Why You Should Start a Travel Blog (…But As a Hobby, Not a Job)

Given the overwhelming number of “how to quit your 9-5 and get paid to travel the world” ads on Facebook, as well as the horror stories about entitled “influencers” demanding free perks, it’s a shame (but not a surprise) that travel blogging as a hobby has been all but forgotten by the majority of people.

It seems like every travel blogging resource on the web focuses on turning your blog into a career. But when was the last time you read an article or how-to guide that focused purely on the craft (and fun) of travel blogging?

There are countless makeup tutorials on YouTube, but none of them center around persuading you to become a professional makeup artist. There are thousands of guides for beginner musicians on the internet, but none of them end with promises that you, too, can be the next Beethoven.

Why is travel blogging so different? Why is it assumed that every travel blogger wants to turn their blog into their career? Why isn’t there more focus on travel blogging as a hobby?

Did you know that Seth Rogan has taken up ceramics as a hobby?

(…I promise, I’m going somewhere with this.)

From the article linked above:

“We’re living in an age when it can feel incredibly daunting to pick up a hobby, as Rogen did. It’s no longer enough to leisurely pursue running or cooking or knitting. It can feel impossible or pointless to do something just for fun, in a mediocre way. We’re pressured to accomplish milestones, hone our skills, and document the progress on Instagram. Because of this, it’s difficult to wrap our minds around the idea of making art that’s not “good.” But you don’t have to master painting or pottery or any other hobby to reap the benefits of practicing it.”

YES! YES! YES!

I absolutely adore the takeaway of this article, and wholeheartedly believe the same lessons can be applied to travel blogging. Having a hobby is an excellent thing; it does wonders for your mental and emotional health, self-confidence, and enjoyment of life.

You can start taking tennis lessons at the country club without feeling pressured to be the next Serena Williams. You can start acting at your local theater without feeling pressured to one day star alongside Jennifer Lawrence. You can start lifting weights in the gym without feeling pressured to become an Olympic weightlifter.

You can start travel blogging without feeling pressured to become a professional travel blogger.

I started The Wandering Blonde in February 2015, and this blog has certainly been through many stages and changes over the years.

It has seen me through my years as a budget backpacker, an advocate for part-time travel, a brief stint as a travel agent (yikes), and a full-time remote worker. And yes, there have been many points when I have contemplated trying to convert this blog into a business.

But ultimately, I already have a career that really works for me (and quite frankly, is much easier to maintain and grow than a competitive field like travel blogging). I love not being required to play by anyone else’s “rules” regarding Instagram, email lists or content calendars.

This blog is MY baby, and I get to have fun with it in whatever way makes me the happiest. I never really had a true hobby until I started this blog, and I can’t tell you how good it feels to have something that’s just MINE.

Truthfully, I probably take my travel blog a bit more “seriously” than many other hobby bloggers. And that’s cool with me!

Things like optimizing my content for search engines and tracking my growth with Google Analytics are what I do for a living, so they just come naturally for me. I enjoy them! But there is absolutely no requirement to worry about those metrics as a hobby travel blogger.

If you’re reading this, there is a good chance you have contemplated starting a travel blog but are worried about not “making it” as a blogger.

Below are six good reasons you should start a travel blog anyways, as well as my responses to the most common hesitations about starting a travel blog.

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1. Travel blogging is an amazing creative outlet.

You know that feeling when you’re so “in the zone” doing something, that you just completely lose track of the world around you? That feeling when you’re so engrossed in the act of making or doing, that your brain goes into autopilot mode and you have no idea how many minutes or hours have passed? That feeling?

That’s the feeling I get every time I sit down and really dive into my writing…and it is WONDERFUL.

Travel blogging is an amazing creative outlet, much like writing poetry or making music. A blog is a tool that allows you to explore your creativity, express your emotions and hone your craft.

It’s an enjoyable hobby that you can truly lose yourself in, and that feeling is simply good for the soul.

2. Travel blogging is therapeutic.

On a related note, travel blogging is an excellent way to occupy your mind and help you relax, just like knitting or painting with watercolors.

There’s something so calming about sitting down at your laptop with a cup of tea (or glass of wine) and just letting your thoughts flow.

If you struggle with feelings of boredom, loneliness, depression or anxiety, picking up a hobby can really help you find relief from those emotions and refocus your energy…and travel blogging is a hobby that you can start TODAY, from the comfort of your own home.

3. Travel blogging helps you preserve your travel memories.

Think about the last vacation you took and tell me the name of every restaurant you visited, as well as the exact dishes you ordered. Oh, and why not throw in a day-by-day itinerary of your entire trip?

I would be truly impressed if you could do this with any amount of accuracy…I certainly can’t! One of the best things about travel blogging is that you can capture every beautiful memory from your getaways: every highlight, every challenge, every emotion.

Thanks to this travel blog, I can re-live some of the best memories of my life with the simple click of a button.

I can look back on my first ever solo trip in 2015 and my honeymoon in 2017—in vivid detail, no less. I have more than a dozen posts documenting my adventures here in California, and nearly as many from my old home state of Texas.

In just minutes, I can be transported back to those feelings of awe and bliss I experienced in Minca, Colombia, or the exhilaration I felt in Granada, Nicaragua. That alone makes this travel blog one of my most precious “possessions.”

4. Travel blogging allows your loved ones to read your travel stories on their own time.

Every traveler knows the feeling: You’ve just experienced an amazing, life-changing, awe-inspiring trip abroad, and now that you’re finally home, you’re sitting down with your friends, family members or significant other to tell them all about your travels.

The conversation starts off strong—they’re asking some questions about your experiences, and you’re sharing your stories. But all too soon, you start noticing that their eyes are glazing over, or that their hand is twitching in the direction of their iPhone.

They’re bored already? But you haven’t even gotten to the part about the monkeys yet!!

Here’s the truth: No one will ever care as much about your travel stories as you do. Your loved ones may feel inspired or entertained by them, and they’ll certainly be happy that you’re out there having amazing adventures.

But you can’t expect them to feel the same emotions or sense of wonder that you experienced during your time abroad—that’s just not realistic or fair.

However, if you compile all your best travel stories and photos into a few neat and tidy blog posts, your friends and family members will have the opportunity to sit down and share in your travel experiences when they have the time and desire to do so. And that’s more enjoyable for everyone!

5. Travel blogging allows you to publish the itineraries and guides YOU WISH had been available to you.

This is perhaps one of my all-time favorite benefits of travel blogging!

I do an extensive amount of research when planning my trips, even short weekend getaways. I scour the top results on Google and comb through dozens of Pins and Instagram posts, trying to find the ultimate must-sees and hidden gems.

And approximately 0% of the time, I find a single itinerary or guide that is completely perfect for my needs and interests. So, I end up pulling bits and pieces from a few different itineraries…and then when I get back from my trip, I write the travel guide I wish I had found while doing my internet research.

Some of my favorite (and most popular) posts have stemmed from this very desire to write MY version of the perfect travel itinerary:

• The Ultimate Guide to 2 Weeks in Thailand
• One Perfect Day in Shanghai Itinerary
• The Ultimate Big Sur Travel Guide & 2 Day Itinerary
• The Complete Guide to Visiting Neuschwanstein Castle

There is seriously no better feeling than getting a comment or email from a reader who followed my recommendations and had an amazing trip!

6. Travel blogging just may help you earn a little bit of pocket change.

Even if travel blogging isn’t your career or your side hustle, it’s still very possible to earn a small amount of money from it. Most professional travel blogs will have a very diverse set of income streams: display ads, sponsored posts, product reviews, affiliate links…just to name a few!

But when you’re not depending on your travel blog to pay your rent, you can be much choosier about the types of income-earning projects you take on. In my 4+ years of travel blogging, I have turned down every single sponsored post, press trip, and product review offer I have received except for one.

Why? Because I don’t want to write about random watches, luggage, bracelets, face creams or even tours and hotels, just because some brand has offered to pay me for it. I like staying in control of my content and writing about the topics that truly bring me joy!

Personally, my only site monetization is through affiliate links to products and services I actually use and love, like Booking.com  and Airbnb (how I book literally ALL of my trips), as well as products on Amazon.

Through these types of links, I’m able to earn roughly $1,000 – 2,000 per year from my travel blog.

Like I said—it’s not paying the bills. But considering that many other hobbies (like intramural hockey, hiking or book clubs) present even fewer opportunities to earn money, it’s pretty awesome!

Making money from a hobby blog is roughly equivalent to occasionally selling your artwork on Etsy or your handmade soaps at the local farmer’s market…it’s not quite enough to be a true “side hustle” (meaning no pressure to perform) but it’s nice to be rewarded for doing something you love.

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Common Hesitations to Starting a Travel Blog

“I’m not the best writer.”

That’s okay!

My very first blog posts were certainly not my best, even though I had already begun my career as a professional copywriter by that time.

It just takes a little while to find your voice, and to discover the topics that you enjoy writing about.

Also, don’t put so much pressure on yourself! In all the benefits I discussed above, did I say anything about needing to be an amazing writer? Nope! Just have fun with it—that’s the point of a hobby, right?

“I’m not very tech savvy.”

That’s alright too! You don’t need to be.

The websites I use to run my blog—WordPress and Bluehost—make it super easy to get started, even with zero knowledge of web design.

I put together a seven-step guide to starting a travel blog to show you how easy it would be to have your blog up and running TODAY if you wanted.

“I don’t travel enough to maintain a travel blog.”

Yes you do!

Trust me, there are no rules or minimum requirements here. Write as little or as often as you feel like it!

Additionally, you would be surprised how much content you can get out of a single vacation. My recent 10 day trip to French Polynesia? I have a total of seven blog posts planned around that trip.

I also write a lot of “staycation” content about the area I live in, like my One Day in San Jose itinerary and my Santa Cruz Mountain Wine Region guide.

“I don’t want to spend money on starting a travel blog unless I know I’m going to make money from it.”

Why not?

There’s an unfortunate misconception that if you spend money on starting a travel blog but don’t actually turn it into a money-making machine, you’re some kind of chump or fool.

But would you ever look down on someone who spent money purchasing a guitar, paintbrushes or a surfboard, even if they’re not a professional guitarist, painter or surfer?

Nope, because that would be ridiculous (…and rude as hell, quite frankly).

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There are a lot of lame stigmas surrounding travel blogging, like the idea that every travel blogger is a naive dreamer, a lying scammer or a lazy millennial trying to travel the world for free.

And that really sucks, because the truth is that most travel bloggers are just normal people who picked blogging as their hobby, rather than skiing or yoga or crocheting.

(And many others are genuine, hard-working professionals who deserve their levels of success and recognition.)

I think it’s such a shame that travel blogging is so often overlooked as a fun, enjoyable and rewarding hobby. If you are passionate about travel and are even remotely tempted to start a travel blog, but are worried about “failing” or looking foolish, I implore you to reconsider.

Starting a travel blog as a hobby is one of the best things I have ever done for myself—it would be a shame to deny yourself that same pleasure due to an all-or-nothing mentality.

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Pin It!

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For my fellow travel bloggers out there, tell me about your experiences blogging either professionally or as a hobby! How has it impacted your life? If you’re someone who is considering starting a travel blog, what’s holding you back?

Note: This post contains several affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. My affiliate income helps offset the cost of running this blog, and allows me to keep this site free of ads and sponsored posts. So, thank you!!