10 Secrets from the World’s Top Travel Bloggers

 
Becoming a globe-trotting blogger sounds intriguing in every way. Imagine being able to see the world, all the while earning an income? It’s like being on a lifetime vacation with the perks of earning enough to pay for your travel bills.
But what does it really take to become a travel blogger? The concept of quitting your day job, leaving your home country to travel the world sounds fun but scary.
How do travel bloggers do it? If this is something you aspire to become, then the best way to learn is from those who are already doing it. You can find plenty of individuals and couples on Instagram who has blogs documenting their travels.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways they’re able to achieve this.

1. Go Incognito When Searching for Flights

You’re going to book countless flights while on your travels local and abroad. This means you’ll need to save as much as you can when booking your tickets.
One secret travel bloggers use when they’re shopping for flight tickets is to search while on incognito. Why is this important? Because airlines track your search history to see which routes you’re searching for. Then they hike up the prices.
The way around this is to switch your browser to incognito mode so the airliners are unable to do so. This will allow you to shop around for tickets and double check prices without worry of price hikes.

2. Travel Bloggers Bring Along Comfort Items

Now, there are various tools you can use to help make your travels more comfortable. This is especially important when you’re traveling with children. For instance, you can allow your children to bring along a toy or stuffed animal.
A portable sound machine can also make staying in a strange hotel more comfortable. It will help improve the atmosphere and also drown out loud guests and street noises.

3. Don’t Overpack

You never want to pack too many items when you’re traveling. Not only will it weigh you down, but it’ll empty your wallet. You have to pay for extra luggage that’s not qualified as a carry-on, so more fees to worry about.
Try to only pack what you absolutely need – clothes, underclothes, hygiene products, your laptop, smartphone and maybe a few snacks and drinks.
You’ll also be happy you don’t have to wait around in long lines for your luggage. Too often people lose their baggage because of airliner mistakes.

4. Download All Maps Ahead of Time

You want your maps to be downloaded in advance and in offline mode. This way, you can access them in the event you don’t have cell phone data or Wi-Fi access.
Some areas in foreign countries have no internet access, so you’ll need to ensure you can get to your hotel and other locations without an issue.
It’s a good idea to download the way to your hotel, back to the airport and to the destinations you plan to visit during your stay.

5. Give the Local Cuisine a Try

There’s no better way to experience a culture than to head right to their food markets and restaurants. The types of foods eaten in a particular country is sometimes a complete 360 from what you’re accustomed to in your home country.
This will also give you some interesting content to share with your blog audience. You can even do a video to show the food and the atmosphere of the restaurant you’re dining in.
A lot of people are curious about the foods in different countries and cities, so this will really help your audience out.

6. Get a Filtered Water Bottle

There are two reasons you want to go this route. One, filtered water bottles will ensure your safety, since you’ll drink from tap water quite often in certain foreign countries. Then you can also save money on having to buy bottled water during your stay.
Then there’s the eco-friendliness – you’re not throwing away a bunch of plastic bottles that stay in the landfills, polluting our environment.

7. Bring Hard and Soft Copies of Your IDs

The last thing you need to happen is for you to lose your passport and ID while in a foreign country. It can take weeks, if not months, to sort things out, depending on where you’re at.
So to help ensure things don’t go awry, you should bring along hard and soft copies of your identification cards. You can scan your cards and send them to your email, Dropbox or another cloud service.
If you’ve yet to get your passport or need a new one, you can get an expedited passport. You can purchase it online and have your application processed in just 24 hours.
This is definitely the best friend of travel bloggers.

8. Monetize Your Travel Blog

You’ll need to earn money while you’re on your travels. Since you’re aspiring to become a travel blogger, then it makes sense to earn money doing what you love.
There are different ways you can monetize your blog. For instance, you can use display advertising or earn money promoting products and services via affiliate sales.
Then if you have your own products, you can promote and sell these as well.

9. Fly Around the World for Free

Sure, this sounds a little too good to be true, but it’s really not. At least, not if you play your cards right. It’s all about building up your frequent flyer points. You can visit sites like Frequent Flier, Extra Pack of Peanuts and Frugal Travel Guy for tips and resources.

10. Always Pack Cash

Today, everyone uses credit and debit cards to pay for everything. But if you’re planning to visit third-world countries, then expect there to be cash-only vendors.
Make sure to bring along cash just in case. Plus, if you lose your card, you will have some backup money you can use. Also, note that ATMs aren’t always the norm, so don’t rely on this for cash withdrawals – get it before you arrive!

Becoming One of the Top Travel Bloggers

Wouldn’t it be great to one day be considered as one of the elite travel bloggers? Well, that day could come sooner than you think. But it will take hard work and dedication to pull this off.
With the above tips, you can ensure you’re doing all you can to make your travels easier, so you can continue doing what you love doing – blogging about your travels!