May 30, 2012 / General Advice & Pro Tips

Focus On: Travel Blogs

Photo courtesy of Ma.tt.

I love to travel, and when I can’t hit the road, I love to armchair travel. Travel blogs are great for vicarious sightseeing. I’ve noticed that the best travel bloggers all do certain things very well:

  • They include photos. Evocative prose is great and all, but we also want to see that stunning vista.
  • They don’t include too many photos. Granted, Angkor Wat is amazing, but scrolling through fifty photos of ancient temples? Not so much. Choose a few of the best, and link to the rest.
  • They eat. Everybody wants to hear about food (and see pictures of food), especially new and unfamiliar food.
  • They give specifics. Even if your readers are unlikely to ever follow in your footsteps, they’ll still want to know: how much was that kebab? What was the name and address of that guesthouse? How long was that train ride?
  • They introduce us to interesting people. Even travel stories that would seem to be all about solitude (such as thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail) inevitably include characters. We want to hear about the new friends, the fascinating strangers, the irritating seatmates.
  • They educate. They don’t just mention a monument, a tradition, or a custom; they provide history and context. Who built the monument? How did the tradition start? What does the custom symbolize? What does it mean to people today?
  • They employ humor. Traveling is all about getting outside your comfort zone, and at times it can be awkward and confusing. Entertaining travel writers see the comedy in every misadventure.
  • They focus on what makes their perspective unique. Many people have visited Paris, but everybody sees it differently. Are you a senior traveler, or do you travel with small children? Do you travel with a wheelchair (or with a wheelchair and small children)? Are you an introvert, or a scaredy cat? There are others like you who will be inspired by your example.

Everybody travels. Whether you’re riding a pony through Mongolia, or exploring a new area of your hometown, you’re having an adventure people will want to read about!

Do you have any favorite travel blogs on WordPress.com, and if so, what do you like about them? What tips do you have for making posts about travel interesting or useful to readers?

To find more great travel posts on WordPress.com, try browsing the Travel topic page!

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  1. Personally, I would put more emphasis on the sixth bullet (They educate). Your travel may not be scenic or awe-inspiring (in terms of the things you saw in that particular travel), but an evoked idea or a learning experience (arising from that trip) may be an excellent blogging material. 😀

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  5. Great blog – I am also an avid traveller and try to write about my adventures whenever I can – keep up the great work.

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  6. Great blog – I just started one on Alaska, and probably made a big mistake. You said not to include too many pictures, and I think I went overboard. I like your advise, it is helpful to me to improve on what I did. Thanks!

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  8. Scrolling through endless ‘travel photos’ that haven’t been properly edited makes me move the mouse over to the back button quicker than a shutter release capturing sports action.

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  10. Thanks for sharing these useful tips! I do not have a travel blog, but these tips can be somewhat applied to my street photography blogs too. I like doing little write-ups of the place or people for my photographs.

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  12. Great and helpful tips for a travel blog but also a lot of other kinds of blogs! I like your series “Focus on…”; it’s really helpful and inspiring! Thanks!

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  13. Very true … I really enjoy the travel blogs that have a sense of humour wrapped in an interesting story with a few photos, which all helps to make you feel you are there with them..
    have a look at this one I found recently…http://yinyangtravelling.wordpress.com
    I really like his style of writing…
    Reg

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  14. I enjoy travel blogs with photographs of places that tend to be off the beaten path, difficult to get to, and which don’t already have a huge online archive of images.

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