Traveling Tips

Oct 24

The Business of Travel Blogging – Sponsored Travel

Posted by T.W. Anderson | Entrepreneur, Social Media, sponsored travel, Traveling Tips | 15 Comments

When you look at the vast majority of people who get into travel blogging or have started travel blogs in the last few years (since around 2010), you will notice a trend. They all think that sponsored travel is something that grows on trees and is given out to anyone and everyone and it is generally the sole reason that they start a travel blog: to get free travel.

What they fail to take into consideration is that the vast majority of us who are earning sponsored travel have spent years building up our reputations, our traffic, our businesses, and the personal relationships with travel industry leaders and tourism representatives.

Not to mention we understand the basic principles of professionalism, publishing and marketing that relate to running a business. So with that in mind, consider the following a guide on how to professionally work with DMOs and sponsors within the niche that you have chosen for your blog, how to build up relationships for brand ambassadorships, and how to go from the 99% into the 1% of successful travel bloggers. Read More

Oct 14

Destination Selection – Secrets of a Full-Time Travel Blogger

Posted by T.W. Anderson | Traveling Tips | 6 Comments

When it comes to selecting a destination for where we are going to be traveling, it is usually a combination of elements that revolve around the cost, what we can see what we are on-location, the cultural components, time of the year, and what we are going to get out of it personally and financially for business. As full-time travel bloggers, and more importantly, business owners, we rely heavily on the analytic side of things as opposed to the emotional. Read More

Sep 23

Frugal Living Abroad – A Better Life For Half The Price

Posted by T.W. Anderson | Live Like a Local, Mexico, Negotiation, Quality of Life, Traveling Tips | 4 Comments

It was confusing as hell when I was at TBEX a few weeks back, because there happen to be two of us named Tim who live in Mexico. Myself, obviously, but for those of you weren’t aware of it, renowned travel writer Tim Leffel also happens to be based out of Mexico, although he’s far more north and west of where we are in Palenque. He currently lives in Guanajuato with his family.

Along with being in the industry for well over a decade and authoring the World’s Cheapest Destinations book as well as running the associated blog, he also heads Perceptive Travel. Earlier in 2013, he and I got to talking in emails and Skype about a few things related to living in Mexico and the whole “cutting your cost of living into a fraction of what it was in the U.S.”. Read More

Apr 04

Avoiding The Gringo Tax – Local Living In Mexico

Posted by T.W. Anderson | Live Like a Local, Mexico, Traveling Tips | 10 Comments

There are two ways to live in Mexico: like a local, and like a foreigner. The first will see you enjoying the bounties of a low cost of living and an easy pace of life (throw away your watch!), while the latter will see you getting ripped off at every turn, paying three to four times the actual cost of everything, otherwise known as paying the “gringo tax”.

Thankfully, there’s an easy way to avoid getting nailed by these fees, and it simply requires you to shed your fear of foreign cultures, learn a little bit of Spanish, and dare to cross over to the world of immersion travel. Read More

Jan 13

How Living Abroad Made Me More Frugal

Posted by T.W. Anderson | Live Like a Local, Quality of Life, Traveling Tips | 33 Comments

(Or Becoming the Cheap Bastard My Friends Love to Tease)

One of the recurring themes throughout all of my publications (and most other “how to live a life abroad” posts, articles and books by other travel bloggers) is how to live cheaply. I’ve talked about it in regards to transportation, in regards to open markets, in regards to negotiating for accommodations, using discount days at the supermarkets, discount days at restaurants, and two for one days at the movie theaters.

I’ve picked up a lot of these habits over the years, which have led me to leading a frugal, down-to-earth existence where I don’t purchase things unless they are absolutely necessary, and even then, only doing so if I can get the best deal…even if I can afford to buy it at full price. Consequently, this has also led to me becoming known as the “cheap bastard” to some of my friends, and the “white Mexican” to others, and “mexicano” to my wife and Mexican family/friends. Read More