In this post I will share a few tips on how to write a travel article, for beginners. As you can see when you check my blog I really enjoy traveling and sharing my experiences from different places I visited through my blog posts. I don’t do that because I love to brag about where I have been. I do it in order to cherish and keep collected all my memories in one place. But also to help others by sharing useful information about the places I visited.
When I started this blog a few years ago I was writing mainly motivational posts. I didn’t have a lot of views and followers in the beginning, but I kept writing anyway. I couldn’t figure out though what I was doing wrong and why people didn’t read my posts. So I took a different approach. I asked myself what kind of articles I enjoyed and used to read the most. Since I travel often my preferences were mostly posts about the destinations I was planning to visit. Besides of that I also very often read hotel reviews in order to choose the best accommodation.
This is how I decided to make the Beautiful destinations category. Later on I made one more similar category called Interesting events and of course My Amsterdam to share my view of the city where I live for the last 10 years. From the time I started with this type of articles my blog views and number of followers jumped enormously high in a short period of time and it is still growing every day. Besides of that, my blog visitors also started to read my motivational posts.
I am not that much active on the My Amsterdam category as I am with the other categories on my blog. Therefore I promise to my audience that I will do more articles about Amsterdam in the future, since a lot of people are asking for it through emails and messages I am receiving from my followers. It is always interesting to see the city through the eyes of the locals. I also believe that locals should write more about the sights that are not usually visited and known by tourists in order to help others to learn and discover more interesting spots of their home town.
So, that were the reasons why and how I began to write travel articles, tours and hotel reviews. Now let’s get started with the tips on how to build and write a decent travel blog post.
First of all, you should do your research before you even start with planning your trip. This is what I do in order to discover more about the destination I am planning to visit. Put the places you found interesting and worth visiting in your planner together with the directions and addresses. Check if there are organized tours to the desired destinations. Check the prices and decide if you are going to visit those places by yourself or by organized tours through agencies. It is up to you to decide. Always have in mind your travel preferences, safety, the time available and your travel budget.
When I travel somewhere I really try to see and discover as much as I can. Unfortunately I cannot always see everything I wish. Therefore a good research and planning are the must in order to decide what you can do and see within the time frame you have. You also need some free time to rest and chill out, otherwise you are not going to enjoy your trip and you will end up tired and exhausted.
From the other side, I don’t understand the type of tourists who travel so many kilometers somewhere just to get drunk or high, and they spend most of the valuable vacation time in bed due the hangover symptoms. But actually a lot of people really enjoy doing that kind of escapes from reality. If you are one of them it doesn’t mean that you cannot write a travel blog. For example you can write about the best bars and places where someone like you can find a good booze for a reasonable prices. Or about the city night life in general.
If you can remember anything afterwords of course. I am sure you will find the audience that is interested in that subject as well.
So, regarding the trip planning, put all the desired destinations on paper and make your selection. Check blogs, reviews and forums online to find out about how other visitors experienced your desired destinations.
Check the weather forecast for your desired dates in order to decide if those sights will be joyful at the season you are visiting.
If you wish to visit Dominican Republic and Punta Cana for example, don’t go there in October, since this is the rainiest month of the year there and you will probably be stranded in your hotel room not being fully able to enjoy your vacation due to the tropical storms.
If you wish to visit a Greek island during the winter time (October to April), you might find cheaper accommodation, but it cannot be compared with the visit in the summer time. The island will not be lively as it is in the tourist season (June to September). Most of the shops, bars and restaurants will be closed, because they usually open from the beginning of June and they work until mid September. You will not be able to enjoy the amazing Greek sea and the beaches, since it is very cold and windy during the winter in Greece. Public transportation on the islands and toward the islands is not as frequent as it is in the summer time. There are a lot of ferry rides cancellations due the weather conditions. You don’t want to be stranded on the island and to lose your flight back home. From another perspective as a tourist in Greece I would avoid to visit the country around one of the biggest celebrations of Orthodoxy on August 15, the day of the Assumption. It can be extremely crowded due the festivities and rituals associated with that day, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. From the other side, if you are interested in writing about the customs and traditions it might be the best time to visit Greece. So it is up to you and to your own preferences regarding when to visit and about what you are going to write.
Therefore it is very important to be informed about what is the current season and what is the weather forecast for your desired dates. Not only because of the outfit you need to take with you, but because of the possibilities and obstacles due the weather conditions to visit some of your desired sights.
For example on our recent trip to Lithuania, due the weather conditions we were not able to visit Nida, because the wind in the area was so strong and all the ferry rides were canceled. Therefore we had to change our plans and to stay in Klaipėda for one more day. Even though things didn’t end up as we planned, we found and discovered new interesting things on the way. So don’t get upset with changes of the original plan. It could end up even better than you planned to be.
Except of the good planning, you also need a camera to keep the memories alive. If you don’t have camera, you can use your smartphone. It is always good to use your own photos in your posts, in order to represent your personal view. If you chose to use someone else’s photos make sure that you always list the source or quote the photographer. I also always carry a small notebook with me where I write down all the information I got during my trip. Since you are exposed to a lot of information in a short period of time it is very likely that you will forget most of them. Therefore is good to put all the information on paper. Don’t hesitate to ask questions and to learn more during your visit. Locals are usually very happy and proud of their city or village and they will gladly share those valuable information with you.
By mixing and talking with locals can lead you to discover and learn more about the place you are visiting. It can also give you the opportunity to meet some amazing individuals with incredible life stories that you can later on use to make your articles more interesting, personalized and unique.
While I am away I never post the photos from my trip on social media. It is not wise to do it, because you don’t want people to know that you are away from home. Nowadays you never know to who you can trust. A lot of criminals monitor social media to see when you’re away from home, so that they can burgle your house or scam you or your family and friends. So, please be careful regarding this matter. Please don’t ever post photos of your tickets, boarding passes, passports, etc online. Never check in somewhere in real time on social media or other platforms while traveling. You can always do that later on when you come back home if you wish to share where you have been with your friends and family.
So, when you come back home you can review all the amazing photos and notes you took during your trip in order to build up your article. Choose the best of them and edit them if needed. You should always reduce the size of the photos if you are planning to upload them on social media or to embed them into your blog post. I tend to keep the maximum quality, but I reduce all the images size to 960×640 ppi. If the images’ size is reduced the uploading time is faster and they also look nice and neat between the text in the blog post if they were all the same size. Have in mind that people will read your posts through the different platforms therefore your images should look nice on each one of them.
In my travel articles I am striving to give the most important information that someone who wish to be informed about a certain destination need to know, mostly describing my personal experience in simple words, without being boring by providing too many details and historical facts about the certain place. I did that mistake in the beginning of my journey as a travel writer and even though I spent so much time and effort to write down all the facts I learned, not many people were willing to read it since my posts were long and boring. So the best advise I can give you on that subject is try to keep your post short and not longer that 1500 words.
Brake the text paragraphs with the photos to make it more interesting and catchy. You can also embed useful links for the tours and accommodation in order to help your readers but also yourself since you can earn some small commission through the affiliate partnerships with booking agencies for every booking made through your affiliate links.
Good luck with your future travel blog posts and bon voyage! Don’t be afraid to share what you know with others. Things were constantly changing around us, due the natural catastrophes, climate changes, man-made disasters or architectural development. Therefore your recent memories could be of significant historical value in the future. Even though they were many travel blogs out there the audience is huge and there is a place for everyone. Don’t compare yourself with others. We are all different and unique and I am sure that you will be able to find your own audience that is going to follow you and like you for what you are and for what you represent. You are welcome to check the links below this article photos. The links will lead you to some of my travel articles so you can get an idea about my writing style and how it changes and evolves with the time.
Embrace yourself, embrace the world 