» my Copenhagen office, with a view. I miss it so much :( «
Being a blogger, there is no such thing as “paid vacation time”.
You work your own hours, & if you’re a full time blogger, those hours are way more than almost any full time job. You’ve committed to this career choice, & that commitment means sharing almost every aspect of your life, especially when you are travelling.
Readers LOVE to see bloggers on holiday (that’s what Europeans call a vacation, & since I wish I was European, holiday it is!), so unlike majority of working people who leave their computers at home while away, you better make sure you bring yours + your camera + external batteries (or 10) + everything else you need to keep your blog game strong.
That being said… you are still on holiday, & since you are blogging around the clock every other day of the year, you are most likely way overdue for some R&R. So, how on earth do you have an enjoyable/relaxing trip while still keeping your reads engaged & interested?
Since I was just on a 2 week holiday that I have now done two years in a row, I am sharing some of my best tips to help manage travel & blog life. The biggest holiday fail would be missing out on beautiful once in a lifetime experiences all because you’re stuck inside typing away!!!
» the scene from my blogging hotel bed. You can find my marble phone case here & marble computer DIY here (or you can buy this one). «
1. Inform your readers: Prior to my recent trip to Copenhagen/Sweden I did a “Top 20 Travel Must Haves” post, in this post I gave a peek inside my suitcase & shared with my readers my intended posting schedule. This particular trip, I planned to keep my blogging to a minimum as I was in dire need of a break, so I directed them to follow me on Snapchat & Instagram for more real time travel updates.
2. Plan ahead: If you want to keep your blogging schedule completely normal, the best tip is to plan ahead BIG TIME. Get out your content calendar weeks in advance & start filling in post ideas. In the coming weeks, stack your content & photograph all of your planned posts.
3. Schedule your posts: Now that you have a ton of stacked content, reduce your blog time while away by getting these posts 100% completed & scheduled before you leave. When on vacation, all you have to do is share via social & then get on with your day.
4. Leave room: If you are stacking content, be sure to leave some room for more real time travel posts. It’s great to have some lifestyle posts planned in advance (i.e. recipes/collage posts/etc.), but you also want your readers to feel they are seeing some stuff from your current travels. Outfit posts, for example, shouldn’t be stacked! No one wants to see what you wore two weeks ago, they want to see what you’re wearing while away (because vacay fashion is wayyyy different than day-to-day fashion!).
5. Wi-fi & Data: Unless you’re travelling somewhere super remote, wi-fi shouldn’t be an issue, but if it is– locate some wi-fi friendly cafes near your hotel! If you’re travelling abroad, get your data sorted before you leave. This is always a huge issue for me as I love to Snapchat & Instagram all the time. I get the biggest international data package, but still always go over (hint: streaming Snapchat videos uses a ton of data!!!). Connect to wi-fi networks whenever you can to save your data. With Snapchat, turn off your cellular roaming & publish them, they will fail but when you connect to a wi-fi network you can post them all.
6. Utilize time differences & use analytics: Determine the time zone for the bulk of your readers by using Google Analytics. For me, majority of my readers are in the states, so the European time difference really worked in my favor. When we were winding down our day/done with all of our activities, my readers were in the middle of their day (which according to my analytics, is the best time for me to blog). I would spend an hour before bed blogging & getting social.
7. Use Instagram: I don’t know about you guys, but when I am travelling, I typically don’t lug around my huge camera (unless we are shooting looks). I am always snapping away with my iPhone, so Instagram round-ups make for great content. Share some of your favorite Instagrams & go into more detail about them– what you were wearing (with links), where you were, what you saw, etc.
8. Travel is a great time for social growth: when you are on vacation, use location tags on Instagram and location specific hashtags! Whenever I am planning a trip, I do research in advance on popular hashtags in the area I am travelling to. This will help you gain a whole new audience & grow your following greatly!
9. Take Notes!: Use your handy iPhone to take notes of things you want to blog about! I was planning to do a Copenhagen travel guide post, so the entire time I was typing out places that I loved/food that I ate/trends that I spotted/etc. You can’t possibly remember every detail, so this helps tremendously.
10. Don’t beat yourself up!!! I know it can be stressful thinking all of your readers will abandon you if you’re not up to par in the blog world, but I promise you, they won’t! My lovely readers left me beautiful comments telling me to relax & enjoy myself and that they’d be there waiting for when I got back on schedule. If you let them know your plan, they will understand. The most important thing is to enjoy your trip, you deserve it!!
There you have it, all my best blogging on vacation tips! If you have any I missed, let me know & happy (stress-free/relaxing) travels.
x, E