Working Wednesdays: Taking The Stress Out of Travel Blogging

Every single week, people will email me and tell me it must be a “kick ass” “awesome” “super amazing” life to be a full time professional travel blogger, moving from city to village, from tent to 5star hotel, from country to republic and from airport floor to night bus. I’d be the cynic to tell you it’s not, but a reality check on the situation is surely needed.

“Slow it down baby gotta have some fun” – Spice Girls.

“It ain’t all champagne and skittles Rodders” – Derek Trotter.

Working Wednesdays: Taking The Stress Out of Travel Blogging

Yes, I travel full time and I get so many offers to go to places these days that my mind is full of choice. Right now, I’m heading on a sentimental trip to Cork in the Republic of Ireland (emotional posts to follow), then I’m off to Milan, then Seborga, then Nice in France to watch Euro 2016. Well that is the plan and that all sounds brilliant. But I work on the move. My laptop is always with me (OK, except for that crazy Lost Luggage challenge to Senegal and Gambia). So this job, like any job has it’s moments of stress. But then when I thought about the bar jobs I had, they were never really stressful. Busy – yes! Tiring – yes! But never stressful. I’d come home, grab a beer, watch football and chill out.

A wine and steak night

But in the wacky backy world of travel blogging, life becomes irregular, I have clients who don’t respond, job contracts that have no definite deadlines, ongoing promotion campaigns for my esteemed travel clients and the odd sponsored tour or hotel as my recent times in Munich, Afghanistan and Senegal highlighted. As a way to lighten the mood, I recently came across an Infographic by Data Label that discusses the “passive aggressive” behaviour. A contradiction in terms possibly but this relaxes the relationship between myself and my clients. These passive aggressive interactions are demands put in a casual way, for me it was recently something like:

“It’s a week since I sent you the draft, the football tournament will have started by the time you approve it!” (I mean: send me the bloody confirmation now!)

It’s an unavoidable aspect of my working life: passive aggressive behavior. Given the stress and demands of my uncertain routine, I tend to exhibit passive aggressive tendencies towards my clients, and yes it spills over into overdue payments, being owed money! Though somehow, these passive aggressive moments become humorous and allow us to laugh off our annoyance with workplace banalities, even as a whackpacking “Dig it all” nomad touring Bishkek. Have a look at this infographic below and don’t overwork or over stress. Lighten the mood and sip a tequila sunrise with firm irony as the moon rises and the spherical British tabloid sinks over the horizon: