I have been looking at Reddit recently as both a way to promote our websites, but also for research and ideas for topics.
Reddit, in case you are not familiar with it, is an open source “entertainment, social networking service and news website where registered community members can submit content, such as text posts or direct links*” divided into independent subreddits moderated by a team of volunteers.
Subreddits that might interest working travellers include TEFL, TEFL Blacklist, Freelance Writers, and I Want Out.
While loitering in the Digital Nomad subreddit I decided to be helpful and answer a few questions aimed at travel bloggers. As a fairly slow writer, I am not one to waste a written word that can be used more than once, so I thought to share my answers here too:
How/Why did you start your blog?
I started selling small press/fanzine type magazines back in the day, moving on to a website and an email newsletter. A blog was the next logical step.
Does your blog help fund your travels?
This is our only income. Sometimes we can afford to take a trip, sometimes we can’t. We bought an apartment abroad for the price of a car at home so we have a base where we can live cheaply (no rent, no mortgage) and save when we are not on the move. It’s also handy to have this office environment to work on longer projects between trips. We also trade spare ad space for trips and accommodation.
How many trips do you take per year?
The short answer is we have been permanently abroad for most of the last decade but much of this time I would class as more of an expat lifestyle than a travelling one. When we travel we do so for the whole year and when not travelling we barely leave the town limits. We live in a resort town in Turkey so some people might count this as travelling anyway. I suspect a lot of bloggers that say they been travelling permanently for five years are often living abroad for some of this time and there is a difference. Our first trip we moved around a lot but now tend to base ourselves somewhere, visiting neighbouring countries for a month or so at a time whenever we need to renew visas.
Do you read other travel blogs or books?
Not as much as I used to but I still drop in on other blogs occasionally. Often this is for work/research.
What are your favourite tips for saving money or cutting expenses for a trip?
Travelling isn’t a holiday where you save the whole year to spend it in two weeks. I think a lot of people who don’t travel think those that do must be rich because of the amount they spend on their own holidays. On our first trip we would have done a lot more expensive special things/activities/tours, bought lots of souvenirs etc, but now we are used to the lifestyle I’m happy just walking the streets of a new city and try not to buy what we don’t need. That doesn’t mean we don’t do these special things occasionally but we pick and choose what we do and might have to abstain from beer/coffee/expensive meals for a week or so to pay for it. The answers above probably make us sound quite wealthy but I would say our income is about the minimum wage (though it has been much higher in the past when Adsense was worthwhile).
* Thanks Wikipedia