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 to succeed, then consider these interviews must-read material! This week we are featuring Theresa from Adventures in Middle Aged Travel!
Hi Theresa! Tell us about yourself!
Hi everyone, I’m Theresa. I live in Vancouver, BC and have for most of my life. After high school I went to college, but left after two years as I had no clue what I wanted to do. I went to work in hotels and restaurants and ended up taking a two-year Hospitality Administration/Hotel Management diploma course while working full time. I then worked for a hotel management company and then a cellular phone company. In 2001, my daughter was born and my husband and I were lucky enough to be able to afford for me to be a stay-at-home mom. During this time, I finished my degree online and also completed the Award of Achievement in Creative Writing through the University of British Columbia. I went back to work part-time three years ago for a fashion designer. I turn 50 this year and I’m still trying to come to grips with that!
And how did you get started traveling?
This sounds silly, but I saw a terrible movie in 1982 called “Summer Lovers.” It was bad (really bad!) but it took place in Greece and I fixated on going there one day. I finally made it there in 1999, when my husband and I went to the island of Patmos for our honeymoon.
After Greece, we went to Belize in 2001. Only after we booked the trip did I find out I was pregnant with our daughter so I did not get to participate in any margarita days (although I did go swimming with sharks). We didn’t take any major trips for a long while after that; parenting and travelling can be challenging! In 2007, when Mike asked what I wanted to do the year I turned 40, I told him we were going back to Europe, so we did. Since then we’ve been back to Europe three times with many other smaller getaways in between, both with and without our kid.
What are some of your favorite places you’ve been to?
Whenever I think about this question I always come back to a little place in Chimay, Belgium. We took an afternoon and sat on the patio of the Auberge de Poteaupré, Chimay Abbey’s Trappist beer tasting room. The view was so serene and the beer and food were so tasty, I would go back there in a hot second (but it probably wouldn’t be the same!)
Another trip I will never forget is climbing the Bruges Belfry. Everyone was filling out just after the noon bells (so very loud) and a young woman was trying to get up the (single-file) steps to the top. She started cursing and complaining that we should just get the hell out of her way and let her up. I resolved at that moment to never be that kind of traveller. I hate to say this, but Mike and I blocked the steps just a little bit longer to piss her off!
Let’s talk about your blog. How long have you been blogging?
I’ve always written about our travels in a journal but I didn’t get started blogging until this year. People would ask about our trips and I couldn’t very well pull out my ratty old journals so I decided to have somewhere to put everything.
(Is it weird that I look forward to writing about the trips almost as much as the trips themselves?)
You blog about middle-aged travel. What sort of posts do you find get the most traction?
Middle-aged, Gen X, call it what you will, it’s a differentiation and a niche, I suppose. This generation wants to read about things they want to do themselves, things they can afford to do. Right now I’m doing a bunch of posts about our most recent trip, a river cruise on the Danube, and they are doing better than most things I’ve done. Don’t forget, I’m pretty new at this and any traction is good traction!
What struggles have you encountered as you build your blog?
It is kind of depressing when I read other blogs that have loads of traffic and they are just terrible. I wince every time I come across grammatical and spelling mistakes (Or when the site itself is hard to look at). But then I tell myself that I’m not doing it for anyone but myself, really; it’s so satisfying to press “publish.”
Do you have any tips to share to help your fellow bloggers step up their spelling and grammar game?
The thing that makes me grind my teeth the most is the your/you’re mixup; getting it wrong just seems lazy so make sure you pay attention to the details. Some spelling can slip through the cracks of a spell-checker, so proof, proof, proof! I use a free extension for Chrome called Grammarly, it will catch all sorts of punctuation and grammar mistakes right in WordPress.
Overuse of exclamation marks also bothers me – let the writing speak for itself, don’t force emotion on the reader.
What blogging goals have you set for yourself this year? How do you plan on reaching them?
I’m just going to keep plugging away. I do want to build some traffic that actually enjoys reading what I write and wants to come back and read some more. I’ve been teaching myself the ins and outs of social media as it seems that may be the key to the game (you know, besides good content). I’ve also done some guest posts for sites with a much higher DA than mine, which helps!
What do you enjoy the most about blogging?
I’ve always been a writer. I used to write a lot of fiction but never seemed to finish anything. I then turned to creative non-fiction and that really grabbed me. Travel blogging is the best kind of creative non-fiction for me; you get to tell a story, but it’s a true story! Also, you don’t have to write 30K words and you don’t need anyone’s approval but your own.
What is one thing you wish you knew before you started blogging?
I had never heard of SEO before I started blogging; I had never configured a theme. I wish I’d known a bit more about those things. I am glad that I decided to go with self-hosting early on as hosted WordPress is too limited for doing everything I wanted to do.
In addition to this course, what other resources do you rely on for help/information?
I have joined several Facebook groups that support and share each other’s content. I don’t have a particular favorite blog, but I read a lot of them. There are a couple of photo editing apps that come in handy (such as Snap Seed and Lightroom) but I try not to edit my photos too much.
Big question: Why do you keep blogging?
I love to write and I must admit there’s a thrill when someone genuinely likes what you’ve done and says so. Positive reinforcement goes a long way towards helping me move forward and continue writing. Chances are I would write about our travels even if blogging wasn’t an option.
What are some of your fav travel blogs?
I like Aaron Saunders “From the Deck Chair” because he focuses on cruising and I aspire to cruise all the rivers available and the “TraveLynn Family” because they take their kids to really exotic places and have a lot of fun with it.
What advice would you give to a fellow blogger?
- Keep working at it.
- Check your spelling and grammar.
Tell us about your blog and where we can find you on social media!
My blog is called Adventures in Middle Aged Travel. I realize that the name may throw people off, but I’ve decided to embrace it. I’m never going to be a millennial backpacker or a digital nomad. This is what I am.
You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.