Travel blogging – why you should write while on the road
Travel blogging may seem a little narcissistic. But if you don’t record your adventures, in a couple of years you’ll look back on where you’ve been and realize that you have nothing to look back on. So before you judge the tourist with the selfie stick next to you, remember that he will.
The present is a fleeting thing. It doesn’t matter whether time flies or inches by at a snail’s pace. Time goes by. Before you know it, you’re on to the next thing. Where you’ve been, who you were, is gone.
The digital world has given us infinite freedom to share and record and connect, yet so many people reject it. So many people travel to get away from the ‘insta-culture’ and hold themselves above it all.
It’s easy to feel how superficial this culture can be. However, that doesn’t mean that taking photos and writing stories is superficial. If you’re living the life you’ve always dreamed of, you want those memories to last a lifetime.
It wasn’t always so easy
Your grandma didn’t have it so easy. If she wanted to record her travels, she had to use a film camera, carefully. She had to pay to get each frame developed or do it herself. Then, in order to share it with you, she had to make a photo album by hand and keep it safe over the years.
Had she never done that, how much would you really know about her? Think about it.
It’s not just about sharing your experience with others either. Travel blogging will enrich your own experience as well. It might even help you discover some deep and eternal truths that you’ve been searching for all along. Here are three reasons why you should start today.
1. You will inspire others
I’d bet that before you developed your current lifestyle, you were inspired by someone else’s. Before you took this trip, you saw someone else take theirs. Chances are, you’re following in the footsteps of your role models. Sure, you might have found your way here without them. But they got you to step out onto the edge.
With everything available online, we do very little without first looking it up or researching other’s experiences. You don’t plan a trip to Thailand without reading about other people’s trips. And that travel blog you love that always posts incredible photos, that’s what gave you the idea to go in the first place.
It can be hard to step out of your old role and put on new shoes. But believe it or not, you are the traveler now, not the daydreamer. Now, you are living your dreams and you should share them. Who knows who might be watching or who might be inspired by them?
There are billions of people out there. Someone like you is surfing the web right now, looking for inspiration. Give it to them.
2. You’ll want to look back
I hate to say it, but we all get old. Our joints get stiff and our bodies frail. I may climb now, but I won’t always be able to.
When you’re old, you’ll want to look back and relive your experiences. You’ll want to share them with the next generation and even the next. And you’re lucky. You don’t have to make a photo album by hand like grandma did. All you have to do is start travel blogging. Start writing, start taking photos, start using Instagram, or start posting to Faceboook more.
You don’t have to do it for anyone else, just do it for yourself. If it’s online, it’s not going anywhere. You can just start a blog for free on WordPress and not share it with anybody, that’s perfectly alright. That way there’s no risk of being perceived as narcissistic, but there’s also no risk of forgetting all the incredible adventures you had.
3. You’ll be forced to self reflect
All of the above are good reasons to start travel blogging. However, the most potent reason is what you’ll learn about yourself. Most people don’t share what they’re doing, because they don’t believe in what they’re doing.
You don’t share because you don’t think it’s cool enough, or impressive enough, or inspiring enough. And maybe you’re right. Maybe you’re living a boring life that no one wants to hear about. That’s the most important realization you could ever have.
How old are you? You don’t need to tell me, you know the answer.
So how many years do you have left? You don’t know, do you…
And you’re that old and you’re living a life that doesn’t inspire you? If you’re not proud of who you are and what you’re doing, you should make a change, no matter how hard that seems. If you don’t love what you do, you’re wasting the only time that you have.
You will never be young again.
The most valuable thing that travel blogging can give you is an honest look at yourself. Sitting down to write about yourself can be a revealing and terrifying experience. It can be liberating and cathartic. It might be challenging. But one thing’s for certain, it will change how you see yourself. It will help you see past the dogma of your decisions to that which you actually believe in.
So start travel blogging, and do it now.
Just start. Whether you’re traveling right now or sitting in your house, or at work. Start writing about it today. Go to the store and buy a little journal or get online and open a free account through Blogger or WordPress. Get an outlet and start writing.
Start by writing about your day. How did you feel? What did you do? Write about your plans for tomorrow, for the week and for the month. Start writing about your plans for the year. Do you even have any? Start writing about who you are and what you believe in, write about your best memories and greatest triumphs. Set goals and record the sense of pride once you achieve them.
This is your story, and if you start writing it and realize that it sucks, then that’s the most valuable lesson there is. No one can teach you who you want to be. You have to find out for yourself.
If you never spend any time searching, thinking, writing and reflecting on who you are, you’ll never get to who you want to be.
So search for it, write about it, and maybe one day you’ll find it.
Have any comments? Are you a travel blogger already? Drop us a message on our Outdoor Revival Facebook page
If you have a good story to tell or blog let us know about it on our FB page, we’re also happy for article or review submissions, we’d love to hear from you.
We live in a beautiful world, get out there and enjoy it.
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