What?! Was the first thing that came to my mind – how the hell did we get here?!
This year has gone past so fast - we have had As We Travel for exactly one whole year, and we’re enjoying it more and more as every week goes by.
We have definitely had our ups and downs, and despite having so many great bloggers to learn from, we still learnt SO many things the hard way.
Here are a few things we have learnt during our 1st year of blogging – ENOJY!
1. Blogging Is Easy – Travel Blogging Is Not
Sitting at a desk in a nice ergonomic chair with your laptop, having all day to work, food in the fridge and a home to live in, is far away from the reality of a travel blogger.
We write on our 11 inch laptops lying in awkward positions on hard beds in run-down hostels, moving every few days and trying to explore the places we visit while working on a website.
To me, the most difficult task has been to keep the focus and inspiration while trying to deal with Visa applications, transport, finding WiFi etc.
Traveling while running a blog full-time is unlike anything we’ve done before. It has really taken our travels to a whole different turn.
2. Good Things Take Time
I’ve found that many people I meet who know nothing about blogging (and don’t have a blog themselves), have many presumptions about it.
They either think it’s really easy to create a successful blog – that it’s just to start writing a few posts and you’ll make heaps of money, or they think it’s a waste of time and don’t see it as an actual job.
Either of the two, they don’t take it seriously at all.
This can easily make you doubt yourself and question what you’re really doing.
You know you would never work at a place without getting paid the first month, never write for a magazine for free everyday for months, but at the same time you’re spending as many hours as a full time job without getting paid for your blog at first.
Just try to remember that all good things take time.
Soon you will be rewarded for your hard work, and you can give all those who didn’t believe in you the middle finger 
3. Without Passion You Lose The Drive
To keep up a blog, you need to have a true passion for what you do, or else you can stop doing it right away.
We learned pretty quickly that blogging and traveling is exactly what we want right now in our lives.
We want to share our travels, our thoughts and our tips, and we want to do it on our own terms.
We want to be our own bosses, no matter how much we have to work for it.
People always go on and on about how the young people today want to start their own businesses but never realize how much work it means.
I don’t care how much work it means, I want it. And I know that if I didn’t want it so bad, I would have quit doing it a long time ago…
4. Even The Smallest Things Make A Big Difference
We like to play around a little and test different things on our site. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But if we’re curious, we’ll give it a try.
What we have noticed, though, is that some of those tweeks sometimes make a big difference.
Put a plugin here or there, and you can either lose subscribers or gain subscribers. – “It’s in the little things”.
5. You Can’t Do This On Your Own
Blogging is a social business. Bloggers interact and share with each other. A blog with good content and design would be nothing without readers and other bloggers sharing your site with others.
Social network means everything for a website, being able to connect in different ways with people. As much as you would like to, you can’t only rely on yourself, but you also need the social network to help you out.
Well there you go - we feel so blessed to be able to do this as our full-time jobs, sharing our content with you as we travel around the world – hoping that a picture, a few lines will provoke and inspire you to also go out there and live this life the way YOU want.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, since we know none of this would be what it is without you reading these words, and sharing what we do with others around the world – SO THANK YOU SO MUCH!! 
What I’ve grown to enjoy the most is the community of travel bloggers – it’s great to know there are people all over the world who share the same passions as I do.
I totally agree, connecting with like minded people all over the world is awesome!
Congratulations on this fantastic achievement Nathan and Sofia – some great insights here too, hopefully we can take some inspiration from the two of you and keep our blogging motivation high when we do get on the road.
Thanks guys, I’m glad you found it inspiring!
Few are those who are committed enough to pull it through the way you both have, great job and congratulations!
Thank you! We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all the support we’ve had
Ah, all great insights, thanks for sharing. I’m hoping that one day all of my hard work will pay off and I’ll also be able to give those doubters the finger!!
Haha it will, just trust and work for it, and you’ll be able to give them that finger sooner than you think ;P!
Congrats and thank you for such an inspiring and honest post! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the encouragement, it’s what keeps us going
Each sentence could be a meditation on its own merit. Well written, well said. Somewhat scary for those of us thinking about our own travel blogs but the subtext of what you said is, We’re on our own playing by our own rules and no one can take that away from us!
Thank you so much, those words mean a lot to us.
It is a scary thing, but playing by your own rules gives such a great feeling of freedom!
Its always satisfying to do something that exceeds yourself and serves the cause of many people. This is truly a model for the world. http://borderless-travel.com
I agree, thanks for sharing those wise words!
Great tips, and well done on getting to the year mark! Here’s to many more years
Thanks Laurence, cheers!!
Happy birthday guys… Love what you’re doing… except for how itchy it’s making my feet…. : )
Thanks! Haha that’s exactly what we set out to do, inspire people to want to travel
Congrats on the milestone! Curious – did you set goals for yourself at the outset as to what would be “success”, and if so, have you met them? If not, why not? If so, would be curious what were the most important ingredients in your success?
Rad post guys. It’s great know that there are people out there who share the same passions
Take care, From Lachy
Hey Lachy!
That’s one of the things I really love about the travel blog community, to get to connect with people from all parts of the world who share the same passion for travel.
Thanks for commenting.
Congrats to you both. We leave in November to start our RTW adventure. We look forward to keeping up with your second year as we continue to plan our own trip.
Keep up the great work.
Ps, love your video intro. Very Awesome.
Thanks a lot Jaime for the support, glad to have you following us.
Good luck with the planning for your trip!
Totally agree with #2: my family assumed I’d been getting paid all this time! Um, I wish. And my friends don’t feel like it’s a “career choice” at all. Great post!
Yeah, same with my family and friends, although I think a few of them are finally starting to change their minds about it..
Happy Birthday! Our blog is almost a year old as well and we can agree with all of these points…especially how tough it is to produce content from the road!
Awesome, congrats to you too then
Yeah, you’re juggling so many things at the same time when traveling..!
Really great lessons to have learned over the past year! Congrats on all your success, and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings for you!
Thanks Amanda,
I think it’s amazing how much you learn from blogging, it’ll be fun to see what comes next..
Great round up of wise lessons learned! As you said, just trying to juggle visas, tickets, accommodation, food, etc. feels like a full time job and when you add blogging on top of it things sometimes feel crazy. But, that’s where the passion comes in like you said. Here’s to a successful 2nd year!
Congrats on celebrating a year!!! Cheers to the many more to come.
Y’alls blog is one of my fav & has helped me a lot prepare for my RTW trip!!!
Keep up the good work.
Thanks a lot, so glad to hear you’ve found our blog helpful for preparing for your trip!
Totally agree with #3, it’s hard to do on the road and if your heart isn’t in it you are wasting your time.
Very well said Ayngelina, thanks for sharing!
Congrats and kudos on your first anniversary. May there be many more.
Thanks a lot for the comment Charles
Congrats on a successful first year! It’s so true that people who aren’t bloggers don’t always appreciate the time and effort that goes into creating a successful site. BTW, I really enjoyed your latest video, great job!
they really don’t understand do they! :p thanks for the comment, and glad you enjoyed our last video, many more to come!
Hi Nathan and Sofia,
Congrats for the anniversary! As I’ve been travel blogging for over 3 years (only on a small scale!) I can completely relate to some excitements and frustrations that you share here. Have a great year ahead and thank you for the inspiration!
Priyank
Hey Priyank,
nice to hear that more are going through the same things as us, thanks for sharing your experience
Hi Nath & Sophi
Your site is inspired me and I would love to do something like you but at small size for http://www.dtr.ro/cazare/arad/moneasa – a Romanian travel site.
thats awesome – glad we can inspire!
Congratulations on the first year guys – keep up the good work. I have full respect for you, managing to write and blog while you travel. It takes a lot more commitment than most people realise.
Thank you for your kind words Andy,
blogging on the road takes a lot of commitment, but the readers makes it worth it and you get so much in return..
Thanks for posting this. Out of interest, what plugins have worked best for you guys?
Congratulations
Thanks for your comment Elisa
Congrats on your one-year anniversary! You two are doing such great things with your site and your travels, I’ve really enjoyed keeping up with you!
Thank you Annie, I’m glad to hear that!
I’m exhausted after one month, can’t imagine what it will be like to post a one year summary! Cheers guys for a good article and congrats on the year. We’re loving the whole community that this blogging business has opened up to us too!
haha yeah i know how that feels! but keep it up, it really does get easier, once you find a routine, and how things work
it took us about 6 months to find our flow, and find that balance of work, fun and traveling.
Great post. The paradox of travel blogging is that you can’t do it when you travel! it takes too much time! it really changes how you travel
haha yeah i have to agree with you – its damn hard to keep it consistent while traveling, but you’re a great example of how to do it – thanks for the inspiration matt!
As an old broad who has been traveling with only her dog, Maggie, as he companion, for almost seven years, but blogging just for the past 15 months, I’ve enjoyed this post. What I so agree with is your comments about passion. Those of us who have it for travel, or blogging, or birds we see along the way, are truly the lucky ones.
I hope your passion keeps you company for many more miles.
Pat Bean
http://patbean.wordpress.com
Congratulations, guys! It seems like there are several travel blog celebrating their first anniversary these months.
thanks Dina – the first year was great – but our second year was even more fun and adventurous
You’re absolutely right. Travel blogging is FAR from easy. Battling inconsistent internet connections was one of my biggest issues on the road.
Most people don’t realize the time it actually takes to build a following, and create a successful travel blog. You need a great design, high quality content, and you need to network with social media like never before. Time consuming? Hell yeah it is!
I think it’s great that you guys acknowledge your readers and recognize that your lives would probably be a lot different if you didn’t have the loyal readers that you do. It’s always great to be recognized isn’t it? I try to answer every single email, question, and comment on my site to ensure that the readers realize that I know who they are and that I’m thankful for them even spending a single minute on my site.
some great tips here – thank you guys
thanks for the comment Kat – glad to inspire and help
all great insights, thanks for sharing.
glad you found our advice helpful
Thank you so much for the advice, inspiration and motivation. If I didn’t love writing my blog so much I would have stopped writing months ago!
Keep on writing!
you are welcome Ben, we are glad to inspire! glad to have you following us
I thought just keeping up with travel blogs was hard but I can only imagine trying to keep up with what you have done while still trying to do and discover new things. It year goes by quick before you know it you will be finishing up year 2!
haha thanks Thomas – yes the second year was even more crazy than the first – but also so much fun!!!!
Wow. I love your post hear. Thanks for this very inspiring people in here. Bloggers really meet with this kind of place. haha I like your idea Sofia. Thanks for this one.
Hey Ray – really happy to hear this post inspired you
“Without passion you lose the drive”. Agreed! May your passion never leave you – keep up the great work!
thanks for your comment – great to hear you agree with our advice
I read this last year and it’s still good today. Q & I will be tested as we just started our RTW and know it will probably be difficult to keep up with blogging while on the road. A lot of work, but it’s something we’re passionate about.
Hey Gerard – thanks for the comment – blogging and traveling really is a different story but also a great challenge and if you have the passion then it becomes heaps of fun as well.
Oh how your point 2 has sooth my heart. It’s been a while since we blogged but we believe that a steady progress is a good thing… *thinking… right?
thanks for the comment – yes steady and consistent progress is a very good thing, as long as you keep your final goal in mind at all times