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Professional travel bloggers don’t talk about the dark times. Not the genuinely dark times.
We have the lives that people dream about. We quit to our 9-5 jobs and went off to travel the world indefinitely with the express purpose of living awesomely.
Whenever you see an account of negative times while traveling from a travel blogger, it’s usually packaged under the guise of entertainment — a cutesy, self-deprecating form of look what’s happened to me now! I’m relatable!
I know I’m guilty of it.
But those are the bad times that can be packaged into entertainment. The TRUE dark times? The times when you feel that it’s so hard to dredge up a shred of happiness, the darkness that you hide so well from the world? Not so much.
There are very few long-term travelers who can convey any kind of darkness well. One is my friend Wes, and I wish that more people did.
So it might as well be me.
Let me tell you about Bulgaria.
I wanted to visit Bulgaria. I wanted to see as much of the country as I could. But by the time I actually arrived, I know I hadn’t planned my trip well.
My two-week trip taking in Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria and a night in Romania was overly ambitious. I wanted to visit as many destinations as humanly possible, despite resolving to slow down.
Two nights in Ohrid, two in Bitola, one in Skopje, one in Pristina, another in Skopje, and one night in Sofia, Bulgaria. Four nights remained before I would have to get to Romania for my flight out of Bucharest, and I didn’t want to keep packing up and moving each day.
After some consideration, I axed the Bulgarian destinations of Plovdiv, Varna, and Rila Monastery, deciding to head straight to Veliko Tarnovo and spend four nights there, working solidly the whole time. Yes, it was July, and I had been warned about Bulgaria’s searing summer heat from my friend Amanda, but wouldn’t heading into the mountains keep things at a reasonable temperature?
Not quite.
Temperatures were north of 100 degrees (38 C) — and on top of that, Veliko Tarnovo is entirely made of hills steeper than anything I’ve seen in San Francisco. Did I mention that I was staying in a hostel at the very bottom of all these hills?
In other words, it was awful. I desperately needed to work from morning to night on my biggest, most intense workload to date, with several projects due within a week, and I couldn’t find anywhere in town that had both working wifi and air conditioning. Each day, I roasted in various cafes, mopping up my dripping face with a towel as I typed incessantly.
Meanwhile, I got attacked by mosquitos in the two worst places possible — my face and on the soles of my feet. For weeks after, it looked like I had a face full of blotchy acne and I would wake up covered in sweat and dried blood from sleep-scratching my entire body.
Learning From My Mistakes
If you read nothing else in this post, remember this: Macedonia-Kosovo-Albania makes much more sense for a two-week trip than Macedonia-Kosovo-Bulgaria. It’s a much better fit culturally, geographically, even linguistically. The routes are easier; driving distances are shorter.
I should have done that instead, and saved Bulgaria for another trip. One taking place in the spring or the fall.
But that’s okay. You live, you learn.
The Truth About My Lifestyle
About a year and a half ago, I wrote a post called The Reality of Being a Professional Travel Blogger. It got a lot of attention, and it’s worth a read if you haven’t seen it yet.
In the past year and a half, much has changed — as I predicted, professional travel bloggers, myself included, are now often getting paid for press trips — but most of the items on that list have remained the same.
I never forget how fortunate I am — being born healthy in the United States with a loving and encouraging family is the equivalent of winning the global lottery — and I am thankful each day that I have been born into these circumstances.
However, it irks me when people tell me how lucky I am to be a travel blogger because my career and location-independent lifestyle are borne entirely of hard work. The reason why I’m here today — not to mention one of few full-time travel bloggers who doesn’t live in the developing world — is because I never stop working.
And it is SO HARD.
On Freelancing
I’m very happy that my freelance writing opportunities have increased so much in the past year. Getting a quirky little essay of mine published in The Boston Globe? Unexpected, and a springboard to so much more.
But freelancing is one thing — actually getting paid on time is something else.
Imagine spending several weeks on a major project, working 80-hour weeks and doing hardly anything else (when the posting here is light, that’s usually the reason) — and finding out that your expected payment, a payment that will amount to more than $1,000 and that will be a very welcome (and needed) addition to your bank account, will be delayed by weeks or possibly even months.
And yes, you have a contract stipulating your date and method of payment, but your client can’t pay you on time because they are stuck in endless bureaucracy that is out of their control. Contract or not, the money you’ve earned doesn’t exist yet, and whether it’s right or wrong, it won’t be appearing in your bank account.
What happens when a client informs you that for some reason your bank won’t allow them to do a transfer, and they can’t pay you via Paypal, either?
What happens when another client has a project that you could do perfectly but it needs to be done IMMEDIATELY and you will need to cancel your plans and work the next two days in order to get it done, and you could say no, but they’ll just give it to someone else?
What happens when yet another client says they massively overspent their marketing budget for the quarter and though you’ve already sent them your work, they can’t pay you until the next quarter begins?
And yes, theoretically you could hire a lawyer to chase them down and honor the terms of the contract, but chances are that your contact within the company has his or her hands tied, and your contact’s boss is stuck, and your contact’s boss’s boss is stuck as well. The budget is decided by the highest-ranking people in the company and there is nothing that can be done until they free up that money. Literally. Nothing.
You don’t want to know how often this happens to me.
On Quality Work
When I first visited Paris at the age of 16, I fell in love with Montmartre and, along with my classmates, immediately got my portrait drawn at Place Tertre. We were quickly swindled by lackluster artists and soon discovered that there was a lady who was a gifted artist, drawing gorgeous portraits. She was, however, much more expensive than the roving sketchers, and I didn’t understand that.
“Is it possible that you could do it for 20 euros?” I asked the lady in French. “Because 20 euros is what many artists here say.”
“That may be, but my work is worth more than that,” she replied.
I stared at her — in shock, then in admiration. That was incredibly audacious of her — yet it made total sense. Her work was so good, she could get away with charging more. She deserved more.
I bring this story up because every day of my life, I’m emailed by different companies that want me to do work for them — writing, consulting, promotion — for free or ridiculously low payments. I tell them what that artist in Paris told me — that they can find people who charge less for their work, but if they want my excellent work, they’re going to have to pay me what it’s worth.
Or they could choose to pay less to work with a blog that functions as little more than a content farm of poorly written sponsored guest posts to an audience a fraction of the size of mine.
These are major companies that do billions of dollars worth of business each year. A bank that many of you use. A credit card that a handful of you have in your wallet. A beverage that quite a few of you have sipped at some point in the last month.
And yet they choose the content farm almost every time. Because it’s cheaper.
There are lots of problems with this scenario — the fact that many companies don’t pay professional bloggers remotely close to what they pay professionals in other industries, the issue that newer bloggers have no idea what to charge and end up undercutting the rest of us. It’s not easily solved.
On Introversion and Misanthropy
I’m an introvert. This does not mean that I’m socially inept or shy or misanthropic — it means that I require time by myself in order to reenergize. Spending extended time with other people wears me out, especially with people I don’t know well, and if I don’t get enough alone time, I get agitated.
Extroverts, by contrast, need to be around other people in order to reenergize and go crazy if they spend too much time alone. Most but not all of the travel bloggers that I know identify as introverts, despite what the pictures of the conferences and meetups look like!
I love my own company, and that’s why I’m a good solo traveler. In the past year or so, however, the work has been piling up to higher levels than ever before. The stakes are higher. I’ve been putting in far more hours, and I’m held to far more obligations.
Because of this, I’m spending a disproportionate amount of time chained to my computer as I travel the world. But instead of wanting to get away from the screen, the more time I spend there, the more time I need to spend there.
My zest for travel? It’s nowhere near the level that it used to be. I now judge locations on their wifi quality. (South Korea is FANTASTIC, by the way.)
At times, I don’t recognize myself. What happened to the girl who would always choose the party hostel for the express purpose of making friends? If I were traveling through Southeast Asia today, would I have made the same wonderful friends that I made three years ago? Probably not, and that makes me sad.
Nowadays, when someone at a hostel starts talking to me, I’m ashamed to say that I do everything I can to get away.
On Relationships
I got engaged at the end of June. Since then, I have seen exactly one person that I knew pre-engagement (excluding online friends): Jane, who happened to show up at my hostel in, yes, Veliko Tarnovo. In true blogger fashion, we were sitting across from each other on our computers and didn’t notice for a good hour.
I showed her my ring. She told me she loved it. And it made my heart ache.
I’ve never dreamed of a princess wedding. My wedding will be determinedly offbeat and unusual. But there’s one bridal tradition that I always thought I’d have — revealing my engagement ring to a crowd of my friends and family and having them squeal over it.
That feeling really doesn’t transfer over Skype or Facebook. And I won’t see them for a long time. Sure, there are blogger friends that I’ve met and will continue to meet along the way, and it’s amazing that I get to run into them all over the world — but it’s not the same as having a core group that you see all the time.
I miss having friends that I see once a week or so, friends that I meet up with for coffee and dinners and drinks. I had that in London, but again…I miss my home friends.
This has been one of the harsher trade-offs for my lifestyle lately, and it’s something that I’ve been craving more and more. I haven’t been handling it as well as I did a year or two ago.
This is not an easy lifestyle.
Every week, I receive between 5 and 20 emails from people telling me that they’re ready to try becoming a professional blogger.
Well, good luck. You’ll need it, and I’m not saying that sarcastically. Most people who think they can hack it end up quitting before they’ve been at it for a year, which is a big reason why most companies won’t work with new bloggers. How do they know that a new-ish blogger won’t be giving up in a few months?
Even if you think you can handle everything I’ve mentioned in this piece so far, you are starting fairly late in the game. It’s going to be a lot tougher for you than it was for me.
But it’s a lot more than that. It’s a question of whether you can handle the darkness that seeps in despite you living the life of your dreams.
Battling the Darkness
After battling the reality of long-term travel and entrepreneurship for weeks and months, the darkness will sink its claws in deeply. The joy that led me to this career has been harder and harder to harness.
It used to be that a compliment from a reader could make my week. Now? Well, now, you don’t want to know.
Bulgaria was capped off with the train ride from hell — seven hours in a sweltering train car even hotter than Veliko Tarnovo itself. I broke down and sobbed over everything — how hard it’s been lately, why it feels like nobody will take me seriously, how I miss everyone.
That was my lowest point in years.
Times like this will make me think that my unconventional life has run its course. Things like furnished apartments and shopping for cute clothes start to look far more appealing than they did years ago.
BUT.
When you weigh all that against the fact that I haven’t worked in an office for nearly three years, everything falls away.
Even the fact that I’ve visited 45 countries doesn’t hold a candle to the fact that I’m self-employed. That’s why I celebrate my I-quit-my-jobaversary (September 14, 2010), not my travelversary a month later.
This is SO worth it. Despite the difficult aspects of this lifestyle, the good times are so unbelievably good, but it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten how bleak the alternative is.
I cannot forget that. Not ever.
My current lifestyle is leaving a lot to be desired, though. Maybe that means I need to take time off from work (I haven’t taken any time off in 14 months); maybe that means I need to change my habits. Maybe I need to stop moving and stay still for awhile, though I don’t have more than two weeks anywhere until the end of October.
The darkness is seeping in, and I can’t let it take over my life.
Kate, it’s a shame that this was your Bulgarian experience, as the country has so much to offer. You just didn’t plan the trip correctly, giving Bulgaria enough of a chance to enchant you. And it’s not always so hot in Bulgaria. I lived in Bulgaria for two years and had a wonderful time. I am not a travel blogger, just a blogger, and I continue to blog about Bulgaria a lot. I hope you will consider going back some day.
Oh, I don’t blame the country at all. I’ll return at a better time of year — I promise you that!
Thank you for that article Kate and for mentioning all these very true points. I can especially relate to the friend thing. I had that in London too, although I was missing my friends from France. And I know now that I’m going travelling I on’t have this base of friends and it does make me sad.
Take a holiday, a real one, disconnect. Good luck!
Thank you, Lucie. Maybe in the next few months if I can get away a bit. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this Kate, it’s a real eye opener. You’ve created a great blog and you have lots to be proud of.
Thank you, Olivia.
Good for you for showing a shade of darkness Kate. A little bit of honesty goes a long way I think and yeah Bulgaria’s not known for its confy train rides sadly!
Thanks, Jools! That’s definitely the worst train journey I’ve ever had. Can’t compare to the Blue Train of South Africa…
I’m sorry you’re stressed out, Kate. I don’t know anything about being a professional travel blogger, but I think you just need to sit down a moment and think about your priorities. What is it that made you happy about this career? What are the things that you still enjoy and what are the things that bother you? Well, I think you should do what makes you happy and not what makes your bank account happy. 40 countries or 100 countries don’t count if you don’t enjoy it, if you don’t even have the time to fully appreciate it as you did back when you started.
You’re right, Stefania. What makes me happy? Being rich in time, not being tied to a location, and NOT having to go into an office…
Blimey! Tough times! I could totally relate to a lot of what you said here. I’m sure I don’t get a fraction of the followers you have and I still feel bogged down. I can’t imagine how much time you need to put aside for responding to queries and comments. Just the admin alone must be mental, let alone finding the time to travel AND write AND do other freelance work. It’s tough and I’m getting pretty irked by people who tell me I’m lucky too! I want to scream at them to get off their lazy backsides and put the effort in to get what they want from life, instead of assuming I have some cool stuff going on in mine because I’m fortunate. Hope you don’t have any more experiences like Bulgaria and that the scars from the bites have healed up nicely!
Thank you, Arianwen! The bites on the soles of my feet are still itchy on occasion, more than a month later, but I’ve healed up in many ways. 🙂
Hi Kate from Dr Kate..
One of the challenges of having an online professional identity is that we feel we need to present ourselves in a certain way. It sounds like you are really struggling to be Adventurous Kate when all you want to do is sit with a duvet over your head. It is hard to be authentic, and truly happy, if we feel one way and present something very different.
Being a long term professional travel blogger is challenging, especially when you are at a stage in life where your priorities are changing. It might seem glamorous, and those who are professional often portray it as such. I think you have done well to write this honest piece – communicating about what you really feel is a good thing.
That pressure you feel to present a particular image is not from your readers – just look at the supportive and encouraging comments from these guys (you guys are great!). You have earned a lot of respect – time to drop those unachievable standards that you have set for yourself. You have reached where you want to be – enjoy it. Spending time in the present – just being – is the key.
Good luck with the changes ahead – its great that you reached out. Hugs,
Dr Kate Russo – Author * Psychologist * Eclipse Chaser
Dr. Kate, thank you for one of the most interesting comments I’ve had here in a long time. I agree with you completely — having two personalities has been one of the things stressing me out. Adventurous Kate has always BEEN my personality, albeit a bit amplified, which is why I believe it’s done so well to this point — but more recently, my blog personality has not been lining up with real life.
It reminds me of the memoir Self-Made Man, about a woman who lived as a man for a year as a sociological experiment. She had a mental breakdown after several months of living two personalities. I won’t get to that point. 🙂
Thanks again.
Oh, Kate. Kudos to you for writing about your dark days. Only sorry to hear that it all came crashing down on you in Bulgaria. I really like Bulgaria.
I’m sure I don’t even have to say it, but I completely understand where you’re coming from on ALL of this. Part of the reason I haven’t announced myself as a full-time blogger (even though that exactly what I am for the duration of my current trip) is because I know how difficult it is. How stressful and how lonely at times. I’m already a bit of an introvert and prone to loneliness on the road, and there are plenty of days when I don’t think this is what I want to do forever.
But for every truly bad day there are a dozen good ones. So, at this point at least, it’s still worth it.
I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving traveling. But I do think that, eventually, I will stop loving the life of constant movement and deadlines and people who don’t pay you on time.
I haven’t gotten there yet though. 😉
Totally with you on this. 🙂
I agree with you about the companies that approaches us bloggers and want too many things for too little money. I’m blogging 8 months now, worked quite hard on it, reached the first time over 40,000 visitors a month, And still, every single day I get emails from companies who are offering me a “free” (!!) guest post which links back to their website. What the f…?
There is a reason why I have zero sponsored posts on my blog, not for 10, not even for 100 or 200 Dollar i will screw up my website for some stupid company who doesn’t appreciate the value of a travel blogger. Screw them! Too bad they steal too much of our time.
I stopped blogging earlier this year for 2 months because I had no energy to write or socialize or do anything. And you know what? It was OK. My numbers barely went down. Sometimes it’s good to enjoy traveling and NOT writing about it. Take a break if you need one, Kate!
Have an amazing time in Korea!
Yeah. I’m not talking about people looking for links/”guest posts” in this piece (though that is certainly ridiculous in its own right) — I’m talking about people looking for branded content for free, or for me to work for them for free.
And that is very interesting that things were fine after you left for two months. I have a few friends who took monthlong breaks, nothing scheduled in the meantime, and it seemed to be fine for them.
Wow, even in darkness you manage to be inspiring. It takes guts to write a post with such honesty and negativity, but it takes skill to make the reader see the light at the end of your tunnel. You are definitely worth a high dollar for your work. Just keep your head up, keep pushing through, and follow your heart. If it says to stay put, do it. If it says to go home and visit your friends and family, do that.
Most importantly, keep writing! When I get down, I usually stop until I remember that writing is my medicine. Just putting words together generally makes me feel better, more accomplished and with a clearer head.
Good luck getting through! You can do it.
Thank you very much, Jessica.
I always imagine it would be amazing to quit my job and focus full time on my blog but then it is also full time work and if it’s based on travel then that’s what needs to be done. And when does it come to an end? Where do you find any stability? I feel the capircorn in me wouldn’t allow me to live that way full term!
Kate, the work NEVER ends. EVER. There is always something else that you could be doing, somewhere you’re falling short.
Hi Kate
First of all, I want to say that I really enjoy reading your blog. 🙂
Who would have share the ‘dark’ emotions on their blog for it seems too personal to be shared with the public and people look up at you and your blog for endless of fun travels and recommendations. It adds a little human touch that behind all those fun and glamour that everyone sees, it is the hard work, effort, sweat and tears.
Could it be the fast track travelling and work commitment that has worn you out? When you are not satisfied with the way things are, somehow the grass seems to look better on the other side. Whatever it is, it is probably time for a good recharge with some self pampering time to be all good again.
Good luck and I hope you see the lights at the end of the ‘dark’ side soon.
Things are starting to look very greener on the other side. Mario and I are starting to fantasize about our future life in New York, where we’ll have hardwood floors and make guacamole and host board game nights. It’s ridiculous. I was never like that. Don’t know if this is a passing thing or if this is a turn for my future.
I truly loved this post. I’ve been following your blog since the Asia jaunt. It was a lot of fun to read your posts through Asia when you could see the joy in all of your pictures!
I think it’s hard to be so honest in blogs, especially when you feel like you live a life that a lot of people already envy, but being honest is so important.
Great read!! I hope you get the rest and rejuvenation that you need!
Thank you, Kelli Anne! We’ll see if I can find some time to take off in the next few months.
I really resonate with your post. I am feeling exactly the same and trying to juggle being self-employed with my travel blog (which is for fun) and my website is too much to handle sometimes. Like you, I am an introvert and have found myself trying to avoid people I meet at hostels. It’s really hard travelling, researching, writing, wanting to see and experience everything then meeting amazing people and leaving them.
I too sometimes wish I was more conventional but I have been living like this for 18 months now and can’t imagine ever going to back to a 9 to 5 office job. Thanks so much for your post and making me feel that the dark times can affect others. Travelling solo is tough but definitely worth it and I know that I would rather be crying on my second night bus from lack of sleep then tied to a chair in an office. Thanks Kate 🙂
Those are the thoughts that keep me going, Lisa. Thanks.
Well I certainly don’t want you to stop so I hope your brand gets so big you can afford to hire help and share the load. And I never underestimate how much hard work you must be putting into this. I don’t covet your ‘luck’ in having such a lifestyle: I just hope to emulate your efforts.
Thank you, Kellie. One thing that I need to do better at is turning the work into money that justifies the amount of time that I spend on here. I have some ideas.
Thanks for being so honest with your post. It’s definitely hard being a travel blogger sometimes. I think it’s good to take a break and unplug every once in a while– especially if you haven’t in 14 months!!
Hoping that you can slow down and enjoy Asia once you get here. Maybe I’ll see you around in Hong Kong! 🙂
Save me some chicken feet!
I know some good places if you’re really keen on trying it!
How about some turtle shell too? 😉
I was in the same region as you around the same time (I went from Skopje to Sofia), and, mostly due to an overnight bus and a terrible hostel, it took me a while to warm to Bulgaria, but, by the end, it had really grown on me. I, too, suffered from facial bug bites…one that forced me to have one eye constantly squinting. I’m sure I won over all the Bulgarian men that way.
Anyway, although I’ve never been as busy with work while traveling as you are, I completely understand that travel is not always nearly as fun as it looks. When it becomes your life, it’s just your life, with all its ups and downs, and when you’re traveling quickly, using public transportation, and staying in hostels, it doesn’t give you much time to deal with those downs.
Thank you, Kirstie.
What a great post. And so honest. I’m beginning to get into some freelance work, independent from my travel blog, but I found this so interesting to see how stressful it can really be and the frustrations with be a freelancer.
As a freelancer-to-be, calendars will be your friend, Brittany. Mark down the days when you should receive payment by the very latest, and follow up as soon as they lapse.
This is a great post, it’s got a lot of sound advice for travel bloggers but I also like how you’ve made it real and let us know the nitty gritty.
I think it’s awful about companies not paying you on time but I can completely understand how it happens and as a traveler, I know it’s virtually impossible to do anything about it over the internet. It’s not as if you can storm into their offices – that costs money and a change of location. And if I am being honest I think maybe they are aware too that your hands are tied and you have to be like a sitting duck and just wait it out.
I applaud your bravery and patience with the field you’ve chosen!
And on top of that, these are primarily companies that I want to CONTINUE working with in the future, which makes it very difficult with how you handle these situations. You don’t want to burn bridges.
I’ve always envied you just leaving your job to travel the world alone. And lately I’m so tempted to do it myself. Feels like life means a lot more on travel. Guess it isn’t easy either. But I still feel it’s a wonderful blessing to be also to just take off to several countries for months or years on end. Hang in there Kate. Things will turn sunny again!
Thank you, Rose! Keep in mind that there’s a big difference between long-term travel and long-term travel while working. HUGE difference. 🙂
I’m really happy you wrote this post – I’m sure it hit home for a lot of people!
You said that the more time you spend in front of the computer, the more time you need to spend there. The opposite is probably also true! I’m sure you could use a vacation – which seems silly for travel bloggers but…Oneika is right unplug for a bit!
Your in Travel,
Alyssa
She is right, and you are right as well! I’ll try to make taking time off a priority as soon as I can. 🙂
Hey, I’m from Bulgaria. Haha.. It’s hot here during summer indeed bu I never thought it is THAT hot. I think you made a wrong decision going to Veliko Turnovo in July/August. We have beautiful seaside with beautiful towns – Nesebar, Sozopol, Varna, etc. Check http://www.bulgarian-tourism.com/fanagoria/ . The beauty of Bulgaria is exactly in the diversity – mountains and skiing during winter, sea during summer, the Rose valley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Valley,_Bulgaria) during spring… Best time for culture tourism is during spring or autumn, because it’s warm but not hot.
Duly noted, Ralitsa. I’d love to come back during milder weather.
Wow Kate, what an emotive and honest post!
I’ve been travelling in Asia for 6 months now and I was greatly inspired by your first trip in Asia.
Even though I’m living the dream, long term travel is extremely hard and I can empathise with your predicament.
Like you said you have everything you have ever wanted now, a freelance career that means that you can travel the world and a supportive fiance who also loves travel. You have hit the jackpot a hundred times over! It’s not come easy but you did it 🙂
Maybe you need to invest some time in yourself and enjoy your empire 🙂 Well done!
My empire! Haha. I feel like Heisenberg. Thank you, Stephanie.
I love this so much. I think honesty is so important when blogging. Strangely, it made me feel really uplifted. Love your work x
Thank you, Shardsta.
Now I wouldn’t say that I’m a professional travel blogger – working towards it! – but I remember us discussing your plans for the Balkans when we met in Istanbul, and I did think they sounded a bit quick, especially after remembering reading your post about resolving to slow down! I don’t have anything near the workload that you do, but find that things can, and do, get on top of me. In the past few weeks, I’ve been scrambling to put up blog posts and have though, “well, do I really need to?” Things have been bogging me down for sure.
Hope you get back on your feet soon, and take plenty of you-time! It sounds like you need it – and I hope you’re enjoying my beloved former home right now!
p.s. all hostels should come with a warning if they’re located at the extreme end of a very steep hill.
Thank you, Tom! I’m already feeling ever-so-slightly more relaxed and secure. I honestly don’t think I’ll genuinely relax until I get back to Southeast Asia, a place where I feel so at home. One month to go! 🙂
There are hard times in everything in life but travel blogging I feel has its perks. We are fairly new at it but everything becomes an adventure, even finding wifi. It all depends on how you look at it. I can’t really speak from experience because we haven’t gotten that far into it but will let you know once we hit that yearly mark everyone talks about. =). Great post by the way.
Everything in life is nice and shiny in the beginning, Gabriel. 🙂 Stay tuned…
Luckily payments from my clients haven’t been late yet, but I know a lot of freelance writers who often don’t get paid at all or only after months of chasing. It must be so frustrating!
I’ve now been on the road almost two years, and having what sounds like a similar crisis… though mine’s been precipitated by a kidney infection that just won’t quit while I’m packing up and moving all the time, having to delay surgery repeatedly because I’m not sure where to stay while I recuperate, and two house-sitting ‘clients’ in a row who treated me like a servant, which is kinda like crappy soul-sucking corporate work again except you can’t go home and drink a bottle of wine alone because you’re staying at their place.
There are tough things about the mobile lifestyle. We’re not really part of a community. The internet is OK, but it’s not the same as having those moments face-to-face. Just organising different places to sleep all the time takes a whole lot of time and energy that could be spent on other things, not to mention figuring out transport to get there and then all the time packing up and getting on the road again.
I’m questioning it all at the moment, and there’s a strong chance I won’t be living the mobile life much longer. We’ll see…
Ugh, you’re kidding me! I’m sorry to hear you’ve been sick. That’s awful.
Maybe it’s time for you to settle somewhere for a few months and reevaluate — you could get great healthcare and live on the cheap in Thailand.
Yeah, Thailand would be the place to do it!
The added complication is that my ex has given my cat to his mother to care for… but only for a few months. Veiled threat being, if I don’t get her back soon, she goes to the pound. 🙁 So I’m likely gonna have to settle somewhere in Australia for a while, which sucks because it’s soooo expensive here; money really doesn’t go far, so more work, less fun. Still, lots of beautiful places to live, even if I stay near-ish to Sydney where my doctor and specialists are.
Also, whoever said Far North Queensland isn’t worth visiting is so, so wrong. I just got back from 10 weeks in Townsville, and it was glorious. Amazing beaches, Great Barrier Reef, rainforest, lovely hot balmy climate… no way would I take Tasmania over FNQ! (Though Tasmania is also really beautiful, too.)
You know your post really inspired me. I know that the reality of being a travel blogger can be really hard sometimes, and I have already learned that from only being a blogger for a few months. It can be hard to keep going if you are not always sure about what you are doing is good enough. That’s my trouble some days anyway 🙂 But your post really inspired me to keep going even tho it is hard sometimes. I think you are right. Traveling and making a business out of it is definately hard work, but also so worth it once you have made it. But it has to be a dream that you wan’t more than anything in this world. That is what it is for me, and your post really inspired me to keep going. I love how you write about all your good times, but also the times which are not so great. Cause that is the reality of a travel blogger too. I really think all your posts are so inspiring and I think that looking at how far you have come, makes the rest of us keep trying 🙂
Kind Regards Karina
This was so insightful (and a little intimidating) Kate! As a very, very new blogger myself, I really appreciate the honestly in this post and how much you opened up. I hope you can take some time for yourself to really enjoy traveling.
we’re new.
new-ish. been around for about 7 months.
But even new, and even with a set schedule, I refuse to post anything that doesn’t pass my shitmeter. A meter of my writing. If it’s shit, it doesn’t go up. Same with other peoples’ stuff. I refuse to share others’ work if it doesn’t pass the meter.
And I hear you on paying people what they’re worth. My husband’s an artist. He HATES seeing some people’s animation and design if it looks bad. Skilled people need to be paid what they’re worth. Or you end up with work that doesn’t pass the shitmeter.
Sorry for the curse words. But, I use it fluidly when it comes to blogging. =)
Thanks for your candor, Kate. I suppose it’s worth saying, that while it seems easier to sink into the despair of feeling desperately alone, the truth I’m always reminded is that we are never alone. The struggle to climb out of that hole is day-to-day and never seems to end, but it’s how we come to terms with that struggle which provides our lives and our friendships with sense, meaning, and purpose. Best wishes!
The problem of not knowing what to charge will never be solved because while people can get on google and look up how much a doctor or even a sales person should make per hour, per day, per week and so on they cant do that with blogging and bloggers dont like to share that kind of information.
I first started travelling around eastern Europe in 2006 and did a big trip with my wife in 2008. 13 countries in 6 weeks. When I got home I wondered what to do with a head full of information. I sat on it for two years and just continued travelling until this year when I put pen to paper having travelled to 21 Countries in Eastern Europe. I now have an almost complete travel website called http://www.traveltoeasterneurope.com it has been both exhausting but enjoyable. I took my son on my last trip which was Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and a day trip to Kosovo in 12 days. On returning I set about putting the website together. My son has been an inspiration in this. But we have certainly had our ups and downs on this. I have travelled alone in the past but I don’t think you can beat group travel. All I need to do now (I say tongue in cheek ) is to get y website known about.
All the best for the future.
Regards
Paul
Sorry to hear that you’ve fallen to the dark side. 🙁
I’m a huge fan of yours! What I really enjoy about your blog is that you give us the pros and cons of being a professional blogger! For a lot of us like myself, I would love to leave my 9-5 job and travel the world, as it has always been a dream of mine to travel the world.
I’ve been lucky that I have a husband who’s a military brat and has traveled and lived around the world four times to be exact, and I get to travel with him. As a couple, we travel at least 3-4 times a year, each time a different place. My ultimate goal, is to have a blog where I can document our travels and take pictures of places, things, people and culture and write about our experiences.
I follow you on FB and Twitter and read your blog often and when I do, it’s like I’m living my dream through your experiences and eyes!!
Congrats on your engagement!!
Ruthie
Omg, you are one of the most negative bloggers I ever read.. If hostel on the hill or few mosquito bites can make you feel “In hell”.. and those 100 degrees… Girl please, I cannot even imagine you six months in Asia. One tip from a colleague …As travel blogger be a little bit more realist, not such а pessimist…
If the message you took from this post is “Bulgaria is hell,” you didn’t understand it very well, Simon.
Amazing post. I appreciate the look into the darker bits of the lifestyle…I also like your commentary on how your life looks different now versus when you started. This is something I think about often, as my travel habits and the bulk of my days look very different now from when I first started traveling. I’ve been ‘living off the grid’ for a little over a year now in Chile, and while I love my life, there are so many aspects to this lifestyle that I could have never predicted. Thank you for sharing your experience with us!
Kate! What an awesome and inspirational story. Thank you for being so vulnerable and transparent with us! I lost my job this past year and am now off to do something similar with my boyfriend by my side.
I look forward to continuing to read about you & Mario! <3
Anne
I have traveled to nearly 60 countries and my plan is to make it to 100. My passion for travel tends to fluctuate and when it is at its lowest I take a vacation from my vacations.
“It is SO HARD”. Hmmmm. Hard is having to scrounge for food in trash bins. Hard is being a child whose mother sells you for sex to the highest bidder. Hard is walking two miles every morning to get water for the entire family before you walk three more miles to get to school. Traveling through sixty countries……….I have seen hard.
I hope I have not minimized your current situation but added some perspective about what is hard. Your job is slightly difficult at best. If you are tired take a break. The world will not end. As far as it being SO HARD……. Walk it off! Manage your time better and stop taking on more than you can handle. Just a suggestion.
From what I can tell you are bright, intelligent, energetic, creative, talented young woman who will do well on any path you choose to take. You haven’t worked in an office in three years but your frustrations with your job appear to be similar to office workers. Maybe it’s time to move on; or maybe it’s just time to take a break, only you can decide that. When you start judging a place on its wifi quality it really is time to take a break. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.
Hi, JB —
You might want to take a closer look at the piece: “I never forget how fortunate I am — being born healthy in the United States with a loving and encouraging family is the equivalent of winning the global lottery — and I am thankful each day that I have been born into these circumstances.”
Re: working for people and not getting paid (or having to wait an inordinate amount of time)… have you considered only working on a pre-payment basis? This is what I do and it’s rare that I am faced with a situation where someone refuses (and in any case part of me believes that the very small % that do not agree – and I respect that – could just be the ones where a payment problem could have arisen)…
It’s an interesting thought, Paul, but if I only worked with people who were able to pay me in advance, I’d have a quarter of the income that I have now. It’s not always an option, particularly when you’re working with vast organizations that have the same rules for all their freelancers and government-based organizations who have a hard time freeing up money in a timely manner.
Thank you for this blog post, Kate!!!! It’s so helpful and refreshing to hear your candid advice about traveling full time! You cleared up many questions/concerns I had!
Hi, Kate!
I love your balanced approach to writing about traveling. I think there are enough people out there writing what we think traveling is all about (the positive experience that it must be) and a few of you also talking enough about the flip side.
I can’t help but think that the challenges of a traveler, although different is certain aspects, are similar to the issues that the rest of us “non-travelers” face everyday. Extremely long hours (in the office, in my case… 65 hours is a slow week), very tight and often unreasonable deadlines, sleep deprivation, lack of exercising, awful eating habits due to no cooking time and dining out too often, feelings of loneliness at times, little time to sit back and enjoy life. The list goes on.
My takeaway is not that traveling is harder than “non-traveling”, but that it is equally challenging in its own way. It seems to be a lifestyle that requires responsibilities, and not an endless vacation. Nothing new or groundbreaking, but definitely something overlooked by most of us, non-travelers.
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
This post was exactly what I needed to read today. I’m a newbie to travel blogging, but I completely resonate with you already. I’m not being paid for anything via the blog, but I’ve had freelance design clients and I know what you’re talking about with the above. I set off from the US in October, but I’ve already had plenty of dark times. I’ve been meaning to write about them, but part of me is still formulating through it. Traveling can be extremely arduous – and working on top of that? This is no glorified vacation like so many people think it is! It is still work.
So, thank you for writing this and being so honest. I appreciate you being so open with us as readers. You’re awesome and inspiring. Know that.
xx. Jill
http://www.roadtohereblog.com
Thank you, Jill.
Hey, the post was very interesting to read, very honest and different. But it hurts me when you link Bulgaria with darkness (I’m from Bulgaria). We have amazing sites, amazing nature, culture and cities. Oh, and the sea! It’s awesome! I hope you have the chance to visit Bulgaria one more and somehow change your impression of hot and “somehow” troubled destination! You saw the Rila Monastery? It’s beautiful, right? Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Turnovo are also beutiful, and I just can’t believe you didn’t write anything good and happy about those places. Anyway, I really hope beside those bad moments, you had a great time here.
Greetings from Sofia!
Hi, Maria — please know that this wasn’t commentary on Bulgaria itself. I didn’t see Rila Monastery of Plovdiv, but I’d love to come back and see more of Bulgaria when it isn’t so hot.
Thank you for this post, Kate. You’re brave and strong. I know what’s it like to discover that our dream lifestyle isn’t quite how we would have expected it (esp after a few years). But we would’ve regretted it if we hadn’t tried, and we’ve learnt many many invaluable lessons. We can always change and adapt our lifestyle if we wish.
Thank YOU, My Light Bag.
Congratulations on your website and travel blog. Really proffessional post!
Surely Bulgaria has great nature but some of the cities are not good places to visit.
This post has nothing to do with Bulgaria and even though it gives deeper understanding of your hard times and blah blah as bulgarian I can say that I am really sad, disappointed and a bit angry that you decided to share these unpleasent thoughts exactly on that post. Bulgaria is a great country, with such an overwhelming nature that you will need a few months to go around it and be able to see at least a good part of it and I hope you will have the time in the future because it seems that you didn’t see further than your laptop screen the last time you visited our modest but cute country. Anyway, good luck with the travel blog and I really hope you are enjoying every bit of the life you have chosen to live, because it is cool and I like to travel as well but sometimes you sit down and think it through and you are like “Was that really the best way to do it?”. Good luck, Kate! I hope to catch you for a short chat somewhere around the world because I am not sitting home idle as well 🙂
I’m sorry you feel that way, Hristo. From the beginning, I’ve been honest on the blog, and it pays off — one of the things that readers tell me the most is that they love how honest I am. I think it’s important to chronicle the low times as well as the high times, and one of my roughest periods ever happened to be in Bulgaria last year.
I need to return to Bulgaria in the spring or fall and give it another chance. I know there is a lot more to the country than what I saw.
Hi, I’ve read your article and I am sorry for not having good time in my lovely country- Bulgaria. It is not our fault that during the summer is hot and in Veliko Turnovo you have to walk a lot, no one force you to do it. 🙂 Also if you make a better research about our country you will see that it is beautiful, with huge cultural heritage and amazing nature. Our country is small and can offer a lot to travellers who have no problems with mosquitos 😀 I hope that one day you will back here again and manage to see the real beautiful part side my country. Nothing personal!
I’d love to come back and see more when I’m in a better state, Ekateria!