How many of us love to travel? How about blogging? I can already hear the choruses of ‘Yes girl’ and ‘Of course we do’ being shouted into the screen, but what would you say if you could do both at the same time, and get paid for it? While you’re in college? Yes, I’m talking about travel blogging, and it totally exists. Shalee Blackmer, a junior transfer student studying Advertising, is living proof. She created a travel blogging website two years ago, and has since been building a professional network for herself. Shalee has been picked up by top travel corporations such as Pure Michigan, The Huffington Post and Cedar Point to travel the world and write about her super fun adventures.
Q: What inspired you to start your travel blog?
A: “Honestly, there was a time in my life when I was completely lost! I didn’t know what I wanted to do in school and I wasn’t really happy, so one day I just decided that I was done being unhappy and that I would do a bunch of random things that would make me happy. I went out and did a lot of things that sparked my wonder lust for travel, and I started my blog in the hope that it would inspire others to do the same.”
Q: Did you think you’d ever be a professional blogger?
A: “No, I followed other travel blogs. I always had an interest in traveling and I knew that I wanted to start one, but I never knew it would be so successful.”
Q: What was your exact feeling when popular companies started contacting you to write professional blogs?
A: “It still hasn’t hit me. I always read other blogs and I knew they worked with other companies, but I always said that I couldn’t imagine that being me! And then when it was me, I still couldn’t believe it. It felt surreal to see that they liked what I did enough to want to pay me for it! Humbling, yet exciting”
Q: Had you traveled much before you began blogging?
A: “I went on a big trip to Australia once, but other than that, I’ve mostly traveled around the States. [United States]. My family traveled a lot in Michigan, which started my interest.”
Q: So you are from Michigan?
A: “Yeah, I’m from a small town about a half hour away from Lansing in a little town called Mecosta. It’s really small!”
Q: What do you think made your blog stand out from those of other travel bloggers?
A: “I know that my audience are mostly college students, and they look at me and think that they can’t do something like this because they’re paying to go to college. So I’ve always stressed on my website that if I can do it, so can you. I’m going out and doing these great things with my own money, my parents aren’t paying for me to go, so I also give my readers tips about how they can do this and save money on trips.”
Q: What did your parents think when you told them you wanted to travel the world alone?
A: “They’ve never been anywhere other than Canada and the States, but my parents have always been the ones that, whatever I came up with, they would tell me to ‘go for it’. They’ve always supported me, though they were worried at first when I said I was going alone. I gave them as much information as possible so they’d know I was safe.”
Q: What has been your favorite place to visit?
A: “That’s always such a difficult question for me to answer! Lol! But I think it would have to be somewhere right here in the States! I took my dad out to Yosemite National Park. He had never been out on the west coast before…we had father-daughter time. I think that was my favorite moment to share with him.”
Q: What activity has been the most fun?
A: “Definitely free diving! It’s basically where you have snorkel equipment, but you don’t have air. You dive into the ocean on your own breath and swim as far down as you can before you need to come up for air. I did it at a coral reef in Owahu, Hawaii and it was the best feeling! I took pictures while I was under. The water was unreal!”
Q: Do you think you will continue to blog after you graduate?
A: “I actually have an around the world trip planned in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia for after graduation. There are really no set plans, and I may just do free range work, but wherever I go, I’m taking my blog with me.”
Q: Lastly, what is your personal advice for people who are just starting off as travel bloggers?
A: “I have a quote that I go by. It says ‘Some things that you never thought about sharing with anyone, may be the best things to share with everyone.’ Share your story! Your readers want to know about you and what you’ve been through. Have fun, be crazy, be young, and live in the moment.”
You can check out Shalee’s one-of-a-kind blog at shaleewanders.com