Travel Blogger – Expectations vs. Reality

Travel Blogger – Expectations vs. Reality

From the outside it might appear that as a travel blogger you only chill at tropical beaches all day long drinking cocktails. But of course that is not the case 😀 Trave blogger is a real job (for some people part-time for some even full-time) which (if done with a lot of passion) is really time consuming! It also means that your private life will definitely suffer. Only if your partner can travel with you all the time (which isn’t the case with most travel bloggers) this job doesn’t make it easy having a relationship or keeping friendships alive.

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I for instance often don’t even get invited for birthdays or events anymore “because Maddie cannot attend anways” 😛 So I make it my task to catch up with friends when I’m in Munich. However, also this takes up quite some time which is the most important good of all bloggers 🙂

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I’ve already published a blog post with the topic: “How do I become a travel blogger?” (read it here). Hence, today I’m not gonna talk about this anymore but rather wanna give you some insights into my job and show you that it’s not so glamorous like most of you might imagine it to be 😉

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Like some of you might have seen I was just working as a travel blogger in Bali. Right before I spent three nights in Sicily also working as I had a collaboration with Hilton Giardini Naxos. The entire trip was beautiful! However, due to the short time and quite intense program there I only got very little amount of sleep in Sicily as I always worked until really late. With work I not only mean writing blog posts or editing pictures but also doing the other work that sums up when I’m away. Only answering emails usually takes at least two to three hours per day. Those emails are not only collaboration requests by companies that I always check very carefully but also a lot of emails from you guys. I always want to answer them in detail so that certainly takes up a lot of time. But this is just part of the life a good blogger 😉

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And part of the life a blogger, just as of every other person, is also that not everything works out 100% all the time. I was able to experience this not too long ago 😛 After Sicily I planned on spending two nights at home in Munich where I had already made plans with friends. But unfortunately that didn’t work out like I wanted it to…

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My airplane was supposed to fly from Catania, Sicily to Munich at noon. Half an hour after noon there were still no changes at the announcement of our gate and everyone just wondered what was going on. A bit later I found out (after I googled “Catania” and “accident”) that the entire airport would be closed for a while due to a gear up landing. Fortunately there were no casualties. However, because I was supposed to have a connecting flight in Rome a bit later I was now sure that I wouldn’t make my connecting flight. At the airline counter there was total chaos because there were of course many other people who had the same problem as I. At least after waiting for a long time I was booked onto another flight. After approx. 6 hours the airplane was finally departing to Rome. Arriving there unfortunately I had already missed the last flight to Munich. Hence, I had to wait in line again and again the staff was totally overwhelmed by the crowd of people. At least they gave me a hotel room and a new ticket for a flight the next morning. Unfortunately I thus had to cancel the plans with my friends 🙁 Arriving in my hotel room I was shocked. Being a travel blogger you are pretty spoiled when it comes to hotel rooms. I travel quite cheap when I don’t work but I’ve still never stayed in such a horrible hotel room 😛 Well, I took it with humour…haha! For those following me on Snaphat (Username: “pilotmadeleine1”) you might remember my small hotel bed etc. 😛

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So the next day I flew early in the morning to Munich where I met up with a few of my friends that day, had to pack for Bali and for a video shooting with Maybelline New York the day after. Hence, I couldn’t sleep in again. My lack of sleep was totally noticeable at that point (hello darkened eye circles 😛 ). Nevertheless I had tons of fun shooting and I’m glad I didn’t reject this project. You will be able to see the results in July 🙂

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The next morning I had a morning flight to Bali and I was really looking forward to a relaxed flight. But of course that wasn’t the case 😀 My first moment of upset happened when I wasn’t allowed after checkin to get to my gate because there was a bomb alert at Frankfurt Airport. One hour later all was fine again. I was already late anyways but they took me out at the security check to search for explosive material. They alsways pull me out so that wasn’t a surprise. I was only shocked when the test was positive!?! Another half hour later, shortly before closure of my gate, a policeman came, smiled and finally released me for my flight to Bali. Afterwards I was told that the tests are quite sensitive and also react to parfume sometimes. So on my next flight I’m not gonna wear any parfume…haha.

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As probably the last person on the airplane I was excited that I would finally fly to Bali. However, that excitement didn’t last very long. It only lasted until the captain announced a problem with the engine. In the end we had to wait over three hours (without air conditioning, no food etc.) until we finally flew to Hongkong. Arriving there I just missed my connecting flight 🙁 I somehow already new this would happen and it wasn’t new to me 😛 We then got rebooked onto a flight 6 hours later (yes, waiting is also part of being a travel blogger 😛 ). However, it was a completely new airline; one that I’ve never heard of. Because in Asia the security regulations are not as strict as in Europe I admit I was a bit worried. But I had no other choice. To my surprise in the end the airline was totally fine and I fell asleep on this flight immediately. However, now the crazy story begins:

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After a few hours I woke up solely by the captain’s announcement and saw a screen with an approach into Makasar. Just for your information purposes: We were supposed to land at Denpasar, Bali and I’ve really never heard of Makasar in my life before, neither did I know where it is exactly. In that moment 1000 thoughts crossed my mind such as: “Did I get on the wrong airplane?” or even “Has our airplane been hijacked?”. After asking the flight attendants what was going on I found out that Makasar is in Sulawesi Island (that didn’t tell me much either…haha) and that Denpasar Airport is closed at the moment. At least I was a bit relieved hearing this 😀 After landing in Makasar I immediately talked to my BFF who was stuck in Singapore. At least our airplane flew to Bali three hours later. In the end I arrived at 2am the next day instead of 3pm the day before. Hence, I had a day less taking nice pictures of the hotel, exploring Bali etc. Therefore, I was quite stressed since the beginning (of course also due to the lack of sleep) and only could relax towards the end of our trip. In Bali I usually stayed up until 2 or 3am (my Snapchat crew knows) and did the work that I wasn’t able to do during the day.

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Nevertheless, I still love travel blogging and I don’t wanna miss it! I just wanted to show you via this blog post and my little story that things are not how they appear sometimes. Travel blogging is like any other job really hard work! You cannot compare it to any extent to a normal vacation. Every normal traveler can decide what he or she wants to do that day which is definitely not the case as a travel blogger 😉 Hence, you don’t need to be jealous when you see travel pictures of mine. Just think how much hard work is behind these “relaxed” pictures 😀 Because sometimes travel blogging is like the picture above…haha!

Sorry for the long and honest blog post 🙂

Xoxo

Maddi

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