Being a Travel Blogger in Times of COVID-19

It is undeniable that the current COVID-19 pandemic has a huge impact on all of us. While some of us are still lucky enough to have our jobs and are maybe able to work from home, not all professional groups like e.g. travel bloggers can do the same.

So what about people whose actual profession it is to travel? How are they keeping up when traveling is so heavily restricted and it’s very uncertain when and where traveling is going to be possible again? Therefore, we spoke to several travel bloggers to find out how they are faring, and when and if they are traveling again. We were also curious to know how they are currently producing content for their accounts and if they have come up with any content alternatives to traveling.

Terplanet

On their colorful and vivid Instagram account Terplanet  as well as on their thriving Tiktok account.
Terence and Karen, an Italian couple, usually take their followers to dreamy luxury resorts and locations all around the globe and create enchanting luxury content.

At the moment they are living in Germany under lockdown. They admit that the situation is tough, as they cannot do their job as usual and are therefore limited in creating more travel content. However, they also try to think out of the box and make the best out of the situation, focusing on projects they would never have time for on their regular travel schedule. So stay tuned for their first e-books and social media training courses!

Still thinking of the future and going back to being “on the road”, Terence and Karen spent the end of 2020 planning and outlining 2021 and looking for places that are currently COVID-free or low risk, such as the Maldives or Dubai, where tourists can still enter. They of course always adhere to the advice of the WHO to keep themselves and others safe, wearing masks, washing their hands, practicing social distancing, and testing themselves regularly. Terence and Karen conclude: “Yes we do have plans for 2021, some of them are still penciled in, but a couple of these collaborations are already happening, and we are so excited about it. The world still needs to be inspired by the beauty of our planet, and the tourism industry needs to be supported. In February we will travel to the Maldives, and the rest of the year is still to be determined.”

As far as content production is concerned, Terence and Karen are lucky to still have so much material from their previous trips that they survive with “throwbacks” and are still able to post fresh content daily. Because even if it looks like travel bloggers are on vacation all year round, the reality is that they always work hard to create as much good content as possible, find new cooperation partners, etc. “Posting throwbacks was our personal choice, but many of our ‘colleagues’ have chosen a different path, shifting their content from traveling to lifestyle or fashion. There’s no right or wrong choices, since in these tough times we are all trying to make lemonade out of lemons!”

Nomadic Boys

Our next travel blogger couple we talked to are Stefan and Sebastien. Together, they are the Nomadic Boys and host a popular website about gay travel. They found honest words about the current situation: “The global pandemic was a gut punch to us when it hit. Almost overnight we saw a chunk of our traffic slashed, together with most social media travel projects and affiliation travel income. However, we also took this as an opportunity to push ahead with the long list of things we needed to do to our website to elevate it, which we never had time for before. We’ve also focused a lot on fitness and cooking, two things we love. Demand for this sort of content has also greatly increased during the lockdowns this past year.”

As far as future travel plans are concerned, Stefan and Sebastien are still not sure how the year 2021 will look like, and they have suspended all their travel plans for approximately the first half of 2021. However, they are fortunate to be based in Cyprus and are blessed with a mild climate and terrific beaches nearby. Their families are based in London (Stefan) and in France (Sebastien), so the most recent trips they have done were short visits to check in on their parents.

When it comes to generating content, Sebastien and Stefan still have a massive backlog of content from destinations they’ve visited but not had the time to work on, just like Terence and Karen. “The pandemic has given us a greatly needed breather to just focus on this. In this respect, it’s been a huge blessing”. They also went with the flow and shifted their focus to more “lockdown inspired” content, especially on how to stay fit, sane, and healthy. For instance, they share a lot of cooking and fitness inspiration and also place an emphasis on home care such as how to cut your own hair – which definitely comes in handy when hairdressers have to stay closed!

Melissa – A Broken Backpack

Melissa, who is known on Instagram as A Broken Backpack has also been hit by the pandemic and describes the situation as ‘’not ideal’’. She and her partner decided to settle in Bansko, Bulgaria until they are able to travel again, because they deem traveling with the current restrictions as too inconvenient. They chose to gain residency in Bulgaria and bought an apartment there in order to have a new home base. What’s more, they made use of the nice skiing slopes bordering Bansko. Similar to Stefan and Sebastien, their only travel plans for 2021 are to visit both their families in their respective countries, the Czech Republic and Canada.

For content creation, Melissa also writes content about previous destinations. As her website has anyway always been about long-term travel, she is currently focusing more on this aspect. “I tend to write expat guides and tips on how to move to another country. So at the moment, I’m focusing on Bulgaria. I also generated more content for other websites I own including Nomad Life 101.”

All travel lovers are currently in the same boat, so fingers crossed that international travel is soon possible again without too many limitations. Stay tuned for part two next week, when we’ll share some more personal insights and experiences of travel bloggers with you.

Featured image: © Terplanet