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Around the world with travel bloggers

From the Himalayas to the Thar in Rajasthan, the exotic Munnar of Kerala and the cultural intensity of Varanasi ~…

Around the world with travel bloggers

(Photo: Getty Images)

From the Himalayas to the Thar in Rajasthan, the exotic Munnar of Kerala and the cultural intensity of Varanasi ~ India offers something for everyone.

But who are the Lonely Planetguides of today? It is the travel bloggers. Footloose and fancy-free, more and more travel enthusiasts are taking up travel blogging as a serious source of livelihood. With the growth of the online travel industry, people now have a lot more information at their fingertips and the research process has become a larger, richer part of holiday planning. The travel samurais are presenting minute travel details in a well-packaged tailor-made manner with alluring photographs, thereby pushing even the lazy to explore new places.

Devesh Joshi, who quit his job as a content producer after graduating from the UK, said, "I first toured Bhutan, Nepal and the Northeast without booking return tickets so that there was no hurry. After spending a few months, I realised this is the kind of life I want to sustain.

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But for a living, you need money so then the idea of blogging came to me. Slowly the articles started getting widespread reads. That's how I got popular. European tourism boards, like Stuttgart and Frankfurt, sponsor bloggers and they helped me too.

I have around 18K views on my blog, Footloose Dev, per month. People really like it when the sojourns are presented in storytelling formats. They love to see photographs and videos and want to get a live first-hand experience. The youth these days love interacting with locals, learning new customs, making new friends and absorbing culture." Women bloggers are not difficult to find.

One of the leading travel bloggers is Mridula Dwivedi, a PhD graduate from IIT-Kanpur. Passion for travelling made her quit a well-paid job and commit herself to full-time explorations. When asked about safety issues for women travellers she said, "I try to keep safe when I travel. I trek with my known and trusted guides. I try to see what local women are doing and I take my clues from them."

She wrote her first travel blog in 2005 and is now a well-recognised name in the circuit. She has around 21K followers on Facebook and feels social media is a very important platform to spread the love for travelling. But becoming a sponsored blogger is not easy.

"I started on a free platform blogspot in 2003 but got my first sponsored travel in 2007." So it's pretty hard work in the beginning. She has a word of caution too.

"Travelling can just be a fad if you do not learn to respect the environment or others around you."

Options aplenty

The advent of hostels is a new dimension spotted in recent years. The low budget options for backpackers are mushrooming across the tourist trail, most noticeably in Rishikesh, Kasol and Rajasthan, apart from Hampi in Karnataka. "Indian travellers' mindset has evolved significantly over the past few years," said Akash Rao, founder of Nomads Hostel in Kasol, which is a new hit among foreign tourists and youngsters from Delhi.

"I came back from my Merchant Navy assignment, took loans from family and friends and started the hostel. I never wanted to do a desk job. In my hostel, I get to meet a lot of people…it is like travelling every day by being at the same place!! Travel is also experiencing different forms of lifestyles."

Bloggers delight

Avid photographer Utkarsh Srivastava, with his blog Soultrails, has taken blogging as a serious profession as tourism is a growing and evergreen market with ample opportunities.

"It offers a perfect work-life balance for people who want to travel and lead an adventurous life. Like any other profession, your success depends on your hard work but the incentives of being a travel blogger makes it one of the most lucrative professions," he confidently states. Srivastava also takes groups to mountain treks and is very fond of Dzukou Valley trek, near Kohima as part of a three-month solo Northeast expedition.

"The road from Silchar to Imphal in monsoon was undoubtedly the scariest route I've ever taken. I was reciting Hanuman Chalisa under my breath the whole time!" he added. He did not think that you need money to start blogging, or for that matter, anything which one loved to pursue.

"One can start using many free blogging portals and turn it into a website once you've set your own style. Just as you can travel to Leh from Delhi over two days in an ordinary bus," said Srivastava.

He thinks people in Delhi are more inclined towards exploring the lesser known places to get a feel of more authentic and culturally rich locales. "They look for calm and adventurous locations to get away from the humdrum of a metro-city lifestyle." Animesh Gour entered travel photography while studying in Class IX. "Travelling teaches us a lot and I love to be taught. Also, as I was an introvert, travelling made me a storyteller."

His blog, AGuyWhoClicks, has chronological photographs of a particular place. He thinks road trips are becoming popular among college students like himself. For trekking in the Himalayas, he suggests travelling light. "Take only the things necessary. Don't burden up because that'll cause immense body pain and fatigue. Have good shoes and make a budget beforehand."

Women travellers

The trend of women solo travelling is also on the rise as valiant girls like Soniya Kanchan and Cheryl Mukherji are exploring the world on their own. Kanchan stayed in Palampur for a month and travelled to Mcleodganj and Ranthambore. Mukherji feels women are somewhat discriminated against ~ she wasn’t allowed to enter some places of faith. Besides, "travel agents do not want to take documented responsibility of women solo travellers. There is extra fuss about permissions and signed papers at some places, making it tough for us".

Apart from travel, food blogging is also on the rise. Snigdha Bhowmick and Sudipto De in their blog, Salts and Sandals, aim at providing food reviews as well as travelogues. "Initially we used to hunt for places to eat as avid food lovers. We used to review eating houses and after a while we got a break after a standalone restaurant invited us to review. That was just the start."

Capital adventure

According to Bhowmick, Delhi'ites love mountains and be it Leh, Spiti, Dalhousie or Kasol, they just look for a break to sneak away. She narrated, "People here are fond of luxury and love to splurge, Rajasthan comes next for its luxury forts. For safaris, they prefer jungle safaris at National Parks over an African one.

Spiritually, Delhi goes to Haridwar or south." Till date, they have covered two Scandinavian countries and are looking forward to cover more. Laura Elliot, a seasoned British traveller, who has criss-crossed four continents and over 30 nations, said the best way to see the diversity in India is by travelling in trains. In her words, "India is a hotspot for tourism and is considered the spiritual Capital for western backpackers. Travelling in India is very different compared to travelling in the UK and America.

It is full of spirit, life and colour. You will see something extraordinary every single day and constantly surprised." Elliot started her journey in Chennai with 1,000 dollars and went on to explore Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Pondicherry, Goa, Vizag, Himachal Pradesh and Rishikesh.

Adventure sports like rafting in Rishikesh and Kullu, skiing in Gulmarg and paragliding in BirBilling in Himachal are also becoming common.

So, if travel is your goal in life, try living off it by blogging.

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