Aspiring Travel Writers of the Week: Betsi & Jim Hill

Betsi & Jim’s website is Betsi’s World and was launched in 2015.

Bio: This traveling duo has been married for 31 years and have a passion for exploring under the radar destinations throughout the South. They love to write about small towns, highlighting the culture, the people, history, and cuisine.

Betsi grew up on the water in Virginia and Jim grew up on the island of Guam, so a love of the ocean is in their veins. When not exploring the South they are often found onboard their boat Saltwater Gypsea searching for beaches and tiki bars throughout Florida and The Bahamas.

Here is Betsi and Jim’s Q&A About their Life as Content Creators aspiring travel writer of the week

How long have you been writing about travel? We’ve been writing and blogging for four years.

Where do you call home? Fort Pierce, Florida.

How many countries have you been to? 35.

How many continents have you been to? 4.

Top 5 destinations on your travel to-do list: Australia, New Zealand, The ABC islands of the Caribbean, Thailand, and Eastern Europe.

Earliest travel memory: Betsi: Boating was a huge part of my life growing up, and my parents put me on a boat when I was six months old. Exploring the Chesapeake Bay and stopping at St. Michaels in Maryland is one of the fondest memories I have. The history of St. Michaels as a boat-building town fascinated me.

Favorite Travel Writer: Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Food because we are foodies and are willing to try (almost) anything.

Favorite Travel Photographer: Jim Nix – his cityscapes are stunning.

Favorite Travel Website: As a warm-weather beach gal, Coastal Living has been my go-to for coastal travel.

The trip that turned us from a vacationer to a traveler, and into a travel journalist and photographer: In 2013 Jim and I spent 22 weeks exploring the Bahamas onboard our sailboat Indigo. We did what locals did. We dove for conch, spearfished, and met locals. We were invited to their homes. We attended church with them. We shared meals with them. We immersed ourselves into their culture and way of life, and it was the most rewarding experience either of us has had. To this day, the locals we met on that trip have remained friends, and we cannot go to the Bahamas without visiting with our friends!

Our first steps to becoming a travel blogger: Betsi chronicles all her travels, and has written her entire life. It was a natural step to establish a blog to share our travels with others. Out of that, Jim began taking photos of their travels, and voilá, Betsi’s World was born. Out of that blog came writing for both print and digital publications. Now that the magazine world is leaning more heavily to digital they find themselves writing more and more in the digital space.

The social media platform driving the most traffic to our site: Pinterest. Using SEO, good keywords, great imagery, and the well-crafted intro are driving 70% of my traffic.

My favorite tool/app for social media: Color Story to edit my Instagram photos – absolutely invaluable, and very easy to use!

If only I had the time, I’d do/finish……: Write a book. Betsi is in the midst of writing a book about their experience in selling and moving from a 4,000 square foot home onto a 47′ sailing catamaran. Once this book is complete, there are several more that they want to write together, including a fiction story – centered around boating, of course, and taking place somewhere in Florida.

Our Top Tip for Aspiring Travel Writers and Bloggers:

Before you hit publish on your blog or hit send to an editor, spell check your work. Run it through a program like Grammarly, make corrections, and then read it out loud. You will be surprised at the errors you will catch.
Best Travel Tip for Travelers:
Be aware of travel restrictions and requirements! Right now we are in the midst of the Coronavirus, and there is so much misinformation! Be willing to sort through the noise, and share with readers what you find out. They are relying on travel bloggers and travel writers that they follow to help them travel.

Connect With Betsi & Jim!

Website: Website Link: https://betsiworld.com
Betsi was also my guest on episode 137 of the podcast: How to Pitch an Editor with Travel Writer Betsi Hill

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Betsi & Jim hill from Betsi's World

More Travel Blogger of the Week Features!

Tonya Prater from Travel Inspired Living

Kendall Dickinson from Tastebuds and Travel

Nominate a friend (or yourself!) as our next Aspiring Travel Writer of the Week!

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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