If you’re travelling for the thrill, you’re going to love the action and adrenaline on these adventure blogs! Not afraid to push their boundaries, these awesome adventure travel bloggers take the route less travelled in almost any destination.

From epic backpacking adventures to daring round-the-world trips, you’re guaranteed a daily dose of travel inspiration from these adventure travel bloggers.  

One of the bloggers in this category will be put forward by our panel for the British Travel Awards’ brand-new Blogger Award, which we are sponsoring this year! Read more about the nomination process here.

MEET BECKI, FROM BORDERS OF ADVENTURE

“Borders of Adventure is a quasi-journalistic publication that focuses on ‘perception changing’ and social commentary. It began when I left consumer PR life for a RTW trip in 2012 and never went back. I continue to seek out stories seven years later, reaching 100,000 people every month. 

My website gained an audience from its unique positioning, remaining one of the first and original independent travel blogs pioneering social, historical and political reporting alongside destination narrative. Having visited less-frequented and post-conflict countries like Mongolia, North Korea, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Myanmar and Tibet to name a few, the underlining message of the content posted is to inspire readers to travel differently, adventurously, responsibly and with purpose.

Monetising mainly through brand and tourism board partnerships, one notable example includes me becoming the official UK Ambassador for Austria Tourism in a 12-month-long project highlighting the real diversity of the country. Called #YearInAustria, it was the first collaboration of its kind in the travel blogging industry. I am also one of the official ambassadors for the socially responsible tour company G Adventures, as one of their 'Wanderers'. 

Having written for and being featured in National Geographic, Time online, Guardian Online, the New York Times and Grazia, I was also recognised by Sky News in April 2013, where I gave a live interview (broadcast worldwide) about travel in North Korea at a time when the country was top of the news agenda.”

MEET SCOTT, FROM INTREPID ESCAPE

“Hi, I’m Scott, an adventure travel blogger at Intrepid Escape, a website focused on encouraging people to escape their routine. I started blogging after an epic one-year backpacking adventure, where I got into photography and videography. After that I was a finalist for Australia’s Best Job in the World, growing an authentic audience throughout the campaign.

My follower base grew from there, from around 25,000 after the campaign, to over 140,000 now. For some of my campaigns, followers are given an either/or option, deciding how and where I travel, and what I do along the way.

For me, monetisation comes in several ways, from social and content creation (particularly including video) to affiliate marketing and sponsored posts. I am also a presenter and a landlord back in the UK. What makes me stand out? I’m just a regular guy who did the 9 to 5 for 10 years, built up some fantastic transferable skills and now inspires others to ‘escape’. This can be through watching a video for 5 minutes, taking an adventurous long weekend or leaving the rat race for good.”

MEET HEATHER & PETER, FROM THE CONVERSANT TRAVELLER

“The lightbulb moment came in 2013 whilst we were camel trekking in Morocco. It was uncomfortable and exhausting, but we were doing it. The whole Lawrence of Arabia thing. Thinking of the stories we’d tell our friends we decided to start a blog, and Conversant Traveller was born. Focussing on ‘Adventure by Day, Luxury by Night’, it showcases quirky accommodation like castles, caves and churches.

Two years ago we turned the blog into a business, and have 31,000 monthly page views and 20,000 social media followers, thanks to engaging content and great SEO. We also run giveaways and send out newsletters to connect our community. We monetise using affiliates, advertising and partner sponsorship, and have worked with numerous brands. Conversant Traveller featured as National Geographic Traveller’s ‘blog of the month’, and we won the Audley Travel writing competition last year.

MEET STUART & KIRSTIE, FROM THE FAMILY ADVENTURE PROJECT

 

“The Family Adventure Project is about inspiring families to adventure together. It is born of a philosophy and belief that challenge fuses strong families. This passion inspires everything we do. It began 14 years ago when we cycled New Zealand on a gap year with two toddlers. Other epic journeys include the Camino Santiago, cycling from Amsterdam to Venice, and interrailing from home to Istanbul with three teenagers and five folding bikes.  

Like our adventures, followers have grown slowly and organically over a decade. Many are biking parents and outdoor enthusiasts. (16k+ Twitter, 15k+ Instagram, 5K+ Facebook.) We have a lively, outdoor focussed YouTube channel. (2018 - 129,447 views.)

To monetise, we work with brands on adventure campaigns. Highlights include our internationally award nominated German Castle Hostel tour with Jugenherberge.

  

Our blog is action packed; from Philippines sky biking to French sledging. Kirstie is a professional journalist and poet, and likes to collide ideas in a surprising way, like why Naples won’t marry my daughter, or why Dubai is the city of dreams. Stuart’s professional photography and videography captures comedy, fun and friendship on the road; real family life, with an adventurous, and often misadventurous twist.”

MEET SIMON, FROM ADVENTURE BAGGING

“As part of my third year at University (back in 2003) I went to study in North Carolina, USA for a year. I lived in an international house and met people from all over the world – my roommate was from Mexico, and there were others from France, Germany, Ecuador, Japan, Finland, Australia and more. It opened my eyes to different places and different cultures, and I vowed to experience as many of them as I could.

After starting my blog in 2006, I gave it a new look in 2011 and went on a round-the-world trip to South America, China, Australia and New Zealand. The blog became my storytelling platform, and I fell into the world of travel blogging.

I set up my blog before social media was around, but now I have over 4,000 followers on Twitter, over 1,000 on Instagram, 1,250 in YouTube and a few hundred on Facebook. But I’m not really bothered about increasing my follower count. Because of my SEO background, the majority of my traffic comes from Google. Knowing that I influence people to travel through my writing and visual vlogs is far more important to me than followers. 

There are various ways I monetise my blog: affiliate marketing revenue for travel and outdoor kit brands, sponsored posts and video, brand collaborations on trips and experiences and YouTube ad revenue.

Three things that make me stand out from the crowd:

• Video focused – many bloggers do video these days, but my blog and YouTube channel are my main assets, and the reason why my blog is so successful

• Authenticity – a large percentage of the trips I take and blog posts I create are off my own back, and not sponsored by anyone

• My Springer Spaniel! – Pip arrived in 2017, and since 2018, she has been involved in many posts and videos”

MEET MACCA, FROM AN ADVENTUROUS WORLD

“I first went travelling on a big round-the-world trip for 2 years in 2009 and 2010, and completely fell in love with the lifestyle of it. It was on that trip that I realised I wanted to make a career out of travelling, so as soon as I got back to the UK I retrained as a travel journalist and worked on a number of different publications over the years. I always had my own blog on the side, but it wasn't until 2015 that I took the plunge and went full-time on my blog.

Over the past few years I've built up a social following of over 50,000 and my blog also gets around 50,000 page views per month. It's hard to think I used to be blogging just for my friends and family back at home!

I monetise my blog in several ways; mainly through advertising, affiliate links, promoting tours and products, but my main income comes from creating content and travel videos for clients, which is something I love doing.

I'd say the main thing that sets me out from the crowd is that there's genuinely nothing I wouldn't do. I love throwing myself out of planes, jumping off buildings, eating the weirdest things. As an adventure travel blogger, I only see this as a good thing!

All I've ever wanted to do though was to inspire people to travel and see the world. It is such a privilege and an honour that I get to do that every day.”