What is keeping travel bloggers busy?

Lockdown has brought travel to a standstill. International flights are suspended except for few air bubble flights, domestic travel is ON but people are traveling only for emergency reasons and not for leisure. Road trips are also low given so many lockdowns, closures, corona risk and so on.

So what are India's travel bloggers doing since last 1 year? Nowhere to go and nothing much do to? How are they keeping themselves busy? Have they got a plan B? are they getting into something else? Are they optimistic travel will resume again? What updates are we seeing in their blogs? With this thought I asked many of my travel blogger friends in India to give me a brief update what is keeping them busy during past 1 year. Most of them were kind enough to answer and this post gives you a snapshot of what India's popular travel bloggers are doing.

(Content added in the order of replies I got- those who replied sooner are on top, no other ranking or hierarchy involved)

#1	Sandy & Vijay
Blog	https://imvoyager.com/
Activities	Content creation, novel writing, family time
"Traveling and writing are our twin passions. The pandemic has of course put a stop to travel, but writing and content creation are still on. We have been working on our blog as usual, and also on a few outside projects for content creation. In the longer-term perspective, we are working on a couple of novels, which we hope to get published in the near future.  Apart from that, we have been spending time with family. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hopeful that the earth will heal and things shall return to normal soon"

 

#2	Tanayesh Talukdar
Blog	http://www.shoestringtravel.in
Activities	Office work, video content creation, food and extreme weather photography
"Apart from office work, in the last 1 year, I have ventured into things which I wouldn’t have thought of doing earlier. I have started working on Video Content creation starting from shooting a video to editing. I have also ventured into other genres of photography like Food photography, Extreme Weather photography. I have also been re-working on my blog posts to make it more comprehensive for the readers. One thing I always thought of doing was to work on a short film script that I dreamt of shooting one day. Luckily have started to work on the script and hopefully, in a year or two, I should be able to come up with a release of my short film. The last few months have been a multi-faceted learning experience"

#3	Antarik Anwesan
Blog	https://www.antarikanwesan.com/
Activities	Online workshops for students & content creators
"With travel stopped all of a sudden last year in March, it was a major jolt for me, considering travel vlogging was my primary work. The situation seemed helpless but I did continue making content week after week from the confines of my house. Simultaneously, I started some online zoom workshops for content creators and university students focusing on blogging, Youtube, video editing etc.  When the cases went significantly down towards the last quarter of 2020, I went to Manali and made it my base for several weeks, exploring nearby areas and creating as much content as I could. It was unnerving to see the popular tourist spot absolutely deserted. For the last 6 months I am back at home. I am working on some video projects that keep me busy most times. Not sure when it will be safe to travel again, but whenever that is, at least by then I would have saved enough to take some long backpacking trips."

 

#4	Shrinidhi Hande
Blog	https://www.enidhi.net
Activities	Content Writing, Day job, local trips
Relocated to my home town. Did freelance content writing work for tourism boards and travel apps. Got back to a day job in October so busy with work, occasionally managing some local trips when possible and relishing on old travel details yet to be blogged about. Explored fair bit of coastal Karnataka and western ghats region. Still writing 10-15 posts per month and hoping for pre-covid travel conditions to return soon.

 

#5	Indrani Ghose
Blog	https://isharethese.com/
Activities	Bird Watching, Bird Photography, writing for media
"When the lockdown was first announced in March 2020 I never imagined it would go on for months. I took the opportunity from the sudden stop in my travels to work on my old blogs. Many of my old blog posts got a facelift with new words and structure. But soon it turned out to be a little boring to me. Boredom, outlet for stress, led to indulging in bird photography during the pandemic and lean travel era. During the lockdown, one of the things that soothed me was sighting the birds and watching their activities from my balcony. I live in Bangalore, which was once the garden city of India. Sadly over the last couple of decades the city has turned to concrete jungle. There are small patches of greenery in the city and the apartment complex I stay in is in a wooded area. It was not easy to switch to bird photography after years of travel photography. Even if there was success in spotting the bird, capturing it proved more difficult. Birds are difficult to photograph and nearly 100 captures from the first lot went straight to the bin. I had several failed attempts trying to frame them and that is when it dawned on me that after being on the move frequently my mind has lost the precious quality of patience. It was a process of unlearning travel photography, relearning the camera specs and learning new settings for a clearer capture of these mobile creatures. I have found around 15 different birds just from my balcony! Besides bird photography I took to writing for newspapers and online sites seriously. This too was new to me. Publishing in your own blog gives a lot of independence and is free of any kind of interference. Not so with getting published on other sites. It is a slow process involving pitching an idea, getting them approved and after one or two rounds of editing the article would get published. I am yet to master it well; nevertheless I got some amount of success."

#6	Anuradha Goyal
Blog	www.inditales.com
Activities	Authored books, studied astrology
"I had a rather productive lockdown. In 2020, I self-published two books - Unusual Temples of India and its Hindi translation - Bharat Ke Anokhe Mandir. My book Lotus In The Stone - Sacred Journeys in Eternal India was written before lockdown, but it's editing and publishing happened during the lockdown and the next few months were spent promoting it on various online platforms and literature festivals. In early 2021, I published the translation of Ayodhya Mahatmya from Skanda Puran. So, overall four books were published during lockdown.  I also studied astrology, a subject that I have been wanting to study but never got the time it demanded. This is a long-term project but I am off the ground and there would be no looking back from here.  I was invited to write an Opinion column for The New Indian Express and deliver talks at many educational institutes.  But for lockdown that gave me a solid clock of time both physically and mentally, I would not have done all this. Now, I want to step out and smell the fresh air, meet new people and do some non-mental activity"

#7	Mariellen Ward
Blog	https://breathedreamgo.com/
Activities	Own business, training courses, blog redesign
“The lockdown for me has been a rollercoaster. I’ve had long periods of paralysis, bordering on depression, when I felt tired all the time, and survival was the main thing on my mind. I’ve also had bouts of motivation and creativity, with optimism for the future of travel and my career as a travel blogger and owner of a custom tour business. During the upbeat periods, I accomplished a few things that I’m proud of. ·  I launched the website for my business India for Beginners with the help of some very talented writers. ·  I took a month-long naturalist training course at Satpura Tiger Reserve and received certification as a professional naturalist. ·  I received funding from the Canadian government to redesign my blog and expand my platform with a newsletter and video, currently in process and will be launching soon!  ·  I took the time to think deeply about my role in travel and what I think I can offer to make the world a better place. I concluded that sensitive travel stories, told with understanding and insight, and carefully curated tours that encourage visitors to experience local culture, can help humanize “other” cultures and bring the world together. They can make the world smaller, and the “other” seem less foreign and more familiar.”

#8	Parnashree Devi
Blog	https://www.traveldiaryparnashree.com/
Activities	Gardening, blog redesign, home town visit, local trips, writing for publications
“When the world is getting into anxiety, depression, and uncertainty during the global pandemic, it gets to you deeply. Last year has been quite a rollercoaster emotionally. Being a travel professional, it seems as if my world has crumbled down, and there is a complete standstill. Being caged is what I have been feeling since March last year. Initially, gardening and cooking were a great source of respite from the gloomy days. What made a huge change to my life was when I decided to finish the pending writing assignments and revamp my travel blog, "My Travel Diary". I started with redesigning my website with a friend who was kind enough to work with me on my website. A month had gone by in changing the look and feel of the website. This was followed by finishing a marathon of other related activities like updating old posts, writing new articles, creating digital content for other platforms, and constantly working to upgrade social media platforms. Later, in September, I decided to visit my homeland, Assam and it was like a fresh breeze of air. Living away from the concrete jungle, when I was indulging the luxuries of life in the lap of nature with my loved ones, the time began to move faster. By the end of October, I was already rolling on the road as restrictions began to uplift from a few states in 2020. My very first destination was Arunachal Pradesh. The 20 days trip was one of the best things that happened during the pandemic last year. I visited some of the lesser-explored areas in the state, had gone on a road trip, and also experienced local culture in Arunachal Pradesh. That's not it. I returned to the state again in November on an invitation from the Arunachal Tourism Department, on a voyage to explore the Most Unexplored Destination of Arunachal Pradesh named Anini. Meeting the Idu Mishmi tribe in the remotest destination was the highlight of my trip. My trip continued in 2021 as well before the second wave of covid_19. I was again invited to experience the opulence of the royal tea lifestyle at The Wild Mahsheer in January. In between, a few articles got published in some of the esteemed publications like Lonely Planet, Femina, etc. A few media mentioned  my work in PayTm Travel, Wego India, Grabon India, etc. I had published a lot of new content on my website. And, also read a couple of books. I am extremely grateful for the fact that I have been continuously working remotely. Though I had plans to start traveling again just before the second waves of Covid this year, but now things have changed for good. I am hoping to travel at least a few places once the dust settles in our country and only after getting fully vaccinated.

#9	Nisha Jha
Blog	https://www.lemonicks.com
Activities	Volunteering, learning Spanish, paintings
Year 2020-2021 has been the worst year for the travel industry and the pandemic hit everybody hard.  At the onset of the pandemic we had to cancel all our flights and accommodation bookings we had planned for 2020. Hoped it would be over in a few months but when we saw people and the infrastructure struggling for survival, we kept our personal goals aside. Travel and its related things took a back seat. If you know us, we have been volunteering on field by investing our time and efforts since last many years. We always feel, there is so much to do for society. Only difference this time was, we did so sitting at our home where we also have the added responsibility of looking after an octogenarian. My state and my city was in a mess. I completely switched off from FB & Instagram. Was occasionally active on Twitter, only for information. We were members of a special task force to help people during the pandemic. Medicines, hospitals, logistics etc. became our priority. For the majority of time we lived in a containment zone. It took time to bring figures down from 23 to 0 in our own building. On the Travel front, we both learnt Spanish, honed our knowledge of French. When time permits, we watch movies and serials in these two languages. We continue doing freelance writing work and writing blogposts once in a while. Attended some workshops etc. Personal front – I painted furniture. Stools, chairs and of course 10 ceiling fans besides the usual repurposed items! Also, cooking and baking became part of my daily routine..

#10	Prasad N P
Blog	http://desitraveler.com/
Activities	Gardening, Plant Photography
When the lockdown happened it took me to by surprise like everybody else. After the initial shock most people used the lockdown for reinventing themselves or learning new skills, from renaming desi Coffee to something exotic to baking bread enough to feed an army ( In all honesty many of the homechefs and bakers also served the needy and my kudos to them ) everybody got busy learning or teaching and we saw mushrooming of artists, bakers, chefs, Yoga & wellness Gurus, online coaches, painters etc come up in every home Not me, no sir, your lazy bum of a desi Traveler, used the lockdown to do nothing, zilch, NADA unless you count the 10 KG I packed up. But as the lockdown continued to extend I realized that those who are learning new skills and reliving there passions are actually using there time judiciously and I should stop wasting my time just watching clouds from my balcony and look at new leaves coming on plants in our balcony. This is when I did some introspection and wondered what am I missing the most due to lockdown. Yes it was travel but since travel was out of question, I asked further what is it I do while traveling and the answer was I love photographing while  I travel. Now since travel photography was also out of question, I decided to combine my love for photography with my passion of growing plants. Those of you follow desi Traveler blog for sometime will know that gardening has always been my original passion and travel has never been able to replace it. So I decided to combine the two and click my plants in as artistic and abstract way as possible.  While I am just starting on this journey, I think I have been able to utilize some of my time in lockdown to expand my horizons within photography and try to learn better plant photography. Here is an image I recently clicked of one of my plants  Stephania erecta.  Besides plant photography I am also looking to launch Divine Bovine, Eau De Parfum, that received good response when the test marketing was done. You are welcome to send me a message if you will like free samples.

#11	Sankara Subramanian
Blog	https://www.beontheroad.com
Activities	Business, motorbike trips
The coronavirus induced lockdown since March 2020 has been a blessing for me as it has allowed me to slow down the pace of my life, switch to a cleaner and healthier lifestyle, focus on enjoying the simpler aspects of life and work on things that I never found time for in my regular life. Being a travel blogger and an entrepreneur in the travel space, the pandemic has not only affected my travel, but it also affected my cash flow in the travel business. Luckily, for me, I have always had a diversified business portfolio, which allowed me to tide over the tough situation smoothly. What I lost in the travel business, I worked on and gained in the other businesses. So net-net, 2020 was a much better year for me financially speaking. My travels were limited to motorcycling trips within Karnataka, but I managed to cover quite a few destinations. Some of them were 1000 year old temples as part of day trips from Bangalore, while I also managed two 10 day trips across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu taking me deep into the Western Ghats. While in the city, I enjoy cooking new delicacies, tending to my home garden, catching up on the OTT world, reading books, studying a variety of subjects and enjoying my daily walks in my neighborhood parks.

#12	Lakshmi Sharath
Blog	https://www. lakshmisharath.com
Activities	Blogging, newsletter, content and consulting
I have virtually out of the professional world for a while now as I had some personal concerns in addition to the pandemic . But that said , I have been working more on the blog , cleaning old content and also adding some fresh content . I launched my newsletter Journeys and Jottings and also conducted some workshops and online courses . I did some content projects and some consulting as well . And I have been reading , learning through some online courses and spending some time being meditating and being more grateful , introspective and mindful

#13	Ami Bhat
Blog	https://www.thrillingtravel.in
Activities	Travel, Workshops, Book
For me, 2020 has been a busy year indeed - with lots and lots of virtual travel and workshops. My last real trip before getting into a lockdown was to McCleodganj and after that, it was all about reliving my earlier travel to Chettinad, Meghalaya, Jaisalmer, Ladakh and a few more destinations. Besides putting out new content, I refreshed some of my earlier content by adding in updates from my later travel, new pictures and making it a little more Google-friendly. Besides the work on my blog www.thrillingtravel.in , I conducted several workshops on SEO, Pinterest and blogging related courses. The biggest project of all in 2020 was putting together my first book - When Places Come Alive. The book gave me a chance to put out all those stories that various destinations had got me imagining. I sketched out the characters and their emotions in the form of travel fiction and finally, launched it in February 2021.

#14	Bhushavali Natarajan
Blog	https://travel.bhushavali.com/
Activities	Learning French, local trips in Belgium
2021 has been a roller-coaster ride for me! To begin with it was good. I learnt the basics of French in Jan-Feb and soon tried to write an article about 'What should you know before going to India' for European Travelers. I'm yet to get more command over the language and I'm still in the very basic stage. Soon after that in March, severe lockdown began and my big trip to India & Singapore got cancelled (currently I'm in Belgium). I began writing about some of my earlier trips that I hadn't written about. I also began editing some of the well-performing old articles as well as removing some useless articles. I moved my the email subscription of My Travelogue to mailchimp. Later, by mid-2021, I went through a huge personal loss (from which I'm still recovering) and luckily by then the lock-down measures because slightly better and I could travel within Southern Belgium and around Brussels (for reference - the size of Belgium is 1/3rd the size of Tamil Nadu). Since day-care for my daughter had shut-down and I had to take care of my daughter full time, blogging really took back-seat and exploring the small towns & villages of Belgium with my daughter was all what I did. It was a really nice experience for the next couple of months. Then borders opened again and I did a quick trip to Frankfurt, Germany.  Soon after that, back in Belgium, I had an accident and broke my wrist in September. I was biking in Hotton when I lost balance and fell down. I had a surgery and that completely put a full stop to my travels for the next couple of months. A good thing that happened then, in November, was that I was chosen as one of the Expat Ambassadors of Flemish Brabant region and represented them in the regional Tourism awards.  By January 2021, I had recovered a bit physically. It snowed here like decades ago, thanks to the lack of pollution, and I managed to take my daughter snow-hiking in Wallonia, southern-Belgium again. With increasing cases, the borders shut-down again but there were no restrictions to travel within Belgium. Now, while the borders are slowly being opened, there are a lot of restrictions incl. quarantine, even if you visit neighboring countries. It has been 2 years since I met my parents and my family in India. I really hope things get better!

Summary: Most travel bloggers have found alternate passions to keep themselves busy, while reviving their blogs, learning new things and hobbies. Many of the bloggers are continuing to blog based on their previous travel experiences and have expanded their forte to writing books, writing for publications and related fields such as photography.

I am sure as a community we will bounce back. Thanks to all the bloggers above who responded to my call and shared a brief on their year long activities. Any particular travel blogger has excited you? Are you a travel blogger and I missed adding you in this list? Do comment below.

 

Need to see how the world travel scenario opens up. Many countries are opening up for vaccinated visitors. Unless a more serious Wave 3 kicks in, situation in India might free up a bit and India may get off the red list. If vaccinated Indians can resume quarantine free travel in another 4-6 months then some level of travel might resume before end of 2021. Let us hope.

Related: India's long term travel bloggers list * Top travel bloggers by traffic * Women travel bloggers who visited Udupi * Preparing for wave 3 *