For surfers, South Africa is the holy grail. Thousands of uncrowded bays and point breaks receive Atlantic and Indian Ocean swells in all seasons. It’s home to the iconic Supertubes point break, which holds a spot on the World Surf League (WSL) championship tour and is ranked among the top three waves in the world. However, Supertubes isn’t the only world-class wave in South Africa — the country is teeming with them.

With epic waves comes surfers, and with surfers comes cool surf towns. These are some of the coolest places to book one of many luxury retreats in South Africa and surf until your arms feel like noodles.

Durban

The waves of Durban, South Africa, groomed local hero Shaun Tomson into the world champion of surfing, and they’re bound to help your cutback too. The Indian Ocean waters tend to be warmer here, making it more inviting for surfers of all skill levels. However, beginners will want to remain on the typically smaller southern breaks, as Durban is no stranger to big waves. Often referred to as the “Bay of Plenty,” there are enough waves to go around in this coastal town.

Durban is also an ideal town to visit if you’re traveling with non-surfers or your arms are burned out from too much paddling. You can people watch and snack at local food stands along the Golden Mile promenade, visit the scenic Valley of 1,000 Hills or get up-close-and-personal with African animals at the Phezulu Safari Park.

Eland’s Bay

Head a couple hours north of Cape Town, roughly 220 kilometers, and you’ll arrive at the West Coast town of Elands Bay. This spot is best when the famous left-hand point break is cranking with a westerly swell and southeast winds. Surfing and soaking in the rugged beauty are the most popular things to do here, but hiking, off-roading, exploring rock art caves and venturing onto the waterways by boat are ideal ways to occupy days when the ocean is flat (typically few and far between). Cruise by the Vensterklip Farm Pub to enjoy your after-surf beer in the cozy pub nestled inside a 300-year-old barn.

Muizenberg

It’s said that the earliest recorded wave surfed in Muizenberg was in 1919, which is why it has been dubbed the “birthplace of South African surfing.” National Geographic also named it one of the top 20 surf towns in the world. That’s because in addition to offering two quality reef breaks in the immediate area, it’s also home to Surfer’s Corner, a mellow beach break that’s popular for swimming and learning to surf. The biggest swells typically come from the northwest during the winter months, but rent a longboard, and you can surf almost every day of the year.

It’s no wonder this coastal suburb of Cape Town is ranked among the top surf towns in the world. Muzies, as its known among locals, is home to a long list of iconic restaurants, like Tiger’s Milk at Surfers Corner, and plenty of places to sleep with sea views and ocean breezes. Known for its music, art, food, coffee and historic surf shops, Muizenberg is a must-visit South African surf town.

Jeffreys Bay

The World Surf League’s annual J-Bay Open is held at Jeffreys Bay’s iconic Supertubes break. It’s known for offering one of the most consistent tubes in the world, and experienced surfers travel from around the world to experience the sensation of getting barreled here. J-Bay is also home to a local surf population and the coastline is littered with famous surf breaks (in addition to Supertubes), including Impossibles, The Point, Salad Bowls, Boneyards and more.

An abundance of surf shops and schools, including a Quiksilver and Roxy Factory Shop, embolden the local surfing vibe, and a variety of villas and retreats have been designed specifically to accommodate surfers.  The town also offers a variety of shops offering locally-crafted goods, beachy restaurants and all of the makings of a true surf destination. For many surfers, J-Bay is the ultimate bucket-list destination.

Photo credit: Free-Photos via Pixabay

Port Edward

This small resort town on the south coast of South Africa is the heart of the “Wild Coast,” a long stretch of coastline littered with regionally famous surf spots. Breezy Point, or Ntlonyana, is one of the most consistent point breaks in the area, but there’s no shortage of surf wherever you find yourself along the rugged coastline.

In fact, Port Edward is known for some of the most naturally beautiful scenery in the world. Take some time out of the water to visit the Port Edward Lighthouse, hike the trails in the Umtamvuna Nature Reserve, catch a sunset at Mtentu Beach, mountain bike the Clearwater trails and visit the smallest desert in the world at the Red Desert Nature Conservation Area. The opportunities for adventure in and out of the water are endless here, which is why this area can easily suck you in and occupy your entire holiday.

South Africa’s roughly 2,800 kilometers of coastline is home to more world-class waves and must-visit beach towns that most countries triple its size. Complete beginners can take lessons on small, sand-bottom beach breaks while seasoned veterans get tubed in J-Bay. It doesn’t matter what level of surfer you are, you’ll need at least a few weeks to cruise the South African coastline and uncover all of the cool surf towns it has to offer.

The post The Coolest Places to Surf in South Africa appeared first on XpatMatt.

I lived in Taiwan for 8 years. It’s beautiful, small, oval-shaped island that is 394 km from the North to South and 144 km across. The East Coast has a wide flat plain where most of the population lives. Nearly all of the rest of the country is tall, steep, jungle-covered mountains that are filled with winding gorges that have been carved out by rivers. Along much of the scenic and sparsely populated East Coast the mountains plunge into the Pacific Ocean.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about biking in Taiwan. Taroko Gorge is probably one of the most beautiful bike rides in the world.  This is what it looks like.

Every cyclist I know who has visited Taiwan loves it. So, I asked five of the most experienced cyclists I know why the loved road and mountain biking in Taiwan.

Daniel Carruthers

Why do you like cycling/mountain biking in Taiwan? 

Taiwan offers amazing cycling opportunities for the cyclist. Road cycling is the most popular with its endless network of roads you can explore and always be within distance of 7-Eleven for refueling or pitstop for emergency bikes. Many convenience stores have basic tool kits, pumps and tube repair kits available.

Taiwan has a stunning diversity of scenery, particularly in the Taipei mountain region and on the East coast where the famous Taiwan KOM event is staged every year, which includes 100kms of climbing to Wuling Peak. Going zero to 3,200m will send most cyclists giddy with the effort and the mind-blowing scenery on the way up.

What makes Taiwan different from other places you’ve biked? 

I have travelled all over Asia to ride my bike and Taiwan ranks probably number one, narrowly beating out Chiang Mai Thailand for the top spot.  Taiwan is just a super convenient place to ride your bike, dotted with numerous ornate temples and those narrow twisting car free roads that just make you want to keep exploring.

Where is your favourite place in Taiwan to ride and why? 

I have two favourite places to ride in Taiwan:

1) Taipei City – There is world class riding within minutes of the city. The city is surrounded by mountains and you’ll find your climbing ability rapidly improve after spending time here. Many of the climbs are no joke and ramp up 15-20%.

If you would like a challenging ride in Taipei, then the Balaka Climb on Danshui County Road 101 (over 1000m elevation gain) would be my pick. It finishes with a painful 3-4km 18% grade climb to the actual peak. Speed demons will enjoy a screaming fast descent back into Taipei City, during which you can reach 80km/h on a road bike. The most scenic rides would have to be Taipei to Yilan via Hwy 9 and Wulai to Fushan.

2) Kinmen Island – A tiny butterfly shaped island just off the coast of China. I’ve gone back there about half dozen times and never get sick of riding there. There are no mountains to climb, but the island offers a variety of roads and trails to ride on.

The island has an interesting history with an active Taiwan military base and is the only place in Asia where the traditional culture is still intact. It is pure joy to ride through old complete villages that survived the wars; the island is dotted with such villages. There is also a Portuguese influence in many of the magnificent mansions that are still intact.

A fit cyclist can ride the circumference of the island in one day.

Note: Kinmen has numerous free bicycle rental stations around the island for casual exploration.

Mark Roche

Why do you like cycling/mountain biking in Taiwan? 

Taiwan has something that appeals to all cyclists – excellent road conditions. Taiwan is relatively small, exactly half the size of Ireland with an area of 36,000 sq. kilometers, it’s easy to get to any part of the island in one day. An extensive rail system that circles the island with trains equipped to transport bikes and passengers alike.

Taiwan also has four-season riding. It gets hot in summer, so we can ride in the mountains to get away from the heat. Two thirds of the island is covered mountains and has the highest concentration of 3,000m peaks in the world, so you can combine tropical coastline riding with alpine riding in the same day.

What makes Taiwan different from other places you’ve biked? 

It’s easy to navigate and has bilingual road signs and a road numbering system on all major and most minor roads that indicates if you are travelling north, south, east or west.

Taiwanese drivers are very tolerant of cyclists. I have never experienced road rage in Taiwan towards cyclists. An ever increasing number of dedicated bike lanes segregated from other road users. You can camp anywhere, Taiwanese are starting to discover the outdoors, so the number of campgrounds is growing, but wild camping is also possible in most areas. There’s also no shortage of accommodation options for all price ranges.

Where is your favourite place in Taiwan to ride and why? 

Coast to coast is one of my favorites, from Taichung to Hualien on the Central Cross-island Highway. This ride is 230km long and takes you over the island’s highest mountain pass at Wu Ling (3,275m), which is one of the highest mountain passes in the world that is accessible to cyclists.

I also like to ride end to end on the East Coast, AKA the Two Towers ride. This 600km ride along the coast on the Pacific Ocean takes you through aboriginal villages, fishing harbors, and some of the most scenic coast line on the planet.

Chris Scott

Why do you like cycling/mountain biking in Taiwan? 

I think the best part about riding in Taiwan is the same everywhere I’ve ridden. It’s the camaraderie and friendships you forge on the trail, which seem to transcend cultural and language barriers.

What makes Taiwan different from other places you’ve biked? 

When I first started riding in Taiwan in late 2001, there was almost no mountain biking culture there at all. It was just a few diehard foreigners bombing down trails that were used by hikers. Fast forward less than a decade and riding had become really popular with the locals. One of the last races l entered in Taichung had over 200 riders, and only a handful of them were foreigners. That’s what made riding in Taiwan so interesting, the lighting pace at which the culture evolved.

Where is your favourite place in Taiwan to ride and why? My favorite place to ride was definitely the experimental forest in Shinhua, a half hour to the east of Tainan. A South African friend and I used to go there every Sunday afternoon and ride until it began to get dark, then we’d load our rigs onto the back of our motorbikes and head home into a spectacular tropical sunset, with that euphoric feeling of near total exhaustion capping off what was always a great weekend.

Simon Foster

Why do you like cycling/mountain biking in Taiwan? 

The island of Taiwan is less than 400km from north to south and only 150km across at its widest point, y this tiny tropical gem contains East Asia’s highest mountains, the world’s deepest marble gorge, over 150 hot springs, and mile after mile of untouched beaches, meaning that hard days in the saddle are often rewarded by an ocean swim or a therapeutic thermal soak, not to mention incredibly diverse and delicious cuisine to keep you fuelled for the road.

What makes Taiwan different from other places you’ve biked? 

Remote roads through spectacular scenery are an amazing part of riding through many countries, but in Taiwan, unused county roads are kept in pristine condition, seemingly exclusively for the use of two-wheeled adventurers. Add to this extensive investment in cycling infrastructure, including bike paths, bike service stations at convenience stores and rural police stations, and some of the friendliest people on the planet and the result is one of the world’s best, and most under-rated biking destinations.

Where is your favourite place in Taiwan to ride and why? 

County road 64, aka the “Ruigang Road” starts in Ruisui hot springs in the lush East Rift Valley and cuts its way through the low, jungly Coastal Mountain Range. This lovely little road follows the course of Taiwan’s premier whitewater rafting river, the Xiuguluan, to emerge at the Pacific by the impressive bridge at Dagangkou. This is one of our favourite roads on an island packed with perfect roads, and it features on our Bike Taiwan and Eastern Escape itineraries.

Joshua Samuel Brown

Why do you like cycling/mountain biking in Taiwan? 

It’s like the phrase from Vulcan philosophy, “Infinite diversity in infinite combinations”.

Taiwan’s got mountains, hills, plains, ocean roads, small towns and big cities, and they’re all connected by amazing and (mostly) cycle friendly roads. So cycling in Taiwan never gets boring. I’ve not done nearly enough mountain biking there, but I intend to do more when I return in 2017.

What makes Taiwan different from other places you’ve biked? 

People in Taiwan are generally friendlier towards cyclists then they are in most of America. The Taiwan government has really gone out of it’s way to promote cycling as both sport and lifestyle, and this has resulted in an increased awareness of cyclists as a part of the island’s cultural tapestry.

Where is your favourite place in Taiwan to ride and why? 

Depends on my mood. I really like everything in the Rift Valley stretching up between Yuli and Hualien City. Route 9 is a perfectly lovely and serviceable cycling road, but you can also turn off and find smaller roads going through rice paddies where you’ll not see a car for miles. I love the town of Ruisui for both the hotsprings and this one particular Hakka restaurant I know there.

Of course, I like city riding. I cut my cycling teeth as a bike messenger in NYC, so I need the rush of riding in traffic. One of my regular Taipei city rides cuts the city South to North, from Xindian to Tienmu on Roosevelt / ChungShan roads. Preferably in rush hour traffic. Not everybody’s cup of tea though.

Have you been cycling in Taiwan? Share your experience in the comments below.

The post 5 Cyclists Explain Why They Love Biking In Taiwan appeared first on XpatMatt.

In some cases, the resources are products that you pay for, such as web hosting. Wherever possible, I’ve included affiliate links to products, which means that if you click through and buy a product, I’ll receive a commission (though the price for you won’t change). I’ve marked those links with an asterisk (*).

I haven’t, however, included any products just to try and earn a commission. I genuinely recommend all of the resources below.

Below is a table of contents. You can open and close each section just by clicking on the title.

I hope you find this guide useful! If there’s anything you think I missed, please let me know in the comments!

Introduction and General Resource

About This Resource Guide

When I decided to build this monolith of a travel blogging resource I had a single goal: to create the definitive one-stop directory that would provide any person who is willing to invest the time and energy to learn with every resource they need to earn a living as a travel blogger.

Well…that, and I wanted to make some money.

Lucky for me accomplishing the first goal enables me to accomplish the second. That may not seem to make much sense at first. After all, this is a free guide.

It does work though, and if you read the provided resources about content marketing, then you’ll understand exactly how that works and how to use the same type of strategy to earn money for yourself. But, since you haven’t gotten to read it yet, I’ll give you a quick run-down of how this guide will earn me money.

1. 1. Some of the products listed here use affiliate links (they’re marked with an asterisk *). So, if the people using this guide click on those links and buy products, I’ll be paid a small commission on the sale. When I invested the time in writing this guide I was banking on the fact that I’d be able to generate enough traffic and sales to make it worth my while.
   2. This guide shows people that I’m pretty a knowledgeable guy when it comes to travel blogging and online travel marketing. So, it will help convince bloggers to hire me to coach them and travel marketers to hire me as a consultant.
   3. This guide will attract bloggers and travel marketers. Although they may not all be ready to buy my services, many will be interested in signing up for my travel industry newsletter, in which I send regular tips, updates, and links when I publish articles like this one. By adding those people to my email list I’ll be able to continue to convince them that I should be their go to guy when they do need to hire somebody for help.

If you’d like to receive my industry newsletter, which will include up-to-date travel blogging, social media, and online marketing information and updates, you can, in fact, sign up right now.

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I decided to create a resource guide rather than an entire book (which it nearly is anyways) because nearly all of the information necessary to learn how to travel blog professionally is already available on the Internet. You just need to know where to find it.

I learned much of what I know about blogging and social media online, so I thought it seemed silly to rewrite information that I could simply link to — especially when much of that information comes from experts in their respective fields.

I’ve personally used most of the resources that I recommend here, but I’ve also included some that I haven’t used based on the advice of other bloggers that I trust. I’ve only included resources in this list that I genuinely believe to be accurate and helpful.

The Internet is constantly evolving, and therefore so is blogging and content marketing. So, I will try to keep this resource guide as up-to-date as possible. That’s a big job, though, and I could use your help. So, if you notice anything that’s outdated, please let me know in the comments. Likewise, if you know of a good resource that’s missing, feel free to let me know in the comments and I’ll consider adding it.

If there’s anything you would like to learn about that you can’t find here — or anywhere else — let me know and I’ll consider writing a blog post about it myself.

Happy learning!

Matt

Awesome General Resources

Blogging is big business these days, and there are a lot of excellent resources out there about travel blogging and blogging in general. Here are some of my go-to resources when I’m looking for information I know I can trust.

Travel Writing 2.0* By Tim Leffel

Written by renowned travel writer and publisher Tim Leffel, this book provides an intelligent and honest overview of the travel writing landscape in the digital age and the new skills and strategies required to earn a living — from both blogging and freelance writing — in this increasingly competitive field.

Full disclosure: Tim’s also one of my favorite people to hang out with at conferences and wears a fedora better than anyone else I’ve met.

31 Days to a Better Blog* By Darren Rowse

Problogger is one of the most useful blogs out there for aspiring professional bloggers. This ebook is an excellent roadmap for bloggers interested in improving their game. Just looking over the book again as I write this makes me want to give my blog the 31-day makeover. This advice never goes out of style.

Working on the Road* By Nora Dunn

This book from the popular Unconventional Guides series — although written by a popular travel blogger — isn’t strictly about blogging, nor is it about travel blogging. It’s a toolkit for people who are interested in leaving home to work from the road and covers topics ranging from dealing with all your stuff, to budgeting, to insurance, to starting an online business.

Full disclosure: Although we’ve never met in person, Nora and I have worked together before and she’s one of my best virtual buddies.

My Industry Newsletter

I send out an occasional newsletter to travel bloggers and industry. The newsletter usually includes current events in travel and digital media, links to useful articles I’ve written (like this resource, for example), and jobs and freelance opportunities for travel bloggers that have come across my desk. You can sign up using this form.

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Problogger

If you’ve read ProBlogger before, then you know why I listed it here. If you haven’t read it yet, you’re welcome.

CopyBlogger

An excellent blog about blogging for money with an emphasis on strong copywriting. After The Elements of Style and On Writing Well (which I’ll discuss in the writing section), CopyBlogger is probably one of the best instructional resources about writing that I’ve ever seen.

I highly recommend signing up for their free 20-part Internet marketing course, partly because it’s a fantastic course, and partly because it’s the best example of a top-notch email sign-up incentive in action.

Hubspot

Hubspot is probably off the radar of a lot of travel bloggers. The website is aimed more at professional marketers than bloggers, but since our strategies and goals are nearly identical, it’s also very useful for the serious professional blogger.

Bloggers Talk About Getting Started Travel Blogging

If you aren’t familiar with travel blogging, then this section will give you an idea of what you can expect. Here you will find the experiences of, and advice from, some of the more experienced and successful bloggers in the industry.

People often ask me about becoming a travel blogger. This is the advice I give them:

If you want to start a travel blog because you love participating in online communities and creating content about travel, then you’re in the right place.

If you want to start a travel blog because you want to earn money and travel the world for free, do something else.

A lot of people are attracted to travel blogging by the promise of earning money and and going on free trips.

Some travel bloggers do earn a living and travel for free, but travel blogging is extremely competitive and is a very hard way to earn a living. There are many easier ways to make money online, and free trips aren’t as much fun as you think.

Before you commit to travel blogging — which for most is a commitment to years of poorly- and unpaid work — consider learning how to start a different business online. Dropshipping Chinese-made toilet brushes may not be as glamorous as travel blogging, but it may well be a more secure and less time-consuming way to earn a living.

But, if you’re still determined to start a travel blog, here’s what some of my colleagues say about it.

ProBlogger’s Guide to Your First Week of Blogging*

I’ve said it before, and you’ll hear me say it many more times. ProBlogger knows their stuff.  This book is an excellent resource for anyone looking to start a blog on the right foot, whether in travel or on any other topic.

How to Start a Travel Blog in Six Steps by Kate McCulley (aka Adventurous Kate)

Tips from Kate McCulley, one of the most popular travel bloggers on the web, on how to get your travel blog up and running.  A good read from a top travel blogger.

Full disclosure: Kate is my buddy and we drink beer beside swimming pools together whenever possible. Despite her poor taste in friends, her blogging advice is quite good.

How to Build a Travel Blog by Matt Kepnes (aka Nomadic Matt)

I have to be honest. I haven’t read this book. But, Matt is one of the most successful travel bloggers out there, so I know he knows what he’s talking about. And it comes with lifetime support, which, if you take advantage of it, is worth way more than the $10 that you’ll spend on the book.

How to Become a Professional Travel Blogger by Lawrence Norah

Lawrence Norah, the author of Finding the Universe, is one of the most active members of the travel blogging community and, also, one of the most business-minded travel bloggers that I know. This post is an excellent perspective on what it means to be a professional in the travel blogging industry, as opposed to being just another traveler with a blog. Lawrence also publishes a series of travel blogging tips from other professional travel bloggers.

How to Start a Travel Blog by Kristin Addis

Kristin Addis of Be My Travel Muse put together this concise and useful guide to the first steps of getting on your way travel blogging with a good roundup of the widgets and plugins that she likes to use.

How to Start a Successful Travel Blog by Norbert Figuera

Norbert of GloboTreks covers some excellent topics not discussed by others in this blog post, such as taking the time to choose your name and niche carefully, and how to ensure that your new blog is indexed by Google.

So You Want to be a Travel Blogger by Liz Carlson

Liz Carlson, aka Young Adventuress, speaks candidly about her road to professional blogging, the strategies that have (and haven’t) worked for her, and the philosophy that has helped keep her interested, passionate, and plugging away day after day.

How To Become a Successful Travel Blogger by Vikki Philpot

A well-grounded take on what it means to be a successful travel blogger (spoiler: it’s not the same for everyone) and steps that anyone — regardless of their goals — can take to achieve their own version of success.

How to Start a Travel Blog in 10 Simple Steps by Amanda Williams

In this overview, Amanda Williams gives you the broad strokes of what you need to do to start, build, and promote a travel blog. It’s sort of similar to this guide, but less technical and more condensed.

How to Find Success And Make Money As A Travel Blogger by Mariellen Ward

Mariellen compiled a fantastic list of resources here (at the bottom) along with good advice for becoming a professional blogger, including tips from many of the big names in the industry.

Building Your Blog and Other Technical Information

Domain Names and Blog Hosting

When you’re ready to start your blog, you’ll need to make a few basic decisions. First, you’ll need to decide whether to start a free blog on a website like WordPress or Blogspot or to pay for hosting and a domain name and start a self-hosted blog.

If you are at all serious about blogging, then you should bite the bullet and pay the $80/year it costs to buy a domain name and host your blog. If you’re not willing to invest that much, then you should stop reading right now and reconsider becoming a professional blogger. If you aren’t willing to invest that tiny amount of startup capital, you probably aren’t committed enough to succeed.

Starting a free blog will almost inevitably cause you headaches down the road because, if you decide later to blog to any sort of professional level, you will need a self-hosted blog (I won’t go into the reasons here) and will have to move your blog, which creates extra work, the potential for things to go wrong, and can cost more than you saved by not paying for hosting in the first place.

Do yourself a favor. Build a self-hosted blog using free WordPress blogging software from the start.

Domain Names

There are a gazillion domain registrars out there to choose from. A lot of bloggers I know prefer NameCheap* because it’s a bit cheaper than others. Personally, I don’t mind paying the extra few bucks per year to register my domain names with my budget web host (Hostgator*) for the convenience of keeping my web service bills in one place. If I were hosting with Bluehost*, as many bloggers do, I’d probably buy my domain names there.

Cheap Web Hosting

Hostgator* | $4/month and up

Opinions about this low-cost web host vary. Many people dislike Hostgator, but I’ve personally had a great experience with them and I host numerous websites with them. I’ve found their support to be great when I’ve used it, so I recommend them as a cheap host. Take that for what you will, it’s just one person’s experience. But, regardless of who you choose, for the love of God, don’t host with GoDaddy!

Bluehost* | $4/month and up

Like Hostgator, opinions about Bluehost vary. When bloggers debate the best budget hosting, they’re the two that seem to come up most frequently. They’re actually owned by the same parent company, and they’re both so cheap I don’t think anyone should expect too much from either of them. I don’t have any experience with Bluehost, I’ve included it because many people I know use and like it.

Premium Web Hosting

WP Pronto | $20/month and up

I found this host when I noticed that one prominent travel blogger was using it and said they loved it. I have no experience with them, but it looks quite good and affordable. If I wasn’t already set up with Synthesis (which I love, but is more expensive), I’d probably try it.

WP Engine* | $29/month and up

I’ve looked at and helped other bloggers to set up their websites with WP Engine. Hosting quality seems to be about on par with Synthesis, but I personally found WP Engine’s dashboard to be less user friendly, so I personally prefer Synthesis.

Synthesis | $47/month and up

I use Synthesis to host this (my most important) blog, and I think it’s fantastic. It was easy and painless to migrate my website. One small touch I loved was that they provided a file that you can upload to WP Total Cache to optimize your caching and CDN settings for their servers. I like it and won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

Building Your Blog on WordPress

Once you have a domain name and hosting, it’s time to start building your blog. WordPress dominates the blogging world as the software of choice. It’s free, open-source, stable, and widely-used. Because it’s so widely used, there are tons of tools out there for customizing it and there’s a wealth of free resources online to help you learn how to use it. For those reasons, I strongly recommend you use it.

It’s so common, that many web hosts have one-button WordPress install options.

Go here for instructions on how to install WordPress on Hostgator.

Go here for instructions on how to install WordPress on Bluehost.

The resources below should contain the answers to basically any technical question about WordPress that you could possibly have, so get to know them well. You will use them often in the future.

All-Encompassing Resources

The WordPress Codex

This is probably the largest educational WordPress resource available online. It contains all the information you’ll need to get your blog up and running on the WordPress platform. Like WordPress software, the codex is open-source. It’s filled with tutorials on pretty much every wordpress issue you can imagine and forums where you can ask other users for help.

Lynda*

Lynda is known in many web circles as the resource for tutorials online. Not just WordPress tutorials (which they have 64 of), but also for web development, marketing, photography, video, and everything else an online entrepreneur could want to know.

Memberships start at $25/mo or $250/year, but if you’d like to take it for a test run first you can get a 10-day full-access free trial here.

Full disclosure: I haven’t used Lynda personally, but have heard it recommended so many times it would seem silly not to include it here.

WP101*

WP101 is a paywalled website with 45 video tutorials that will walk you through the process of building and maintaining your own WordPress website. It’s $19 for the first month, or $39 for one year, so it’s definitely an affordable resource.

WP Beginner

Similar to WP101, WP Beginner is a great series of tutorials on many aspects of using WordPress, though most of them are written rather than in video format, and it’s not that well organized, so it may take more sifting to find what you’re looking for.

WordPress Help and Share

This is a Facebook group with thousands of members where anyone can post their questions or problems for help from the community. It’s an excellent resource for learning and collaborating.

Making it Not Look Awful

WordPress is the software that runs your blog, but it can be customized to look any way you want. There are many attractive pre-made blog themes on the market. They’re easy to install and completely change the way your blog looks.

Go here to learn how to install a theme on your WordPress blog.

Themes aren’t all created equal. Some are free and some cost money. Most importantly, some offer support and some will continue to offer support in the future. This is very important because WordPress is constantly updating and changing. If your theme developer doesn’t update the theme consistently it will become a security risk and will eventually stop working properly, forcing you to switch to a new theme.

Changing your theme down the road — or being hacked — can be a huge hassle, so it’s important to buy a theme from a reputable developer who is likely to be around in years to come to keep the theme up-to-date and provide support. For those reasons, I recommend buying a premium theme from one of the following well-known, successful companies. An investment of $40 or $80 now will almost certainly save you a ton of headaches in the future.

StudioPress*

These are the same fellows who run Synthesis hosting, and I think their Genesis framework and child themes are awesome. Installing a framework and childtheme combination is basically as easy as installing a theme, costs about the same, and has a few technical advantages. I’ve built more than one blog on the Genesis framework and think it’s one of the best things going. I highly recommend building on the Genesis framework and using an approved child theme.

Woo Themes

Woo Themes is probably the other most reliable theme company. This blog actually runs on their Canvas theme, which is super customizable. I’ve also had great experiences with them and they’ve grown into one of the biggest theme companies around, so they’re likely to be around in the long run to provide support and updates.

Thesis*

I’ve never personally used Thesis, but it’s a long time favorite of professional bloggers and a reputable company, so I thought it deserved inclusion here.

The New Rainmaker

I absolutely love TNR. It’s like WordPress on steroids for online marketing. TNR is built by StudioPress and it includes most of the most common blog optimization and online marketing products out of the box. TNR includes the Genesis framework and a selection of childthemes, hosting by Synthesis (with an unlimited traffic limit, which is unheard of), as well as built-in email marketing, conversion tracking and paywall and e-commerce capabilities. It’s basically everything that marketers need in one package for one monthly payment. I’m tempted to switch over myself.

Mobile vs. Responsive Design

It’s widely accepted that to succeed you need to have a website that is mobile-friendly. That is to say, your website has to look just as good on a phone as it does on a tablet as it does on a computer.

There are two ways you can ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. You can have a mobile version of your website that viewers on mobile devices are automatically shown, or a responsive website that automatically resizes and rearranges elements for visitors on mobile devices.

Responsive design is generally considered the better solution, so you should be careful to choose a WordPress theme that is responsive.

Mobile-Friendly Test

Google looks at your website to determine if it’s mobile friendly and uses that information in mobile search rankings. This test will tell you how mobile-friendly Google thinks your website is.

WordPress Custom Designs and Theme Customizations

If you’d like to go one step beyond a nice-looking pre-made theme and have a completely custom WordPress theme built for you (or would like your theme highly customized), I can help.

I’ve helped several bloggers and brands build blogs. I feel that custom WordPress themes created designers are a bit risky because if a WordPress update breaks the theme, you will be forced to pay your designer again to fix it.

Without getting too technical about the reasons, the alternative is to have a childtheme built for a framework such as Genesis (by StudioPress) or Canvas (by WooThemes). This leaves more control in the hands of the blogger to make their own customizations — especially if they use Canvas — while minimizing the risk of future technical problems.

Because I feel this is the best approach, I’ve found some reasonably-priced Canvas experts that I work with to build blogs. For more information about building a standalone blog — or how to add a custom blog to your company’s website without creating a security risk — contact me.

If you just want to make a few small tweaks to your website, we can help with that too. Or you can also try learning how to tweak your blog’s CSS yourself.

I know there are lots of companies out there who do WordPress design, but I don’t know of any that specifically specialize in blogs for independent travel bloggers and travel brands. I’m not trying to monopolize this space just for my own service. If you know of any, please let me know so I can list them here.

Other Important Technical Tidbits

Pageload Speed

The amount of time it takes your website to load for users is important not only for good user experience, but because it’s one of the factors Google considers in search rankings. This tool enables you to test your pageload speed from different locations around the world and see what’s slowing it down.

Caching

If you run the above test and find that your website is going slowly, you will want to set up a caching plugin. Caching tells a reader’s browser to download and save certain parts of your website (like your logo for example) so that on future visits the reader won’t have to re-download those elements, thus helping your website to load faster.

I recommend the W3 Total Cache plugin, because that’s the one I use and it’s very (if not the most) popular. Here are some instructions on how to set it up.

Caching comes with one disclaimer: you should make sure you’re happy with your website design and aren’t planning to make changes before implementing it, because caching can complicate design changes (a little bit).

Content Distribution Networks (CDNs)

A CDN also helps to speed up your website. Your website is hosted on a server that’s physically located somewhere. Let’s say, for example, New York City. If a person loads your website in New York City, it may load very quickly. But if your website information has to travel from the server in New York all the way across the Atlantic and Europe to Istanbul, it will take significantly longer to load.

A CDN stores parts of your website on a servers around the world and when a computer requests your website it automatically serves your website from server closest to it.  Amazon Cloudfront (which I use) is one of the biggest CDNs out there. MaxCDN* is also very popular. The W3 Total Cache plugin has settings for both of these CDNs.

Here are some instructions for setting up Amazon Cloudfront with W3 Total Cache.

Here are some instructions for setting up MaxCDN with W3 Total Cache.

Google Analytics

Download this and install it right now. It’s free and you’re going to do it eventually no matter what, so you may as well sign up and get it over with.

Google Analytics is the industry standard software for tracking how many visitors visit your website, where they came from, and what they do on your site, all of which is very valuable information.

To install GA, all you have to do is sign up for a free account and then put a bit of tracking code in your website. Many WordPress have a place in the dashboard where you can cut-and-paste your GA information to install it. Try Googling “Install Google Analytics (Theme Name Here)” to find instructions.

The Yoast WordPress SEO plugin (which I recommend in the plugins section) also has an easy to use analytics installation system.

If for some reason those solutions don’t work, you can also use the Google Analytics plugin to install it.

Google Analytics Help

Google Analytics is a powerful tool for learning how readers are finding and interacting with your blog. Get to learn and love it, because it will be one of your best tools in the long run for learning to grow and monetize your audience. The above link takes you to the official Google Analytics help page, which has tons of free tutorials.

Google’s Free Analytics Academy

This is another official Google resource; a series of instructional videos followed by self administered tests. A great way to learn how Google Analytics can help you. I’ve been going through them all myself.

How To Use Google Analytics

This easy-to-follow flowchart of links to different Google Analytics tutorials in the order that a small business owner should consume them. It’s a great overview of the stages of learning Google Analytics and go-to resource to find tutorials for next step in your analytics education.

Google Webmaster Tools

This is another one you’re going to do eventually, so you may as well just do it now and get it over with even if you’re not sure what to do with it.

Google Webmaster Tools is a place that Google created for communicating with website owners about technical issues. Through your Google Webmaster Tools account you can officially ‘claim’ your website. You can also submit a sitemap to Google to help them index your website more quickly and easily.

Webmaster tools can also provide you with valuable information about your website, such as the search terms people are using to find it and broken links and missing pages. This is also the place where Google will send you a message if something is seriously wrong. Again, this is something you’re going to sign up for eventually anyways, so you may as well do it now.

Bing Webmaster Tools

Just like Google Webmaster Tools, but for Bing. Again, you may as well just do it and get it over with.

Choosing the Right Plugins

There are two rules to using plugins with WordPress:

1. Always as few plugins as possible. Using too many plugins can create technical problems for your blog and will almost certainly make it run slowly.
2. Always keep your plugins up to date and delete any plugins that you aren’t using. Deactivated and out-of-date plugins can leave your blog vulnerable to hackers.

As with WordPress themes, plugins come and go and have varying levels of support. It’s advisable to try and use plugins that have good support and are likely to be around for a long time. Fortunately, many free plugins fit this criteria, though I often feel that it’s worth it to pay for premium features and support.

With that in mind, I’ve listed all of the plugins that I couldn’t live without below. You may also want to take a look through this enormous list of useful plugins.

Askismet (comment spam filter) | Free

This plugin comes pre-installed on WordPress. It automatically blocks a very large proportion of the spammers who spam blog comments for links. Keep it. Use it.

Flare Social Sharing Buttons | $89/year

This isn’t a plugin, per se, but an app that performs a function that a plugin is normally used for. It’s a premium app and costs $89/year, but it’s an excellent out-of-the-box sharing solution. There are lots of similar free alternatives, but they tend to come and go and occasionally break. I’m paying the $89/year for Flare for a few reasons

1) It’s a better than the free alternatives.

2) I want to know the team that supports it is earning money and will continue to support and improve it so that I don’t have to go through the trouble of changing.

3) Filament (the company that makes Flare) is working on a free social sharing analytics dashboard. It’s only in beta now, but so far it looks really good.

Free Alternatives

If you’d rather go with a free plugin, check out Digg Digg, AddThis, or SumoMe, which are all pretty awesome.

OptinMonster (Email Sign-Up Forms)* | $49 – $499/Lifetime

There are several free and premium popover plugins out there. I use OptinMonster. To be totally honest, it’s been so long since I bought it that I don’t remember what convinced me to buy it over others. I think it may have been a recommendation. Either way, so far, it has been great.

OptinMonster comes with a number of very nice premade templates for popovers, slide-ins, sidebar forms, and embedded forms. It’s quite customizable, enables you to choose very specifically which visitors are shown popovers and on which pages they are shown, allows for easy A/B testing, and integrates easily with most newsletter applications such as Aweber, Constant Contact, and Mailchimp.

Free Alternatives

If you’re not ready to spring for a premium optin plugin, then you may want to look into WordPress PopUp for popover boxes that can be designed using the WP visual editor or Dreamgrow Scroll-Triggered Box for a slide-in.

OptinSkin (Email Sign-Up Forms)*  | $67 – $97/Lifetime

OptinSkin is another premium email sign up form that I use. It’s similar to OptinMonster in that it has nice templates, integrates with most newsletter apps, allows A/B testing, and is very customizable. The difference between the two is that OM has popover and slide-in options and OS doesn’t, while OS allows users to create forms to embed in blog posts (like the ones I used in earlier sections of this guide) and OM doesn’t.

So, if you’re big on email sign-ups (like I obviously am), you may want to consider using both.

Outbrain (for suggested reading at the bottom of blog posts) | Free

Several recommended reading plugins have come and gone over the years. Outbrain, although not the most customizable plugin, promises to stick around because it actually earns money through paid traffic sharing, which you can enable on your own site for an an extra revenue stream.

WordPress SEO by Yoast (for SEO optimizing blog posts)  | Free

A few good SEO plugins have come and gone over the years, but none have been as easy-to-use and comprehensive as Yoast, which automatically gives each of your blog posts an SEO rating and tells you how you can improve it. It also also enables you to easily install Google Analytics, create an XML sitemap, set up redirects, and do other advanced web trickery that would otherwise require either coding skills or a number of other specialized plugins.

W3 Total Cache (for speeding up your pageload time) | Free

The fastest and easiest way to speed up your blogs load speed is to install W3 Total Cache, which helps web browsers to store certain items for faster loading.

I highly recommend that you take a minute to sign up for a CDN like Amazon Cloudfront or MaxCDN* and connect it to WP Total Cache, as that will ensure your blog loads as quickly as possible around the world and costs next to nothing.

CoSchedule (editorial calendar and social scheduling)* | $10/mo

CoSchedule is the easiest-to-use plugin for sharing blog posts across multiple social networks that I’ve found. It has a streamlined interface below your blog post so you can schedule sharing to all of your social networks from right inside WordPress after you’ve finished the post. You can also use it as an editorial calendar to schedule blog posts, and to schedule social posts unrelated to your blog.

Free Alternatives

There is no other plugin I’m aware of that has the same functionality as CoSchedule. Many people use social applications to schedule updates, which I’ve listed in the social media section of the guide. If you’d like a free plugin to help you manage your blog post scheduling on WordPress, then you may want to take a look at the WordPress Editorial Calendar plugin.

Finding Technical Help

Bloggers are usually pretty independent people — do-it-yourself types who like to figure stuff out on their own. I know I am. Because of that, over the years I ended up learning more about Wordpess than I’d care to admit. The learning process, however, was time-consuming, frustrating, often included Tarantino-esque strings of profanities growled through clenched teeth at my computer.

Later I learned most of these jobs could have been outsourced quickly and easily for the price of a good lunch, which is what I do now. As result I’m a lot more fun to be around, though I’m not nearly as talented at insulting my electronics as I once was.

WordPress is overwhelmingly popular, and the wake of its spread across the internet, numerous reputable online support businesses have sprung up. Here are several good options I’ve found, as well as a couple of free advice forums and websites where you can find freelancers to help you out.

Fantasktic*

Fantastktic offers numerous WordPress help services, but they specialize in WordPress migrations. They’re usually $99 and they’ve always done an fast, professional job when I’ve used them. Once, I was helping a client who ran into a fairly serious issue with her migration, but the crew at Fantasktic worked on it for several days until it was fixed.

If you have a WordPress problem, you can also submit it to them and they will reply with a timeline and price to fix it. I’ve never tried that, but based on my experience I definitely trust their pricing and service.

WP Maintainer*

WP Maintainer is a website maintenance service that provides backups, takes care of updates, and provides security for your blog for $99/month.

WP Site Care

WP Site Care is another WordPress maintenance service that offers three levels of maintenance and support ranging from $29 – $239/month. Those services all include backups, updates, and support. I’ve never tried them before, but their offer sounds pretty reasonable.

WP Fix It*

This is a service we’ve all needed at one time or another. Something on my blog broke and. I need it fixed now. WP Fix It offers to fix any single WP issue for $39. If a tech can’t fix your problem after working on it for 4 hours, you get  your money back. Sounds decent, right?

One thing that I noticed is that WPFI is basically a marketing company. They split the $39 with the developer who fixes your problem. Since the developer is being paid per job, they’re likely to look for the fastest fix, which is not always the best one. But, if I’m in a bind and choosing between this, ODesk, or Fiverr, I’d probably try WPFI.

ODesk

ODesk is probably the most popular marketplaces around for finding tech freelancers. There are tons of people on it who you can search for by skill and price, and most have plenty of reviews to read. ODesk also includes a system for monitoring the work of the person you hire through automated screenshots of their work taken at regular intervals (so you can see that they’ve been working and not fooling around on Facebook) and for safe payment.

WordPress Services on Fiverr

Can I say that paying somebody $5 is a good deal for WordPress services? Not really. You often get what you pay for. But, sometimes you can get simple jobs done well and cheaply on Fiverr, so it’s worth being aware of. I actually just bought a logo in Fiverr that cost $26 (including some add-ons). I think it was a great deal. Of course, on the flip side, before that I wasted 6 weeks dealing with a designer that turned out to be a dud. Roll the dice at your own peril.

Creating Content & Building Traffic

Building blog traffic is probably one of the most mysterious and intimidating aspects of the industry for new bloggers. Massive amounts of effort often seem to result in tiny gains, which can be incredibly disheartening.

Fortunately, many very smart people have faced these challenges before and documented their strategies, successes, and failures. Below I’ve listed a few of the resources that I’ve found the most useful over the years.

One rule of thumb that I offer everyone (and that rarely see expressed clearly in articles) is differentiating between different two very important types of traffic, so I’d like to take a moment to explain my feelings about this.

It’s important to create a distinction between what I like to call ‘discovery traffic’ and ‘loyalty traffic’.

To put it bluntly, a person who visits your website once and never returns is a useless visitor. That visit may help you to build impressive traffic numbers, but they’ll never actually help you accomplish any meaningful goal (such as selling product for yourself or your sponsors) except in a few very specific situations.

So, your first priority should be to encourage every visitor to take an action on your site: sign up for your newsletter, like you on Facebook, or follow you on Twitter. This action will turn a one-time visitor into a potential repeat visitor, or loyal reader, both of which are far more attractive to advertisers and more likely to buy your products than a one-time drop-in visitor.

So, before you get all jazzed up about building traffic, I highly recommend that you spend your time finding ways to convert that traffic into subscribers (the next section, Your Email Newsletter is WAY More Important Than You Think, has some great advice). Otherwise, you won’t be capitalizing properly on the traffic that you do build.

With that in mind, below are some excellent resources that will show you lots of ways to build traffic to your blog.

The Hacker’s Guide to User Acquisition

A friend showed me the chapter from this book about gaining followers on Instagram. I was impressed. This guide focuses on clever uses of technology to quickly build a following that’s  interested in your blog topic.

The one drawback to this book is that it does require a pretty high degree of technical ability. It is for ‘hackers’. Even so, it’s extremely interesting. It’s a work in progress and at the time of writing only had three chapters. I haven’t had time to read the whole thing, but what I did read was good enough to make me want to share it. If you have time to read it, I’d love to hear what you think.

How to Build an Audience that Builds Your Business

Full disclaimer: I’m a huge Copyblogger fan. You’ll hear me recommend both their free and paid products several times in this guide because their advice is some of the best around, their products are built specifically for the needs of people like you and I, and — the best part of all — the information they’re giving away is a perfect demonstration of how to use content to build an audience that will buy your product. I’m living proof that it works. Not only do I buy their products, I love the way they were sold them to me.

Case Study: How Trekity.com Scored 8,370 Pageviews Its First Week

This is a great post about how Darcie Connell launched her newsletter for female travelers. I especially like the fact that it doesn’t promise the moon, but shows how with some hard work and a small budget, an independent publisher can get their website off to a fast start.

101 “Magnifiers” For Exploding Your Travel Site’s Traffic

The title of this one is a bit clickbaitish. This list isn’t going to blow your mind with new and amazing strategies — especially if you’ve been travel blogging for a while. But, lists like this are always good to review once in a while to remind us of the strategies we haven’t been using. It’s never a bad idea to remind ourselves to reevaluate old strategies and test out new things.

How to Build a High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself

Am I the only blogger in the world that thinks Tim Ferriss is a douchebag? He wrote a book promising to teach people to run a business in 4-hours a week, all the while probably working about 80 himself, and his blog header photo leads me to believe he thinks he’s some sort of field hockey ninja.

In true Tim Ferriss style, he makes an overblown claim about the contents of the article I’ve linked to above. Although this talk won’t teach you how to make blogging easy (it’s not, and you should get used to that now) the contents do include good insight into how Tim runs one of the best-known blogs on the internet.

Skyscraper Content

This technique was introduced to me a few years ago and I was blown away. It’s a brilliant idea. In fact, the guide you’re reading right now is a perfect example of skyscraper content. It was this strategy that I used to come up with this idea.

Basically, you look for very successful pieces of content that already exist, and then take that concept and build a bigger and better piece of content and promote it in all the places where the first piece of content was successful. Definitely a useful technique for SEO and building stellar pillar content.

The 80-20 Rule

This rule for content creation probably came from the enormously influential Pareto Principal and has been written about in the context of blogging, but it’s simple enough to summarize here. Many bloggers consider this a best practice for content production.

Great content is useless if nobody sees it. Spend 20% of your time producing content, and 80% promoting it. Don’t take that as an excuse to spam. Promotions should be a genuine attempt to show content to people who are genuinely interested in the topic. If you’ve made something great, people will appreciate that you took the time to show it to them.

Content Idea Generator

This thing is awesome. I don’t know if it will help you generate amazing blogging ideas, but if you’re stuck it’s worth a try. At the very least, it will make you smile.

Blog Idea Generator

Similar to the tool above, this tool created by Hubspot is also great for brainstorming title ideas for interesting content. The title’s aren’t quite as amusing, but are pretty useful.

Content Strategy Generator Tool

This tool is much more in-depth than the others above. It’s an exceptional tool for taking a topic you’re considering writing and quickly finding out what’s been written about it recently, finding new information to accompany your post, and getting a general feel for what the online conversation about that topic is focussing on right now.

Your Email Newsletter is WAY More Important Than You Think

Ask most professional bloggers and online marketers what their most important valuable method of communication with their audience is, and they will all say the same thing: email. Your email list is more valuable than followers on any social media platform, and many consider it even more important than your blog.

Don’t take my word for it. Everyone is saying it. You can read articles on the subject here and here. Glen, the marketing phenom behind Viperchill, has even argued for replacing your blog with email.

These are the two main reasons why:

1. You own it and it can never be taken away from you. Many brands invested heavily in gaining Likes for their Facebook page, before Facebook reduced their reach to 1-2% and told them they’d have to pay for more. That can happen with any social network, but it can’t happen with email.
2. It’s the most personal form of online communication. You can get anyone to read a blog post, and people are generally pretty willing to like your Facebook page or follow you on Twitter, but most are very careful about who they give their email address to. Once you have it, it’s an indication that they’re really willing to listen to you.

If you keep this in mind while looking at popular blogs, you’ll see they prioritize the email sign up above all else, and so should you. So, the first thing you should do, before you even consider building traffic, is put an email sign up in the most prominent available position on every page and either install a popover or slide-in sign up to build your list as quickly as possible.

Below are some more in-depth methods for building and leveraging your email list.

The Most Popular Newsletter Services

There’s no shortage bulk mailing services out there. In my experience, though, there are a few that are commonly trusted and used by most serious bloggers and marketers. They include:

Mailchimp*

If you’re not sure which to sign up for, you’ll probably end up choosing Mailchimp like I did. This is the only reputable service I know of that has a free option (you can use the service for free for up to 2000 email subscribers). That, combined with a super user-friendly interface makes MailChimp a very popular choice for beginners. I’ve always been happy with it.

Aweber* and Constant Contact*

These two services are also widely used. They’re more expensive than MailChimp, but are also said to offer some very advanced segmenting options that MailChimp does not, and some people I know swear that those options make them worth it. I can’t say for sure myself, because I’ve never tried them out or had a need for advanced segmenting in my email efforts.

How to Build Your Email List

The CopyBlogger Guide to Email Marketing

Yup, here I go again with these CopyBlogger guys. But what am I supposed to do? They literally wrote the book on email marketing and are giving it away for free. Well, actually in exchange for your email address, which is lesson #1. This course will give you a great overview of email marketing best practices.

How to Build a Massive Email List

This post from the uber-popular Buffer Blog is a wonderful introduction to the basics of convincing people to sign up for your email list.

How We Doubled Our Email Sign-Ups in 30 Days

This follow-up post from the Buffer Blog explains in exactly how the company was able to double their email subscribers in a month. It’s wonderfully detailed and illuminating. Posts like this are why so many super blogging geeks like myself love the Buffer Blog.

Email Lists: Make them a Priority in 2015 with These Tips

Up-to-date tips for growing your list and reaching your audience through email that builds on the information linked to above by highlighting the way certain commonly-used techniques are being affected by trends in 2015.

How to Separate Clickable from Forgettable Links

When you’re ready to get a little more advanced in your email campaigns, you’re going to want to start tracking which links people click on, and how they behave when they arrive on your website. There are various methods for tracking clicks like this. This step-by-step tutorial from CrazyEgg will show you how to set one up using a few free tools.

Getting Press

There are few strategies for building a readership better than getting covered in the press. Of course guest posting is good, but traditional media can’t be beat. Media mentions drive interested traffic, help build your followers, improve your SEO better than almost any other single action could, and add a degree of legitimacy and authority to your blog that can’t be achieved any other way.

Competition to get into the press, however, is fierce. Most of the PR industry is dedicated to helping their clients do just that. So, a blogger with few resources and limited time has to carefully choose where to focus their efforts.

There are, however, a few good strategies travel bloggers can use to build up an arsenal of press mentions to build traffic and authority.

92 Ways to Get (and Maximize) Press Coverage

This great (and very long) article from SEO Moz isn’t going to tell you, “If you want press go do x, y, and z, and you’ll get it.” This is better looked at as a comprehensive overview of how PR generally works and the various strategies companies use. If you don’t know much about PR, this is an excellent introduction.

How to Get Press Coverage: A 5 Step Process That Really Works

This is a good actionable piece by Adam from Travel Blogger Academy. It’s nice and brief and shows how a travel blogger can use traditional PR techniques to get press.

HARO

HARO is an acronym for Help A Reporter Out. It’s a widely-used service where reporters post requests for information and sources for articles they’re working on. You can sign up for alerts for specific topics and then respond to queries where you think you can contribute. This is a great efficient way to land interviews, quotes, and hopefully links back to your blog.

Media Kitty

Media Kitty is a service similar to HARO, but with a wider scope. It’s not just a good place to find reporters looking for sources. It’s also a place where writers can pitch stories, where press trip opportunities are publicized, and where editors solicit writers for stories they need.

Hubspot’s Complete Guide to Newsjacking

This strategy has worked out very well for me twice. Each time it resulted in a huge burst of traffic and several media links. Newsjacking, to summarize very briefly, is writing about a breaking news story with some kind of unique spin that gets you a lot of attention, most notably in the form of media quotes and links.

My first success with this was when I happened to read the first appearance of a story about a man who photographed a cheetah mauling his wife that later went viral. Since I was the second person to write about it (after the South African paper that first ran the story), subsequent media outlets that picked up the story (like USA Today) linked back to my story as reference.

The second time came after I’d appeared on House Hunters International. Many months later a prominent magazine ‘broke’ the story that HHI is staged. So, I wrote a quick first-hand account of my experience, which was then picked up by numerous media outlets that hopped on the HHI bandwagon.

The above link is a great overview of how newsjacking can be used in many forms (lots more than I’ve mentioned here). For some quick, actionable advice, check out this article: 4 Simple Newsjacking Formulas.

#NGTRadar

This is a great easy way to get mentioned by National Geographic Travel. Their Intelligent Travel blog created the #NGTRadar hashtag as way for people to submit stories for consideration for their bi-monthly roundup of the best stories from around the web. All you have to do is follow @NatGeoTravel on Twitter, tweet your best stories with teh #NGTRadar hashtag, and then check back every other Wednesday to see if you were included in the Travel Lately roundup.

Content for Robots (aka SEO)

Writing

How to Write More Gooder

Purty Pictures

How To Take Them

How To Fancy Them Up On The Computer

Places To Store Them Online

Where To Find Them Online for Free

Social Media (aka The Black Hole of Productivity)

Tools, Apps, and Other Knick-Knacks

General Resources

Facebook: A Pay-to-Play Marketing Tool

Twitter: The Virtual Water Cooler

Pinterest: A Marketing Miracle

Instagram: Kittens…everywhere!

YouTube: The Internet’s 2nd Biggest Search Engine

Google+: Tumbleweeds and Internet Marketers

SnapChat: What Are Those Crazy Kids Up To Now?

Making Money

A Word to the Wise: There Are Easier Ways to Make Money

General Blog Monetization Information

Writing A Business Plan (Trust Me, It Will Help)

Organizations That Connect Bloggers With Sponsors

There are a lot of companies out there that are dedicated to helping companies connect with bloggers for campaigns. These companies usually make money from the companies reaching out to the bloggers, and allow bloggers to sign up for free.

Below is a complete list of every company currently connecting companies with bloggers that I’ve heard of.

Blogdash

Blogger Bridge

Bloggers Required

BlogMeetsBrand

Brandbacker

*Cooperatize

Izea

Link Vehicle

Mattr

*Professional Travel Bloggers Association

Sidebuy

Socialpubli

TapInfluence

The Blogger Programme

The Midgame

Tomoson

Travel Writing

Travel Photography

Sponsorships

Affiliate Links

Selling Your Services

Selling a Product

Free and Cheap Travel

Press Trips (Ain’t All They’re Cracked Up to Be)

Productivity

How To Work Faster So You Can Watch More Kitten Videos

Continuing to Grow

Even more resources

The post How To Start A Travel Blog and Make Money: The Ultimate Resource Guide appeared first on XpatMatt.

Images and text by Mark Whitman

Climbing Kilimanjaro is definitely an adventure, but I’ve never personally looked at it that way.

Thousands flock to Tanzania every year with the sole purpose of attempting to reach what many colloquially call the Roof of Africa. Standing at 19,341 feet (5,895 meters), Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain on the African continent and the tallest non-massif (free-standing) mountain in the world.

The mountain’s popularity among hikers can be attributed to its Seven Summit status and the fact that it’s a non-technical climb. This means that anyone at (nearly) any age can climb Kilimanjaro. Fitness and physical ability are also more flexible than on many other climbs. Canadian couple Esther and Martin Kafer reached the summit at the ripe old ages of 84 and 85, while armless and legless Kyle Maynard crawled to the top of Kilimanjaro unassisted in 2012.

Compared to these extraordinary feats, I’ve never felt that my young, able-bodied experiences on Kilimanjaro were very adventurous.

It then dawned on me, recently, that I had indeed been part of a Kilimanjaro experience similar to those described above.

My first experience on Kilimanjaro was with a childhood mate who had suffered from partial sightedness for most of his life.

When I first met Brad, we were both normal seven year old kids. I took to his adventurous playground antics and we quickly became friends. The first two years of our friendship were like those of any two boys.

Then one day Brad started complaining about his eyesight. He struggled to keep up with us in sports and couldn’t see the whiteboard in class. He soon moved to a new ‘special’ school. Brad had a condition called macular degeneration. His central vision had deteriorated to 10% of a normal person’s eyesight and his peripheral vision was impaired.

He was effectively blind.

His condition never broke his spirit, though, and despite his awful eyesight he continued to play squash, golf, and snooker (and excelled in the latter).

Over the years we went on a number of sailing and climbing adventures.

Brad went pushed himself extra hard to succeed at activities that people with perfect eyesight would struggle to excel in and, over time, this made me forget just how limited his sight was. His determination to be active and ‘normal’ made me discount his disability and assume he could do anything that he wanted to.

So, when Brad told me he wanted to climb Kilimanjaro I was game.

At the time I was living in London and he in South Africa, so we met in Nairobi and flew together to Kilimanjaro International Airport.

In Moshi we got our first glimpse of the awe-inspiring Mount Kilimanjaro. Seeing any great mountain for the first time and realizing that you plan to drag yourself to the top of it is a frightening and seductive feeling.

We began our trek the following day following the popular Mâchame route that sojourns through dense tropical rainforest. The paths on Kilimanjaro are surprisingly good and make for relatively easy going hiking.

The biggest challenge is the altitude. The human body is not meant to function at extreme altitudes and responds to the unfriendly environment in various ways, starting with mild headaches that can turn into severe migraines and nausea.

As you climb in altitude the air pressure drops lowering the air density and reducing the number of oxygen molecules available per breath. At around 12,000 feet (3,600 meters) there are approximately 40% fewer oxygen molecules per breath than at sea level. The human body is able to acclimatize to this change, but it does so slowly.

Unfortunately, Kili doesn’t give the average trekker much time to acclimatize. So, the onset of mild or moderate Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is common and summit success rates are relatively low on certain routes. Death from severe AMS and its Edema complications also occur on Kilimanjaro.

Like most sane trekkers, Brad and I had valued our lives more than making it to the summit, but we were prepared ourselves to endure mild headaches and even vomiting (fortunately the latter never happened).

I was the first to come down with AMS symptoms on day four. Brad, despite his eyesight, had been having an easy time on the climb.

We reached the summit base camp, Barafu (which means ice in Swahili). As the name implies, it is not warm on the exposed plateau, which sits at 4,600 meters. Nausea had overcome me and I stopped eating. Brad smugly ate my dinner while all I could do was watch and try not to vomit.
That evening we prepared for the final push. We would be woken at 23:45 to begin our summit assault on the slopes of Kibo. A gale force wind blew all night long, making sleep impossible. We thought that that surely no one in their right mind would try summit in this wind.

We were wrong. Wind or no wind, we were pushing on. The good news was that I was feeling a lot better. Apparently starvation and sleep deprivation help to alleviate altitude sickness (though I wouldn’t recommend trying it).

Brad had taken a turn for the worse. Half way up Kibo started complaining that his heart was beating rapidly. Like a good manly friend, I ignored his complaints and continued to kick his ass up the winding slope, majestically flattened at a crater rim to reveal the sub-summit milestone, Stellar Point.

Many people stop here, exhausted and and defeated when they realise that they have to complete another hour’s trek around the crater to Uhuru Peak and the summit of Kilimanjaro.

Brad nearly joined the ranks of those who pack it in at Stellar, but after a cup of hot chocolate his spirits brightened and, as the morning sun rose out of the African landscape, we continued on toward the summit.

After 5 days of trekking, headaches, long drops. and baby-wipe baths, the feeling of reaching the summit is sublime however short lived. A few congratulatory high fives and customary photos are standard; however, the knowledge of richer air waiting below makes departure from the summit even sweeter.

Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano. The main peak, Uhuru, is adorned with large receding glaciers that have left the slopes covered with fine volcanic glacial scree. Descent on the upper regions can effectively be done by sliding snowboard-style down the scree to base camp where the landscapes becomes rocky again.

The problem with fine glacial scree — as I learned in the worst possible way — is that it becomes easily lodged in one’s eye. By the time I reached Barafu my right eye was partially closed and left eye was completely shut.

I fell asleep exhausted and partially blind. How the tables had turned!

The following morning Brad, with 10% vision, helped me down the final stretches of Mount Kilimanjaro and for the first time in 20 years of knowing him I got a small glimpse of the challenges he faces living with limited eye site.

To climb Kilimanjaro is a great feat, but it was only on our final day as we left the trailhead for of Kilimanjaro l gained a deep respect the extraordinary determination and spirit that my friend had to develop to overcome his limited vision and a life that I, with normal vision, take for granted.

Have any questions about climbing Kilimanjaro? Just comment comment below and Mark will  be happy answer them.

The post Climbing Kilimanjaro Through New Eyes appeared first on XpatMatt.

Everybody needs a vacation once in a while, but few of us have the time and money to just up and leave when we want to.

If you enter Peregrine Adventures’s free 20 Trips in 20 Days contest, you just might get that chance this year.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, Peregrine Adventures is travel company that specializes in unique adventure vacations. They are deeply devoted to exclusively hiring locals as guides and staff. Thanks to this policy, Peregrine is able to give their guests an authentic look at their chosen destination(s) while simultaneously strengthening and giving back to the communities and people who live there.

It the same spirit, today Peregrine Adventures announced the launch of the free 20 Trips in 20 Days travel competition.

Prizes include, as the title implies, 20 trips.

The first trip is an eighteen-day trek through the mystical Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, and and then to the foot of Mount Everest. The trip also includes shopping and temple and monastery visits. If you win, be sure to keep an eye out for the Sadhus! Great meals and accommodation, and of course, opportunities to capture breathtaking pictures and videos, are all included. The views of Everest and the surrounding mountains on this trip, such as the vantage point at the Kala Patar overlook, are glorious.

The contest is being held in honor of Peregrine Adventures’s twentieth anniversary of exclusively using local guides for their tours. As a thank-you to its customers and supporters, Peregrine will be giving away one unique trip every day for twenty days starting on March 3rd, 2014.

Trip destinations include Antarctic excursions, African voyages, trips to Asia and South America, and more!

Entries for the first trip open on February 28th. The draw for Trip #1 will be held on March 3rd, and new entry windows for subsequent trips will open every weekday (Monday – Friday) in March.

It is important to note that while one entry will cover said entrants for the entire competition, contestants may enter once per day for as long as the contest runs. In fact, daily entry is the best way to increase your chances of winning, so don’t forget to put your name in the hat as often as you can!

Even if you don’t win, Peregrine Adventures is also offering a 10% discount on all trips. Now is the time to win and/or book an incredible adventure vacation. Here’s to twenty more years of adventure!

The post Win a Free Trip from Peregrine Adventures appeared first on XpatMatt.

Cristina and I were camping in Ithala National Park in South Africa when a couple invited us to share dinner around their campfire. Five minutes into the conversation the man turned to me and said, “I’m sailing to Antarctica with a couple friends and we need another man. Are you interested?”

Two months later I was stepping off a plane in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world, and catching a taxi to the public sailboat dock.

There would be six of us (four South Africans, a Canadian, and myself; an American) none of whom I had known for more than five minutes. Together we would sail a 50-foot aluminum-hulled sailboat across one of the world’s most dangerous stretches of ocean, The Drake Passage, then spend several weeks exploring the Antarctic Peninsula.

Most people who visit Antarctica travel aboard a cruise ship with over a hundred passengers and pay $8000 for a 10-day visit. I had somehow found myself embarking on my dream journey, paying only for my share of the food and fuel (amounting to $400) and getting to spend nearly a month wandering alone in the Antarctic wilderness. And I didn’t even really know how to sail.

Two thirds of the way across the Drake Passage we awoke to a fright. John was on watch when he poked his head below deck and shouted, “ICEBERG!” When the sleepy crew and I had finally squirmed out of our sleeping bags, we emerged to see a block of blue ice fading into the darkness behind us. It was as tall as a skyscraper and as wide as a city block. And we had barely missed it. Icebergs are not normally seen this far from the continent. Time to turn on the radar.

We completed the crossing in four days without further incident, landing inside the crater of Deception Island in the middle of the night. The next day we would lose an anchor attempting to dislodge ourselves, but from here out I hardly concerned myself with such issues. I was in Antarctica, and I had come to see the wildlife.

In the hold I discovered an inflatable kayak, still in the box and never used. I pumped it up and discovered it was hardly more than a pool toy, just a thin layer of vinyl all around. But it was my ticket to freedom. At the first stop I donned my foul weather gear, wrapped my camera gear in plastic bags (in case my un-seaworthy vessel should capsize) and carefully lowered myself into the tipsy little craft. With a flimsy plastic paddle, I propelled myself across the crystal clear water, which hovered as close to freezing as physically possible without actually freezing.  Within minutes a Minke whale surfaced twenty yards to my left, blew a spout of steam into the air, and dove. It passed directly under on my kayak, too deep to see, and surfaced again on my right for another breath. I was exhilarated, but it also suddenly occurred to me how ridiculously dangerous this was. I was alone in a remote continent on a kayak that I could probably sink by giving it a sharp look, in deep water so cold that I would probably die of hypothermia within a minute if I fell in. And I had neglected to put on a life jacket. On top of that, there were leopard seals around.

The leopard seal had grown in my imagination to be the most fearsome predator in Antarctica. Certainly it wasn’t the biggest; an orca outweighed it by many tons. But something about its reptilian face and lithe neck and wide toothy grin made it undeniably creepy to me. Unlike an orca it could travel both land and sea. It had recently been reported that a leopard seal had killed a scuba diver, and even more recently there had been reports of leopard seals biting and popping inflatable dinghies just for their own amusement. Some said they appeared to enjoy the sound of air escaping from the gash.

I didn’t know how much of it was hype or hyperbole. I only knew that a leopard seal was the one thing I most wanted, and least wanted to see at that very moment. In the distance a large slug-shaped creature slipped into the water from a floating patch of ice and disappeared.

Over the next couple weeks I paddled to many strange shores, set foot on a dozen islands, wandered alone amongst vast colonies of Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adelie Penguins and was accepted as one of their own. I saw molting Elephant Seals, cavorting Fur Seals, fat Weddell Seals with their cute curly whiskers and Crabeater Seals with their bizarre sieve-like arrangement of teeth. We passed Humpback Whales that breached beside our boat, and Minkes and Orcas. I watched Skuas and Giant Petrels devouring penguin carcasses and was bombarded by Antarctic Terns near their nesting grounds. And yes, I even saw a few leopard seals lounging lazily on the pack ice as they yawned their gaping pink maws toward the sky and eyed me with their watery black eyes. But it was always from a distance. That is, until we landed at Booth Island.

I hiked across the island in my tall rubber boots, and discovered a hidden cove that was collecting a spectacular assortment of ice formations. Upon one of these bergy bits rested a large spotted grey torpedo. As I watched through my binoculars, it raised its head like a snake and my heart jumped at the realization of what lay in front of me. A leopard seal, just twenty feet from the shore.

I clambered down among the rocks and snow and approached the pebbly beach as slowly and quietly as I could. I was now fifty feet away as the seal’s icy bed continued to drift toward the shore. Finally it lodged amongst the rest of the frozen detritus and the leopard raised its head. It looked straight at me and opened its vast nostrils like two gray-lipped mouths to inhale my scent. The ferocious beast did not leap from its icy perch and tear out my throat. In fact, it was no ferocious beast at all. It was just a seal that occasionally ate penguins and other seals, but in fact spent most of its time sieving tiny krill from the water. He blinked once at me and lay his head back down to continue his nap.

I crept closer still and reached the edge of the water. I was wearing my waders so I was waterproof up to my chest. The seal dozed on as I entered the freezing water, trying not to slip on the round grapefruit-sized stones under my feet. I approached within ten feet. His ice bed protruded only a couple feet from the water so he loomed now at eye level, a hulking form longer than me and certainly twice as heavy. He rolled his head lazily toward me as my body tensed. I noticed a trail of bloody feces dripping down the back of his ice mattress, a reminder that this was indeed a hunter that lay before me. But he gave no reaction, only a mild curiosity registered on his features. I snapped a few pictures of the magnificent animal and then looked into his eyes. If he wished, he could have leaned over and engulfed my skull in his gaping jaws. Instead he sighed deeply and turned his muscular torso away from me. I took this as a signal that he was bored of my presence and backed slowly away.

I don’t condone approaching wild animals, and in retrospect I realize it was a selfish impulse that compelled me forward: my desire to feel the thrill of being near an animal that frightened me. Yet it gave me an understanding that I lacked before: that this was no monster. He was just an individual like myself who might occasionally harass others for his own entertainment (like biting into a zodiac to hear the hiss of air escaping) but who otherwise went on about his life doing his best to survive and every once in a while enjoying a nap in the sunshine. He smiled his great wide smile at my back as I stumbled to the shore and disappeared over the ridge.

About the Guest Blogger

Hal and Cristina blog about wildlife and their travel adventures at  travel4wildlife.com. You can also keep up with them on Facebook and Twitter. 

The post A Close Encounter With a Leopard Seal appeared first on XpatMatt.

They travel to places like Afghanistan and Southern Sudan. They’ve fallen of cliffs in the Zagros Mountains and slept in Kurdish jails (but not on purpose, of course). Right now they’re planning to cross Iceland on cross-country skis. When I heard about this company I had to learn more.

How long has Secret Expeditions been operating?

We started the company in October 2010, but really ramped things up in October 2011, and 2012 is our first year of full operation. The planning and preparation that goes into expeditions means that we are always planning over a year in advance.

What was your first expedition?

Our first expedition was to Lake Zorkul, one of the claimed sources of the Oxus river in the Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan. Lev and I had both served in the military in Afghanistan. It was somewhere we both wanted to go back to, and we didn’t want to wait 30 years to do it. It is a fascinating region, culturally very diverse with a real sense of history; it was part of the Silk Road and hd a number of high profile Great Game explorers visited the area, including Lord Curzon and Francis Younghusband.

How did you find your first clients? For that matter, how do you continue finding them? There can’t be that many people willing to spend thousands of dollars to endure conditions that most creatures instinctually avoid. 

Our team members are diverse and multinational. We have had Canadians, Australians, Americans, Norwegians, Indians, and an Egyptian. What unites them all is their adventurous spirit and urge to get a little bit more out of life.

What was the most difficult challenge that you faced on an expedition?

Physically our expeditions are tough, but they are achievable. The biggest difficulties are organizing the logistics and fighting the bureaucracy in areas where people have never been to before. In South Sudan, we helped the government set their permit rates since no travellers had ever visited the Imatong Mountains. Often, local politics and power struggles combine and you get embroiled in disputes between bickering small time officials. So, negotiation and patience are greater attributes than endurance!

What kind of training did you receive in the military that has helped you to learn how to deal effectively with extreme situations? What kind of situations did you used to deal with in the military?

In the Army you are subjected to high levels of stress under difficult conditions in training to prepare you for operations. On operations you become highly attuned to high levels of risk and very good and analyzing that risk and creating and applying mitigation measures to reduce it. Both of these elements are critical for expeditions.

Were there any times on expeditions that you got that sinking feeling in your gut, like  “holy shit, we are in serious trouble here.”

There have been a couple of occasions where your pulse starts rising slightly, but to put the question into perspective, I have never been shot at on an expedition, and so I am pretty relaxed about most situations we find ourselves in! A solution can always be found!

How did you deal with these kinds of situations?

We always ensure we are prepared to deal with likely (and unlikely) situations and we have plans in place if everything goes seriously wrong. This gives you a process to deal with situations of high stress and allow you to think clearly. The most important things are relaxing, not panicking, and thinking clearly.

Are there any trips that you’d like to attempt, but think might be beyond your abilities?

I think many people over the years have proved that nearly everything is within someone’s abilities if they want it and train hard enough. Our limiting factor is that we try and keep expeditions to three weeks so they are accessible for most people. There are lots of options available in that timeframe.

Which upcoming trip are you the most excited about?

I am excited about all our expeditions, that is the key benchmark for having them! Our next expedition, to Mount Mabu in Mozambique, will be pretty awesome. We’ll be pioneering a route through the largest rainforest in southern Africa which has only just been discovered!

Secret Compass has been mentioned by several media outlets and appears to be doing well. What goals do you have for the future?

We have been humbled by the support we have received so far for what we are doing and it really motivates us to carry on and develop more awesome expeditions. We have some pretty exciting ideas for next year in Burma, western China, the Darien Gap and DR Congo.

Do you have any big ideas in the works that you’d like to mention?

We are looking at taking this concept and applying it to mountain biking and ski touring, mainly because they are passions of mine! Mountain bike Afghanistan anyone?

The post An Interview with Tom Bodkin of Secret Compass Expeditions appeared first on XpatMatt.

Violet tried to stop the attack, so the cheetah started mauling her instead.

Then his buddy joined in.  They weren’t simply biting her leg or foot, mind you, they were gnawing on her head.

And what did her husband do during all of this? He stood there like an idiot photographing the whole thing.  Now the photos of the attack are all over the Internet.

Eventually the Violet played dead and a park ranger chased the cheetahs off of her with a stick.

The husband later said he was so stunned he didn’t realize that he kept taking photos.

I hope Archie is using the money he made selling the photos of his Violet’s mauling to buy her some nice hats.

That was weak, Archie, really weak.

Lead photo by Tambako the Jaguar

The post Woman Mauled by Cheetah; Husband Just Keeps Taking Pictures appeared first on XpatMatt.

Place

Italy

Location

Southern Europe

Major Cities in Italy

Major cities in Italy include Florence, Milan, Naples, Rome, and Venice.

Geography of Italy

Italy is located in the south of Europe on the Mediterranean sea. Italy is bordered by Austria, France, Switzerland, and Slovenia and surrounded by six different seas and includes several islands. Two important islands include Sardinia—off the west coast, and Sicily, at the southernmost point of the peninsula.

Italy is 301,338 square kilometers (116,347 square miles) and has a population of about 60 million people. Its coastline is enormous at 7,600 km.

The country has a diverse landscape. Though home to plains and coastal lowlands, Italy is mostly mountainous, with the Alps and the Apennines running the length of the country. The highest point in Italy is Mont Blanc in the Alps at 4,807m (15,770 ft). There are numerous volcanoes in Italy due to the meeting of the Eurasian and African plates. Three of Italy’s volcanoes are active while the rest remain dormant. The country is home to Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world.

National parks can be found throughout the country. Though home to many beaches and beautiful coastline, Italy has had problems with air and water pollution. Over the last decade the country has strived to improve the environment and now ranks as one of the world’s largest producers of renewable energy.

Climate of Italy

Though many would assume the country has a Mediterranean climate, the weather varies dramatically throughout the country, especially during winter. Summers in the north tend to be humid with frequent thunderstorms, while in the south the weather is dry and sunny.

Summer temperatures are very similar throughout the country, ranging from 22-27°C. Winters in Italy vary; in the north temperatures are cold and the weather is rainy and snowy, while in the south temperatures are mild. Winter temps in Italy range from −2 °C -8 °C.

Italy Description

Italy is sometimes known as the “birthplace of western culture,” and is famous for its history, art, delicious food, fashion, and luxury vehicles. It is home to number of UNESCO world heritage sites, the most famous including the Almafi Coast, the Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, the Piazza del Duomo (where the leaning tower can be found), the Colosseum, and the public buildings of papal Rome (The Holy See) in the Vatican City.

Seeking Italy Adventures? Each unqiue region of Italy offers something different for adventure enthusiasts. Northwest Italy, home to the port of Genoa, is home to the famous Lake Como. Sailing, windsurfing, kiteboarding, kayaking, wakeboarding, waterskiing, and canyoning are all easily accessible here.

In Northeast Italy visitors will find the famous waterways of Venice and world-reknowned ski-resorts in the Italian Alps. In central Italy, those searching for Italian adventures can take up white-water rafting at Marmore Falls or sail in hot air balloon over the beautiful Tuscan landscape. Southern Italy, home to the romantic Amalfi Coast, offers tourists a laid back lifestyle with outdoor activities such as golf, horseback riding, and sailing.

Let’s not forget Italy’s two most famous islands– Sardinia and Sicily. In addition to dining at first class seafood restaurants the islands have amazing diving and windsurfing. One of the best places for windsurfing is Porto Pollo, the windiest part of Sardinia. Fantastic diving spots are prevalent in this area, especially in the nearby volcanic islands of Ustica and Linosa.

Italy Adventure Highlights

• If you’d like to try something a bit more than the average hike, the rugged Dolomites are an exceptional backdrop for via ferrata in Italy.
• If you want to get away from the beach crowds, why not kayak Italy’s scenic coastline in a sea kayak?
• If the kayak is too slow for you, Italy has many kitesurfing shops ready to bring you up to speed.

Outdoors Adventures in Italy

• Surfing
• Stand-up paddle boarding
• Scuba diving (wreck)
• Snorkeling
• Surfing (all levels)
• Sailing
• Kitesurfing
• Windsurfing
• Parasailing
• Paragliding
• Canyoning
• Horseback riding
• Hot air ballooning
• Whitewater rafting
• Kayaking (river and lake)
• Hydrospeed/riverboarding
• Canoeing
• Caving and spelunking
• Hiking/trekking (all levels)
• Via Ferrata
• Rock climbing (all levels)
• Ice climbing
• Abseiling/rappelling
• Mountain Biking (novice to expert)
• Skiing and snowboarding
• Cross-country skiing
• Snowshoeing
• Volcano trekking

Budget Travel in Italy

Italy is rife with hostels. Check out Country Club Castelfusano in Rome, starting at $19 USD per night. In Venice try the Venice Villa Dori at $26 USD. Ostello del Chianti in Florence is also reasonable with prices starting at $21 USD per night.
You can try this site for more information on  Italy hostels.
Those looking for something more luxury will find luxury villas in Italy to be in ample supply.

On the lower end, meals in Italy can be found for reasonable prices in many local bars and cafes. Expect to pay between $3 – $9 USD.

Italy Photos

[nggallery id=51]

Images (in order) courtesy of MorBCN, NomadicEntrepreneur, féileacán, Aquarius.1973, Swiv, will_cyclist, Alaskan Dude, BlueSunFlower, Stuck in Customs, asibiri, and ShutterRunner on Flickr.

Suggested Reading

Click on the images for more information

Italy Map

View Larger Map

Disclosure: If you purchase insurance, book a hostel, or purchase one of the recommended books on this page using the links provided, I will receive a small commission. I do not, however, recommend these products simply to make money. I recommend World Nomads travel insurance because I use it myself and feel that they offer a good product that suits my needs at a fair price. I recommend Hostelbookers.com because they have the cheapest booking prices that I have seen online and a large selection, and I recommend the selected books from Amazon.com because they have reputations for quality information and were up to date at the time of writing. If you have found my blog useful I hope that you will consider purchasing some of these products using the links on this page to help me to continue providing free information about adventure travel around the world.

Rome Vacations

The post Italy Adventure Travel Guide appeared first on XpatMatt.

Place

Namibia (Republic of Namibia), Africa

Location

Namibia is located on the southwest coast of Africa on the Atlantic Ocean. Namibia borders on South Africa to the south, Botswana to the east, Angola and Zambia to the north, and is bisected by the Tropic of Capricorn.

Namibia Cities

Namibia’s capital city is Windhoek, which is located near the geographic center of the country and is the largest city by a significant margin.

The Geography of Namibia

Covering 825,418 kilometers of the African continent, Nambia is the 34th largest country in the world. Moving west to east from the Atlantic Ocean across Nambia you first cross the Namib Desert, and then the central plateau where most of the population lives and move farther onto the Great Escarpment, an enormous plateau that crosses several countries. The highest point in the country is Brandberg Mountain (also known as Königstien) at 2606 m.

Nambia’s Central Plateau runs north south through the middle of the country and is home to most of the population.

The Namib Desert is an 80,900 square kilometer (slightly smaller than Austria) hyper-arid plain comprised of gravel and sand dunes that covers Nambia’s entire coastline, including the Skeleton Coast. This extremely inhospitable area is thought to be the oldest desert in the world and most of it has little life. Nambia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism claims that this desert is home to the largest sand dunes in the world, but this claim is disputed. Either way, with the tallest measuring 383 m from base to top, they’re pretty damned big. And, ranging in color from orange to pink, the are quite a sight. This area is also rich in diamonds.

The Great Escarpment is a large rocky plateau that makes up a substantial portion of several countries in southern Africa. It occupies the eastern portion of Namibia, rising steeply out of the central plains to an elevation of about 2000m.

The Kalahari Desert is probably Namibia’s best-known geographic feature. The Kalihari Desert occupies portions of Botswana and South Africa, as well as a significant portion of eastern Namibia. The Kalahari Desert gets significantly more rain that the most deserts, and thus supports a wide variety of life.

The Climate in Namibia

Namibia has a climate typical of desert-dominated areas, arid with little rainfall, with large differences between daytime high temperatures and nighttime lows. Namibia normally receives over 300 days of sunshine per year, though this varies a bit from area to area.

Winter, which takes place from June to August, is dry. Namibia has two rainy seasons—a short season during October and November characterized by frequent thunderstorms, and a longer season from February to April. Rainfall varies from nearly zero in parts of the Namib Desert to 600mm per year in the northeast of the country.

During the summer temperatures can reach as high as 40°C, but drop significantly at night. During the winter inland temperatures range between 18°C and 25°C during the day, and can drop below freezing at night.

Namibia Description

With a population of just 2.1 million people, Namibia has the second lowest population desity of any sovereign country in the world after Mongolia. The government is a stable multi-party parliamentary democracy and the economy is based largely on mining for diamonds, gold, silver, uranium, and other base materials. Tourism also contributes significantly to the economy, especially ecotourism.

Economically and socially, Namibia is still a developing nation. Even generous estimates say that at least half of the country’s population is unemployed. Half the population also lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 USD per day and approximately 15% of the population had Aids in 2007.G

Receiving one million visitors each year, mostly from South Africa, Germany, the UK, Italy and France, tourism in Namibia makes up an important part of the economy. The industry comprises nearly 15% of the country’s GDP and creates 18% of all jobs.

Namibia is of the few countries that includes conservation and protection of natural resources in the constitution, and much of the tourism is ecotourism. Birding in Namibia is great, with 644 species of bird, 14 of which are endemic. The unique geography of the northeastern Bushveld attracts a fantastic variety of birds. There are also plenty of high-altitude activities. Paragliding and hang gliding are both done in Namibia, though you probably want to bring your own gear (more information can be found here). Hot air ballooning and skydiving are also both readily available. The most unique attraction, however, is the Flying Fox zipline, which is said to be the longest in the world, carrying you 1200 m from the peak of Rössing Mountain into the valley below at heights over 200 m. The most popular places to view wildlife include Etosha National Park, Waterberg Plateau National Park, and Cape Cross Seal Reserve.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the Fish River Canyon in the south of the country is the second largest in the world (after the Grand Canyon). Anybody up for a hike?

Highlights

Surf Namibia:WannaSurf.com lists lots of good surf breaks in Nambia, mostly breaking left with some points, and mostly suitable only for experienced riders.

Kitesurf Namibia: If you want to try kitesurfing in Namibia, check out the Walvis Bay Kite Center.

Sandbaording in Namibia: With some of the largest dunes in the world sandboarding is something everyone should try while visiting.  Sandboarding in Swakopmund is said to be great.

Namibia Outdoor Adventure Activities and Extreme Sports

• Surfing
• Stand-up paddle boarding
• Scuba diving (possible, but at the time of writing there were no known dive centers in the country)
• Snorkeling
• Surfing (all levels)
• Sailing
• Kitesurfing
• Windsurfing
• Parasailing
• Paragliding
• Hang gliding
• Sky diving
• Hot air ballooning
• River raft expeditions
• Kayaking (river and lake)
• Canoeing
• Caving and spelunking
• Hiking/trekking (all levels)
• Ziplining (really, really awesome)
• Rock climbing (all levels)
• Abseiling/rappelling
• Mountain Biking (novice to expert)
• Horseback Riding
• Camel riding
• Sandskiing/sandboarding

Namibia Budget Travel

• Namibia accommodations are not as cheap as one would expect. Although, reasonably priced hostels can be found in Nambia’s capital city, Windhoek, it’s harder to find good prices elsewhere. In Windhoek The Cardboard Box is a good basic hostel with dorm beds for $13 USD per night. If you go to the coast we suggest Loubser’s B&B Self Catering in Walvis Bay, which has beds for $17 USD per night.
  A full list of hostels in Namibiacan be found here.
  Go here for more information about Namibia hotels.
• Budget meals in local restaurants can be purchased for $3-4 USD and, if you’re dying for a McDonalds burger, that will run you just over $5. The local beer is cheap (less than $1 USD each at the supermarket) and good, so be sure to drink plenty of it.

Have Insurance?

I like to use World Nomads. It’s not too expensive and signing up is fast and straightforward. They also have pretty good coverage for sports equipment like surf and snowboards, but it varies depending on your country of origin, so be sure double check. You can get a free quote on their website.

Namibia Photos

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Images (in order) courtesy of Willemvdk, geoftheref, Alastair Rae, MauritsV, mp3ief, geoftheref, aftab., gakout, aftab., aftab., Ferdinand Reus, and aftab. on Flickr.

Suggested Reading

Click on the images for more information

Namibia Map

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The information on this page was provided by My Namibia Info. If you want to know more about Namibia they are the people to ask.

Windhoek Vacations

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