7 Travel Blogger(& Traveller) Trends That Need to Be Left in 2017

 

I am determined to celebrate 2018 with a lighter heart. There have been so many things about travel bloggers and travellers that have annoyed me this year. I thought to condense them in the hope of inspiring folk to leave some of these trends behind and ring in 2018 with a clean slate. These are just some of the “few” items that have been busting my chops for most of 2017. Please tell me I am not the only one. If you have more that I haven’t included, please comment below and let it all out. Let’s hope some of the people in these categories leave these travel trends in 2017. Word of warning: This post contains some hard to swallow truths that are not sugar-coated.

 

1. I quit my Job to travel the world.

These posts bust my ovaries. Almost every blogger that saves enough for a ticket to go rough it in Thailand or some Asian country sooner or later is now selling a dream. Most end up running out of money while traveling. They forget they have to return howm at some point.They start selling postcards by the town centers or busking for the next train fares.

 

Then there is the blogger that is claiming to have quit their job to travel but is now selling their E-book, force feeding you all manner of affiliate links so they can continue travel. The last in the much-hated category is the one that is claiming to have quite the job to travel but forgets that they turned Professional Blogger now and are charging brands to influence you into buying whatever they are selling in the collaboration. Listen, there is nothing wrong with working with brands, as I sometimes do myself but let’s be clear this is now your JOB! So you cannot claim you quit your job to travel when traveling is now your job! A job that you get paid for.

 

A job that requires a lot of hustling and professionalism to do. A job that you have to spend months sometimes years to get a return on investment. You have to work your ass off to pay not only your bills, flights, camera equipment number of hours it takes to shoot and edit, publish, promote. So which is it, do you work or don’t you? You cannot claim on one hand that people don’t respect bloggers and on the other hand not admit that it is now your job. A job or profession you want people to respect. So essentially you haven’t quit your job so sit down and quit lying! You basically just changed profession. Don’t tell people to quit their jobs without telling them what comes after. The hard part when the money they saved is all spent and dried up.

 

2. Quit telling people how you earned $2 or $30K in one month compared to the $50 in the previous one.

While I will admit your income may have gone up I certainly don’t care for this post. Especially the fact that it is disguising itself as a helpful post when in fact is loaded with affiliate links trying to sell hosting packages from website hosting site that they themselves don’t have the services with. Yes, I pay attention to those travel groups.

 

I am not naming any names but there are a couple of hosting companies that have the craziest customer services and yet bloggers are still trying to sell each other packages. These services are mainly targeting newbie bloggers all just to earn some commission. Stop it! Your title promised to show readers how they can monetise their blogs but all they got was a post with no substance other than selling them snake oil. You are not telling someone how you did it, you are click baiting them into viewing your site in the hope that they buy a hosting package from a company you yourself don’t even believe in.

 

The only purpose these posts serve it for other bloggers to flog these same post in the hope that another newbie will fall for the bait. The only reason these posts should exist is to either inspire other bloggers to work their asses and treat their blog as a business. There are some posts that do this perfectly but there is an awful lot of these post have a long way to go. Don’t think for one second other bloggers are not seeing through these posts.

 

3. Being Disrespectful for the ‘gram.

I guess that we are in some sort of new area where anything goes to get those likes on the ‘gram. What I don’t agree with is travelers and bloggers staging shoots while plainly showing disrespect in religious buildings, churches temples. Respect the law of land where you are travelling. Most of all, have enough respect for yourself and the locals to do the very basic of research on the places you are visiting.

 

Countless of times I have seen or encountered travelers in bearly there clothing visiting religious sites. Yes, I get that it may be hot but, really, you didn’t think to bring a change of clothes or a long skirt or scarf you could throw on when you planned on visiting the temple, mosque or church. I have seen this stuff abroad and I have seen folks do that in London, walking into St Pauls while their butt cheeks leak right out of their short shorts. Yes, I Am judging You! 

 

This also goes with how people act in general in these places. If locals tell you its bad luck to walk or not to walk into the temple in shoes, or not to get naked then don’t do it.Listen to them. Yes, some beliefs are strange but respect their right to have that believe instead of being an arrogant and dismissive ass about it.

 

4. How I Afford to travel the world

Can we quit these posts, please! These are like answer the question ‘how I pay my bills’. You are grown and don’t need to explain to anyone what job or jobs you do to pay your bills let alone your flights. It will soon be 2018 and we no longer need to explain that while some people still pay for their flights and trips through regular job some do this by way of blogging whether that be press trips, blog entrepreneurship (people who are bloggers by profession and charge clients for content creation and promotion). You do not have to explain to anyone how much and how money is going to your bank to fulfill your travel dreams.

 

5. Black Bloggers Need To Stop Asking Brands For Approval

No one can deny there are plenty of black bloggers out there. I am just tired of post about the lack of representation in the industry. There are brands that don’t have anyone brown on their social media accounts and I chose not to follow these accounts or spend my money on them. I am very choosy about where I spend my money. I apply this to almost everything in life when it comes to brands that dont represent me in their promotional campaigns.

 

There are feature accounts on Instagram that only seem to feature white people and I don’t follow those accounts. You don’t need me to tell you that you lack diversity. It’s 2017 and soon to be 2018. You can see it, your followers can see it. Now, if you chose not to join us in the real world and don’t realise that it consists of many other shades other than white then I certainly am not going to waste my precious time reminding you what year we are in. And yes, I will judge their followers too for not noticing too or not knocking some diversity sense their head. There are many brands out there that are diverse and those are the ones black bloggers need to focus on.

 

Don’t ask someone who has time and time again refused to acknowledge you exist or notice you. There are many brands out there in every niche that want to work with brown bloggers(Black, Indian, Chinese and many other minorities you can think of) and those should be the only ones that you need to be paying attention to, of which there are plenty. The rest that want to pretend as if we don’t exist or that we have no buying power need to be left in the dust where they belong. My other point on this is that Black bloggers also need to be brave when it comes to pitching to brands. Yes, you may not have seen many brown folk featured on a brand site, maybe its time for you to pitch to the brand.

 

Research and network with other bloggers that have worked with that brand and see what the best angle is to get your foot in the door. You never know until you try. In 2018 please can we not give airtime to brands that are not worth our time or money. This not only goes for product brands but also tourism brands alike still have this backward mentality when it comes to how the work with. I like to see people that look like me in marketing campaigns, one of the reasons I continue to blog. As much as this blog is for me, its also about showing not only women in general but that black people do travel. This is nothing new and it’s not just a few. Now if you don’t have diversity in your marketing strategy then you are saying that you don’t want this money from me or Black people and what kind of business sense is that? You want this money or not?!…

 

6. Put Your Ugly Piglets Back In The Pen

This one is for those travellers that put their crusty-arse feet on armrests on flights. You are not at home! We paid enough for the flight ticket, whether its budget airline or regular, we don’t need to be subjected to barf-inducing toes that look like they are straight out of the Walking Dead movie set prop department. Put those ugly piglets away before you scare the kids on the plane and make everyone sick. This is not just about letting your little piggies go to market. Just have some consideration for other passengers on the plane when it comes to all manner of how you conduct yourself. We are all stuck in a metal can across the skies until we reach the destination so don’t take it upon yourself to torcher others with your mere presence.

 

7. Quit With The Staged and Coordinated Group Shots. (Includes The ‘Save African children’ photoshoots Too)

Am I the only one tired on overly staged Instagram trip pictures of grown men and women wearing the same swimwear or outfits doing too much for the ‘gram? You are too grown for that. Please leave those stunts in 2016 because obviously, you needed an additional year to get it out of your system. Another type of picture category that seriously grinds my ovaries is the ‘let’s save the African continent’ shots with children.

 

Can you build a house? Do you have any skills other than your Instagram skills that would be useful in building an economy? Then stay at home or at least learn that charity starts at home. If you are so keen to help how about you start with helping those communities less fortune in your country. Then try and take a selfie with them as you help them. If you manage to survive that photo shoot without a beat down, I may just buy you the ticket to Africa myself.

 

While we are it in the picture taking, I am also going to need travellers to stop taking pictures of children in poor countries. Those are someone’s children! Try taking a picture of someone’s child in London and let’s see how long it will take for the Met Police to collect your butt for questioning. Just because you are in a less fortunate country it doesn’t make someone’s child fair game. I don’t care if it will gain you followers or looks cool on your feed or blog. It’s not cool!

 

So anything else on your mind that you would include in this list? Comment below.