feel the beauty of nature more deeply and captures the world through a camera.

Her blog ,‘datravelography.com’, is written from the perspective of a woman who is a travel photographer. It contains detailed itineraries and stories from remote corners of the country.
Smartphones and social media have been the biggest boons to travel bloggers. With several travel-based apps popping up, a traveller can never lose his track.

From booking a tickets to finding a tour guide, travel apps are handy and ensure that you remain safe even in the remotest of areas. “I reach out to local contacts via social media before going to any new place as well as read existing blogs by other travellers to know their perspective of the place. The blogs have helped me in building up my own portfolio and create a brand name for myself,” says Deepti.

So how important is it to plan before you venture out? “In the beginning of the year , I align all my work leaves with my travel plans for the year and use long weekends wisely. I try and use my annual leaves for any major travel plans. It is just a matter of having the right passion and getting our priorities straight,” says Deepti. Once a workaholic, now on a travel journey, Sangeetha in her blog, ‘lifeisavacation.com’, explores things that touch her soul, making her vacation on earth memorable every moment. She does not believe in seasonal travel plans.

“Season is more of a tourist thing but as a traveller, I’m impromptu,” she exclaims. One of the biggest reward Sangeetha has received from her fans is that a lot of women, especially middle-aged and married women, have sent her mails asking her tips to travel alone or how to convince their families to allow them to travel alone.