Each week we feature an interview with a member of the Superstar Blogging community. These interviews highlight the ups and downs faced on the road to success, illuminating helpful tips and tricks along the way. If you want to get inspired and succeed in the world of travel blogging, video, writing, or photography then consider these interviews must-read material! This week we are featuring Warren from the Travel Writing course.
Tell us about yourself, Warren!
OK, the facts and figures first. I’m from Sydney, Australia. Last time I looked I was 40 years old but another year may have slipped in there by now! I’ve managed to smuggle myself into 60 countries over the past 20 years and I typically travel independently. I’ve managed to squeeze this travel in between working full time in the field of Digital Experience Design having built and managed websites and apps for some of Australia’s largest (and smallest) companies.
I have just stepped out of my corporate comfort zone and am now based in Bali, Indonesia with my partner Erin, seeking the stereotypical Digital Nomad way of life. Still very early days though!
Apart from that I’m into the outdoors, including trail running, hiking, and camping. In particular hammock camping. Nothing better to sleep in (and easier to set up) than a hammock when you are in the outdoors!
Sounds like you’ve just taken a big step! How did travel become a part of your life?
I’ve always had a curiosity to explore what lies beyond my back gate. At age 20 I took my first solo overseas trip which brought me to the ski fields of the Sierra Nevada surrounding Lake Tahoe which is a picturesque puddle wedged in between California and Nevada, USA.
Apart from the powder snow (which you don’t get much of in Australia!) the experience gave me a sense that there is so much variety in the world to explore. Meeting people from all over the world and hearing their travel plans set me on a path to see as much of the world as I possibly could. It’s the same each time I go travelling: I just come back with more inspiration to travel further and longer!
You’re diving into digital nomad life. How did that come about?
I essentially had the two basic ingredients of the Digital Nomad lifestyle. I just had not blended them together, you might say. Really, I think it was just a matter of timing and lining a few things up to take the plunge. It’s just taken 20 years for that alignment to occur!
I’ve dabbled in some start up ideas and enjoy the process of lean start up design. I’m looking forward to having time and space to focus on this more. So Bali is the first stop and then we’ll see where that takes us!
What tips do you have for others thinking of becoming full-time remote workers/nomads?
While I lack a bit of credibility this right now, I think knowing what your strengths are both in your professional skills and your personality. What is it you do naturally well that others seem to value? Then, how can you apply that skill that is not location dependent?
I also think focusing on building a strong network of trusted people. Being remote you want to be able to trust people and have them trust in you. I’m not naturally a strong networker but I know it’s something I’ll need to focus on. What better time to practice it when your next meal depends on it!
When it comes to travel, what kinds of experiences do you find the most rewarding?
Given the travel writing context to this interview, I feel the best experiences are in fact those that have the classic narrative arc.
This begins with the inciting incident that causes the escape of the day-to-day. The quest as you explore, seeking out your intended destination. The unique experiences had as part the journey including all the spontaneous ‘slay-the-dragon’ type events that occurred along the way. Then at the end, a reflection on the lessons learnt or what has changed in you as a result.
The tagline for our blog Sling Adventures is Escape, Explore, Experience. While not intentional at the time, I think these three words capture the three main aspects of the travel story in sequence.
Can you give us one example of how you have you embraced this tagline to have a memorable trip?
While every trip is different, my most memorable trip encapsulates this well. It was to Antarctica, back in 2014. The destination alone would have made this unique however my journey was as a crew member aboard a 60ft sailing boat crossing the very tumultuous Drake Passage. Plus, while in Antarctica I had the opportunity to climb quite a few mountains and hike, camp and kayak in unimaginable places. We’d see whales, seals, and penguins almost constantly and we got to spend some time in a few of the research bases, even camping out in an old British refuge hut!
I’d never really sailed or done rope-assisted mountain climbing before. So sailing through one of the roughest seas in the world and climbing on some of the most treacherous, remote terrain was definitely a test of my physical and mental ability. This aspect is probably the most memorable piece I took away, apart from lots of pictures of cute penguins and icebergs!
To get a sense of this experience you can read my article on Climbing in Paradise Bay.
Let’s shift gears for a moment. Can you share some of your favorite or more unique culinary experiences during your travels?
I’m not a real ‘foodie’ but these are some more unique culinary experiences:
- Antarctic Cod: The hilarious, generous and jovial Ukrainian crew at Verdansky base on the Antarctic Peninsula cooked up this fish at midnight after a few too many vodkas. After being presented with an entire fish I was surprised to find it tasted delicious!
- Singapore White Pepper Crab: The original no frills, No Signboard restaurant in the Geylang district of Singapore serves up a very tasty White Pepper crab fresh from the tank.
- Nepalese Spring Rolls: Eaten just south of Jomson on the Annapurna circuit. One particular guesthouse surely interpreted the government issued menu incorrectly by serving an inedible spring roll with a weird green vegetable that despite my hunger I could not actually swallow without gagging.
You’ve been to 60 countries – an impressive feat! What destinations are still high on your bucket list?
- Iceland: The scenery looks spectacular and I am interested in exploring the arctic regions after my Antarctic experience and seeing the aurora borealis.
- Australia: Strangely enough, being Australian, I’ve done the least amount of long term travel in my own backyard, albeit a big one! A classic 4WD trip around Australia is definitely in the cards.
- Madagascar: Mostly for the unique wildlife, but any land separated from the rest of the world is bound to be unique in many ways.
As an adventurous traveler you’ve likely had some misadventures, right?
I’ve been pretty lucky in my travels, but two particular misadventures I’ve had are:
- Our guesthouse in Palermo, Buenos Aires was held up at gun point. We were enjoying afternoon tea on the rear courtyard. I walked past reception to grab a book moments before a gunman stormed in demanding cash. The receptionist raced toward me pushing me into my room until it was all over! I grabbed a pen knife along with a book as protection… I learnt maybe my first reaction in a crisis may need some work!
2. Having to Hitchhike out of the Erg Chebbi sand dunes in Morocco when one of us got seriously ill made for an interesting story of trust and overcoming language barriers. It is peculiar that the most troubling times travelling make for the best stories!
I think it’s fair to say that blogging is its own misadventure. Can you tell us how Sling Adventures got started?
I only started blogging personally the past few years. I have always taken scribbled notes during trips but never converted them into legible stories. So I still have quite a backlog to get through! I have created blogs as part of my job for large companies to improve their SEO, so I am familiar in the practice. Yet running my own blog, I am the designer, developer, copywriter and editor so it is a daunting, yet liberating, experience!
Our quest to be self-supported digital nomads required a theme. So the Sling Adventures blog intends to provide that theme for other ideas to sprout from, ideally in the area of adventure travel. We do a lot of hammock camping so the ‘sling’ aspect relates to that, a concept conceived on the shores of Inle Lake in Myanmar! But the intent is that it be versatile to apply just as easily to slinging a backpack on your shoulder and hitting the road towards adventure.
When it comes to your own blog, what has been your biggest struggle so far?
Time. I’ve found making enough time to create the blog whilst working full time has been a struggle. But this is mainly where to direct my limited time. Learning to write, planning to what to write, and actually writing. The design, content structure around categories and tags the plug-ins to use, SEO aspects, etc. Plus making the wrong decisions and having to go back over every article and make amends. It’s all very time consuming!
Have you had any recent blogging successes?
One of my blog articles on the iconic hotel at Pumphouse point, Tasmania was shared on the Hotel’s Facebook page to their ten thousand followers. I’ve also just had my first article about Climbing in Antarctica published in Australian based Outer Edge Mag (edition 52) with another promised in their next edition. To date though this is all unpaid. I’m seeing a steady increase in traffic which is all organic at the moment so it’s probably the most promising sign of success. My article on Tomorrowland is probably the article that has performed the best. Not surprisingly, it was an assist from David Farley that added to the readability of it!
What is one thing you wish you knew when you started blogging?
How to write well. I’ve written over 70 articles from the back log of trips I’ve done which I thought were pretty good. Now that I have a better understanding of how to write (thanks to this course!) I look at these looking at these old articles and I need to rewrite them completely (which I’ll end up doing). Spending time writing, editing, and poring over the details is crucial given that each article may be the only exposure a person has to your site and brand which will decide if they stay or never come back!
Have you found any helpful resources that have made blogging easier?
The Nomadic Matt writing course has been my main resource for writing to date. Sites like Grammarly are good to review my punctuation. Plug-ins like Yoast SEO are super useful for inline editing. I also use Google Search Engine Console and Google Analytics to track how the content is performing. WordPress has a good online community for troubleshooting technical issues also. Plus I’m reading a lot of travel articles to get a flavour to different approaches. Trello is also a good app for planning and tracking all the tasks that need doing.
Have you found blogging has changed how you travel?
Erin and I recently went to Queenstown, New Zealand as our first unofficial assignment to report on the annual Winter Festival. This made us realise how different the preparation is when you intend to write about it. This experience is captured pretty openly in the article.
I have taken notes during most my travels and I generally read up on the history of a place before I arrive. I can see that the more prior reading and the more note taking will allow more unique opportunities to open up and more detailed accounts to be written while looking for subjects, angles and pegs before the trip or along the way. Although I still like arriving in a new place with no pre-conceived idea. Erin booked a surprise trip to Sri Lanka this year for my birthday so I had no idea until we were actually at the airport!
We all know blogging can be a hassle. So, why do YOU continue to do it?
I read a newspaper article on sailing in Croatia once which single-handedly inspired me to arrange a replica trip. The thought that my writing could do the same for someone else is motivation to keep blogging. I also enjoy reliving the trips I’ve spent with many people over the years. Some I have never seen again, others have become close friends. More selfishly, travel is when I’m feeling most alive so the blogging aims to extend that feeling once I’ve unpacked my bags.
Do your family and friends support your travels/digital nomad dreams?
I have a very supportive group of friends and family. It is probably not surprising to them that I’ve made this move. Some are probably thinking what’s changed?! I think if I was younger some more questions may be asked. Still I don’t have a clear cut plan which is hard to explain what I’m actually doing. So, I expect there are a few people still, quite rightly, scratching their heads!
What advice would you give to a new blogger?
Commitment to consistent, quality content production would be the number one piece of advice for a new blogger. This is true both in a personal blog and blogs I’ve done for large businesses. The ease of setting up a blog is both a blessing and a curse. Setting up a blog is a pretty simple thing to do. Setting it up well technically requires some specific but easily learnt skills. However, if the quality of content is poor or the content is added infrequently or sporadically the site will simply die. It requires a commitment of time and effort to blog religiously and constantly plan for what to write about next. Ideally this will be in line with trends and what people have found useful from what you’ve written before.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from travel?
That I never regret going travelling! The amount of time I’ve spent deciding if I have enough time, enough leave, enough money or even where and when to go. All this disappears when I am travelling and having a new experience. It is hard to justify while the day-to-day surrounds you but I never regret a different perspective on life.
Tell us about your blog and where we can find you on social media.
Sling Adventures mission is about inspiring people to Escape. Explore and Experience more of what the world has to offer. Right now it is really just a a recap of travels I’ve done personally over the years with some travel tips thrown in and, as a place to develop my writing skills. This focus will shift to more consumable content rather than just memoirs but will still track our progress towards a digital nomad lifestyle. So join us for the ride! You can find us on Instagram and Facebook, too!