World of Wanderlust

The Best Ways to Document your Travels in a Digital World

 Brooke Saward

7 years ago
Well its no secret we live in a digital world. While I still love the feeling of holding onto
something tangible (like a hand-written journal or a pocket-sized photograph for safe
keeping), in the digital world we live in there are some great options available to document our
travels online, both for ourselves and for people back home. So before you jet off on your world
adventure, here are the best ways to document your travels online…
Starting a Blog
Starting a travel blog has almost become a staple for any globetrotter about to set off on a long-
term endeavour. Travel blogs are a great way to document your travels in the digital world and
could be considered a mix between keeping a scrapbook and keeping a handwritten journal of
your travels. Just remember to think it through before you dive in head first to the world of
blogging and consider whether you want to share your every day life with strangers or whether
you’d rather keep your experiences for yourself or close friends and family. Consider the
following:

 Who am I writing for? 

If you’re writing for yourself, family and friends, a great platform for you would be blogger.
This is a great free platform that will allow you to create a space of your own on the internet, but
is not so technically advanced that you will need to spend hours setting it up or maintaining your
blog.

If you’re writing with the intent of creating an online destination of sorts (whereby you’ll
hopefully gain a global audience), a great platform for you would be wordpress.org. This is the
most commonly used platform for bloggers who are serious about turning their passion into a full
time career. Creating a website of your own can be both fulfilling and rewarding, but should
never be entered into half heartedly. Only start a blog if you plan to write about something
you’re passionate about as this is what will lead to successes later down the track.

Improving Your Blog

Starting a blog is one thing, maintaining it is another, but improving your blog and blogging
skills is perhaps one of the timeliest endeavours (snaps for all the bloggers out there!!!). Over the
course of the couple years I have been blogging, I have learned everything I know through a
process of trial and error. Sure, it is frustrating and at times mind numbing (particularly when
suffering technical issues or your website crashes), but the constant quest to improve my blog
has been what has kept me going. It keeps it interesting and always presents a challenge.

Taking Better Photos

One of the most frustrating things for me when I first began travelling was that my photos would
never accurately reflect what I would see with my own eyes. Year after year and trip after trip,
I’ve slowly learned how to take better travel photos. There is of course still a lot to learn! One
of the books I found quite handy in the beginning was the Lonely Planet Guide to Travel
Photography which explains a lot of the technical stuff I knew nothing about in the beginning.

After dabbling with a few different camera setups over the years, I have finally found my
soulmate in the Olympus Pen E-PL7, which I have dubbed the perfect travel camera. You
can find out why here.

Writing Better Stories

Writing doesn’t come naturally for most of us, particularly in the style of blog-writing. There are
many different styles of blog writing to consider, however most bloggers like to create a
community of ‘ideal readers’ (aka people who love what they love just as much – which in my
case is travel), so a conversational tone is usually employed. I have dabbled with a few different
writing styles over the years to see what readers responded to and have ultimately found that the
best way for me to write in an enjoyable tone for my readers is just to have a conversation with
them. Sounds simple but it really is!

Once you have found your style, its important to again be on the constant quest for improvement.
Writing better stories can mean a lot of different things to different people, however for me it is
the task of re-telling my travel tales better each time. I’m always learning and often make
mistakes, but each time I hone in on my writing skills I find them improving. I.e. I now look
beyond the basics when I travel – no longer over sharing information with readers and instead
focusing on inspiration.

Social Media: For friends & family

With loads of social media platforms popping up and fading out, it can be hard to keep up. That’s
why I’ve picked just two favourites in each category that I swear would be the best social media
platforms to document your travels.

Instagram
Instagram is perhaps the best social media platform to document your travels. Why? Instagram is
like a visual diary – capturing a moment or memory from each day that you would like to
remember because it made you feel so good that you thought you had to capture it in square form
and share it with your followers. I really love instagram.

Snapchat
Because of the short lifespan of uploads, this can be more of a blessing than a curse if you wish
to update your friends and family as you go along but not be ashamed of the out-at-3-am uploads
that ensue. Snapchat is a great way to update friends and family in a quick and easy manner, no
real thought required. Hassle-free. Time friendly.

Social Media: For networking

Bloglovin’
If you’ve started a blog, waste no time in getting yourself verified on Bloglovin’. This social
media platform is ideal for bloggers and blog readers, as it is a social feed of all the blogs you
follow and allows you to find so many great new blogs along the way. This is by far my
favourite platform for networking as it allows me to connect with other bloggers around the
world both in the travel category and far beyond!!

Twitter
Twitter is for me (and many other bloggers) less time-consuming way to update readers. It takes
a lot less time than a blog post and has a better rate of interaction because of its’ restriction to
140 characters or less. Although I prefer the visual social media platforms when documenting
my travels, twitter is still a great platform to network and connect whilst travelling.

What do you think? Do you like the way we document our travels online or think there is
something missing in the realm of travel-friendly social media platforms!?
Categories: Technology, TRAVEL TIPS

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