Working with passion is never redundant
Love for the world and its variety of cultures was something Andreja Jernejčič already felt as a child. Her wish was to make traveling a full time occupation and it came true when she introduced her blog Adventurous Journey to the digital community in 2012. Till now she gained nearly 50K followers and as she says, travel blogging does take a lot of your time and hard work, but it brings so much joy and satisfaction as well. In the interview we talked about her passion, why she loves traveling and how she combines writing and traveling.
You are a journalist by profession, photographer by passion and wanderlust at heart - was there a specific event in your life that made you what you are?
It was not a specific event in particular, I would say it was more of a sequence of special events. I traveled a lot with my parents, especially over Europe and that was the time when I started to love traveling and exploring new parts of the world. What really convinced me that this is what I want to do, was my first trip to Thailand with my best friend. I was completely moved by the country, I experienced different world and I overcame all the impediments - world was actually not a scary place! After Thailand I never really stopped, I traveled to Belgium, Spain in skipped Slovenian version of "Spring Break" to backpack through East Africa. I started to travel alone, which increased my curiosity for other culture, culinary and more. Because of traveling I became much more self-confident since I managed to survive outside the Europe.
I have to say, that I never met a person that would skip Spring Break to travel somewhere else. (laugh)
I simply wanted to experience something new. And I finally had a chance to take a bit more time. My friend and I prepared a travel plan for East Africa and none of my family or friends actually believed me that we will do this. Before the trip I received a request from one guy if he can join us and this is how we ended backpacking through Uganda, Kenia, Tanzania and Zanzibar for 5 weeks. I would do it again.
And how did you see Africa at that time?
East Africa is very developed if you compare it to the other places in Africa. The rhythm of life is very different but nature in Uganda for example remembered me of Slovenia a lot. During the traveling I also did rafting on Nile river and even bungee jumping. The people were incredibly nice, in Zanzibar they are used to tourists.
Since you wanted to share all your experiences with your family and friends you decided to write a blog. Adventurous Journey now became your source of income. You have around 50.000 followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which is very logical since your blog is rich with amazing photography and stories from your traveling. What do you think is the main thing that brings new followers to your blog?
My blog was created with an idea that we, people, are very visual creatures. That is also why I put a lot of effort in creating photography because I want it to be it a tool that brings people to my blog. My blog is a personal blog so everything I write are my own thoughts. I dedicate a lot of time to manage social media which can take a lot of energy but it is also very rewarding. If you are very social you attract many people. Since all the channels of social media are different, you need to create separate strategies for each of them. For example when I traveled to Spain I got many new followers from Instagram, because people react to hashtags more.
It is very obvious that creating a good blog takes a lot of dedication and energy.
True. I would say that writing is the easy part. But organizing the text and promotion takes much more time. I learned to work with Wordpress by myself and when I was ready to put my blog to another level I had to test and make a serious strategy of the website. I learned a lot from other travel bloggers and they gave me an advice on how to make a good blog, how to write etc. When you write a blog you have to be consistent, which takes a lot of time - I was surprised how much actually. I had to start to do statistics as well. Now, after some time, people started to come to me for advice (laugh). One of the followers for example asked me not so long ago how to handle love when you travel or how to overcome broken heart. Is was very personal and I was really happy that people are trusting me and that I touch them with my blog.
When you decide to travel to the new destination, do you prepare so much as you prepare for writing a new blog post?
No, when I travel I don`t make a detailed plan. I only define the main points that I want to see. Then I read articles about the destination from my fellow bloggers and I do use a lot of time to figure out the logistics in the new country - how do I come from airport to hotel, how can I move etc. I also consider to visit places that allows me to take good photos. I rarely stay at one place for longer than 2 to 3 days and once I am back home I start writing and preparing a new blog post - that is the best time, since I am full of ideas after I return home. The reason why I write when I am home is because I want to fully enjoy the trip and not lose time with writing.
Which destination was the one that left the biggest impression on you till now?
Definitely Thailand! I fell in love with Bangkok. I will be returning there all my life. And I would say India as well. I know a lot of people don`t particularly like it or they get food poisoning. But once I was there I liked it immediately! First time I was there I traveled to the North (Mumbai - Radjastan- Delhi - Kashmir). The second time was invited by Indian Touristic Agency to come to Kerala for 14 days, which is the most developed part of India in the south of the country. I also visited Goa.
How do you get around in such culturally different places?
I adjust to a situation very easy and not many things surprise me anymore. I am very happy that till now I haven`t had any bad experience. The worst experience I had was food poisoning in Morocco and overpaying for the train ticket in India. But it happened because I was there for the first time and I didn`t have the feeling how the life works there. Later I learned that buses in India should not be trusted and they can easily break down (once I waited 10 hours for a new bus to come). When I travel alone sometimes I "act" like I am not alone. I was traveling by myself in India and on the train I found a place next to another foreign traveler. We started to talk and we gave an impression that we travel together. When you travel in the group there is rarely any problem. As a woman sometimes helps that you speak louder, that you learn to ignore, put sunglasses on and avoid situations.
Lately media is full of intimidating people and making us believe world is becoming dangerous. How do you overcome fear (if you even have any)?
I have only one opinion for that. I was in London when attacks happened in 2006. There was no Facebook and social media was not that popular yet. I didn`t even know what happened but I started to receive all these text messages from friends and family if I am OK. In the city there was no panic and I didn`t feel the urge to leave London.
Now looking at Belgium, France etc. it is so different. There is a "panic culture" existing in the world at the moment. Media just wants to get clicks and they feed from the fear from people. I think that panic is unnecessary and should not be the reason not to travel. You cannot avoid it completely but you should not stop living because of it. "The panic culture" has its own agenda. When I traveled to India I read a lot about the rapes that happened. I figured out that those situations had many angles. If you stay on the well traveled roads and don`t look for trouble, it is difficult for something to happen to you. I don`t go out in the night alone (only if I am in the group) and I avoid a lot of problems that way.
Do you have any advice for young people that want to travel and write a blog?
Writing a blog can be a full time job, sometimes it takes even more than 8 hours a day. People think that writing a blog is writing a post every other week and adding some photos to it, but it is much more than that. I advice them to buy a domain, start writing and go to social media. If you will do it with passion and heart it will shine out in your product. If you will do it because of the money I recommend you find another profession, where you will have more possibilities. The truth is that having a success with a blog is very rare.
