250 we12travel blogs: keep calm & blog on!
Hurrah!!! This is our 250th blogpost on we12travel! A blog that we started more than a decade ago as a picture website and turned into an actual blog about 2 years ago. Since then, we wrote exactly 250 entries, first in Dutch, later in English and now in both languages.
Never would I have thought that I’d ever write 250 posts (more or less, Martijn also wrote some of them) about travel and anything travel related. Or that I’d enjoy spreading the travel virus around the interwebs by writing and sharing our love for the outdoors on a webpage…
Even though it’s not a Sunday (when we normally do our Sunday Social Travel Talk) and I just returned from a 2 week blogging break because I just didn’t feel like writing and sitting behind a laptop at all, I still thought it would be nice to write down some reasons why blogging actually makes me happy and why I’m hoping that I can do at least 250 more posts! Or 2.500 …
1. Meeting so many nice people
I never thought I’d meet so many great people from all over the globe. Because basically, there are travel bloggers all over the world. No matter where you go, there will most likely always be a blogger around, which is not that hard with approximately 10.000 travel bloggers around. Within The Netherlands there are so many great bloggers who I occasionally meet during workshops, events or just randomly anywhere in the country for a drink or two. It’s a great thing to just talk about a shared passion without having to feel guilty that you are going to travel again … During various (press) trips over the past year, I met many awesome foreign bloggers and it’s great to know that there’s always someone to meet up with, no matter where you go…
2. Getting paid opportunities
Never would I have imagined I’d actually get to do free travel (other than for my office job) and that my work would be good enough to actually invite me on a trip. In 2014 I did 4 press trips and for this year, Martijn already did 1 (Finland) and we have at least 2 more coming up. Those trips have enabled us to experience some amazing things, such as gazing at the Northern Lights in Lapland, swimming with dolphins in Curaçao and climbing to the top of Monte Paterno in Italy, just to name a few …
3. Having my own company
If you asked me 2 years ago if I’d ever want to own a company, I’d have said “no way!” Too much hassle, too much work and too much administration. However, now that I’ve discovered something I really like, no LOVE doing, I don’t mind. As the number of paid opportunities was rising, I finally decided to register we12travel as my own company. Sounds more exciting than it really is, but still it was a good opportunity to crack open a bottle of bubbles back in November…
4. Trying the best outdoor gear
Trying some really great outdoor gear was not something I had imagined I’d be able to do. I tested the Fjallräven Eco Trail jacket as a blogger (and until today, it’s still one of the most read articles on we12travel) and more recently I tried a Columbia Shimmer down jacket. Full report on that is about to come, I couldn’t publish it before since this is supposed to be my 250 post (and not a post about a jacket…).
5. Making (a wee bit) of money doing what I love most
OK, it’s a tiny tiny tiny bit of money but still … making money with what I love doing most (writing about travel) makes me grin from ear to ear every day. The money I made in 2014 was about enough to pay for my new iPhone and some other electronics I figured would come in handy as a blogger … However my aim is NOT to make money (that’s what I’ve got my office job for) but to inspire others to travel and become more adventurous. Making a (tiny tiny tiny) bit of money with that is a nice bonus and makes life just a little bit easier.
So – how about that giveaway that many bloggers do because they have a reason to celebrate? Well, we don’t do them. I seriously don’t see the fun in attracting hundreds, maybe thousands of visitors just by giving something away. We truly believe in gathering visitors by our stories and not by giving away stuff for free. However, if you happen to run into either of us during the upcoming year, the first round will be on us!
And in case you are wondering, what did we do to celebrate? Well, we did two things. First, we decided it was about time to start planning our next overseas trip and to start crossing things off from our bucketlist. There for, we are in the process of booking our trek to Everest Base Camp in Nepal! More on that is to come, but for now we can say that we’re beyond excited we are finally going to see the mightiest mountains in the world! Secondly, we finally decided to hire a cleaner. Yes, you read that right, we are going to pay somebody to clean our house. With a spring full of travel coming up (we’ll be traveling about 2/3 of the weekends at least until June, my friends and family are going to hate me!) it’s just impossible to keep a house with 3 floors, 2 gardens and a massive garage clean and tidy. Best decision ever, I’m sure.
For now, all there’s left to say is:
Thanks for sharing!
anto
Anto is a 30-something outdoor fan who travels the world about 100 days a year, combined with a full-time office job. She loves to go hiking, enjoys a good class of wine and can usually be found with an iPhone in her hand. Favorite destinations: New Zealand, Patagonia, Austria and Alaska.
28 Comments
Manouk
Congrats guys :)! Can’t believe it’s 250 blogs already! Looking forward to the next 250 in which we will hopefully read about your Everest Base Camp adventures!
anto
Thanks Manouk! We’ll def keep you posted about out EBC adventures (and more haha)
Karlijn Travels
Gefeliciteerd met deze mijlpaal!! Hopelijk heb je weer 100% zin in bloggen (volgens mij wel, als ik het zo lees) en kun je aan de slag met de volgende 250 🙂 Ik kan nu al niet wachten op verhalen over Nepal, ik ben zo benieuwd hoe jullie dat gaan vinden! Zorg maar voor hele positieve posts, ik ben nu al bezig om Ward over te halen voor Everest Base Camp in 2016. Tot nu toe is ‘ie maar matig enthousiast, en dat terwijl ik hem ook een week Malediven als afsluiting heb beloofd 😉
anto
Dank je Karlijn! Ik zit er idd weer helemaal in gelukkig en gaan we op naar de 250. Ga jullie op de hoogte houden over Nepal zodat je jouw man ook mee kan krijgen ooit 😀
Wanda
Gefeliciteerd! Ik volg jullie met heel veel plezier en hoop nog vele blogposts vol inspiratie van jullie te lezen. Lekker doorgaan dus 🙂
En geniet van de schoonmaakster, dat is zo’n ongekende luxe als je een druk leven hebt.
Groet, Wanda
anto
Dankjewel Wanda, superleuk om te horen!!
Linda
250! Gefeliciteerd! Dat er maar veel bij mogen komen want dat betekent veel reisjes!
anto
Thx Lin, komt helemaal goed! x
Mélyssa
Congratulations, and keep up the good work! Here’s to more adventures! *raises imaginary champagne glass*
anto
Merci! Raises back her glass!
Yvon
Congrats to the 250 blogposts, well done! Cheers to that!
And a cleaner! A very good decision! It will make your life so much easier.:)
anto
Thanks Yvon, I’m sure it will haha
Beth
And soon you’ll reach 500! Onward and upward 🙂
anto
That’s right Beth, thanks!
Hannah
That’s awesome, congrats guys! Here’s to keeping the ball rolling, and the next 250 posts!
anto
Thanks Hannah!
Lauren
Congratulations – that’s quite the milestone!! And I’m very excited that you’re going to the Everest Base Camp! Can’t wait to read about it.
anto
Thanks 🙂 we’re really excited about the Base Camp too… let the long wait begin!
Alli
Awesome news 😉 You guys must be so excited! Keep up the amazing work and inspiration!
anto
Thanks Alli!
Meg Jerrard
Massive congrats on your 250th post! And a huge congrats of everything you’ve accomplished along the way. You guys are an inspiration and proof that with passion and determination you can make your dreams come true. Congrats!
anto
Cheers Meg 🙂
Sammi Wanderlustin'
Happy 250th post 🙂
anto
Thanks girl!
Sara
Blimey, 250 is quite the milestone, congrats! And yay for earning money doing what you love, you’re officially living the dream 😀
anto
Thanks Sara 🙂
Raphael Alexander Zoren
Congratulations. Well deserved!!!!
anto
Thanks Raphael!