How Do Professional Travel Bloggers Prepare for a Trip?

Having traveled the world in my 20s, reading travel blogs is still one of my favorite pastimes. I remember when my personal Pinterest account was inundated with inspiring travel quotes and articles by professional travel bloggers.

It is wonderful to see that some of those bloggers I followed for so many years are still out there today, exploring the world and living the dream as digital nomads!

That’s why, last month, I decided to get in touch with some of them. I wanted to get them to inspire and guide you, like they did me all those years ago.

This post features over a dozen full-time travel bloggers who have shared their best tips on preparing for a trip as a travel blogger so that you, too, can live the life of your dreams one day!

How Does Travel Blogging Influence the Way You Prepare for a Trip?

In preparation for this post, I have asked travel bloggers a simple, open question: “How has travel blogging impacted the way you prepare for a trip?” 

Here’s what they had to say:

1. Jessie — Jessie on a Journey

“While I still book the trips I want to book, I do do keyword research before a trip to come up with topics I may want to cover. 

For instance, I often cover hiking, so I may research if there is a particular hiking trail that people want to know about or a specific question they have about it. 

This also allows me to get any necessary photos—since including your own photos in content is great for SEO and builds trust with your audience.

Keep in mind, the experiences you choose to cover should still be within your niche and should be of interest to your audience.”

Check out Jessie’s content on Jessie on a Journey (travel blog), The Profitable Travel Blogger (podcast), and Jessie on a Journey’s Travel Blogging School (all of her courses, which were created specifically for travel bloggers).

2. Chris — Amateur Traveler

“These days I will try and get the outline for a blog post or two before I go to a destination. It gives me an idea of what to see and also an idea of what photos I will need to make. I did this most recently for a trip to Malta. 

I may also reach out to tourism boards and other potential sponsors in advance as well as publicize my trip on portals like travmedia.com where sponsors may find me. 

I keep all my emails for each trip in a different folder as I am likely coordinating many trips at the same time. I make sure I know which cameras I will need to take with me. 

Is it a safari? Then I need a long lens. Will there be snorkeling? Then I need my drobo for underwater photos. 

By default I will have my iPhone and have recently added RayBan Meta glasses and an Insta360 camera.”

Check out Chris’ content on Amateur Traveler (travel blog and podcast).

3. Nick — Goats on the Road

“At first it changed it a little bit, but not too much. We’ve also been about our lifestyle first over our businesses. So, especially now, running 4 different online businesses, we don’t allow our businesses to get in the way of our travels too much. But these days we make sure we’re on a comfy flight, and we have an Airbnb or hotel that has a nice working area and preferably a view!”

Check out Nick’s content on Goats on the Road (travel blog and blogging courses).

4. Holly — Four Around the World

“We still mostly travel the way we would even if we weren’t blogging. However, we now do a little extra research around keywords before we go so we can plan ahead with the content we want to write when we get back or the videos we want to create for our YouTube channel and social media. And it does mean lugging some extra equipment. 

We aren’t incredible video makers yet but we have added a drone and GoPro to the mix over the last few years and this means finding suitable locations to launch the drone since you can’t just fly one anywhere.”

Check out Holly’s content on Four Around the World (travel blog and travel-planning digital products).

5. Shelley — Travel Mexico Solo

“Being a travel blogger has made me a more savvy travel planner. I also now personally know different bloggers/vloggers who blog/vlog about specific places, so I tend to use their content because I know and trust them.

One of my best tips for planning is to do the thing you most want to do first—so if you’re visiting Paris and want to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, do that on Day 1.

We tend to get distracted, busy, or even sick in new places we visit, so whatever your “must do” is, do that as soon as you arrive.”

Check out Shelley’s content on Travel Mexico Solo (travel blog).

6. Jackson — Journey Era

“I prepare for a trip by first picking a place I actually want to go to, and then I research the spots I want to visit. 

I then check if those have a good search volume, and if they do, I will write an individual article on each spot. If it’s a smaller spot with no search volume, I add it to my bigger guide, but only sometimes, if I have time, will I give it an individual post. 

I usually research other blogs, forums, hiking apps, and word of mouth to put together my large lists of hiking guides or things to do in a location.”

Check out Jackson’s content on Journey Era (travel blog).

7. Steven & Jazmin — Travel To Blank

“Travel blogging has made us much more detailed in how we prepare for a trip. 

It is not just what spots we want to visit and what we need to pack based on the weather and activities. We now do a bit of research for each spot about what is the best time of day to visit, what types of shots we want to take at each spot, and what equipment we will need to get it done. 

For example, when we visited Paris for the first time, we knew we wanted romantic photos with the Eiffel Tower, so had a tripod, but just took whatever photo angles we found while walking around. 

When we went back to Paris, we researched specific viewpoints around the tower to get the shots we wanted. Since the viewpoints were on different sides of the tower, we also had to consider where the sun would be to plan when to be at each viewpoint to get the lighting we wanted.

Related to our equipment, we now make sure to research the country’s drone laws and specifically where we are visiting. 

When we started, most countries did not even have drone laws, and now we don’t want a drone taking up space in our luggage when there won’t even be the option to fly it.”

Check out Steven’s and Jazmin’s content on Travel To Blank (travel blog) and Jazmin’s book (The Book of the Ten Journeys: Overcoming Internal Barriers for a More Enriching Life Through Travel).

8. Olly — We Seek Travel

“My travel style hasn’t changed much since travel blogging became my job. I’ve been traveling full-time since 2018, living in hotels, hostels, and Airbnbs while spending at least a month or so at each destination. 

I don’t travel for “content” (unless I’m working with a tourism board or for a photography client) but spend my time searching for hidden trails, attractions, and off-beat adventures that I genuinely want to explore.

This helps me create helpful, detailed, and more authentic travel guides that I’m truly passionate about sharing.”

Check out Olly’s content on We Seek Travel (travel blog and adventure tours).

9. Anshula — Passport to Eden

“As my travel blog has grown, I’ve adjusted how I approach trips. I appreciate the Passport To Eden community so much and want to create content that directly benefits them. So, I currently determine what posts need to be written or updated by checking reader requests and internal site search analytics – this is the content people are searching for using the search bar on my website. 

If you’ve just started a travel blog, I recommend investing in a keyword research tool like Keysearch (you might not have a lot of requests or site search data in the beginning, and this is a great way to grow your blog in the early stages).

Once I know what articles I’m writing, I figure out how long I’m going to be in a destination. 

Update posts tend to be shorter trips (a week). 

If I’m writing new content, I’ll be in a destination for a month, so I can chat with as many locals as possible, deconstruct a city through their lenses, and figure out how to put those recs and my personal experiences into words. 

I have a base itinerary beforehand (a Frankenstein mix of popular attractions, hyper-specific places mentioned in books because my niche is literary travel, and reader comments and recs) that I will add to on-site. 

My content-gathering days usually start at 3:30 AM. I am not a morning person at all, but this is when I get the clearest picture of a city, and I can observe and dissect little details in my Moleskine notebook. 

If possible, I take most of my landscape photos at sunrise (I use a Canon EOS Rebel T5 for photos and a Sony a6400 to film video). 

But if you’re new to travel blogging, the camera you have with you (even if that’s your phone camera) is the camera you should use!”

Check out Anshula’s content on Passport to Eden (travel blog and book club).

10. Marek — Indie Traveller

“Oh dear! I used to be a complete free bird when travelling, sometimes not even researching anything at all. But those days are definitely past as I am always thinking about the content I need for Indie Traveller. 

I still do things just for fun, but I spend a lot more time preparing for a trip. 

I also go out of my way to hit up certain ‘must-visit’ places just because I feel it would be weird if my blog didn’t at least mention them. 

In recent years, I have gone back to countries I’ve been to before just to be able to upgrade my content. 

Although I’m retreading some of my steps, it’s actually a lot of fun realizing how much I might have missed the first time around, plus I get to find some hidden gems because I’ve already done the top sights. 

I now travel with far more gear than I did in my early travels. I’ll travel with at least a (mini) drone, a mirrorless camera with 2 or 3 lenses, a foldable mini tripod, a tablet for backing up my stuff, and so on.”

Check out Marek’s content on Indie Traveller (travel blog) and order his book, Travel the World Without Worries: An Inspirational Guide to Budget and Adventure Travel.

11. Natalie & Robson — Love and Road

“Our research on destinations has become more thorough; we aim to delve beyond the top attractions. 

Particularly for Rob and me, we prefer to immerse ourselves in a destination, experiencing life as locals do, such as shopping for groceries, exploring neighborhoods, and seeking out cafés with stories rather than just Instagrammable spots. These endeavors demand time, research, and building connections with locals.

If we plan to produce content about a destination, we conduct keyword research before booking transportation and accommodation. This approach ensures that we have a clear understanding of what we want to accomplish during our visit. Producing content requires more time in a location. Even if I write a guide on what to do in XX in 2 days, I typically need at least 4 days. 

After exploring the destination, we need time to edit, post, plan our next moves, and attend to the daily tasks required to maintain the blog.”

Check out Natalie’s and Robson’s content on Love and Road (travel blog).

12. Katie & Ben — Two Wandering Soles

“For us, traveling with the intention of creating content is totally different than when we travel for fun. 

Before a content trip, we spend a lot of time researching the area and the topics and angles we’ll cover. We determine if there are any specific photographs we need, and pack equipment accordingly. (We typically carry a lot more electronics than an average person!)

When we travel purely for fun (and with no specific content creation in mind), we feel a lot less pressure to see “all the spots” and be places at specific times for optimal lighting. 

Travel blogging seems really glamorous from the outside – and we honestly can’t imagine a better job – but it certainly makes some parts of traveling feel like work.”

Check out Katie’s and Ben’s content on Two Wandering Soles (travel blog).

13. Alesha & Jarryd — Nomadasaurus

“In the first half of our careers, travel blogging impacted our travels a lot—we’d heavily research the best places to go, how to get around, budgets, itineraries, etc., all with the idea that we’d blog about it later.

These days it’s quite different for us though, as about 90% of our travels are part of media campaigns. 

When it’s a trip being made in partnership with an operator or tourism board, we give input on where we’d like to go and what we’d like to experience that will result in the most interesting aspects for our audience, but ultimately the partner has their stakeholders they want to feature too so often we are just handed an itinerary and follow it. 

If filming or drone permits are required we work together on that.

For the trips we take that are personal, we don’t really do much special research for what would be suitable for the website. Instead, we treat it as a holiday, create content as we go and often send our trip notes and images to our editor to put together comprehensive blog posts of what we got up to.”

Check out Alesha’s and Jarryd’s content on Nomadasaurus (travel blog).