Blog Name & Start Date: dare2go.com. We started our current blog in August 2014, but we have had a website at the same URL since 2006.
Bio: My husband and I have always travelled, before we met and together. We embarked on our first fulltime travel experience together in 2006. That journey took us from Alaska to Patagonia in a pickup truck with a slide-in camper we bought in the USA. When we returned to Australia at the end of that trip in 2009, we started to plan our next one almost immediately. This time we built our own vehicle (Berta) and we now are overlanding slowly through South America.
I am a full-time, independent traveller. We call ourselves ‘overlanders’ because we travel in our own vehicle, which is also our home, and move slowly from country to country. Currently we are doing this in South America.
Do you consider yourself a travel blogger, travel writer or travel photographer or? Blogging overlander
Part Time or Full Time Blogger/Writer/Photographer?: Part time: I’m the writer, but my husband also writes. He’s the photographer, but I also take photographs. Together we produce our blog – everything is a combined effort.
If Part-Time, what is your day job? Full Time Traveller
How long have you been a blogger/writer/photographer? I’ve been writing about our travels since we began our first overland trip in 2006. But I have always written a travel diary, even for short trips. When I was in India and Nepal for an extended time in the 80s, my friends and family received long and detailed letters full of my travel stories. Many of these letters have since been returned to me and I’ve often thought of using them to write something about that time in my life…
Where do you call home? Mullumbimby (near Byron Bay), Australia – although at this time we have been travelling since March 2013 and our current home is ‘Berta’.
How many countries have you been to? 51
How many continents have you been to? 5
Top 5 destinations on your travel to do list: I don’t really have a ‘travel to do list’, but I would like to visit some parts of Africa; revisit Turkey; and visit some parts of Eastern Europe.
Earliest travel memory: It’s only a very vague memory – it was a family holiday to Port Lincoln in South Australia by car and caravan (trailer). I must have been somewhere around 3 or 4 years old. We didn’t often have time or money for holidays when I was a kid, so this one sticks in my mind.
Favorite Travel Writer: Bruce Chatwin
Favorite Travel Blogger: Betsy Wuebker from http://passingthru.com/
I love the way she writes and the depth she goes into when she describes a place or experience. You feel like you’re really there.
Favorite Travel Blog/s or Website/s:
An inspiring site for overlanders overlandsphere.com/overlandtravel/americas/south-america
A very helpful group for overlanders www.facebook.com/groups/panamtravelers/
The trip that turned me from a vacationer to a traveller: In 1987 I left Australia with my then boyfriend to travel to India, with no plans to return. We had the idea that we would ‘live’ in India. The reality was that we could only stay for 6 months at a time. So the trip extended to take in Nepal and then Thailand (where we parted ways: he went back to Australia and I went back to India). I also spent some time in Pakistan as a solo female traveller – an interesting experience. When I returned to Australia I had been away for almost 2 years.
The trip that turned you into a travel writer/blogger/photographer: In 2005 we decided that, instead of building a big house with a big mortgage that we had been planning for 3 years, we would pack up our lives and go travelling full-time. This surprised our family and friends, and it really surprised us. It took almost a year to get on the road. In March 2006 we arrived in the USA and picked up our Ford F250 and our Bigfoot slide-in camper – both of which we had bought on-line from Australia. First we travelled around North America and made it to the Arctic Circle; then south through Mexico and Central America; and finally all the way to the bottom of South America. We were on the road for almost three and a half years. This journey was the beginning of dare2go.com and it is still there in our archives.
My first steps to become a travel writer/blogger/photographer: I began writing about our travel experiences in 2006 to share our adventure with our family and friends. After a while we realised that other overlanders (and potential overlanders) were also reading our website. We added things like a list of places we camped, or where we found a place to fill our gas cylinders, which were useful to those people. We were sometimes really pleased to drive into a new place and be greeted by a fellow overlander who would tell us that they had been following our journey online. We realised that we were a valued resource to people who wanted to travel like us. We are still greeted sometimes with “Oh, you’re dare2go!” 10 years on.
The social media platform driving the most traffic to my site is: Facebook
My top tip to use (above social network) for traffic: Try to post things which interest our readers. For example, our most liked posts are often pictures of other unusual or interesting overlander vehicles. And photos, which include our own ‘Berta’ in beautiful settings, also generate a lot of engagement.
My favorite tool/app for social media: Buffer – we don’t have time or constant internet to post to Twitter any other way.
My favorite WordPress plugin:Updraft – everyone needs to make backups, it works well and gives us peace of mind
Favorite Travel Blogger Facebook Group: We Travel We Blog
If only I had the time, I’d do/finish…: I have a great idea for a series of e-books based on our experience. I have started one so I would finish and publish my first e-book, and then write some more.
If I knew then what I know now! My top tip for aspiring travel writers and bloggers! Start your travel blog from your home base. We think it would have been much easier if we had established our blog from home before starting full time travel. Reliable fast internet availability is one very good reason – lack of it is a constant frustration for us.
Best travel tip for travelers:Travel slowly, with time to be open to spontaneous experiences. They are the best way to discover interesting things and meet new people in a new place.
Connect with Yasha!
Website: http://dare2go.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dare2gocom
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dare2go
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dare2go
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dare2go/
Yasha’s article Uruguay Is Small, but It Has a Big Heart was just featured on 52PerfectDays. Please check it out here: 52perfectdays.com/south-america/uruguay-small-big-heart/
Nominate a friend (or yourself!) as our next Aspiring Travel Writer of the Week!
If you have been blogging, writing or taking photos for less than 2 years or have less than 10,000 unique views per month to your website, I invite you to be a featured ATW (Aspiring Travel Writer) of the week. As ATW of the week you will be featured on my travel website, 52Perfectdays.com and the BreakintoTravelWriting.com website! Here are all the details! breakintotravelwriting.com/aspiring-travel-writer-of-the-week-guidelines/
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