I feel like travel blogging is a total sham a lot of times. There are so many memes on the internet posted about travel by bloggers: “Travel to free your mind”, “Travel to Unplug”, “There’s no way I was born just to pay bills and die” ….but becoming a “respected” travel blogger forces you to have the exact opposite mindset.
I’ve started following some of the travel bloggers on certain social media outlets and you know what, they are constantly plugged in, constantly. They’re plugged in to Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, sites I’ve never even heard about before I started my own travel blog. I can barely keep up with my Facebook blog page and Instagram, I don’t even have a Twitter account. How are they unplugging when they travel if every minute is dedicated to plugging in and “sharing” the experience.
It’s one month later and I still haven’t finished my post about how awesome Krabi was compared to Phuket. Call me lazy. I shared images on Instagram while there but that was as much energy I could muster up to dedicate to the cause. You know why? Because I wanted to actually unplug.
Instagram and Why Travel Blogging Is a Sham
Let’s talk about Instagram, the ultimate platform for the travel blogger. It takes a lot of work. It also makes me cringe when I see overly manufactured photos.
Maybe that’s the difference, the veteran travel bloggers treat it as work whereas I treat travel blogging like a hobby. But it seems like it would be difficult to soak in a foreign culture and lifes’ experiences if you’re unnecessarily spending time constructing perfect scenes on a hilltop. Or perhaps stuck in an internet cafe posting and tweeting. Or if you’re constantly looking at your phone to check how many likes and comments you have.
I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s absolutely fine to monetize your site and make a career out of travel blogging. Even presenting a false illusion about traveling can be forgiven. But please stop posting those hypocritical memes about unplugging. You’re not fooling anyone.
3 comments
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I hear you. But for those of us who blog full-time it’s still a job at the end of the day, so unplugging is like taking a day off… and that’s not sustainable in any workplace 🙂
very true 🙂 i do appreciate that people are much more forthcoming these days with experiences related to the hardships of travelblogging vs those who make it seem dreamy all the time.