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Let’s just start by getting it out of the way... I did not start this website and blog in hopes of being a travel influencer. Ya’ll can keep reading now….
the age of the influencer
Social media is full of what we now know as influencers. They’re easy to spot now, thanks to new regulations that require the posts to be tagged as ‘paid’. Influencing is a way for people to make money -- they may use the product just that one time for direct deposits in their bank accounts and thousands of sales for the company.
The travel and hospitality industry is no stranger to influencers. Social media is full of travel influencers posting photos and videos of their glamorous life led in glamorous places. Travel influencers make a living by sharing their globetrotting experiences on social media channels and personal websites and blogs. They get freebies, discounts, or cash for promoting places, products, and experiences on their accounts.
the uninspiring reality of Instagram
Raise your hand if you have ever felt personally victimized by (Regina George) Instagram.
There’s probably been 1,000+ times where I’ve let the photos and videos that fill my feed on Instagram negatively affect my thoughts about myself and other people. For me, one of the biggest areas where I see this happening is with travel.
If your Instagram is anything like mine has been over the last few years, the feed is full of the most amazing travel photos from the most luxurious, remote places. Often, I’ll click on the location of the photo to discover a rolling feed of similar photos of picturesque sunsets on Indonesian beaches, lush mountains full of vegetation in Peru, and the electric green skies of the Northern lights in Iceland.
Instead of closing Instagram feeling inspired about the next place I want to travel to, I’m left feeling defeated. There’s no way I can afford a trip like that -- it has to cost at least $6,000. Every corner of the earth that I wanted to go to seemed out of reach for my wallet. It seemed like I’d forever be scrolling through my Instagram feed dreaming of the day where I could afford my bills and go on kickass trips and vacations.
*For those of you reading this who know or have seen some of the trips I have been on, I have never (and will never) paid anywhere near $6,000 for an trip — international or domestic. I'll be talking more about this in upcoming blogs.
30 before 30
In December 2017 my family went on an international trip to Brazil for our brother Vitor’s wedding. Ok, so by textbook definition he’s not actually my brother. My family hosted a foreign exchange student my senior year of high school but that’s a story for another day.
When we were in Brazil, I was thinking about all of the countries and territories I had been to since my first trip outside the U.S. to Canada in second grade. Relative to the number of countries and territories in the world, my list was short -- Brazil marked number 19. But, it was on that trip I decided to set out to achieve a goal of going to 30 countries/territories before my 30th birthday in 2021.
Traveling to 11 more countries in about 2.5 years seemed like a lot. But I knew I could do it. I already had a trip to Thailand planned in March 2019 and a trip to Belize planned for April 2019. So within the next four months I would have been to 21 countries/territories.
At the time, I was in a $60,000 graduate program, would spend most of my vacation time for the year by April 2019, and didn’t make enough to afford living and booking Instagram vacations. The challenge was choosing destinations that I wanted to go to and that I could afford to go to.
The price tag associated with my goal may seem unrealistic — it’s not. Instagram wasn’t going to tell me how I could travel internationally on a low-budget. And, to be honest, I hadn’t found any helpful resources on the internet or other travel blogs. I know there is a way to both travel internationally and afford to travel internationally because I had done it before — it’s possible and it’s repeatable.
why I started a travel blog
I started a travel blog to inspire and empower — to inspire people to travel to new places and to empower them to actually go to those places. The inspiration and empowerment I want to give is different from the typical travel influencer or travel blogger you see on your social media. I’ll always be just like most of you reading this — traveling on a budget and working full-time with a limited disposable income.
I’ve always been grounded in the fact that I’m not a full-time nomad — people who have sold everything to pursue a life of travel — or travel influencer who makes their living from traveling. That’s simply not me. When I started Rooted in Wanderlust I was working full-time, had a packed social life, was in a graduate program, and had an apartment lease, a car payment, and other bills to pay. All this is still true today, except that my full-time job is in a new city, I live in a more expensive city, and I graduated from my program and now have $60,000 worth of student loan debt to pay. Life changes quickly.
Whether it’s a week-long international trip or a 4-day weekend trip to another state, my goal is to give you the resources and tips you need to travel to new places affordably. I recognize that many of you may have family you’ll be traveling with, debt you’re paying off, and bills that leave you with little to set back for your savings. You can still travel and afford it. I’ve done it, my sisters have done it, my friends have done it, and my parents did it when I was younger. It’s possible and it’s repeatable.