Nowadays, the sophisticated traveler does far more than just check travel guide sites and book travel services online. Modern day travel requires a higher degree of sophistication and more documentation. We use digital maps, we check online review sites and more. One particularly interesting phenomenon in the travel industry is the activity of travel blogging.
The happy travel blogger by © Natallia Vintsik – Fotolia
The travel blogs fill the gap between travel guides and travel agents. The personal travel blogs are the most interesting ones to take into account – they tend to be unbiased, they reflect personal experiences vividly and therefore they can be good resources when planning our trips.
If you’re a regular traveler, you’ve probably stumbled upon a few travel blogs and perhaps you’re even a regular reader of at least one of them. Each travel blogger is different. They have different motivations, “bugs”, some of them are casual travelers, others are nomadic, some are true globe trekkers who travel around the planet, while others focus mainly on certain regions… and so on and so forth. But, there are hundreds of travel blogs out there – which ones are worth following in 2015? Here’s a list of 10 – hopefully this will inspire you.
The site is run by Marcello Arrambide , a day trader and travel blogger who considers himself a lucky person for having achieved “complete freedom”: location freedom, time freedom, financial freedom. Marcello has visited 80 countries, including dangerous countries like Somalia and South Sudan.
Although, Wandering Trader is not Marcello’s main source of income. Day trading is. He combines the day trading activity with traveling. Thus, achieving financial freedom and gaining the possibility to travel the World. His website attracts around 300,000 people every month, arriving to WanderingTrader.com to find source of inspiration and even travel deals.
A relatively new website of a sophisticated travel addict who publishes his travel stories anonymously. Escape Hunter is mainly an urban explorer, a “culture vulture” with a nuanced approach to travel. Not a nomad, but certainly someone with a deep passion for travel and he’s also a thorough explorer.
A freedom-seeker, passionate about architecture and even street art, Escape Hunter loves digging deep, exploring destinations thoroughly – therefore, his published articles are rather long travel stories, filled with lots of his own photos. EscapeHunter.com is among the most unique personal travel sites out there (because of its unique nuanced approach, its original identity) – bustling with details and information that you won’t find on other travel blogs. It’s a new website, worth paying attention to.
Canadian travel blogger, Nomadic Samuel, as his name suggests – is a nomadic budget traveler, calling himself a “perpetual backpacker”. His website is a great resource for those seeking ways to see the World on a low budget. Samuel has spent most of his 20’s in Asia, working as an expat English teacher, model, photographer, freelance writer.
Besides English, he speaks French, Spanish and Korean. It’s also worth mentioning that Nomadic Samuel’s blog is also one of his best sources of income and he also provides valuable advice on how to run a successful travel blog. In addition, he also publishes a list of the most influential travel blogs.
Run by two young Polish travelers: Agness Walewinder and Cez Krol, it’s an inspirational budget travel blog, which provides a vast number of tips, advice regarding traveling with very little money. Agness and Cez have traveled the World packing light, with one-way tickets, in search of freedom and adventure.
Particularly interesting are the articles focusing on traveling for as little as 25 $ a day. If you’re a budget traveler, a student, a backpacker – then eTramping could be a great source of inspiration to you!
Five – Flights and Frustration
The author calls himself simply, “The Guy”. He has effectuated well over (a staggering) 1,000 airplane take-offs and has visited more than 30 countries.As a frequent business traveler, The Guy has been a regular visitor to mainland Europe, the USA, Africa, Asia, Australia and sometimes, he’s even been to South America.
The Flights and Frustration blog contains a various types of posts from suggestions regarding travel destinations and attractions to travel tips, airport reviews or simply – the author’s thoughts and ruminations.
This is one of the oldest and one of the most popular travel blogs out there. The author, Gary Arndt set off to travel in 2007 with substantial funds after selling his house. He’s not a budget traveler, in fact – he’s far from that category, but he too has an original approach to travel and, has attracted tremendous attention in the travelers’ community.
As of late 2014, Gary has been to 170 countries and 7 continents (yes, he’s been to Antarctica too!). Everything Everywhere contains a large number of high-quality professional travel photos (some of which are calendar wallpapers) and considering the unique blog posts, it’s definitely a blog worth following in 2007 as well.
Sabrina from JustOneWayTicket.com is a talented photographer and web designer from Berlin, whose blog emerged rapidly – both in terms of popularity and in terms of profit as well. Some of her best articles are about Asian destinations like: the Philippines, India, Thailand, Malaysia.
Sabrina can also inspire others to start their own travel blog. If you’re a wannabe travel blogger, then read her words, her success story – about how she quit her job and turned a full time blogger, activity which funds her travels.
Its author, Anil Polat, a former computer security engineer simply calls himself Fox Nomad. He too is a nomadic budget traveler, but one who pays particularly much attention to digital equipment (thus, to digital nomads).
Fox Nomad has stated he wishes to visit all the countries in the World. In late 2014, he has already been to 80 countries. Fox Nomad is one of the most oft-read travel blogs out there, with lots of readers, treating diverse subjects that are interesting to all travelers.
Managed by Becky and Gray, two UK-based independent travel bloggers. The GlobalGrasshopper is an online global magazine targeting independent travelers.
The website has been nominated for various travel-related awards and they’ve made it into various toplists of “best blogs”. In addition, the GlobalGrasshopper site even has mentions by National Geographic, Yahoo Travel, Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor and others. It’s certainly an interesting resource with plenty of photos and article about underrated and exceptionally beautiful places to visit.
The Expert Vagabond travel blog is among the most popular adventure travel blogs out there. The author, Matthew Karsten is in constant search for wild adventures – his experiences include (but are not limited to) swimming in shark-filled water, climbing mountains, skydiving.
Passionate about adventure travel and photography, Matthew Karsten focuses on long-term travel and his website contains a large number of high quality photos taken during his trips.