2015 was an eventful year – we visited loads of new places, learnt so much more about the world, fell in love with a dozen places, and packed our bags to travel full time. It’s also the year we completed 3 years of travel blogging!
Professional travel blogging is still in its nascent stages and there’s a lot of curiosity about it as a profession. So this one is for you curious souls, aspiring bloggers, and fellow travel addicts. Here are 5 things we’ve learnt by travelling full time, travel blogging, and chasing the life of our dreams:
1) The (not-so) comic side-effects of Long Term Travelling
Here’s 5 things we’ve learnt on travelling full time:
- Buffets, those glorious representatives of gluttony that herald the beginning of a true holiday, suddenly don’t seem that appealing anymore.I hate to break it to you but the lure of chocolate donuts and cake smothered in caramel dies down after a while. After a few months of travelling, you find yourself heading straight for toast and some fresh fruit at that lavish breakfast buffet.
- You have 10 currencies in your wallet all at once – true story! Right now I have some leftover soles from Peru, Australian dollars that I will need next month when we get back to Australia, a couple of English pounds, some Indian rupees, and a few dollar bills from Ecuador. That might be why I’m having trouble finding Fijian Dollars to pay for the coffee I just ordered.
- You can unpack and feel at home in a new place within seconds. We’ve been travelling so much that we’ve perfected a routine. Layout the toiletries; unpack only the clothes we’ll need at that particular destination; find a safe place for the bag full of chargers, hard-disks, cables, and laptops; plug in the nutri-bullet; and find a suitable side table to arrange a book and travel journal on it till it looks the way I like it. That’s it – new home ready within minutes 🙂
- You carry your whole house in the bag. Last I checked, I found duct tape, spoons, scissors, gift-wrapping paper, chocolate, salt, and mosquito repellent in my suitcase. I’m convinced if I travel long enough, a camping table and a couple of chairs will pop out of my bag 😉
- Staying fit on the go is hard. We try and enrol ourselves at the gym whenever we’re in a city for longer than 3 weeks, eat healthy on the go, carry our nutribullet with us wherever we go, and go on as many hikes and walks as we can (when the weather and schedule permit!). Yet the struggle is real! It’s not the lure of local decadent delicacies as much as the paucity of time to source healthy ingredients and lack of access to well-equipped kitchens. Oh well – we’ll definitely congratulate ourselves if we make it through this round-the-world trip without piling on the pounds 😉
- You can pick your check-in bag and decipher the weight, right up to the decimal point. For those of you who don’t know, we travel the world with one suitcase each. Now, packing your entire life in a suitcase that weighs 20-23 kg is no easy feat. Sometimes I honestly wonder how I manage to put together outfits for the road at all! We still haven’t quite mastered the art of packing for long-term travel, so Vid could frequently be found poring over the weighing machine hours before every flight. 50 odds flights and 6 months later, he can pick up a suitcase and tell you how much it weighs and it’s right every time – no kidding!
2) Financing our travels
We are frequently asked about the ways in which we finance our travels. As we’ve mentioned before both of us come from professional middle-class families. So we’ve worked very hard to earn and save the money we choose to spend on travel. For almost 8 years, we spent large portions of our earnings on travelling while holding full-time corporate jobs in London. Everything else went to our savings account i.e. our ‘travel fund’. This travel fund would finance our dream round-the-world trip 🙂
Insofar as the two of us are concerned we finance ourselves in 3 ways:
- We saved for this round-the-world trip for over 8 years. We kept aside a small sum for a rainy day and put all our other savings towards travel instead of buying a house, lots of cars, or lots of designer shoes like most of our other friends. We’re not saying you should do it too – it’s just what works for us!
- In addition to spending our savings, we also work on campaigns with travel brands and tourism boards that are relevant for Bruised Passports’ readers (see point 3 ‘The Importance Of Consistency’ for more), and have some affiliate links on our website.
- Finally as most of you know I am a travel writer and write for a number of newspapers and magazines. Vid is a professional travel photographer and his photos are bought and published by a number of in-flight magazines, national newspapers, and hospitality brands. The income from all these freelance jobs goes right back into our travel fund 🙂
As we mentioned in our article Our Lives Are Changing, we’d always dreamt of taking a couple of years off to see the world much before we even started Bruised Passports . So right now taking things slow and easy and exploring the world is our priority. Even so, maintaining the website, Bruised Passports’ social media channels, and meeting deadlines for all the freelance work we do takes over 6-8 hours of our day. We could increase the hours, and with it, our income, but right now our priority is to see new places and experience new cultures.
Having said that, it IS possible to make a living off a blog if you so wish – just don’t underestimate the amount of work it takes! In our experience, it is a lot more demanding and time-consuming than the average desk job. On the bright side, you get to work in exotic locations around the world and acquaint yourself with amazing cultures! A lot of our friends do exactly that. If you’re curious about making a living from travel blogging, you can check out Shivya’s and Nick and Dariece’s guide to earning from travel blogging. If you’re really serious about a location-independent job, do read our friend Jodi’s extensive guide for aspiring Digital Nomads.
We manage to allay some of our travel expenses by working on the go. However travel blogging is a lifestyle choice, one that doesn’t suit everyone! If you’re not inclined to spend more than half your day photographing, writing, responding to comments and queries, or working on a website (we adore the ritual of blogging but I know it can get tedious if you’re not passionate about it!) there’s some good news for you too – travelling extensively is actually a lot cheaper than you expect it to be! Check out our guide to Bali to see how you can live off £800 in South East Asia even when you choose mid-range accommodation, splurge a little every now and then, and spend a fair bit on meals. If you’re on a shoestring budget, then you can easily survive off £300-400/month in South-East Asia and a lot of countries in South America. In either case, it’s possible to travel full time for more than a year in the sum that you would need to purchase a car or a designer handbag – something to think about the next time you make a big purchase 😉
On that note, I’ll tell you a li’l story – I know over-the-top weddings are all the trend these days. Never ones to give in to convention or societal expectation, we opted for a civil ceremony and put the rest of the money towards our travelling fund. There’s only one thing to take from this – don’t let societal stereotypes determine your life or persona; be unshakeable in your passions and unstoppable in your convictions. Listen to your gut and the magic will follow 🙂
If you want to know why we opted for a simple wedding, read more about it in You Asked, We Answered
3) The importance of consistency
Our only piece of advice for aspiring bloggers? Let me give you some food for thought. Here’s a list of our very first articles on Bruised Passports, based on our travels before we ever started blogging versus a list of our latest articles on Bruised Passports, published in the past month or two::
A list of our first few articles:
- A luxury hotel in Egypt
- A cruise holiday in Europe
- Why we love apartment rentals
- A road-trip in Croatia
- Packing for a holiday in Spain
A list of our most recent articles:
- A luxury hotel in Maldives
- A cruise holiday in Europe
- Renting an apartment in Bali
- A road-trip in England (and one on our road trip in Baltics is coming up soon, yay!)
- Packing for a holiday in Peru
Notice a pattern? We’re still talking about EXACTLY the same things as we were in 2013. We had travelled extensively before we started Bruised Passports, so both of us had a fair idea of the kind of travel we enjoyed. We enjoy independent travel and never opt for group tours. As most of you would probably know we LOVE road trips and cruises and we pay a fair bit of attention to travel fashion. We have a soft spot for luxurious and romantic experiences and almost always stay in luxury hotels on languorous holidays. However we veer towards mid-range hotels on active holidays where we intend to explore all day and need the room just for a good night’s sleep. We also love apartment rentals for active trips or those that stretch to more than 3 weeks.
Now this isn’t meant to be a lesson in our travel preferences. Instead it’s our only piece of advice for aspiring bloggers out there. It’s easy to get waylaid in the blogging world but make sure you’re consistent (and unshakeable) in your convictions. Focus on building a readership, engaging with your readers, and telling the stories you truly LOVE – everything else will follow.
Bruised Passports is read by almost 1.5 million travel enthusiasts every year. As a result we receive a number of requests for collaborations and campaigns every day but we turn down over 85% of the proposals we get just because they don’t fit the demographic of Bruised Passports. We would never put something on our website or social media that we wouldn’t recommend to our own friends or family. Staying true to the things you love is the only way to wade through the madness of the blogging jungle and enjoy it as you go along 🙂
4) Haters gonna hate
The world of the Internet is a strange one! If you put yourself out there and god forbid, actually become popular, chances are you’ll be trolled! From various conversations with my blogger friends, I’ve gleaned that most trolls will pick on travel bloggers for financing their extensive travels and fashion bloggers for their appearance. Blogging is a relatively new profession, so it’s easy to look at curated social media feeds and envy the ‘lucky’ bloggers in question.
Unfortunately there are no free lunches in the world. Bloggers work very hard to create and curate content on a daily basis. For eg: just putting together a lengthy blog post over 2000 words can take over 8 hours that involve writing the text, editing photos, resizing photos, uploading them, and proofreading. Putting together an exhaustive guide full of facts, which is akin to an e-book (eg. Ultimate Guide to Peru), can take days, even weeks. Don’t even get me started on responding to comments, emails, queries, and tweets. Bloggers are able to offer all this informative content to their readers for FREE because they’re occasionally compensated for their time.
Moreover for every ‘complimentary’ experience that one might get, there are a dozen for which one pays. So irrespective of what people who revel in the anonymity that the internet offers (aka trolls) might have you believe, I’ll let you know that miscellaneous expenses of travelling add up very quickly. Just to put things into perspective, we’ve taken over 50 flights in the past year and only 1 was given to us as part of a campaign with KLM/Air France. As for numbers, here are a few examples:
- An internal flight ticket within South America can cost upto £1200 (INR 1,20,000)
- A train ticket from Sydney airport to Sydney city centre costs £15 (INR 1,500)
- 1 mid-range meal in Switzerland will set you back by £40 (INR 4000).
- Miscellaneous expenses include the expenses of maintaining a blog (website hosting), photography gear (over £3000/INR 3,00,000), and visas (we’ve spent over £6000/INR 6,00,000 in visas over the past 2 years alone)
I could go on because there are endless expenses associated with running a professional travel blog or travelling extensively. So make sure you look past the trolls, plan ahead and research well if you plan to travel full-time or blog full-time.
We put a lot of work into maintaining Bruised Passports – it is our pride and joy. So I must admit I feel bad when we get the occasional comment undermining that work or maligning the passion that drives an enterprise like Bruised Passports. I’m quite the dreamer and in my ideal world everyone treats fellow human beings with love and most importantly, respect. Since we’re at it, fairy dust is the currency they use 😉 So it’s safe to say it’s taken Vid, ever the realist, a long time to convince me haters gonna hate. Of course, he used Tay Tay to his advantage 😉
If you’re a blogger or an aspiring blogger, make sure you develop a thick skin. Believe in your brand and revel in the fact that you’re popular enough to attract such passionate comments. Besides all publicity is actually good publicity for your blog and brand. Score! 🙂
5) Nothing feels as good as a virtual family
This is Bruised Passports and we don’t do morose. Of course this article will end on a bright note! 🙂
While there is the occasional troll, there are also thousands of readers who shower such love and affection on us that it leaves us overwhelmed every single day. Hearing from you, reading your comments and messages, helping you guys plan your trips, and meeting you is definitely the highlight of our job as travel bloggers. You guys put the biggest smiles on our faces EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. without exception.
So many of you sent us photos from the trips you took inspired by Bruised Passports. Besides, we met so many of you in 2015 at airports, shopping malls, hotels. and everywhere in between. Thank you for coming and saying hello – it truly means the world! 2015 was also extremely special because we had our first ever meet up in New Delhi and what an evening it was. We got completely overwhelmed because so many of you came to see us. We loved putting names to faces – I remember the conversations, gifts, cards, and letters like it was just yesterday!
Arranging meetups in London, Mumbai, and New York is definitely on our wish-list for 2016 :-). As for now, here’s to 2015:
Our highlights of 2015 in photos
We kicked off the year by sitting in an actual reindeer sleigh and seeing the Northern Lights while sitting in a glass igloo : one of the most memorable experiences ever!
We went on a road trip in the English countryside and feasted on cream tea in Devon. Just thinking about it makes me nostalgic about living in London.
We sailed through the iconic Norwegian Fjords
We met so many of you throughtout in year. The one time I can’t forget is when we met a reader in our hotel in a decrepit city in South America of all places! We love knowing there are so many like-minded crazies across the globe and meeting you guys makes us feel all warm and fuzzy.
We took a giant leap of faith and quit our jobs to travel full time. Yay!!
We left a piece of our hearts in London – there were tears and extended hugs with friends.
On the bright side, we visited the continent of South America for the first time. Vid and I spent a dreamy month in Peru and fell in love with Peruvian food and culture. Both of us stared at Machu Picchu for hours and went back a second time just to take it all in.
We drove and hiked through some of the most incredible panoramas in the world in Bolivia and Ecuador.
We took an ultra-languorous road trip through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland to take a step back and enjoy the little things in life: bright flowers, enchanted woodlands, and flitting butterflies
We celebrated our anniversary amidst glistening waters in Maldives.
We lived in Bali and had an amazing time learning about local cultures, traditions, and food (also fell in love with Balinese flower baths, but then again most of you know that already! 😉 )
We met friends from Germany halfway across the world in Bali 🙂
We made new friends all over the world and spent quality time with old ones:
I’m missing Europe a lot today ? This photo is from a time we were sitting with Polish friends, exchanging notes about South America, and planning a meetup in Asia – borders what borders?! ??#bruisedpassports #oneworld #globalcitizens #roundtheworldtrip A photo posted by Savi and Vid (@bruisedpassports) on
We find fellow crazies wherever we go ?? #bolivia #salar #uyuni #saltflats A photo posted by Savi and Vid (@bruisedpassports) on
We flew to Australia and spent our first warm Christmas in decades! Huzzah! We ended the year by celebrating it with thousands of other people watching the fireworks at the Sydney Harbour
That was us in 2015. What is the 1 thing you learnt in 2015? We’d love to know 🙂
Want to know why we decided to take this sabbatical? Read Our Lives Are Changing 🙂
Need some travel inspiration? Read more about our Top 10 Travel Experiences
Join us on social media if good vibes are your thing too
Savi and Vid, you both are a super couple and I just love being a part of your journey by reading your posts and drooling over your pictures. You guys have become a part of my life. To be honest, everyday when I pick my phone, I would check your Facebook image or Insta for new pictures. You are doing an amazing job and thanks for showing me the world. Hugs and kisses :*
Hey Shanta – thank you so much for you little note. We love posting updates too because our readers are such a massive part of our lives now and the feeling of having a teeming virtual family is incomparable 😀 Hope you continue to enjoy our adventures. Hugs
It was absolutely wonderful to read your article first thing this morning. I’ve been going through a rough patch in my career and I have to say, reading about your experience has given me the courage to just follow my dreams and know that one day I’ll get where I want to be 🙂 thank you very much. Your blog is useful in more ways than travel and fashion 🙂 <3
Hey Roshni – we’re SO happy to hear that. You don’t know it but you’ve put massive smiles on our faces with your li’l note. Hope 2016 brings in tons of luck for you 😀
I just love love your blog and your journey, it’s such a bummer that I missed the meet up in Delhi :(………hopefully next time and keep blogging like this 🙂
http://www.talesofaglobetrotter.com
Hey Priti – it’s so good to hear from you. I’m sure our paths will cross soon 😀
“Thats wonderful. Since you’ve written from the heart, I have some questions from my heart as well. I’m still debating whether to travel full time, and I’d love a lot more details from you guys. Will be so grateful if you answer all these practical questions I have. And please do, since you’ve only lured me into traveling 🙂 🙂
– Is it possible to apply for a visa from any country(E.g., If I have an Indian passport, can I apply for a visa to, say, South Africa, while living in, say, Germany?
– What if you fall sick, do you have health insurance for every place?
– How easy or difficult is it to get in touch with magazines etc. to write for them. Do they pay well? Is it worth the time and effort?
– What does a ‘sponsored holiday’ by a tourism board or a hotel actually mean? Does that mean they pay for everything – flights, accommodation, food, airport pick up etc.? Or do they only sponsor a part of it, and you pay for the rest.
– How many compensated stays have you received in the say the last 2 years? and many did you pay for on your own? Actual figures will really help.
– If I follow your itinerary of the last 2 years, how much did you end up spending your own cash and how much was sponsored? I really a need a rough budget on how much I need to save, and how much can I save in compensated stays. Can you list which all compensated hotels/tours etc., did you receive.
-Is it still possible for someone to travel full time if they won’t get sponsored stays or tours? How should we travel then? Is it possible to get cheap long term rental apartments? If you don’t get sponsored stay at a place, where will you stay?
– When you spend hours trying to write articles, replying to comments, liaising with all the magazine/ tour operators/ tourism boards etc., does it somewhere take away the fun of travel? Do you miss your earlier travel days with not a care in the word. Everyday was just about enjoying the holiday with each other and not worrying about replying to comments, arranging sponsorships etc. I always wonder if doing all these things while traveling full time, will take away the fun of travel. Have never got an honest answer from anyone. Would love to hear your views, do you miss the earlier days?”
Hey Nishant – answering your comment will be a whole other article in itself (perhaps a Part II). But very quickly I’ll say this: yes documenting travels is time consuming and can suck the joy out of travelling. We’ve always loved photographing and writing about it (I maintained a travel journal for years before we had the blog), so we enjoy the process.
Of course it’s possible to travel full time without being a blogger – a lot of our friends do it. You just need to google this to discover more stories on the way in which travellers sustain themselves on the road.
We buy annual health insurance, so we are always covered.
Finally building relationships with magazines and a blog that is well-read takes a lot of work and commitment and most importantly, time. It isn’t something that happens overnight. However if you’re passionate about writing, photographing, and documenting your travels, we strongly encourage you to do it. It’s a whole lot of fun too 😀
I LOVED reading this post! Savi and Vid, I’ve been following your adventures very closely, both on facebook and instagram (unleashing my inner stalker, if you will 😉 ) and I it’s always a pleasure to read about them. Not to mention the fact that I’ve taken a leaf out of your book and started travelling a lot more than I used to.
Haters gonna hate but that only proves your popularity, you know 🙂 I hope I get to see loads of more posts from corners of the world I barely know about.
P.S: Add Bangalore to your 2016 list, will you? I’d love meeting you guys (in person)! 🙂
Hey Ramya – it’s always a pleasure to hear from people who’ve been with Bruised Passports since day #1. I really hope our paths cross soon. So happy to hear you’re travelling more – yay 🙂
I’m an 18 year old travel nut who dreams of stepping on every single continent before I turn 30, and you guys have no idea how much you inspire me every day! Thank you so very much for allowing me and the rest of your readers to be a part of your journey. You gives me hope that, someday, I’ll be able to see the world and satisfy my eternally travel-hungry soul 🙂
Great hearing from you 🙂 Of course you’ll be able to see the world- knowing your mind is the job half done±
I always wondered if I would have to quit my (smaller) passion for a career to chase (an even bigger) passion for travel. But you have made it possible for me to think I could do a few (well planned) trips every now and then and not feel the golden handcuffs!
And I did and it made me feel amazing (Norwegian Fjords). Thank you for bringing the world to me (without the boring marketing jargon) through pictures and blog posts! Here’s wishing you many more trips and experiences (possibly a meet up in London). Good luck.
Hey Vidhu – thanks a ton for your comment. Absolutely, we travelled extensively for almost 8 years with full time jobs. You just need to know your mind to feel the magic 🙂 Hope you get to travel TONS in the future too – look forward to seeing you in London.
PS The Norwegian Fjords are quite something aren’t they?!
Love the fact that your every post is so genuine and relatable. Love to be a (virtual) part of your journey. ❤️
Thanks Juhi – staying true to our convictions and beliefs is extremely important to us, so that means the world 😀
It’s always a joy to read your posts. While I do follow a fair number of travel blogs, I have to say I don’t ever miss a post by you. You’re writing and Vid’s photography have always been so inspiring and I’ve learned a ton. I totally get how much time consuming travel blogging can be and I think the first years when you’re doing it all for free and maintaining a job are the hardest part. You really need a boost of energy every once in a while to keep going. But I’m extremely optimistic about it and will be putting your recommendations to good practice.
Keep traveling and telling us about all the heavenly places this world has. 🙂
Kisses all the way from Tehran. 😉
Hey Matin – always a pleasure to hear from you. Thanks a ton for following our adventures. I agree – maintaining a full-scale travel blog with a full-time job is extremely hard. I still don’t know how we managed to juggle the two for 2 years out of three. But I’d do it again in a heartbeat and you should continue to do it too – building relationships with readers and hearing from them can be so fulfilling 🙂
PS You do know you’ve singlehandedly managed to put Tehran on our wishlist 🙂
Darling…haters are gonna hate…Baat unhi ki hoti hai…jisme Kuch Baat hoti hai…I love you guys…we have started spending on travel from our savings every year…you are an inspiration to us…
Hey Binita – great to hear that. I hope 2016 is jam-packed with travels for you 😀
I just realized that we have so much more in common from reading this. Love it. And yes, good choice on not joining group press tours. It can be really draining and soul-crashing! Anyway, keep doing you. Ignore the haters. Stay fab and maybe we’ll cross paths again this 2016! We need to hangout longer next time!
I always knew we were 2 peas in a pod! Of course we have to meet for me to stay fab – we’ll definitely make it happen 🙂 Love and hugs from this side of the pond
Wow, sounds like an absolutely incredible year for you guys! So many of your 2015 favs are on my wish list for this year – northern lights, the Balkans, Maldives.
Finally someone (crazy enough) to agree with me that rings / weddings are such an unnecessary expense! I was nodding along vigorously reading that paragraph, and well, the rest of this post. More power to you both! x
Hey Shivya – yep, unnecessary expense is right! Besides, both of us have serious ideological problems with the way in which patriarchy manifests itself in a lot of (regressive) wedding rituals. So happy to hear you enjoyed reading the post 🙂 PS Of all the experiences you mentioned, I hope you tick the Northern Lights off your wishlist – seeing them for the first time was an experience I’ll never forget.
Travelling gives utmost happiness to some souls and same happiness can be seen in your lovely pics. Thank you guys for making us fall in love with new places and also for giving us an opportunity to disconnect from our regular life.
Hey Rekha – thanks a ton 🙂 You’re right – it does show when one does what makes one really happy. Hope you continue to enjoy our adventures around the world
Great post, Savi & Vid! We met in London last year, on a food tour thru Soho 🙂 Hope to see you at the Mumbai meet-up
Hey Prachi – great seeing you here 🙂 So happy to hear you enjoyed the post. I hope our paths cross again in 2016
what a lovely post ! I always come to your blog to find ideas about my next travel destination. Have fun and please do a meet up in London next time you come 🙂
Thanks Sneha 🙂 We’ll definitely plan a meetup in London as soon as we can
Found you on YouTube. We’re visiting Lapland next week, so I really enjoyed your vlog from there! You, guys, are really inspiring, will now follow you:)
Ksenia,
thestylejungle.ru
Thanks a ton – send us your photos from Lapland, we’d love to share them with our readers 😀
This post couldn’t have come at a better time! I’ve always been inspired by you guys. Now, I’ve finally taken the plunge with hoppingmiles.com. Even after setting up the website, I was still contemplating to show it to the world. Your words gave me the push! I’ve always looked upon you guys and you never disappoint! Loads of luv! 🙂
Hey Ashwini – all the best with your new venture 🙂 Thank you for supporting Bruised Passports – so glad to hear you enjoy reading our posts
You guys are surely doing things out of the normal and hats off to your courage and confidence. The articles have a depth of wealth and pictures just wants me to atleast take 2 international trips a year !!
Good luck with everything and keep rocking !! You guys are beyond amazing !!
Thanks a million Hardik – your words mean the world to us 😀
Reading through your posts gives us new goals and inspires us through our journey. We love the way you put up your experience. Looking forward to more amazing places through your travel stories!!
Thanks a lot 🙂
Happy travels!
Awesome blog, great tips for traveler and aspiring blogger. Would love to have a meetup in Bangalore.
Thanks a ton Vinuta 🙂
We’ll definitely try and plan a meetup in Bangalore!
Savi and Vid! I <3 you guys. I started my own blog after reading your blog (offcourse, I fell sick too and took up to travel) and you guys are personally one of my favorites (subtly you highlight- that travel can be done as a couple, plus long term travel can happen on a sabbatical too!)from all the bloggers. That gives me some respite from the other non-sense that goes on the internet which says (travel single and quit your job to turn digitally nomad! WHEW whatever that means)
I am so happy to have come across this article (AGAIN) as I browsed through your blog on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Thanks for reminding me these win-win tips 🙂
Thank you so much for all the love Deepika :-*
My husband showed me your blog because the Peru pics caught his eye (i have been talking about Peru for only 4 years now) and since then im hooked. I love your writing, pictures, travels and all the energy! I am a consultant and travel for work 2-3 weeks in a month and i don’t know how you guys stay so fit but I wish i could do that. If you ever need a place to crash in Boston let me know 😉
Hey Neeti – thanks a million, you’re very generous. So happy to hear you enjoy reading Bruised Passports. You’re right – it’s truly hard to stay healthy on the go but we try our best to eat right and exercise as much as we can 🙁
Wow. Had forgotten to leave a comment the last time I read this post.
Savi, you are a true and wonderful writer 🙂 I am a travel blogger myself and I adore the way you plan and write every blog post. And spread positive vibes in EACH and every one. Like they say, you have your heart in the right place. You go girl. Go get the world 🙂
Vid, amazing job with the photography. Love each and every pic. Creativity at its best. You guys truly are a team. It outright shows up in your work!
Wish you both tonnes and tonnes of good times ahead!
Thank you so much Anuradha 🙂 Your comment put huge smiles on our faces! You’re right, it does help that I don’t have to worry about the photographs and Vid doesn’t have to worry about the writing 😉
Haha, I understand. Me and my husband have a similar deal as well 😉
You guys are SO inspiring. Your positivism(is that the right word Savi?:P) and zest for life truly captivates me. I love reading your posts whenever i have the time and you guys inspire me to travel the world! I chanced upon this website when we were researching for ideas for a road trip through Spain earlier this year and I haven been able to stay away since 🙂
Keep up the great work guys! Count one more into your lovely ever-growing virtual family! 🙂
Cheers!
karthika
Thanks a million Karthika – we’re so happy to hear that 🙂 Hugs from both of us
What a coincidence! I also wanted to carry a small appliance like nutribullet for my next travel but, was thinking won’t it become tedious to prep for smoothies and clean the jar afterwards.. Should I add prep and cleaning supplies to my packing list?? Just wondering!! 🙂
How do you know what chargers to use in which country? How many do you carry? Would you suggest any good ones or an universal one for world travel?
Memories and pictures make great souvenirs but do you collect other souvenirs from your travels? I love collecting fridge magnets from the places I visit and my fridge door is filling up fast 🙂
Hey Neeha – we usually buy supplies for our smoothies from Farmers’ Markets along the way. We just have a generic universal adapter – it works in most countries but we’ve had to pick a new one here n there because the sockets are completely different. No we usually don’t pick up souvenirs 🙂
You guys are legit goals! Inspiring on another level…
Also, do go visit Italy sometime soon. Venice is rumoured to be sinking and god knows how long it’ll last. And, there’s a small village called Sitges there, unknown to most people outside of Italy but it’s beautiful beyond words. Blue grotto at Capri is a also a once in a lifetime kinda thing.
Thanks Tara – we’ve been too Venice a few times and even written about it. We do LOVE Italy but not big on Venice. Sitges is gorgeous. Will definitely try to visit Capri soon 🙂
SaviVid Recently found you guys on Instagram, your posts and pictures are so much inspiring.. Vid I like your travel backpack could you please share details?
Keep Rocking… keep travelling… Enjoy..
Sidhu
Thanks a ton Sidhu – hope you enjoy following our adventures around the world 🙂
Hi Guys,
I found you via instagram and then I started reading your blog. I must say that this blog is really inspiring. And with the tips you provided to the upcoming bloggers, I hope that I can learn and build a successful blog like yours. I’m a newbie in the blogosphere and want to bloom like you. I know it takes patience and time, but I don’t want to give up on my dreams to travel the world and write about every small experience.Yes, I agree with you that the materialistic things like diamonds, car, house are not what you take to your grave. But a life doing the things you love with your better half is definitely worth it.
Thank you guys for being practical in life!
Love,
Neha
Hey Neha – thanks for leaving that little note. It put a smile on my face 🙂 Wish you tons of luck with blogging and travelling
Hey Savi and Vid,
Firstly, you guys are inspiration.
Secondly, just wanted to know, how do you find out magazines to pitch articles to ? I am a freelancer too and I keep looking for options. Could you help me with a few names Savi ? Thank u.
Hey Meghana – thanks a ton. Our online portfolio works as a CV of sorts, so we get contacted by a lot of magazines and newspapers. Unfortunately I can’t help you with names as most of the work we do is premised on our work as travel bloggers but you should pitch to magazines in your niche – editors will definitely respond if they are interested! 🙂
Hey Savi & Vid!
I am hugely inspired by you guys. I look up to you guys and wish to inspire the world just like you do. Hats off to you both for being full time travelers. I have recently started travel blogging and my site is http://www.travelogueconnect.com
It would be great if you can have a quick look at the same and give me some honest feedback. Really appreciate your efforts. All the best for your future travels.
Regards,
Aditi
Thanks for the kind words and all the best with your journey Aditi 🙂
Hey. The blogs were so well-written and the photographs were so amazing that all this just mesmerized me. Your journey is truly inspirational. Wish you many more happy travels.
Regards,
Malvika.
Thank you so much Malvika 🙂
Hey Savi & Vid!
Few days back i sent you a query on Phuket travelling. I Thought you always reply to your queries. But you dont answer my Comments nor its reflecting on this page.
I also messages you on your instagram Page but there too No reply from your end.
I love your post and so always compliments your post. But Seems that you guys don’t bother.
Hey Shilpa,
We always try to reply personally to as many messages as we can. If you don’t see anything about a place on our website, then chances are we don’t have suggestions for that place 🙂 Hope you had a great trip to Phuket!
Thanks for all your love and support
Hi, I am your regular visitor of your blog.. You both are nice couple and lucky charm for each other.. Thanks for awesome pics and your travel experience. All the best for your future journey…
Hi. I’m been following your Social media for almost 2-3 years now. It’s always pleasant to see your posts and Positivity that you guys spread around the world. I don’t travel as often (Actually, just maybe twice a year) but I must say going through your blog makes me so anxious to read more and for some reason, your posts gives me comfort all time. Your thinking about living a life makes me rethink about mine that am i fully enjoying it? you guys gives me courage to move on in my profession. Thank you so much for sharing your personal life, thoughts. God Bless. Take care
Love from USA:)
Hey Shreya,
Thank you so much for sticking by us and for all your love and support. Means the world to us 🙂
Also share travel tips for moms.
Hi savi and vid, First of all, you both look so cute each other nice couple you are. It was absolutely fabulous to read your article. To be honest I love your journey and I wish to have a trip like you.
Hi, I am your regular visitor of your blog.. You both are nice couple and lucky charm for each other.. Thanks for awesome pics and your travel experience. All the best for your future journey…
Thanks a million 🙂