Fueling the Wanderlust: A Look at Travel Blogs on WordPress.com
We hope Vagabond, the travel theme launched yesterday, inspires the nomad in you. To fuel the wanderlust even more, get blissfully lost in the words and images on the blogs below. From narrative writing on place and culture to photographs of the places on your bucket list, we think you’ll find something you like from this sampling of writers, wanderers, and photographers who explore the world.
The Squeaky Robot
The “travel blog” niche is broad — your idea of a great travel blog could be a guidebook-like resource of cities and countries, a site of personal essays and diary entries on living abroad, or something else. We love the variety of posts at The Squeaky Robot; the blogger doesn’t just write about travel, but also muses on the connections we make and finding her place in the world.
You’ll find evocative photographs, like this shot from Mongolia and a colorful photo essay of a Holi festival, and longer pieces weaving commentary and personal thoughts on place, like “The New Beat,” which describes her time in San Francisco, Seattle, Eugene, and Portland.
The Squeaky Robot also showcases Duet, a versatile premium theme. We especially like the two-column formatting of her longer posts, which resembles the pages of a glossy magazine, and the Image Format option for her single photo posts, which show off the landscapes she roams.
Road Essays
I knew I was lost when I found myself surrounded by dozens of newly made coffins. They were piled against the walls: adult size, child size, baby size and all smelling of freshly sawn timber. Addis Ababa’s merkato is a huge sprawling city within a city; a market so vast that no one seems to be sure where it exactly begins or ends . . .
That’s the opening line of a recent post on Addis Ababa by Jessica, the freelance travel writer at Road Essays. Here, you won’t find posts of the “top ten hotspots to drink a cocktail” variety: she digs deep and crafts thoughtful narrative nonfiction and scene-driven essays. Consider pieces like “Unearthing Beirut” and a succinct yet sensory post on the aural chaos of Cairo. If you’re a fan of longform and immersive travel writing, dive in.
Plus Ultra
In the 16th century, the personal motto of a young Charles V, the future king of Spain, was plus ultra, or to “go further beyond.” James, the Hong Kong-based travel writer, adopted this phrase for his own blog, continuing this spirit of exploration. On Plus Ultra, you’ll discover posts on China, Taiwan, Japan, and more — take a peek at his recent post on Macau, which combines history, food, culture, and photography with his own detailed account of the place.
James uses the Linen theme’s front page slider to showcase featured posts, and has an elegant custom header and matching background, reminiscent of a dusty, old explorer’s map.
More travel blogs on WordPress.com
- Quite Alone: Matthew Teller, a professional travel writer, pens thorough and honest posts on travel, the travel industry, and the Middle East in particular.
- On the Luce: Lucy, a freelance writer, editor, and designer, covers travel around the UK and throughout Europe. “This is grown up backpacking with a touch of luxury,” she writes on her About page, “with proper beds, the occasional internal flight, and a decent glass of wine.”
- Third Eye Mom: The writer, mother, and social good advocate at Third Eye Mom views the world with a “third eye” — with an open heart and mind.
- Soulshine Traveler: Meghan, a banker-turned-international volunteer, left the corporate world to travel.
- The Adventures of DR: Dan, a former geologist, caught a severe case of wanderlust and now explores and photographs his way through life:
- What an Amazing World!: Bama, an Indonesia-based traveler and photographer, explores Asia and beyond.
- Nomadruss in Words and Photos: On this photoblog, Russ Taylor — a longtime wilderness guide and cultural documentary and NGO photographer — posts images of landscapes, nature, and daily life snapshots from his travels.
- Satori Photography: Stephanie Dandan publishes inspirational writing and dreamy, lovely photography from her adventures.
Discover more travel blogs in the Reader, and don’t forget to browse the wanderlust, nomad, place, and exploration topic pages, too.
yes, I’m a follower of http://thirdeyemom.com/ – I also like, for example http://theurgetowander.com/ by Madhu or http://thewanderlustgene.wordpress.com/ or my real favorite: http://playamart.wordpress.com/ Lisa Brunetti describes there with talent what she explores in Ecuador…
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Thank you — as an avid traveller myself I’ll enjoy checking out these travel blogs!
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I love traveling myself, so thanks for this post 🙂
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Thanks for highlighting these blogs for me. I usually peruse the travel section on Freshly Pressed, but I haven’t come across these contributors. Always a good way to find the next place to go.
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Thank you so much for thinking of my blog! I am honored and yes there are so many amazing travel bloggers out there who inspire, encourage and support each other every day. I look forward to checking out more blogs and building more of the fabulous WordPress community we all share together.
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Many thanks for mentioning my site – and giving me a few new ones to check out!
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Thank you again for featuring my blog! And grateful I have just discovered all these amazing travel bloggers 🙂
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Super thanks for featuring my blog and yay for highlighting travel blogs overall. 🙂
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Thanks for these! I already read a couple, but am looking forward to checking out the others and gaining more inspiration for mine!
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I love these kinds of posts – I’m just disappointed that there is no opportunity to showcase sites that have WP directly installed instead of using WP.com. I already had a site & revamped it with WP so I could include my travel blog there… If I’m missing something, would love to hear about it 🙂
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Hi there — this blog is for news, content, and all things WordPress.com, so the majority of posts you’ll see will focus on blogs hosted on our free platform, like these showcases.
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I miss travelling. I am desperate now to go back in Cebu and other cities in the Philippines.
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Great post showcasing some great travel bloggers.
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Thank you for featuring my blog, Cheri! Really appreciate the write-up you did there on how the name came about. 🙂 Thanks too for introducing a couple of gems I hadn’t yet heard of – Road Essays is a brilliant find!
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Great summary of some great travel blogs. I just can’t get enough of travel and find reading about travel is the perfect escapism in a busy day. Nic
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The Vagabond them got me thinking about travel blogs – I’ve been compiling a set of posts on my main blog called ‘Snapshots from the Heart of Ukraine’, all about a 10 day visit to Vinnitsya last year. It would be good to dedicate a blog to that visit.
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Lucys blog is awesome. I am so glad we found each other on here a while ago. And i can’t wait to check out the rest 🙂
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Great post for travel writers and photographers alike. Love the reader and my list is growing thanks to WordPress.
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This is an amazing list. Some of these blogs are truly expressive and it was a joy to go through them.
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Great collection of travel blogs. Perfect reads to have a beautiful and inspiring summer! Greetings from Madrid 😉
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This article just brightened my day! I just got back from a trip to Sweden—my wanderlust thrives on such trips. I have captured my taste of the good life on the Swedish Riviera at http://instagram.com/r_ladolcevita!
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I’ve just spent an enjoyable couple of hours going through the above travel blogs – some inspirational sites here that are new to me. Great post.
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The biggest success of travel blogging is reflected…in less new book travelogues on the market. Well, at least that’s how it appears to me.
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This reminds me of my early years of blogging. It started out of my passion for travel, and now I’m glad more people are enjoying the stories on my blog. Thanks for including my blog Cheri!
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Thanks for this place…I def had been looking for a lot of good wordpress travel blogs that I can read and do some networking with..you are an angel for this Ms Lucas
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Inspiring collection of travel blogs! Thanks! 🙂
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Social Media is such a great way to find out about new and inspiring destinations, my travel wish list grows every day! Now if only I could get some more annual leave…….!
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Travelling is the best way to destress. These kind of blogs help out a lot when one has to decide a place.
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Nice to see some other lovely travel blogs to follow! It isn’t always the easiest feat to find all the travel blogs you would want to!
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Thank you so much for the mention! Cannot wait to drool over all the others 🙂
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Interesting to see what other people are doing in the “Travel blog” area. I get the feeling that travel in this case implies wanderlust, a 21st century vagabond crossing the landscape. Might be interesting to look at at a subset of the “Travel blog”, ones that deal with one country in an in-depth, multi-layered way.
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Thanks so much for sharing. As a multinational-polyglot-I-move-every-two-years-constant expat…inspiring and thought provoking for my blog as well.
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inspirational!!!
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http://mylittleblogabouttravel.wordpress.com/
– i have just started one if anybody is interested. I have covered Amsterdam, Toronto and Pembrookeshire in the last couple of months and will be posting about my time in Zurich later this month 🙂
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Whether you’ve been there or not, it’s always great to see the world through another’s eyes.
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Thanks for this post, I’m currently using Linen for my travel blog http://www.findingwanderland.com but might take a look at these/ see how Plus Ultra is using it. Thanks, Emma
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Thank you for this post, I love reading about travels almost as much as I love to travel
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I follow quite a few travel blogs on here. Traveling via computer for me.
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These are some beautiful blogs. I write about great things to do across the USA at blog.zerve.com and we’re considering a new theme. Any suggestions?
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If you mean theme as in blog template/design, maybe a theme that shows off your images/content more, like a theme with a front-page post slider or with a magazine-style look? Perhaps others will chime in with more suggestions.
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Very interesting post! As I am myself writing a travel blog (actually with the Skeptical theme: http://nicolasbeuchat.wordpress.com or its French version in Blogger: http://el-gato-lindo.blogspot.com), I will definitely look more into details of the themes proposed by these blogs.
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Thanks — I love Plus Ultra.
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