8 Best Moments Of My Blogging Journey
Whoa! Just can’t believe Voyager For Life has completed 8 years! Every year when my blog turns a year older on 14th August, it makes me feel a little more accomplished as an individual. My travel blog is something that I have created on my own from scratch and today, after all these years, it’s a brand of its own! Isn’t it amazing?
To commemorate my blog last year on its anniversary, I wrote about each year of my travel blogging journey – how I graduated from being a hobby blogger to a professional one. On my 8th anniversary as a travel blogger, I’d like to share with you my best blogging moments that just reaffirmed my belief in my dreams.
8 Best Moments Of My Blogging Journey
There’s no harm in bragging a little bit about yourself, right? Well, I believe each individual has a unique journey to speak about. We all have something to feel good about. Here’s my list of notable moments of my travel blogging journey –
I bag an award!
On November 22nd, 2019, I bagged an award for my work. I was recognized as the most influential Content Marketing Professional in India, along with quite a lot of other creative individuals who had done significant work in different mediums of media and entertainment, by World Marketing Congress.
Awards and recognition do make you feel good and more valued, especially when you have been following your passion consistently for so many years.
When this ‘award’ email landed in my inbox I couldn’t really believe that it was happening to me. It was after I heard my name and walked up the stage to collect my framed certificate that made me come to terms with the fact that I had won an award. And, it’s a big, big achievement as a digital content creator.
I get an ‘unexpected’ mention by Mariellen Ward, an ace travel writer.
How do you feel when you get some brownie points from someone who you admire? It boosts your morale and helps you do even better. Mariellen Ward, the national award-winning travel writer, the founder of Breathedreamgo, mentioned me in one of her anniversary posts – it was extremely generous of her to acknowledge that my anniversary post (2015) inspired her.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Mariellen at Uttar Pradesh Travel Writers’ Conclave 2015 in Lucknow.
I am welcomed by a travel committee of Kurseong.
It was a unique kind of honour! I was welcomed and honored warmly by a travel committee of Kurseong, a town in Darjeeling district, for being a travel blogger. Yes, it was totally unexpected and extremely heartening.
I got introduced to this dedicated travel committee in Kurseong, who worked towards promoting offbeat places of Darjeeling and also sustaining the environment.
It was an absolute pleasure to understand their ideas and join hands with them in encouraging sustainable travel in Darjeeling.
I write an eBook.
I have no qualms about admitting that I’m proud of my first eBook. I have worked extremely hard at it. Now when it’s available for purchase on Amazon, I’m extremely ecstatic.
I believe it’s one of my biggest achievements as a blogger. Why? Because my e-book is all about my knowledge, experience and learning about blogging and being a brand of my own.
I regret procrastinating it for so long, but it’s better late than never! After writing my first e-book, I feel victorious and satisfied for the simple fact that I could do something that I believed in and thoroughly enjoyed.
You can also read my post What You Got To Know To Become A Travel Blogger
I receive comments and emails that make my day.
For me, it will always be my readers who I work for. There’s nothing more profound and valuable than receiving appreciative comments and emails from your readers. Now that’s what truly makes you who you are as a digital influencer or a blogger (whatever you may want to be called).
The most precious comment that I receive from my followers is that they find my blog inspiring. I love it when people tell me that they have been following my blog for sometime. Wow! There’s nothing more precious than being able to inspire people.
Sharing below one such email that I received from one of my blog readers –
Hi Renuka,
I know the right way to acknowledge you for your blog “voyager for life” is by directly commenting on the blog page. But I felt I have to leave you this personal mail which I don’t want to get shared publicly.
I am doing this mail to express my happiness that I realized just because of the motivation I got from your blog.
I work in Pune. I was going through a very low phase of my life due to some personal reasons. I really needed a break. A detachment from every attachment… a few days of loneliness… First I thought of something like motorcycle diaries… Go on a ride alone… and follow a proper diary for my journey… Then one day I just googled “places to travel alone in India” and the first link was your blog… Felt really interested when I started reading. I read the whole blog… It was just fantastic… Your blog gave me motivation to experiment such a lonely journey… an unplanned journey… packed my backpack… mailed for a 1 week leave to my boss… n started off my journey… no idea where to go… the first train I got from Pune was to Mumbai… then from Mumbai to Ahmedabad… when I reached Ahmedabad, I wasn’t sure what to do next… I heard someone talking about Jaisalmer… I got my destination… took the next train to Jaisalmer… the train journey was tiring… but the experience is just hard to explain… it was awesome… reached there… visited many place… sand dunes, camel safari, forts, Rajasthani folk songs and dance, stayed in tents, went to border.. I felt like being in heaven… met many random people… it was a journey for life time… had lots of experiences…
Everything was possible just because of you and your blog… The pleasure of being alone…not controlled or judged by anyone… Thank you for giving me my life back… I owe you for this…
Read from your blog that you have written novels but it didn’t get published yet… Don’t be disappointed… Everything will turn out well… God won’t ignore special people like that… Hope to read from you more… Thank you
Regards,
John
When I see my name’s placard at airports/stations.
As a travel blogger, I get invited by tourism boards and hospitality brands for promotional activities. One moment I remember quite vividly is of being received by the tourism staff of Uttar Pradesh Tourism Board at Lucknow train station (for the International Travel Writers Conclave) – it was significant because Lucknow is one of the cities where I lived for quite a lot of years as a teenager.
I’d say Lucknow instilled in me the seed of writing when I was growing up. Thereby, to receive such warm welcome and honor from the same city is a remarkable feeling.
You can read about my experiences in Lucknow and Agra as a travel blogger.
I see my picture in a newspaper.
It was such a lovely moment! I had put my phone on airplane mode and was waiting for takeoff. And, just in a bit, I saw my picture in a newspaper, which the passenger next to me was reading. I quickly took the paper from him to take a good look at my picture – it was about the travel writers’ conclave that I had been part of along with other bloggers and journalists.
I meet my blog reader on the road.
How do you feel when you bump into a stranger while traveling and he turns out to be one of your blog readers? For me, it was something cool! I happened to chat with this chap, who had been biking through the Hampi countryside just like me.
While we sat down to have lunch, conversations flowed about travel, solo travel… blogging. The moment I mentioned my blog’s name ‘Voyager For Life’, the chap remarked, “I follow this blog”.
Well, that’s about it. I am humbled, grateful and happy to be completing 8 years as a travel blogger. Even though COVID-19 has taken its toll on the travel industry, it has not deterred my spirit. And, I really don’t believe that travel blogging is out of business.
We are homebound today. But, we will travel tomorrow. Travel bloggers had changed the idea of travel in the last decade. It wasn’t through traditional media that people bought tickets to exotic destinations. The idea of slow, experiential travel… to go off the beaten path, to blend with the locals came through bloggers.
Now there’s a new wave waiting to engulf us. We are going to change the idea of travel again – make it more sustainable and meaningful, more reflective and transformative, more personal and less competitive.
What are your thoughts? Do you find travel blogs inspiring and informative?
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