I’ve been writing about travel online since 1998.
Since before it was called blogging.
Before “blogs” even existed.
I started writing about travel because in 1998 my husband and I took a year off to travel around the world. Just about that time a little thing called the internet took off. Suddenly people had web sites called travelogues; I knew I had to do the same.
It was the dark ages of wired travel, well before wi-fi and Facebook. Sometimes that meant accessing a dial-up connection from a hotel room, or pulling the phone wires out the wall to jack in to the phone line. Once or twice we even used an acoustic coupler (look it up if you were born after 1985). We were noticed by the New York Times and featured in an article about “techo-nomads” who were traveling around the world (12 years later, our site is the only one still active).
Thankfully, technology has improved over time; I still travel with all the latest gadgets, our web site has evolved into a blog, and I’ve jumped into social media with both feet.
But while I embrace the evolution of travel blogging, there are other changes which bother me enough to say something; where has all the content gone?
It seems to me many popular travel blogs now are not filled with actual personal experiences, but by what will appeal to the masses; top 10 lists, generic travel tips, and mere “snapshots” of travel experiences. One high traffic travel blogger now has trips sponsored by tourism boards and unfortunately, the posts read like copy out of a travel brochure.
What has disappeared is the personal experience; the specifics around the actual things people do while traveling, the people they meet, special places to eat and sleep. The avid planner in me is disappointed in the changes. I still …
