Once in a while I share with you one of my favorite travel bloggers who are a big inspiration to me. This time Alyssa Ramos from My life’s a Movie. She is my favorite solo female travel blogger and with her (mostly GoPro) pictures she just blows you away.
For Stylish Travel Tips I had the chance to ask her 6 questions. Alyssa shows you a glimpse behind the scene of a true travel blogger and gives you tips how to achieve your goals. And with her personal life quotes she shows us in my opinion the secret of her success.
1. How long traveling now and how many countries
I travel already for some years and I’ve been on my current trip for about 6 weeks now, and I went to three countries; India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and will be hanging in Bangkok after this because the rent there is cheaper than where I live in LA.
2. Favorite country or best experience ever
I have a few, I can’t pick one or I’d feel bad. Iceland is definitely at the top of my list, because I’m more of an adventure/outdoorsy person, plus I think I’m a professional waterfall chaser, and Iceland just has tons of awesome ones. It’s also my top recommendation for solo travel because it’s not only awesome for an adventure, but super safe and uncrowded.
One of my most epic experiences was randomly going to Svalbard (Spitsbergen) the northernmost inhabited place in the World, Another one is climbing the 3000 metal steps up the Stairway to Heaven in Oahu, Hawaii.
“Stairway to Heaven”, Hawaii
3. What is your life quote and why
I have two, the first one is, “Dreams don’t work unless you do”, because it’s 100% true – so many people sit around and are like “I wish I could do this”, or even “She’s so lucky to live the dream”, but it’s not luck, and if I sat around and wished or waited instead of worked, none of this would ever be possible.
The second one is the morals quote from Lokai, “Stay Humble, Stay Hopeful”, it’s really how I live my life, and how I always want to remain as a person. To me it means that no matter how low you may feel sometimes, or how high from success, what’s most important is to always stay humble and grateful for what you have and what you’ve accomplished, while also maintaining hopefulness to keep going and not let things go to your head.
Shangri-La’s Villingili
4. How do you manage to travel and work around the world
Easy, I just bring my laptop, charger, iPhone, and a Skyroam portable wifi hotspot 😉 Other than that, a lot of discipline and ambition! I have tons of “to-do” and “to-write” lists, I set reminders for post dates and follow-ups, I write out time differences so I know when peak posting times are wherever I’m traveling, and I constantly seek new opportunities.
Wina Wayna, Inca Trail
5. You are now at the Maldives, which destination is next?
Haha I’m actually writing this from the ferry going from one island to the next in the Maldives! So technically I’m supposed to fly back to LA in a couple days, but as I mentioned before, seeing out much rent and AirBnB is in LA and comparing it to how cheap it is for me to keep traveling, makes me lean towards just posting up in Bangkok for $28 a night instead. Plus it’s a lot cheaper to fly to other countries from there, so I’m currently looking into Northern Africa, and possibly the Middle East!
At the Maldives
Bonus question: Do you have a tip for other travel bloggers?
My tip is to only try to be a travel blogger if you’re seriously passionate about travel, and helping others travel too. I hate to say it but there’s so many people these days who see the seemingly-glamorous side of it (and I’ll admit, I’m guilty of making travel blogging look easy and awesome), and think of it as just a way to travel for free or get paid to travel, but it’s A LOT of work, and pretty much a life commitment!
If you are really serious about it, focus on quality content and establishing yourself, but to your readers first. So many travel bloggers waste so much time trying to gain popularity and recognition with other bloggers/influencers, and don’t realize that that is NOT your key audience for growth!
For example, travel blogger FB groups or IG “comment pods” where it’s all only travel bloggers commenting on other travel bloggers stuff just for the sake of getting engagement numbers up.
Sure, you’ll get the numbers, but you won’t gain the fans! Plus, I know for a fact that PR agencies and hotels actually read the comments to see if they’re nonsense, or actual people interested in your travels!
Sunset in Sri Lanka
Thank you Alyssa for your time to answer me these questions. It is always nice to get to know the person behind the picture. Do you want to know where Alyssa is going next? Follow her on Instagram or real life on Snapchat through her website My life’s a Movie.
What are your favorite travel bloggers? Please let me know in your comment below.
XOXO Kasia