Day in the life of
Travel Blogger – Anna Faustino
Together with my partner Tom, we’ve been full-time bloggers and entrepreneurs for over 7 years now. What started as a side hustle to make a few hundred dollars on the side quickly turned into our main business, allowing us to work from anywhere in the world while doing something that we love.
In my line of work, no day is ever the same. On some days I will be out, spending 1-2 weeks traveling and creating content while some days I am indoors writing, editing photos, and pitching companies. We do not focus on social media but focus on creating great content that will rank organically which is what brings in a steady stream of income month on month.
Our blog focuses a lot on adventure travel and reviewing outdoor gear and part of our review process is testing the actual gear outdoors. This means, if we’re reviewing a new hiking day backpack, we take it out on a hike, pack it with items and take notes of our experience using the items that we are reviewing.
The same goes for if we are working with a company reviewing a particular adventure experience. For example, last year, we spent 2 weeks driving a tuk-tuk around Sri Lanka working with a company that runs these adventure tours. We documented the entire experience, wrote a review, and produced a couple of videos for them.
We do not have a permanent base and have been fully remote/nomadic for the last 6 years. Although with that being said, we do prefer to stay in a place for 2-3 months which allows us enough time to balance work and play. So far, in the last 7 years, we’ve lived in Thailand, Bali, Barcelona, Portugal, Mexico, and now, we are based in Nicaragua.
Pros
A huge pro is obviously being able to travel and spend as much time as I want outdoors. Unlike a typical magazine where you’re assigned what to write about, I usually pitch companies and brands that I want to work with. It gives me a lot of time freedom to do what I want.
Through our blog, we’ve been able to hike up to Everest Basecamp, trek the Amazon Rainforest, and sleep under the stars in the Sahara Desert. We often also get invited to press trips organized by tourism boards where we get to explore a destination along with other content creators.
Cons
When it comes to monetizing and actually making money from your blog, you need to make sure that you treat it like a business from the very beginning. You have to work hard to establish your monetization streams and be consistent in working on projects that add to your overall monthly income.
While it is hard to initially get it going, once you do build a brand around your blog, it is almost always worth it! Being self-employed can also be difficult as you always have to find creative ways to keep yourself motivated.
Our blog fully supports both my partner and I (plus a small team of freelancers and editors). Although we don’t have a fixed monthly income (it can vary month on month), there is no ceiling to how much we can earn each month. So far, our blog makes more each month than what we would make COMBINED as a teacher and Engineer in the UK which were our first professions.
Tips on becoming a Travel Blogger
If you’re interested in becoming a travel blogger, my biggest tip is to niche down. Find a unique angle and build your content from there. Blogging, especially in the travel blog niche can be extremely competitive but if you find a unique angle, you’re increasing your chances of building a sustainable job for yourself.
For us, although it takes a while to build up initially, the freedom of working for ourselves with complete autonomy on where we work from and how we spend our time is pretty priceless. It is a job that I honestly wouldn’t trade for anything in the world!
