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THE 11 MOST FABULOUS FEMALE TRAVEL BLOGS
By
LaurenC
15 May 2019
Min Read Time: 5 min
The prestigious British Travel Awards are known the world over as the ‘Oscars of Travel and Tourism’. This year, the celebrated awards programme is expanding its range of categories with a brand-new Blogger Award – and we, at Teletext Holidays, are its proud sponsors!
THE BTA’s BEST TRAVEL BLOGGER AWARD
Over the past few decades, a multitude of female travellers have managed to turn their passion into profit through travel blogging. We gathered their incredible stories to inspire up-and-coming travel bloggers to follow into their footsteps – whether physically, or professionally!
From their very first ventures to their follower growth strategies, these top female travel bloggers share their secrets to success.
One blogger in this category will be nominated for the Blogger Award at the British Travel Awards, which Teletext Holidays will be the first ever organisation to sponsor this year.
MEET SOPHIE, FROM SOPHIE'S SUITCASE
“My name is Sophie, founder of Sophie’s Suitcase and a brunch-loving traveller with a passion for unique experiences around my 9-5 job.
My blog was founded after a backpacking trip around Asia in 2010, where I counted my mum as one of my first followers. Since then, Sophie's Suitcase has grown considerably as I documented my travels around the world, encouraging others to follow in my footsteps; showing how easy it is to travel the world and maintain a full-time job.
I have gained followers through raw and relatable content, linked to my travels and struggles with my own mental health. Blogging is my creative outlet and has opened my eyes to the world, which has helped forge my future travels, living sustainably and being honest with my audience.
Over the years I have monetised my blog by working with an array of tourism boards, hotel chains and brands, both through press trips, sponsored campaigns and affiliate marketing. This has enabled me to invest in the growth of my brand. 2019 is going to be a big year for me, with an engagement already ticked off the bucket list, and an array of trips around the globe!”
MEET VICKI, FROM MAKE TIME TO SEE THE WORLD
“MakeTimeToSeeTheWorld began as a hobby in November 2015, created to document my past adventures whilst planning for the next; and all the while holding down my full-time job as a lawyer.
Initially I focused on social media, growing my collective following to over 70,000 over 18 months, which continued to grow and most recently surpassed 125,000 followers across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. As my social media channels grew, I taught myself SEO to build up the blog traffic and between February 2017 and today I have grown my blog traffic from 25,000 session per month to over 391,000 sessions per month and 454,587 page views, with readers in over 150 countries.
Through display ads, affiliate marketing and paid press trips, I am proud to say I now make a full-time income from MakeTimeToSeeTheWorld, and it’s an income which has even surpassed my former lawyer salary.
I believe I stand out from the crowd because I show people how and inspire them to travel around their own full-time jobs, as I understand not everyone can - or wants to - quit their job and/or sell all their stuff to travel. And I pride myself on creating useful and practical content alongside beautiful imagery - not only to inspire, but to showcase the world to those who are unable to travel.”
MEET CHLOE, FROM WANDERLUST CHLOE
“After many years working 24/7 jobs in the media industry, I found myself totally burnt out. I quit, much to the shock of my friends and family, and headed off on a life-changing trip to Central America. I travelled, learned, and relished the break.
I also set up a travel blog - keen to share my adventures. I absolutely fell in love with travelling, and returned with a new zest for life, and a desire to develop my blog. I worked every spare hour of the day, creating content, learning new skills and developing my own unique style. As my passion for travel blogging increased, so did my readership.
I started with a few hundred followers and now have over 125,000 monthly readers on my blog! I love that like-minded people follow me, and that I inspire them to follow in my footsteps.
I monetise my blog in a number of ways – with advertising, by participating in sponsored campaigns and by affiliate sales of products, tours and hotel stays.
Wanderlust Chloe has been going for over four years, and I still adore creating inspirational travel content. I’m happy to have kept my blog a realistic place with fun and honest travel guides, injected with a big dose of my colourful personality! I think that’s why people come back day after day!”
MEET LIZZIE, FROM WONDER HERE WANDER THERE
“I started my blog Wonder Here Wander There because I was on a mission to document and share the stories of my travel adventures; recommending interesting places and unique experiences across the globe to my family, friends, and the wider world.
Maintaining a presence on my social media pages has really helped to keep my followers engaged, providing them with regular content including blog posts and photographs.
Having begun at zero when I started the blog in September 2016, I’ve gained a steady stream of followers across my blog and social media channels (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), and am currently sat at over 12.5k in total.
I am yet to monetise my blog beyond deep links, however I am open to communications with brands for product reviews and sponsored posts, amongst other opportunities.
For me, travel is about what you see with your own eyes and showing that to others and for that reason I don’t often feature in my pictures. I like to give my followers an authentic account of my travels and not something which might be classed ‘enhanced’. I’m not in it for the money!”
MEET DANNIELLE, FROM WHILE I'M YOUNG
“While I'm Young started as a retrospective travel diary when I returned from a backpacking trip, aged 21. I've since shared countless adventures – from climbing Mount Rinjani in Indonesia to moving to Dubai alone for 14 months. My Dubai expat diaries attracted a lot of new readers, probably because I was doing something a bit different from the norm!
I think what people enjoy about my blog is that I'm very honest and share the many, many mistakes I've made while travelling, because I think it's important to show travel isn't always as rosy as it looks on Instagram. I also don't hide the fact I'm terrified of everything but I still do it – whether it's conquering fear of driving or having to start a new life from scratch overseas.
My content is fun and personal, but it's also informative. Six years on from its creation, While I'm Young is now my full-time job. I earn from ads, affiliate sales and press trips and I have 45K monthly readers and almost 40K social media followers. My content gives other young (or young at heart) women the information and inspiration to see the world safely.”
MEET SAM, FROM YOKO MESHI
“I started travel blogging 4 years ago as a creative outlet from my full-time job (Vet Nurse). When I started, I had no idea it would turn into what it is now. At present I have over 18,000 social media followers and reach over 23,000 people each month on my blog, all of which are people like me: people who want to see the world around a 9-5.
I saw my blog grow substantially when I started frequently sharing my other life passion: wildlife conversation and animal volunteering. I started to really engage with fellow travellers who believe in ethical wildlife tourism and who want to see animals in the wild.
I am lucky enough to be able to monetise my blog, predominately through advert revenue and affiliate links. I also work with brands. The money I earn from my blog goes towards keeping me travelling – however, I do donate 15% of each month’s earnings to a Rhino conversation charity with a focus on the anti-poaching units.
Three things that make my blog stand out:
• I am always honest in my opinions; I share the lows of travel as well as the highs
• I am passionate about the education of wildlife tourism and ensuring people do not get caught up in unethical traps while on their travels
• I LOVE bright colours; I reflect this in my blog and social account photography”
MEET CLAIRE & LAURA, THE TWINS THAT TRAVEL
“We began our travel blog in 2014 when, ironically, we were too anxious to travel. We saw our blog as an opportunity to 'fake it 'till you make it'; creating alter egos: Twins That Travel (i.e. the people we wanted to be). We quickly grew from 0 to 61.5k followers on Instagram and it was this community that changed our lives – encouraging and supporting us to see the world. What began as our therapy quickly became our full time jobs.
We grew our follower base by simply telling our story: being authentic about anxiety, travel and how to manage the two. How we monetise our blog is also how we give back: via brand & travel collaborations, our podcast that covers both travel and mental health, and most recently Twins That Travel Tours - dedicated to empowering females to see the world, whatever their anxieties.
What makes us stand out? That our blog stems from our former fear of travel; our authenticity and openness on social media; and the fact we are terrified of flying! Thanks to our blog, travel went from being the cause of our anxiety, to being its cure. We hope our story is an inspiring one.”
MEET VICTORIA, FROM POMMIE TRAVELS
“I got into travel blogging in 2008 and since then, the blogging landscape has changed massively. Back then, social networks like Instagram didn't exist. I built up the numbers from scratch. I have around 38,000 followers across my social networks but I mainly focus on blog traffic.
My main method for growth is SEO. I like to create content on topics that people might be searching for in Google. Ranking for a keyword can bring in instant traffic to your blog and it's not as complicated as you might think.
I monetize my blog with a mixture of brand collaborations, Mediavine ads and affiliate links to brands and companies that I love. Some brands will approach me to create social media content (such as YouTube videos or Instagram pictures) or they'll ask me to create sponsored posts.
I try to stand out from the crowd by being myself. I'm never going to be one of those bloggers that posts Instagram pictures with perfect hair and makeup, and a seemingly endless number of outfits. I share information that I think people will want to know, like where to eat, where to go out, etc.
A lot of bloggers will tell you how they quit their job to travel the world but I've basically done this job my whole life and I was one of the very first travel bloggers. Lastly, I'm 5ft tall and super petite and I travel the world solo... I try to encourage everyone to travel solo at some point in their lives.”
MEET BECKY, FROM GLOBAL GRASSHOPPER
“I come from a family of small business owners and I always felt restless working a routine 9-to-5 job. Owning a travel site seemed like the perfect solution as it combined my love for writing, photography, design and of course… travel!
I started Global Grasshopper nearly 10 years ago and I was lucky enough to be mentioned by Lonely Planet, the National Geographic, Travel Channel and Wanderlust Magazine. This helped grow the site very quickly - especially on Twitter. My Twitter followers grew from around 10,000 followers during the first few years to the 25,000 I have today. The Facebook followers has grown the most though, from around 10,000 to nearly 60,000.
I try my best to make the posts as engaging and as aesthetically pleasing as possible - using a clear website layout and easy-on-the-eye, inspirational travel images.
I monetise the blog in several different ways. These include advertising, affiliates and campaigns for travel brands and tourist boards.
I love everything about travel that’s unique and different. For example, one of the blog’s most popular categories is the “Travel Snob” section, which offers suggestions for under-the-radar and boutique-style travel. We also have a “Cool and Unusual Hotels” category. I travel a lot with my gorgeous rescue dog Rosa, so I have created a new category for dog-friendly travel and with so many animal lovers in the world, it’s really taking off. Although I think the cute photos of Rosa are probably also helping!”
MEET FLORA THE EXPLORER
“I started blogging in 2012 as a way to update my friends while travelling in India and was initially surprised when I began receiving comments from strangers! Over the years this surprise has evolved into deep gratitude: I now have a dedicated audience of over 12,000 readers a month who are interested in my travels but also care about my personal journey. They were stalwartly supportive in 2017 when I revealed my dad’s terminal diagnosis, and regularly send me their personal stories of grief and mental health – a type of engagement which I think is possible because I choose to be extremely vulnerable in my writing and address the lesser-discussed difficulties we often face in life.
For me, travelling means searching for stories. I try to learn what makes a place unique, then I weave together a narrative which includes evocative detail and self-reflection.
I monetise my site indirectly, by working with tourist boards to create stories about their destinations, but I don’t think monetisation has to be the ultimate aim in blogging. For me, using my site as a place to develop my storytelling skills and connect with readers who enjoy my writing is achievement enough.”
MEET CHARLIE, FROM WHERE CHARLIE WANDERS
“Where Charlie Wanders started as a way to document my quest of visiting 30 countries before I turned 30. As I started to travel more and my list of destinations grew, so did my blog. As an all-round traveller, open to any style of trip, I share my stories from trips such as short city breaks, group tours and solo travel.
I have a full-time job in the events industry and have dedicated my spare time to growing my blog with consistent posting and engaging with others on social media. I have grown from nothing to over 10,000 followers across various platforms.
I am yet to monetise my blog; however, I have been lucky enough to have some amazing sponsored opportunities in countries such as Chile, Portugal and Iceland. I like to think I stand out from the crowd by sharing not just the highs but also the lows. I don’t pigeonhole myself into one type of travel. I hope to inspire people by showing them that it is still possible to travel despite constraints of time, money or even companionship. I am open to all types of travel and believe adventure can be found anywhere… even on your doorstep.”
