After a decade of travel blogging, is it time for a change?
When I started this site as a travel blog, I was about to take off on a full-time travel adventure of indefinite length.
I’d been blogging before that. About life and philosophy, religion even (once upon a time). I’ve always written something because I’ve always loved to write. And when I packed my life into a hiking backpack, stuffed Luna into a travel carrier, and departed for Scotland, then Belgium, then Switzerland, it only made sense to write about those travels.
And so for over a decade, I did.
I documented my hikes and cycle trips. I told you how I made a living while traveling full-time. I shared my budgets, days in my life, photo essays from Croatian shorelines and elegant French towns.
I didn’t know it would last over ten years. And I’m grateful for that time.
But now things have changed again.
My flitting, restless little heart has found a place it wants to cozy up, people it wants to cozy up with.
I’m traveling less, building community in a single place more. Writing less travel tips and more fiction. Finding that I simply don’t have that much to say about travel at the moment. That the space that this work has taken up in my heart is space I want to give to other things. To coffee shop chats with the friend who held my hand during my recent health scare. To dance practices so fun that we end up laughing and twirling each other through the air. To late-night pizzas, sangria toasts, inside jokes, arms around friendly shoulders. And to more time for my fiction.
For that queer historical heist book I’m drafting and that quirky YA heroine with the death obsession and the dozen other ideas queued up, waiting for my attention.
In other words: my life has changed, and this blog is changing with it.
In other other words: I don’t know what this blog is going to become.
I don’t know how often I’ll post or what I’ll share. Right now, my only plan is to leave up the things people found useful and to write when I feel like sharing something. Perhaps book news. Perhaps something philosophical. Perhaps a rant about publishing.
So if things get a little quiet in your inbox, that’s why. If the weekly posts become monthly or quarterly, that’s why. If the type of content shifts and shifts again, that’s why.
If you plan to stick around, thank you. If not, I wish you very well as you dig into the many other incredible travel blogs out there.
Either way, thanks for joining me this far on the journey.
Comments
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Emily Peppers
Will miss the weekly posts, but the change absolutely makes sense for this new season. Traveling a lot is wonderful, and being present long-term in a great community is wonderful too. Wishing you continued joy in your new home!
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Willow
Trying to find aligned community has been a theme in my life over the years and it’s tough! So, I’m celebrating that you’ve found a place and people you feel connected to, and are making space for the things that are important in this period of your life.
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kristen / omventure
What’s great is that you get to keep sharing as little or as much of your travel + living abroad as you wish, of which your work is a part. Not a how-to, just a … here’s what I’m up to. I think the website can glide forward as is, naturally. Especially since it’s already in your name. You get to share your life, your writing, etc. It’s all good.
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K.R. Baylor
Portugal is a wonderful place to wind up. I spent a first-ever week in Porto in July and was thoroughly impressed with the culture, the people, the daily life, food/services, and all the aspects that it takes to reasonably enjoy a day in this venerable city. The weather was a bonus, but my Galician Spanish friends tell me that I was lucky to enjoy the sunshine, as it disappears and is replaced by coastal English weather for months on end. (My response: I’ll bring an umbrella and my anorak.)
I would eagerly return to the area and hope to do so again next year. There are a number of YT videos online catering to Americans seeking a life in Portugal, and all of them were solid on advice and real expectations, especially when it comes to language needs and the bureaucracy.
You’ll do great in the new place, whether it is in the north or south, and I hope you continue to share your experiences and what you’ve learned with your envious North American audiences (like me, in Virginia) on your blog. I appreciated your detail about living in Croatia when I was casually exploring that option, and hope your Portuguese adventure delivers the same details. With kind regards–KRB
Siobhan
I was sad when I saw the title, but upon reading the post, I’m really happy for you. Truly appreciate all the travel content you’ve put up over the years; it’s so detailed and helpful (and the photos are awesome). Excited to see where your blossoming fiction career takes you!