BITW 037: How to Find An Original Point of View as a Travel Writer with Francis Tapon

Francis Tapon is a Harvard MBA who left the tech world with the mission to visit every country in the world and share their unique lessons.

Since then, has walked across America four times via its three major mountain ranges. He has walked across Spain twice. He was the first person to do a round-trip, backpacking the Continental Divide Trail. He has thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail. He has currently traveled to 100 countries. He is the author of the travelogue Hike Your Own Hike and the travel narrative The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us. He is currently traveling to all 54 African countries. He is an author, global nomad, and public speaker.

Francis at Dune 7 in Walvis Bay, Namibia.

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The Finer Details of Episode 37 with Francis Tapon! In this episode Francis explains why he believes you get more out of travel by traveling lower to the ground. He also shares his journey from the tech world to full time travel! In this episode we also discuss:

How to Plan Long Term Travel.
Why re-supplying is key to long term hikes.
The longer the travel, the less planning you should do.
Why companionship on long distance hikes are not an issue.
What it’s like to walk 35 miles a day (every day).
How he raised $24k for his Unseen Africa TV project.
Why you need to take a known area or location and write about it from a different point of view.
The pros and cons to a personal Wikipedia page.
The more out of your comfort zone you go when you travel the better.
Learn to live below your means if you want to transition to become a travel writer.
How to transition from full time office job to nomadic lifestyle.
How to wean yourself from the office and begin to telecommute.
How to work remotely.
How to generate income with sponsored posts.
Why Francis believes long articles are better for traffic and ranking.
Why controversial articles stir comments and increase Alexa rank.
Have to go for quality and quantity for epic content.
Why recurring revenue is a better source of income.
Why social media is great for dissemination but not for sales and donations.
The downside of sponsored posts and why Google doesn’t like follow links.
The difference between follow and no follow links.
If you want to attend a FAM, you must look for them yourself.
The “key” to writing is turning off the internet!
Why waiting for inspiration to write is B.S.
His tips for editing a blog post and a book.

Episode Resources

Unseen Africa
The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us by Francis Tapon
Hike Your Own Hike: 7 Life Lessons from Backpacking Across America by Francis Tapon
Trail Angels
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail Cheryl Strayed(the Book)
Wild (the movie)
Francis Tapon’s Wikipedia Page
Francis Tapon’s TedX Talk
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss
10 Reasons Why El Camino Santiago Sucks by Fancis Tapon
Waitbutwhy.com
Forbes
Brainpickings.org
How Can You Afford to Travel The World blog post by Francis
aaafrica.com
Tripto.com
Freedom
Buffer
Gary Arndt’s Facebook Group

People Mentioned on this episode:
Stephen King
Arthur C Clark
Cheryl Strayed
Tim Ferriss
Nomadic Samuel
Tim Urban
Gary Arndt
Chris Christensen
Bill Bryson
Paul Theroux

Connect With Francis
Francis Tapon’s Website
Francis Tapon on Facebook
Francis Tapon on Linkedin
Francis Tapon on Twitter
Francis Tapon on Instagram
Francis Tapon on G+

Connect with Break Into Travel Writing
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
The Aspiring Travel Writer, the Facebook group

Hope you enjoyed this episode and please join me in thanking Francis for being here! And thank you as well. We’ll see you next time!

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