Travel Blogging is more Business, less Sparkle

It looks like a dream. The perfect life. The absolute vision of #goals.

And for a long time after you’ve supposedly achieved this, you might just believe the dream, because you’re in it. Let’s be honest, most travel bloggers are not just giving you all this glorious free content about where to go in Cinque Terre, they’re also selling courses about how you can quit your job and make it, just like them. Some of them are healthily successful. Good for them.

But, some travel bloggers are starting to ‘fess up. There are more articles every day about how using your laptop on a beach is actually far from ideal. Glare on the screen, sand under your keys and a declining battery? No thanks.

It’s a mental battle between “I’ve made it, I’m so privileged, everyone dreams about this life” and “wait, I can’t connect, and I miss how familiar everything is at home”.

For sure, some travel bloggers are killing it. They have decent routines, take it slow, work in pairs, and stay sane. If you get it to the point where you’re invited to stay in villas and cocktails are on the bar, that’s brilliant. Or it can be.

Once, I was in this very situation: heading to a skyhigh bar with my boyfriend, backed by an awesome sunset view. Unfortunately, layout of the building and uninformed…