Issue / A Blogger's Life

by Anokhi Admin

A Blogger’s Life

May 09, 2015

A closer look at the growing profession of travel blogging.

One of the earliest records of travelling for the sake of travelling and writing about it is Italian scholar Petrarch’s account of his ascent of Mont Ventoux in 1336 where he allegorically compares climbing the mountain with his own progress in life and describes his friends who stayed at the bottom as lacking in curiosity.

While travel writing and outdoor and travel literature has been around for centuries, never before has it been as prolific and as ubiquitous as it is today.

Lakshmi Sharath started blogging in 2005 when she quit her desk job of 15 years to follow her dream of seeing the world. She’s been named top Indian blogger by IndiBlogger (the largest Indian blogger community) and has been featured in prominent Indian and international publications including the Times of India and Lonely Planet.

“I have always enjoyed travelling,” says Sharath. “My mother tells me how, when I was little, I’d run all the time like I had wheels on my feet. Perhaps, it is my curious mind that inspires me to travel.”

“I first started writing to share my stories. At the time, it was hardly a profession,” she says explaining that there weren’t many opportunities to monetize blogging and no FAM trips (free or low cost familiarization trips organized by travel agents or tourism boards to promote a location or service). “The best part, then, was that I made many friends and met like-minded people through blogging. Slowly, small opportunities trickled in.”

Today, the rising profession of travel blogging is the direct cause and consequence of the growing travel industry. Professional travel blogging came into being when writers shared their passion for travel online. And consequently, as bloggers write about destinations they influence aspiring vacationers’ choices.

Sharath’s blog, Lakshmi Sharath: A Travel Blog of an Indian Backpacker, documents her travelling experiences. “Writing here is free-flowing. I can creatively share my thoughts and experiences,” she says.

She’s visited more than 25 countries and has been invited by the tourism boards of many countries including Canada, Australia and Ireland to create travel-related content. She’s been to Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia on Asian Blogger meets and, recently, she was selected as one of 100 international media professionals to cover an exhibition match between Roger Federer and Lindsey Vonn in Switzerland.

However, she says, what she really enjoys is travelling in her own backyard and discovering unexpected treasures. “One of my favourite trips was when I explored some 30 Hoysala temples lost in rustic India,” she says. “Some of them are more than 1,000 years old.”

On the surface, travel blogging seems like the perfect career for any travel enthusiast. What can be more exciting than being paid to visit places? You see the world, make friends everywhere and create experiences and memories most people only dream of. But, it’s easier said than done and there’s a lot that goes into becoming self-employed. Like any business, all aspects of travel blogging — creative, technical, social and financial — must be managed. And, a good writer does not necessarily make a good travel blogger.

“Professional blogging is very nascent,” she says. An evolving industry, most casual readers don’t understand how blogging can be a business and how bloggers get paid (typically it’s by selling ad space on their blogs). Not many brands and tourism boards recognize the influencing role bloggers can play in marketing destinations.

“Ultimately,” she tells aspiring travel bloggers, “write for yourself.” And, “travel blogging is about the destination and not the writer,” she says. “As a blogger I experience a destination differently from tourists. Travel bloggers and writers tend to delve deeper into a location, while tourists typically sightsee.”

Her advice on what’s most important to be a successful travel blogger: “Be a passionate traveller. Everything else follows.

Lakshmi Sharath, who’s travelled to five continents, often by herself, shares key tips for solo female travellers:

• Most important: use common sense.

• Try not to standout like a tourist. Always blend in with the locals as much as possible.

• Be around families, rather than just men.

• Respect local culture.

• Travel light. Five things that Sharath never travels without: jeans, sunscreen, torch, medicines and stoles/scarves — these are handy no matter which country you’re in.

The realities of being a travel blogger:

• Writing online is not the same as writing for publications. There’s an entire world of social media that must be mastered.

• To be successful, bloggers must create content prolifically. With attention spans becoming shorter, writers must be brief and engaging.

• On average, it could take anywhere between six to 12 months to be financially secure and even then, like the rollercoaster of any entrepreneurship, money ebbs and flows.

• Professional travel writers never travel the same way tourists do. Travelling is not a form of vacation, there’s always work to do and one is never completely off the grid.

BY: PAULOMI PATEL
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OFLAKSHI SHARATH
PUBLISHED IN THE HOME & TRAVEL ISSUE, MAY 2015