6 Ugly Truths About Travel Blogging

6 Ugly Truths About Travel Blogging

From traveling to exotic places around the world for free to the ways Instagram is ruining travel, this is the ugly truth about travel blogging.

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TL;DR Too Long, Didn't Read

You can travel the world for free by starting a travel blog — and other monstrous lies exposed.

    

The truth about travel blogging is that no one travels for free.
The truth about travel blogging is that no one travels for free.

 

   

    

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Which brings me to . . .

2. The Ugly Truth About Travel Bloggers Who Spend All Their Time Traveling The World

Non-travel tasks take a lot of time when you have a travel blog.
Many people, especially travel bloggers, underestimate the amount of time and energy non-travel tasks take to complete when you are running a travel blog.

     

   

 

3. The Ugly Truth About How Far Bloggers Have To Travel

You don't have to travel far to find great content for your travel blog.
You don’t have to travel far to experience the tremendous benefits of travel. Is there a community near you that differs from your own background and upbringing? What stories can you tell about the history of where you live? What advice can you give travelers who are headed to your hometown?

     

   

    

         

     

4. The Ugly Truth About Traveling On A Budget

The truth about travel blogging is that everyone has a budget.
While they might vary in size and scope, a universal travel truth is that everyone is traveling on a budget.

            

   

     

   

       

But I do not write articles like How to Visit _______ on a Budget, because only you know how many figures are in your travel budget. And only you know what type of experiences you want to pay for and at what rate. 

5. The Ugly Truth About Instagram And Travel

Instagram is ruining travel.
From intentionally straying from hiking trails to posing for selfies with the wildlife, travelers focused on creating an Instagram shot that will go viral are ruining travel.

  

    

      

    

Don't spend too much time chasing the perfect Instagram shot as a travel blogger.
The more time you spend trying to capture a photo like this, the less time you have to sink your toes into the sand, splash in the waves, and breathe in the salt air.
But the saddest way that Instagram is ruining travel is by diluting it to something incredibly shallow. Travel should expose you to new scenery, cultures, and philosophies. It should teach you important lessons from history and provide the opportunity to meet new people and try new foods. It should not provide historic, sacred, and treasured places as a backdrop for a ridiculously staged Instagram photo. Yet every hour spent focused on capturing the perfect photo in a flowing sundress or leaping high into the air is an hour not spent sliding down the snow-white sand dunes of White Sands National Park or learning about black history in America, like travelers did until Instagram was invented in 2010.

6. The Ugly Truth About Being A Travel Influencer

The majority of travel decisions in the US are made by women.
Travel photos like this are supposed to make you believe as if you’re being led around the world by a beautiful girl. (A girl with an amazing turquoise ring that I totally dig, by the way.) But the truth is, 80% of all travel decisions are made by women, not the men who are supposed to be enjoying this fantasy. So it’s not really clear who travel influencers with a massive following are actually trying to influence through these images.

  

     

  

         

   

What Do You Think Of These Travel Blog Truths?

     

Ugly Truth - Pin 5 - JPG

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1 thought on “6 Ugly Truths About Travel Blogging”

  1. I have to agree with you regarding Instagram and how it is making travel shallow. It’s also giving a false impression of travel. Travel isn’t all about the flowing sundress on the paradise beach. It’s also about flight delays, rip-off taxis and anything else that stands in our way of reaching our destination.

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