Being a full-time travel blogger brings with it a whole lotta questions. I get it, it’s not the most common of career choices! Over the years I’ve noticed a distinct pattern in the questions I get asked and, out of all of them, there are a few which routinely pop up. I figured if people I meet want to know the answers to them, then maybe others do too. So, today I thought I’d share my answers to the six questions I get asked the most….
“Do you travel a lot?”
I definitely travel a lot more than the average person, that’s for sure. But I probably don’t travel quite as much as people might think. Matt and I spend about half our time overseas and the other half at home in Brisbane. I’m not just a blogger, I’m a travel writer, so I do a lot of freelance writing from my home office. We also take a lot of local trips at home in Australia, which we both love! I love living in Brisbane and, while I love to travel, I’m not really the nomadic type. If I’m away from home for too long my anxiety starts to get a bit crazy and I need to get back home to reset and recharge.
“How much money do you make?”
This question used to make me a bit angry, just because you don’t really ask people how much money they make and it feels really intrusive. Truth is, I have no idea how much money I make. I don’t keep track of it and it changes day to day, week to week and month to month. My accountant probably knows, but I don’t. All I know is I earn enough money to pay my bills and do all the things I want in my life. If you want more detail than that, I wrote this big blog post about how much money travel bloggers make.
“What’s your favourite place you’ve visited?”
This is most definitely the question I get asked the most, followed very closely by the money question. Truth is, my answer changes depending on the day I’m asked! It’s usually one of three places – Iceland, Tokyo or Morocco. Those three places will stay with me forever, I loved each one of them and would love to go back and spend more time exploring all of them. It’s impossible to separate them!
“Where did the name Little Grey Box come from?”
I started my blog sitting on the floor of our little flat in London and, at the time, had no idea what it would become. For me, it was just a space I could use to write, an outlet for my passion. I never knew it would be a travel blog, so I just wanted to choose a generic name that didn’t lock me into anything, (example: Phoebe’s Fab Food Blog). I’ve always loved certain words and sounds, so I just put together three words I love… Little, Grey and Box… I kinda wish there was a cooler story behind it, but that’s the dorky truth!
“Are you just paid to write good things?”
This is another question that irks me a little, only because it insinuates that I take money in exchange for writing what I’m told to write (positive stuff about a hotel or product etc). If I’m paid, I’m paid for my time visiting a hotel or destinationĀ or trying a product, as well as for my time creating the content I’m required to. There’s never any situation where I’ve been asked to only write something positive and, if I was, I wouldn’t work with that brand. I’m simply paid for my time, the creation of content and access to my audience (you guys!). If you’d like to read a bit more detail, I share some more in this blog post.Ā
“What would you do if you had a bad experience?”
This happened for the first time recently. It wasn’t a big deal, not like I found a rat making itself at home in the hotel bed or anything, it was just an aspect of the hotel I didn’t enjoy. I spoke to the hotel manager face-to-face and let him know, politely, my experience and why I disliked it. He was really happy I told him and it means now he can make a change so the issue is fixed for future guests. other guests. When it comes to the blog, I simply left that aspect out of the written post and didn’t recommend it to anyone. That’s the thing about bloggers, you’ve got the chance to get really honest insight on your product from people viewing it in the same light as customers would! It’s a valuable thing!
I also recently had a bad experience with a brand, which really shocked me as it’s a very large, very well-known brand and I just didn’t think they’d be like that toward anybody, let alone people who work in the travel industry and would potentially recommend them. They were extremely rude to me and now I’ve had that experience I won’t recommend them or work with them in the future, simply because I wouldn’t wish for any of you to have a negative experience either. While I travel for work, most of you are probably doing it for pleasure and the last thing you want is to have a bad experience on your hard-earned holiday! Rather than drag them, I just omit them from the blog altogether and don’t use or recommend their services.