Many of us just dream of a life, which Archana and Vidur are living right now. The married couple, who is the owner of ‘Travel my nation’, spoke to Glamtainment about their experience as bloggers, how they met, tips, their favourite place in India to visit and much more:
What inspired you to start Travelling and writing blogs?
Archana: Curiosity and a couple of personality traits. Both of us are drawn towards nature, simplicity and have a strong passion to be away from the crowds. Our inspiration also comes from the fact that both of us had a love for the outdoors since we were kids, we both lived in small towns that were high on nature and that we both didn’t want to be chained to a desk job forever.
A small cottage next to a bustling stream high up in the mountains, away from everybody! That’s the dream a lot of us have and we are working towards fulfilling that! After we both started travelling and posting pics, a lot of people motivated us to post more and write about it. And that’s how we got into blogging. We are still learning the creative process and it’s been slow progress for us. But we are grateful to everybody who sees our posts, likes them, follows us and read our blogs – every single view / like motivates us to do more and do better!
How do you guys meet?
Archana: I hope Vidur’s ex-bosses aren’t reading! When he was working at a startup, he hired Archana to lead a part of the team he was managing. Over a course of time, we got to know each other’s interest and went on one eventful trip, where we returned as a couple! For two people to find something they are deeply passionate about, creates a strong bond and we think it happened for us in that one trip! That passion is still going strong and that’s what keeps us motivated to do what we love and keeps the spark going in our relationship.
Q. How do you fund your travel?
A. Well, there are a couple of things we do to fund our travel. Firstly, we run www.travelmynation.in and earn money through the articles we post there and for other publications as well. Secondly, since a lot of people support us on Instagram – we have built a good, genuine following and get to work with brands who are looking to reach their target audience.
We have also started our own marketing firm under Travelmynation, where we offer creative marketing services for brands of all categories. And lastly, we have our own tour the company, Moto Overlanders (www.instagram.com/motooverlanders) which specialises in curated, offbeat tours especially for inbound customers.
Q. Would you encourage other people to make their blog and travel?
A. No cause that increases our competition!! Just kidding. Obviously, we feel everybody should journal their travels and share their experiences with the world. And that can only happen when they travel! All though, there aren’t a lot of places you can actually discover, but you can always discover new experiences and stories! And we feel that’s what a real traveller would like to read about!
Q. What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started travelling?
A. That we could turn this into a full-time career. If we had gotten into this 15 years ago, it would have been easier for us to establish ourselves. Now it’s tougher because everybody is a photographer or Instagrammer or a blogger. Apart from this, we learned how to take part in green travel where we try to leave as little a carbon footprint as we can wherever we go. The challenge with our tourists’ spots is that they are heavily crowded and suffering from an ecological crisis. Take the J&K region for example. Now that anyone is free to buy properties there, hotels & resorts are going to make a bee-line for land purchase. But has anyone thought about the impact on nature? Through our travels, we try to educate fellow travellers and hoteliers how they can be more eco-friendly and reduce their wastage.
Q. Do you think Instagram (or any other social handle) verification helps in getting better deals and audience?
A. There are a lot of content creators posting amazing content and in return monetising this through Instagram without verification. However, we feel that the verification badge comes handy if you are setting up a shop on Instagram.
Q. Where is your favourite place in India? Why?
A. Ha-ha, this is a really difficult question to answer! So let us break this down. Archana and I love the mountains, their serenity, and beauty so obviously our favourite destination has to be up in the Himalayas! We loved the time we spent in places like Aru Valley, Kashmir, Arunachal and Sikkim and probably these are the destinations we love the most. Apart from this, we are hardcore wildlife lovers and that’s why Masinagudi is also one of our favourite places to be!