New beginnings: Starting my travel blog
This is my journey into the travel blogging world. This week is the beginning of a new lifestyle, and I am excited to share this process with you!
I recently graduated from university, and while for many this is exciting, and signifies the beginning of the rest of their life, for me, it was pretty stressful.
Why didn’t graduating college feel like an exciting new beginning for me?
I went to a research university, and majored in Philosophy because that’s what I found most interesting. However, when you go to a research university, STEM reigns. Not that there is anything against STEM. However, the culture at my university was one that certainly looked down upon those who studied other fields.
I often got asked “Philosophy?….. What are you going to do with that?”
I didn’t really know what to say to that. I knew I didn’t have many options without a masters degree (MORE school!?). So sometimes I would lie, and say “I’m planning on starting law school!” That was an answer people loved to hear. But not a single part of me wanted to go to law school. What really called to my soul, was travel. Not a one week vacation every six months (if you’re lucky). But full time, living abroad, and experiencing other cultures. All while making an income.
It all started after a 3.5 month stint in Costa Rica. I graduated college, busted my butt at a restaurant for 4 months, and saved up enough money to live in the beautiful country of Costa Rica.
I surfed, learned Spanish, and pretty much just lived the dream. However, my savings from the restaurant weren’t going to last forever. I needed to figure out a way to make that kind of lifestyle sustainable.
I met a lot of people during my trip that traveled full time. But they all seemed to have some sort of impressive tech skill that I didn’t have. Like mad computer skills, speaking multiple languages fluently, etc. However, then I heard about travel blogging. Where it’s possible to make an income…… writing about travel? At first, it seemed too good to be true. I travel, I like writing….. that’s all it takes?
I scoured the internet reading about the beginning of other travel blogger’s journeys. Again, at first it seemed too good to be true. But the more I read, the more hope I got. All of these other big name bloggers started from nothing but a passion for travel and a different type of life (like me!!), and now here they were, making six-figure incomes solely through their travel blogs. Now, for me it wasn’t really about the money. But rather, the freedom to work wherever, live wherever, and not be stuck in a corporate job. That’s what really calls to me.
So here I am, during week 1, post 1 of the beginning of my travel blogging journey. I’ve been struggling to figure out WordPress, battling with different themes, and trying to find my niche, and attempting to master the all important “SEO”. It seems daunting, but everyone else had to start somewhere, and here I am… beginning at “somewhere”!
