What I hate about travel blogs nowadays. It's rant time.
Editor’s note: I wrote this yesterday. Today I am feeling better and am back to work, so I’m much less grumpy!
Sometimes, one just feel like a good, self-indulging and liberating rant (especially when one is sick and a near-continuous stream of snot keeps gushing out of one’s tomato red nostrils). Well, ok, it’s not that I am instantly inclined to rant just because I have a cold, but it’s simply that, having to stay home to recover, I’ve just proceeded to try and fill the sudden upsurge of free time by diving into the blogosphere more fully and attentively than usual, only to get all worked up about how many of the travel blogs out there, some of them pretty famous, I just can’t read one more line of. So here is, for your entertainment, a list of things I despise about travel blogging nowadays. And please note. I am NOT saying that my blog is any better, because that’s for you to decide, not me. And I feel really grumpy, just for your information!
- Blogs which don’t have a clear, easily spottable way of accessing archives or displaying older posts. It has happened to me many times that I come across an interesting and beautifully-presented blog which has been going on for years but which, for some reason, I’m only reading now for the first time. I therefore decide I want to read some of the older posts, only to discover that there is no search button, nor a list of clickable countries visited anywhere to be seen. Or, if there is a way of accessing older posts, I have to scroll down through EVERY full post to find what am looking for. What’s up with that??? I am out!
-Vague titles or dry titles written for google. So I am completely bored and I start surfing the blogosphere for interesting articles to read, you know, in the kind of way or using the kind of tools where all you get to see of each post is its name. This method also usually means that several blogs are mixed together (for example on a Squidoo lens), and I’ll be eternally frustrated by how many bloggers write vague, non-location or non-topic specific titles which leave me guessing what they could possibly have written about. Or, on the other hand, there are those very dry, uninspiring blog titles such as, ‘Photo: Fruit’, or ‘Krakow, Poland`, which make me feel like I’m about to read a Wikipedia article rather than a blog post. Whatever happened to tickling your reader’s mind and interest?
-Travel bloggers who write like they are 16-year-olds with a lack of decent vocabulary. Gosh, just because your blog is free doesn’t mean you need not to make it worth reading. I was particularly shocked at how ‘eloquently’ a famous blogger recently described a famous site, and while I won’t copy paste it here word by word as I find that rude, I’m making up my own version of it to give you an idea of what it sounded like:
So, how was *insert attraction*? It was awesome! It was big and blue. I was happy that I saw it *move on to the next topic*.
Whatever happened to informing and inspiring one’s readers?
-Whirlwind posts. So ok, there are a lot of people out there who are on RTW trips, so they travel to many different countries and places within a relatively short period of time. Nothing wrong with that as long as they’re happy. But when I try and follow these people’s blogs, I just find myself dissatisfied. Post after post is filled with very general, uninsightful text about a place visited quickly and as quickly forgotten about. I can find that kind of information on any tourist website, so how about taking your time writing about destinations, and showing me things I have never read before? At least, that’s the sort of blogs I am interested in, not the ones which go ‘Oh, so we went to Hanoi for a couple of days. It’s really loud and women wear pyjamas on the street and everyone honks all the time. Off to Cambodia tomorrow!’
-Awful photos. So you’re telling me about this beautiful deserted sandy beach in South East Asia and how lovely it all was, and then I look at the photo you’ve added to your post and all I see is an uneven horizon, sand and sky with a greyish ting to it, and a palm tree sticking out in the middle? We all know that point and shoot cameras can often produce bad quality photos, but not only can you minimize this by working on your composition on site, but you can also retouch the photos easily and quickly on the many free photo editing programs on the web. Otherwise, you’ve pretty much achieved the opposite effect as far as I’m concerned. You’re trying to convince me to go somewhere but I only end up thinking, wow, this place looks awful! What is this guy talking about? Oh, and what’s the point of having a photo*insert day of the week* if your photos are just simply unbearable to look at?!!!! (Ahhh, this feels good). If you’re serious about blogging, upgrade to a better point and shoot camera, learn about photo composition, and tweek your photos by adjusting their contrast, brightness and colour levels.
-Condescending or hypocritical bloggers. Today I officially decided I wouldn’t read one more word of a blog which I had been dipping into on and off for a few months. Here are a few ideas I’ve come across in different blogs which struck me as condescending or hypocritical and have made me reach the same decision.
1) ‘Guidebooks are for lazy travellers’, but then later on ‘Why buy a guidebook when you can ‘milk’ (actual word used!) people for information, or borrow one from someone else? One is never too far away’.
2) ‘I don’t like doing touristy things’, said by a guy in a video holding a large beer in his shorts and flip-flops enjoying the view in a South East Asian country. Yeah…right.
3) ‘Hey, I want to travel around the world perpetually, but I don’t have money, so I’ve created this pretty useless digital product which if you have a conscience you will buy because you read my blog. On the other hand, I’m too much of a miser to spend an extra dollar to bring business to someone else, which I continuously boast about on my blog, and will try to get as much free stuff as possible, but hey, you have to give me a few of YOUR dollars for a product you probably are not even interested in, because that’s the right thing to do.’
4) ‘If you don’t travel perpetually or drop everything and go on a RTW trip, you MUST be depressed, you MUST be unfulfilled, you MUST not have the guts to do it!’ Erm…no. I’m just happy with travelling sometimes, not ALWAYS.
- It’s all about RTW travel. There is, of course, nothing wrong with RTW travel. What I can’t stand though is writers who go on and on and on about why RTW travel is so fantastic because a sedentary life is boring, repetitive and uninspiring, and 9-5 jobs are horrible and depressive. Maybe for you darling, but not for everyone else. I, personally, would kill for the financial stability of a full-time, 9-5 job, which I’ve never had since leaving University, and many people have a very fulfilling, interesting and productive sedentary life.
And by now, of course, you should also have understood what kind of travel blogs I love. I love travel blogs which take great care with what pictures they add and how they place them in their posts. Some take some pretty amazing shots using only compact cameras (I myself use only simple point and shoot cameras rigorously on auto). I love posts which tell me something I don’t know about countries so often written about, or write about often written places in a fresh, personal, and engaging way. If posts are information-oriented, they need to provide more than what I can find in one of the thousands of so called ‘one page travel guides’ available online. And if a blogger has an opinion, then I love it when he justifies it. Why is something awesome, or boring, or just nice? Actually, I love when none of these horrible words are used, because they don’t mean anything!
It is often said that there are too many travel blogs nowadays, and that they have become common place. That’s true, but I still think that there are very few inspired, well-rounded and good quality blogs out there worth following, and these sort of blogs are very precious.
-Text by Denise Pulis, photos via Flickr (click on photos for attribution) @ www.theartofslowtravel.com
36 Comments → “What I hate about travel blogs nowadays. It’s rant time.”
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I kinda hope you haven’t been on my blog yet
But I agree on most of your points. Hope you get better soon!
Thank you!
I agree with your points. If I could add one: People who don’t take the time to edit their work.
“long as their happy”
“word of a blog who I had been dipping into on and off for a few months”
Absolutely. I know I am a bad proofreader. I re-read my posts several times but I can never get all the typos!!! AAAhhhh. Now I’ll stop reading my own blog! And actually, I re-read it now and there were several other typos we had both missed
Great post – you’ve summed up a lot of my annoyances as well (and things that I hope I mostly avoid in my own blog!).
I also hear you about the RTW travel thing even though I am currently doing one. I can tell you almost 100% that when my current trip is over, I’ll go back to my old way of traveling. I’ll find a stable job with a steady income and I’ll make the most of my few weeks’ vacation each year.
Hi Katie,
As I said, I have nothing against RTW trips, I just can’t stand what is sometimes written about them (that people who don’t go on one are just too scared and lack the guts to do it).
BTW I absolutely love your blog. I love the theme focus and the fact that you’re taking me to places I’ve rarely read about on blogs. Personally, I’ve made it to Hungary and Slovakia. On my way to Berlin next year.
A good rant every once in awhile is a good thing. . . although I did go through your list carefully to consider how many of your points I violate. (A few, but mostly because I do work a 8-5 job and can never find enough time to blog – which isn’t an adequate excuse – and because I’m not very creative with post titles.)
I don’t expect the same quality of writing, photography and editing from most blogs that I would of printed publications (although the editing in print is often abysmal too), but I do strive for it myself (no comments on how often I fall short!) and I appreciate it in others.
Oh, and I got a good laugh out of your comments on archives – I have the same gripe and, while my own are accessible, they are a horrible hideous mess. I’ve been looking around for a year trying to figure out how I want to organize them so I can do a redesign. If you have any sites you find particularly good, I’d love to know.
I love your blog, including the occasional rant.
Hi Cindy,
Thanks for commenting and I’m glad you like my rants
Not all the points listed have equal value, and the titles one is one of the most minor. However, beautiful pictures are important, and I see that you have very beautiful ones on your blog.
As for the archives business, I really love how theroadforks.com do it, and their system served as an inspiration for mine.
Denise
I have to disagree with you on the RTW blog phenomenon. I personally love reading long term travel stories. It’s something I want to do in about 3 years time and right now reading about others travelling long term gives me a lot of inspiration. In fact, I like reading about what it’s like to travel long term more than the actual destinations these people go to. Maybe RTW trips arn’t for everyone but there’s a lot of people who would love to take one sometime in their life. There are a lot of dreamers reading travel blogs
What I do agree with you however is bloggers selling useless crap. No, I don’t need an ebook about what to pack for my trip because there’s about 1000 websites out there and countless forums that will tell me exactly what I will need to bring. About 95% of the ebooks I see on travel blog just make the blogger look like their travels are just a means to earn money and not about travel writing. They sound very desperate. Considering there are now ways to create really great books/ebooks online, maybe creating something that doesn’t seem useless will actually sell more copies…
Hi Mikey,
If you re-read what I wrote about RTW travel, you’ll see that I say that there is nothing wrong with it. This post is not about what I hate about travel nowadays, but what I hate about travel blogging nowadays, which is different. What I don’t like is when a blogger makes the sweeping statement that just because his sedentary life was boring, this is the case for all people, and people who don’t drop everything to travel the world are simply cowards.
When it comes to ebooks, I also don’t mind that a blogger actually writes something I am not interested in. In the example I mentioned though, the blogger had launched his first digital product (which I personally wasn’t interested in) and when it turned out that very few of his regular readers had bought it, he just kept writing about how, if they read their blog, they should buy it so as to support his travels, and I found that ridiculous.
I also believe that travel blogs don’t need to be ‘pure’ and avoid all money making pursuits. After all, I know very few people who can afford the luxury of refusing money when offered, and travel bloggers are no different, which I understand.
First time reader and all I can say is Amen sister! I am presently boycotting a number of blogs that I find condescending! Sure, my boycott will go entirely unnoticed but it’s the principle that counts!
Hi Jess,
Yes, it is the principle, I agree. I wanted to let one particular blogger know but I bit my tongue, as this particular writer doesn’t seem to take criticism well.
Ha Den! That’s gold!
Have to admit I’m terrified of committing all of the above now. The last I want is for you coming over to my blog and tearing it down in the comments.
Oh I’d never do that! I would find that incredibly rude, and as you can see, in this post I made sure not to mention any names. When I don’t like a blog I simply don’t read it.
I *heart* this post. I absolutely know what you mean, on all points – the patronizing bit is one of my pet-peeves.
Another thing that really bugs me: the whole “90 (countries) by 30 (years of age)” thing where someone takes the (previously discussed) fast-food approach to travel to extremes and just to add up in numbers. I have actually visited one of these blogs and she was just checking off countries, like “yeah, I can hit 4 countries this trip in just over a week, because they are all so close together!” Blech.
Shallow, unsatisfactory and frankly, a little offensive towards the countries you don’t even bother to visit properly because you think 24-72 hours there will give you a good idea of what the whole country is like and definitely enough time to check it off your list, right?
Hi Elisa,
Yes I agree with you, and I was sort of including that attitude in my point called ‘whirlwind posts’. I have also come across a couple of bloggers who marked countries as visited even if they have just changed planes there….
The sad thing about some of these blogs is that somehow they have thousands of followers, and I just don’t get how posts written after 24-72 hours in a place can be insightful (generally speaking, though I’ve come across exceptions). Still loving your blog, BTW
Heya – first time at your blog, and I read the rant! Haha. It is a good one though!
I hear you on so many of the points – ESPECIALLY about photos. I will turn away from a blog very quickly if they don’t take the time to edit and place them properly, and take good photos in the first place! Without attention to this, readers are only getting half the story (if that!)
I love your website title, as hubby and I are BIG advocates of slow travel (even though we just got off a 40 day travel blitz, it tired us out completely and we can’t wait to get into much slower movement). We try to be very careful of not coming across as condescending – we often proclaim how much we *love* our life (because we do!) but totally understand that it is not for everyone!
Great post, now excuse me while I go browse what else you have on here!
Hi Den!
You’ve vocalized a lot of my thoughts on travel blogs around these days. Ok so i’ve too jumped on the RTW + travel blog bandwagon. But I’m surprised by the number of travel blogs (even some of the most popular ones) that get away with poor vocabulary and even certain random (and even irrelevant) posts which you know are there only to fill up space! And the sheer lack of effort into putting up at least half decent photos on the posts is a new low.
Glad someone’s pointing it out
Cheers,
Hi Lavanya,
I really didn’t mean to say that there’s anything wrong with RTW trips. And yes, that’s what upsets me: the fact that some very famous and loved blogs often have really bad quality photos and simple, sort of drunk-college-student language!!!
Great post – agree with many of your points. I feel strongly about the first one – no archives or clear categories.. I often find myself searching through blogs for a post on some place I know they wrote, but there’s no way to find it… sigh. Also feel very strong about the condescending or hypocritical bloggers… but luckily there are still tons of good travel blogs out there for us to enjoy
I totally agree with you on many of your points. I particularly loved the line “writers who go on and on and on about why RTW travel is so fantastic because a sedentary life is boring, repetitive and uninspiring, and 9-5 jobs are horrible and depressive.” The idea that most people don’t travel because they are afraid and that people who never travel live boring lives is, quite frankly, incredibly arrogant. If my parents had chosen a nomadic lifestyle, rather than a ‘boring’ existence raising a family then there is a high chance that I would not even be here today.
Yes, I have chosen a lifestyle with travel as a priority but I do not deign to think that this makes me any more unique or interesting than people who stay at home (just see how many hundreds, nay thousands, of travel blogs there are out there and you will realise that travelling is no longer unique!) I am currently travelling around South America for a few months and I’m having a great time. But I preferred living in Vietnam for 3 years where I felt that I could begin to connect with the country I was living in.
I totally agree with your point about the photographs. Bad photos on blogs really put me off. As you say; a little thought when composing the picture and a little editing work afterwards can make a world of difference. I don’t pretend that I am particularly good at this myself but I am working on it!
Thanks, I enjoyed your rant
Hi,
Glad you enjoyed the rant! It sure felt good.
Yep, awful photos are just so horrible on a blog, and blurry ‘photos of the day’…oh my, I shouldn’t start again!
I’m heading to Vietnam for a couple of months next year and I look forward to trying to understand the local culture. I’ll take a look at your blog and see what you have written about the country as I’m really interested in other people’s opinion about it. People seem to either love it or hate it!
Agree with you on most all of your points, and I appreciate that you defend a person’s right to feel fulfilled by a rooted lifestyle. If everyone were the same (and everyone were on the move all the time), would there even be anything unique in the world to see or experience? The more people who stay put, the better for those vagabonds among us, haha.
One additional consideration on the travel blogging is the intended audience. In my experience, many bloggers – especially those on rtw trips – are really just writing for their families back home, to let their kin know where they are and how they are doing, or recording their own memories for personal satisfaction.
Also, it is not always about the end result but sometimes just about the doing. Not all bloggers are good, interesting, or even careful writers, but you do learn something about yourself when you open up and put your thoughts and feelings into words on a page (or the web). If you as a reader don’t like the blog, don’t read it! But I would not want to discourage people from trying their hand at it. It does change the way one travels and experiences new things.
I see what you mean, and I agree, but I was specifically referring to ‘bad’ travel blogs which are seeking a wider audience than just their family and friends, the kind which have ‘follow me’ displayed proudly on their web page. As you said, if I don’t like a blog, I don’t follow it, but as I keep coming across such blogs (because I am looking for good travel blogs to follow), it’s impossible not to notice
. Thanks for commenting.
I Like Your Blog About What I hate about travel blogs nowadays. It’s rant time. .I Am Very Happy To Read Of Your Blog.Really Great Post.Its Brilliant.
Thanks.
I particularly agree with the photography point. Bad photos turn me off a site faster than a.. really fast thing. (Poor metaphors are also another stickler
)
Enjoyed reading your rant; mine would sound much the same
. I really appreciate bloggers who take the effort to write engaging stories & add good pictures. Unfortunately, many blogs sound more like a slightly personalised version of a travel brochure! I’d rather read a blog with good content & fewer postings than somebody who posts a couple of bad pictures & a paragraph every week.
Hi Raji,
Yes, I couldn’t agree more. I do love photo posts, but they need to be worth my time!
nice, so refreshing to come across some honesty! one thing i’m continuously turned off by are overly busy cartoon-y travel blogs with this & that flashing around. when i see one, i click away. travel to me is serene & a journey, it’s about learning something new. maybe i’m an oldie at 33, but if the blog is chaotic, i can only infer the content will be juvenile & choatic as well.
wow, i just had myself a little rant as well!
Hi Lila!
It’s good to rant, and in fact, it’s good to be picky as not all travel blogs are good blogs. Glad you enjoyed my post.
Awww, I’m a new travel blogger, maybe I’m guilty of the awful photos…
Agreed. I can’t stand 99% of the travel blogs out there. The internet brings out the best and worst of editorial, photography and the boring.
I found myself nodding along quite a bit when reading this. At the same time, it’s obvious you’ve never read MY blog with my trip to China where I saw amazing mountains, ate incredible food and met wonderful people; or my trip to India with its wonderful mountains, amazing food and incredible people.
I just realized your post is a year old, but I started this pointless comment so I’m going to finish it. Actually I am finished. If anyone ever does read this, you should buy my ebook on how to see incredible mountains, eat wonderful food and meet amazing people on a budget…
Hi Daniel,
Your comment made me smile. This blog post may be almost a year old, but it’s still very much relevant, I think, and the web is still full of blogs (some of which have been around for years!!!) making the same unforgivable mistakes
. I’m not that annoyed by ‘wonderful’, ‘incredible’ and ‘amazing’ – my deepest hate is directed towards ‘bustling’, ‘breath-taking’ and ‘quaint’!
I am now just reading this post for some reason (in fact as far as I can tell, this is the first time I have been on your website). That said, this had me laughing and agreeing.
I don’t blame people for their blogs mistakes. Mine isn’t perfect and could careless but I don’t make a dime from it and post only when I feel like it (which isn’t often anymore), so if I give something to read take the pretty photos for what they are and forgive my bad spelling on every 8th word! lol But I do agree, anymore I am pained to read any travel blogs because while I like seeing “Top 10″ posts, most are just done so poorly that they turn me off in general, among other things.
Any more, I just post 10 photos, write a few lines and leave it at