Blogging as the Ticket to a Life of Travel and Freedom

Growing up in a small, underdeveloped town in Asia, I always dreamed of working in a big city during my college years.

I could picture myself there—in a modern, cozy office, working at a desk by the window, overlooking the panoramic skyline of the bustling city.

I thought life would be amazing there—wearing expensive suits, walking down fancy hallways, and working on engineering projects on an iMac. I pictured myself looking sharp, respected, and dignified.

My parents, however, pointed out that I was likely making a mistake. They said life in the city isn’t actually great and that I should work closer to home or somewhere else. Being naive, I disagreed.

Ten years later, I realized they were right—but that wasn’t the only thing I figured out.

Over the years as an employee, I faced serious challenges that opened my eyes to what I truly crave: a life of travel and freedom.

Driven by the desire to live life to the fullest and have no regrets, this lifestyle inspired me to quit my job and start blogging.

It’s just amusing to reflect on how, at one point, I imagined working in a bustling city would be the pinnacle of my career.

Yet now, it stands as the last option I would consider for a living.

The Promising Part of Blogging

Choosing blogging as my career was a no-brainer—it gave me the opportunity to pursue everything I’ve ever dreamed of doing in life.

What do I like most about blogs? The passive income they generate once established.

This income allows bloggers to travel the world at their leisure, embark on thrilling adventures, connect with diverse people, and savor precious moments with family.

Of course, how often and how long you travel or spend time with your family will depend on how much you earn, but you understand the point.

Ha! You wouldn’t believe how exciting blogging was for me when I first discovered it.

Just think about it: you spend years as a corporate slave, stuck in an office juggling four projects at once. Then, you suddenly realize there’s a better way to live—one where you don’t have to deal with things you barely care about!

Earning money by simply documenting and sharing what I do, where I go, or what I eat was the best YOLO thing I could think of.

There were so many times I caught myself thinking, “Wow, that’s the life!” while reading the stories of travel bloggers who escaped the nine-to-five grind.

They were so inspiring, especially the stories from fellow Asians like Pete from Bucketlistly Blog, Aileen from IamAileen Lifestyle and Travel Blog, and Yoshke and Vins from The Poor Traveler, among others.

It was mind-blowing to realize that you can actually replace a salary with money from the internet and thrive through blogging.

In my last weeks as an employee, as I approached the brink of depression due to overwhelming stress worsened by the pandemic, I couldn’t stop thinking about how different my life would be if I were a blogger like those people I mentioned.

Honestly, a lot of things ran through my mind during that time. Some of them kept me awake for hours at night.

But one thing I won’t forget is this: If they can achieve that level of freedom through blogging, then I can too.

Particularly after thinking about my own travel experiences and recognizing that I had plenty to share, I believed I could begin my journey toward the lifestyle these bloggers enjoyed.

What made blogging so appealing to me was how easy it is to make money from it.

The article I read—though I can’t seem to find it anymore—said, “Just insert ads between paragraphs and share your posts on Google, Facebook, Pinterest, etc., and the money rolls in.”

You can imagine my eyes wide open and my mouth slightly hanging open as I learned about all the different ways to monetize a blog.

The Meaningful Part of Blogging

I knew that blogs could make money, even before I quit my nine-to-five job, but my desire to be a full-time blogger really grew when I started blogging.

I didn’t do it on a traditional platform like WordPress or Blogger, though; I started on Instagram.

There, I journaled my trips and adventures to escape the stress from my second job.

In just one year, I visited four different countries and more than a dozen local destinations. I climbed mountains… Jumped off a canyon… Relaxed on the beach… Explored the ocean… Discovered various cities… I just had so many new experiences!

Some of these trips transformed me as I reflected on my experiences and the things I discovered along the way.

Those trips also made me realize there’s so much beauty in the world to see—like amazing ancient structures, dramatic seas of clouds, colorful marine life, and those breathtaking sunsets where you can see every color of the sky.

Oh man, you wouldn’t believe how many photos I took during those trips!

(I took a ton of photos, not just to remember all the amazing sights I found but also because photography is my way of expressing myself. I also needed to keep my Instagram feed updated for the whole month until my next trip. Haha!)

So yeah, for an entire year, I just kept writing.

Every Instagram photo I posted came with a few hundred words describing my experiences connected to that shot, along with my thoughts and tips that I thought might help my followers if they ever decided to visit the same place.

The thing is, every time I wrote, I sort of relived the fun and beautiful moments from my travels.

Writing was my amazing way to escape my terrible situation at work: I’d transport myself back to the places I visited, and everything else in the present, including my office frustrations, would just fade away.

Slowly, I realized how therapeutic and beneficial blogging about my travels was for me. It ended up being one of my biggest motivations to go full-time with it.

Onboarding to Blogging

In January 2021, I finally claimed my ticket to a life of freedom and travel by launching my very first WordPress blog.

Its name? Engineering Travels.

It took me no time to name it Engineering Travels because, you know, (1) I’m an engineer and (2) traveling is what I want to do.

But figuring out my goals for it was a whole different story.

As a first-time blogger, I was eager to dive into so many ideas. I wanted it to be everything—from a personal gallery and a diary of my daily life to a site that reviews travel gadgets. I definitely overwhelmed myself with excitement!

But, eventually, I came up with a unique goal: helping people design their trips to be more meaningful, just like I did with my own travels.

During the first couple of months of my blogging journey, I focused on the basics—writing, WordPress, website design, and more.

I spent weeks binge-watching YouTube, learning from all kinds of blogging tutorials, and trying out the activities the YouTubers suggested.

It’s kinda embarrassing, but… Neil Patel was one of the YouTubers I trusted for learning. He covered everything from setting up a website to mastering SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and I was really impressed with his resources.

While I definitely learned a lot from his videos, I later regretted that his channel gave me most of my initial blogging knowledge.

Instead of focusing on how to stand out as a travel blogger, I ended up soaking up mostly marketing tips and a money mindset, which really stuck with me.

Honestly, I can’t blame my newbie self for getting caught up in tutorials like Neil Patel’s.

I still didn’t know the importance of long-term thinking when building a blog back then, and I was really worried about how long my savings would last if I didn’t start earning soon.

I was just itching to make my first dollar!

So, after all that studying, I jumped right into writing and started publishing posts as quickly as I could. I believed this was the best way to generate traffic and finally start making money.

I wrote about my favorite travel destinations, songs, quotes, and the bloggers who inspired me to explore the world, among other things.

Blogging, Not an Easy Journey

In just six months, I managed to publish around fifty articles.

That should have felt like an accomplishment, right? But unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.

Traffic to my blog was pretty much nonexistent during that time. Frustrated, I started searching for tips and tricks to boost my traffic quickly.

I found myself back on YouTube, watching videos where bloggers shared their experiences on how to grow their blog traffic…

… Actually, before I even reached 50 articles, I knew another way to increase my blog’s traffic besides publishing posts quickly: link building.

It was one of the key topics I focused on during my early blogging days.

With Neil Patel emphasizing how important links are, I didn’t hesitate to learn more about link building, particularly when I realized I wasn’t getting traffic to my blog after 20 or 30 posts.

Heck, I even bought a course on Udemy about link building to make sure I’d do it right.

If you’re not familiar with link building, it’s the process of getting backlinks from other websites to your blog. This helps make your blog more authoritative in Google’s eyes.

Ideally, the more backlinks my blog gets, the higher my posts will rank in Google, leading to more traffic and more income for me.

Link building sounded easy when I was learning about it—things like the skyscraper technique, guest blogging, and content outreach seemed straightforward.

But once I started doing it, I quickly realized how tedious and unproductive it could be, especially for a one-man operation like mine.

When it comes to link building, be ready to send out hundreds of emails just to land one success. Honestly, it’s not something most bloggers should prioritize unless they’re aiming to get into SEO.

That’s why when I went back to YouTube to find ways to boost traffic to my blog, I focused looking for strategies that didn’t involve link building.

Amazingly, I didn’t have any trouble finding what I needed.

After just one search for “grow blog traffic no link building,” I stumbled upon the Income School channel, and it had exactly what I was looking for.

Their main message is all about creating quality content that naturally attracts backlinks—no time-consuming link building techniques required.

Playing the Blogging Game

Income School changed a lot over the years, but what I really liked when I first found them was that they didn’t focus on shady SEO tactics.

Instead, they had a realistic timeline for the blogging journey, and they mainly taught me how to improve my blogging skills and get traffic from search engines the “right” way.

I also loved how motivational and sometimes funny their YouTube channel was, especially Jim!

Most importantly, I really liked their blogging approach, which was all about unique original research. It made complete sense how they generated backlinks without using any shady tactics.

Anyway, by just watching their YouTube channel and following their recommendations, I learned how to write faster, format my blog posts correctly, make my content more readable, and improve my blog’s speed.

Keyword research, on-page SEO, and content planning were some of the most important blogging skills I learned from Income School.

I can’t say I followed every single tip, but I applied most of the recommendations from Income School to both my old and new posts.

Two months after discovering Income School and eight months after I started blogging, I finally started to see some growth.

It was slow and subtle, but I was really happy because I was finally getting results!

Anyhow, I should mention this, though:

Since I started following the tips from Income School, I also started writing my blog posts differently… or I should say I shifted to building a niche site.

Not only did I change how I formatted my blog posts, but I also made them less about me and more about my readers.

In other words, I started writing based on what I thought people were looking for on the internet.

I also started writing more in the second and third person instead of the first person. I can’t remember exactly which video I saw this in, but if I recall correctly, writing that way can help boost income from affiliate links.

A Taste of Blogging Victory

One year into my blogging journey, I finally started seeing huge traffic growth week after week as I kept writing blog posts using tips from Income School.

I focused on writing blog posts that targeted long-tail keywords, just like Income School recommended, and I was really glad I took their advice.

I also used their tactics for getting quoted in featured snippets, which worked amazing! You know, that tactic where you write a question that targets a keyword, followed by a 330-character answer?

The topics I wrote about, though, were a mix of my past travel experiences and the places I planned to visit after the pandemic.

By the first half of May 2022, my blog hit an all-time high, getting 20,000 to 25,000 sessions or 25,000 to 30,000 pageviews.

I was ecstatic!

With that kind of traffic, I was making money through ads and affiliate links that was equivalent to my take-home pay from my last nine-to-five job.

Honestly, I couldn’t believe I was earning that much just from using the internet!

Blogs and Niche Sites

Of course, blogging isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

If there’s one thing that really freaks out bloggers, it’s Google algorithm updates. They can make or break a lot of blogs.

When was the first time my blog got hit? It was in May 2022 when Google released its first helpful content update.

Thankfully, my blog was only affected a little.

I was really grateful to the universe at the time because the update didn’t hammer my blog’s traffic like I saw in all the chatter on X/Twitter and YouTube.

While I felt some relief, my blog’s traffic stayed on a plateau for months.

No matter how hard I tried—publishing well-researched travel content and updating old posts to make them more engaging and informative—I just couldn’t seem to get the traffic to go any higher.

It was super frustrating to think about, especially since some of my readers actually found my content helpful.

You can ask the wife of one of my high school buddies—she personally thanked me for how my posts helped them planning their honeymoon! I even got comments and emails from other readers thanking me for the information I shared.

Since I’m not really into SEO, I started to worry that I had messed something up on my blog in the past, which is why it got hit by the update and wasn’t seeing any traffic growth.

I kept thinking about how I listed my blog in different directories and content aggregator sites while I was still learning about link building.

It made me feel like I had made a huge mistake!

And when I looked over my posts and saw all the grammar mistakes, confusing parts, and cringy bits, I started thinking it might be better to just start a new blog.

You know, that way my future posts wouldn’t get buried in search engine results because this site really needs an overhaul.

What’s more?

I was pretty shocked when I found affiliate links on my site that weren’t marked as no-follow, and there were broken links scattered all over the place.

Face palm for carelessness.

It was also so frustrating to see that some of my YouTube and Google Street View embeds were completely inaccessible.

It felt like a total disaster for user experience!

After a lot of back-and-forth in my head, I finally decided to just go for it and create a new blog—or, as I like to call it, a niche site.

What’s the name? WanderInEurope.

What’s it about? Europe—a place I’ve never even been!

Yeah, you read that right, and I bet you’re wondering why I chose it.

The answer is a bit long, and you can check out the about page for all the details. But to sum it up, I’m just deeply fascinated by the old continent.

From the stunning architecture of the Catholic Church to the breathtaking views of the Alps, and the rich history found all around, I could seriously spend weeks just reading, writing, and watching everything about Europe.

I can honestly say that every post on this site was created with love, not just like any other niche site out there. Most of the posts on WanderInEurope are between 2,000 and 10,000 words, packed with details and helpful tips.

I gathered all the info I shared from a ton of research on forums, YouTube, and various travel apps like Google Street View, Maps, Komoot, and AllTrails.

I also got personal insights from family and friends who shared their experiences and photos with me.

Most importantly, I intended the posts I wrote in WanderInEurope to serve as my OWN itineraries and travel guides. So, when I finally earned enough money to bring my loved ones to Europe, those posts will act as our digital tour guide.

I carefully planned and published the content to make sure it feels like a real travel guidebook that I’d actually want to buy from a bookstore. I even created my own maps and walking tours based on my interests because I love to wander!

Honestly, since I started working after college, WanderInEurope is the only project I’ve really poured my heart into.

Anyway, like I did with Engineering Travels, I grew WanderInEurope’s traffic too.

Within six months, I was already making money from it. But since I didn’t do any keyword research for the blog posts, the traffic didn’t skyrocket like a hockey stick; it just steadily climbed up.

Indeed, the future was looking bright for WanderInEurope.

I was gaining subscribers, my Pinterest was growing, and I started getting thank-you emails from people who said my posts really helped them with their travels.

For months, Engineering Travels and WanderInEurope were bringing in money for me. They covered my needs and even gave me a little extra to save.

With my earnings, I was able to buy a new phone and travel a few times too.

I was super happy to finally have some freedom, but I wouldn’t call it a complete success yet since I haven’t fully reached the level of income and freedom that the bloggers who inspired me have.

Unfortunately, my victory was short-lived.

The Big Problem of Blogging

In September 2023, Google rolled out another algorithm update that hit the online publishing industry really hard.

Both of my blogs took a hit, their traffic vanished, but they didn’t crash overnight.

After three months, I lost 90% of my monthly income from Engineering Travels because of a drop in traffic. WanderInEurope also saw a 50% income loss after six months of steadily declining traffic.

Things got even worse for both sites when Google rolled out its 2024 core updates in March and August.

It’s crazy to think that one company, Google, can control the entire Internet’s economy with just a snap of its fingers, like Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.

These Google updates are pretty controversial, though, and it’s tough to have strong opinions about what they’re doing, especially since I’m not really an SEO expert and I’ve only been in the publishing industry for three years.

But I always make sure to support other publishers who are actively defending our rights and raising ethical concerns.

Still, I can’t help but feel disheartened every time I check the traffic graphs for my blogs.

I really don’t think I deserve to be punished like this, especially since all I did was create content that I believe is helpful to me and others who share the same interests.

I’ve never wanted to spam or scam anyone online.

I’ve always wanted to help people, especially now that I’m heading into my 30s and really searching for a purpose or at least a job I can stick with for the long haul.

Anyway, I really didn’t want to throw in the towel after getting hit by Google updates, especially with all the time and effort I’ve invested in blogging and content creation.

Google also stated that a website’s traffic can be restored in a “few weeks,” so I continued the fight and did everything possible to bring back my blog’s traffic.

From October 2023 to August 2024, I dedicated my time to improving my sites and making them more helpful by adding my insights, opinions, and unique information that you can’t find anywhere else on the internet.

I spent countless hours editing over 200 posts on both Engineering Travels and WanderInEurope. I completely rewrote and redesigned most of them to make the user experience better.

I also kept writing new content for WanderInEurope because, as Google’s Search Liaison mentioned, they’re still working on improving their algorithm.

Unfortunately, all that hard work didn’t pay off.

In fact, my traffic actually got worse for reasons I can’t figure out.

But from what I’ve seen, Google has seemed to prioritize brands over genuine helpfulness. They have also added more ads and introduced their AI Overviews feature, which has made people less likely to click on websites.

Honestly, I think Google has given in to greed and has become a prime example of “enshittification.”

Blogging the Right Way Today

What’s going on with the internet right now has me feeling anxious about my future.

I keep wondering what I should do now that Google seems to have turned against independent publishers.

It really sucks. But I know I can’t give up. I’m fighting for my dream, and I won’t let some tech giant take it away from me.

After Google’s August core update, I started reflecting on what I did wrong so I could fix it. I also began exploring whether it’s still possible to have a life of travel and freedom through blogging.

Thanks to the blogging community in X, I found some hope.

There are bloggers out there who are still thriving, even after all those rough Google updates.

Like Mike from FilterGrade, Rich from RJonTour, Zoe from TogetherInSwitzerland, and Jake from ThatFitFriend—just to name a few. They’re my new sources of inspiration.

Of course, the first travel bloggers who inspired me to start blogging are still thriving and continue to be my inspiration.

What’s the key reason I believe they’re still thriving? It’s their authenticity, obvious experience, or undeniable expertise.

They also have this special quality that creates a following or fanbase, simply because what they do is real, unique, or interesting.

I have to say: while I think my sites offer good value, their blogs are way better than my first two blogs. It’s easy to see just by looking at the photos, their storytelling, and how they add nuance to a topic.

Comparing their sites to mine was a real eye-opener about what blogging is all about.

That said, I don’t think my sites were a complete mistake, but it makes more sense why their blogs deserve to thrive, especially in the age of AI.

It’s unfortunate how AI has suddenly raised the bar for what makes a blog helpful, but that’s the reality we’re in.

Anyway, it all comes down to this: if I want to succeed now, I need to find a way to really stand out.

Uniqueness.

I also need to make it clear that my blog is truly human—built on authenticity and genuine intentions, not just to sell, scam, or spam like many AI sites.

In addition, I should be helpful by providing not just information, but also impactful value like human connection, inspiration, and meaningful life lessons—things that AI just can’t offer.

After reflecting on these things, I’ve decided that I’m not quitting blogging. Instead, I’m starting a new blog to pursue my goals from a different way, drawing on all the lessons I’ve learned.

That’s how Explore to Thrive was born.

Final Thoughts

After two rounds of blogging—full of highs and lows, victories and failures—I still believe that blogging is my ticket to the life I want, despite all the controversies, changes, and new challenges in online publishing.

Not only is there still hope, given the thriving bloggers, but because there are still more strategies I haven’t tried to succeed.

Besides SEO, I still haven’t tapped into the full potential of Pinterest. I haven’t created a newsletter or an email list yet either. Plus, I am still in my baby steps toward building a community!

To be honest, I haven’t really tried blogging in a helpful, traditional way, which is more authentic and more human. That’s what the bloggers who inspired me are doing, and I regret not following their path.

In hindsight, I was following their path until I shifted to building niche sites.

Now, with Explore to Thrive, I’m returning to my old ways because I’ve realized that helpful traditional blogging is what will always help bloggers thrive.

It works on both social media and search, particularly if the blog is properly and not overly optimized.

The personal touch of traditional blogging builds a loyal audience or fanbase, which can keep the blog going even if algorithms on third-party platforms or traffic sources change.

Finally, blogging has not become easier.

Giving helpful information is no longer enough. And our readers must see our vulnerabilities (personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings) which could sometimes feel uncomfortable to share in our posts.

However, I believe that all the effort we put into showing our true selves is definitely worth it, especially for building relationships that serve as the foundation of the blog.

With that solid foundation, any blog can navigate challenges, adapt to changes on the internet… and ultimately, thrive.