Ever since we started traveling the world in 1997 we have relied on independent travelers for the majority of our information and inspiration to go travel.

Sure, we have used guide books along the way, but they can be outdated quickly and their authors have ridiculous deadlines to meet and may just skim the surface of a destination. And books are another thing to carry.

For us, nothing can replace the speed of getting current information off the internet and the first person account and logistics of traveling through the eyes of experienced travelers who have the time to really get to know a place.

Its no surprise to us that travelers are increasingly turning to travel blogs and their respective social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Podcasts for their information and inspiration.

We love witnessing personal experiences through photos, reading stories, watching videos, listening to podcasts, and getting tips and advice from other travelers who’ve been there and done that.

It gives us the knowledge and inspiration to go and do it.

Whether its advice we need on new destinations, travel planning, travel tips, things to see and do, where to stay, where to eat, or getting around, experienced travel bloggers can be your best and most current source of information.

A blog is a form of social media, because social media can be defined as any place where a community can form.

So the other huge benefit of following a Travel Blog is you can engage directly with the publisher through comments on the blog, their Facebook page, or Twitter account.

Try having a relationship with the author of a guide book or the writer of a newspaper or magazine article.

People love to be a part of communities for advice, support, and encouragement, and as far as travel goes there is no better place to hang out than great travel blogs.

Below is a list of 36 independent travel blogs broken into categories that we personally follow and have a relationship with either in person or online.

We encourage you to check them out, subscribe to their blog, and go follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Couples Travel

 

World Travel for Couples This site by Adam Seper and his wife Megan is geared towards couples, but anyone who has a passion for travel will find useful advice.

Theyve traveled often with cheap road trips around the USA being the norm, but throw in an adventure encompassing 358 days, 4 continents, 11 countries, and nearly 90 cities and these guys have great tips and stories to tell.

The Travelling Canucks Cameron and Nicole Wears are from Vancouver. They began experiencing the world at a young age, with Cameron living in Nairobi-Kenya at age 12 and Nicole backpacking around Europe at age 19.

They have a passion for travel and outdoor adventures and consider themselves fortunate to have traveled to over 50 countries together in the past 7 years.

As We Travel – Nathan from New Zealand and Sofia from Sweden formed their budget travel site in 2010, and its aimed at travelers who are about to embark on their first round the world trip.

They share their simple travel tips and advice, and they also take very informative and personal travel videos.

Hecktic Travels -  Dalene and Peter Heck are a Canadian couple who have sold everything to travel the world.

They started by volunteering in Bolivia for two months and worked their way through South America, followed by a 6 month house sitting assignment in Honduras, and are currently taking care of a centuries-old manor in rural Ireland.

Inspiring Travellers - John and Andrea are a nomadic couple traveling the world full-time. They grew up on opposite sides of the world, but then one day, in a tiny little town at the bottom of Crete, they met.

Their blog features stories of their own travel adventures, interviews with other travelers, and articles on foodie finds from around the globe.

No Place To Be Poi and Kirsty are an English couple who have been traveling China and South East Asia since August 2010. Theyre currently living in Bangkok for a year where Kirsty is teaching English.

They realized that life isnt all about securing “that career” and there is a lot more that they wanted to do before settling into a 9-5 lifestyle.

Jack and Jill Travel - This site is about the misadventures of Jack and Jill as they go around the world. They left for their around the world trip on April 18th, and their blog chronicles the preparations for the trip and stories from the road.

They hope to inspire and to share all sorts of things like musings, tips, and random articles.

Dont Ever Look Back Amy and Kieron are two travelers from Australia currently preparing for a long-term travel adventure beginning in the USA in July.  Their blog was created so other like-minded travelers can share in their adventures and photographs.

This site has great tips and information on planning an extended trip for the first time traveler.

Ordinary Traveler - Scott and Christy are a couple of American surfers currently residing in San Diego. They started their blog to inspire ordinary people, like themselves, to fulfill their dreams of travel no matter what situation they are in.

They aim to give their readers budget travel tips, entertaining stories, and advice on travel photography. Theyre planning to teach and surf up and down the coast of South America as their next big adventure.

 

Travel Video Bloggers

 

Positive World Travel -Anthony and Elise from Australia make awesome travel videos from their adventures around the world.  Their easy going and  fun loving personality really shines through.

But they are not just video bloggers, they also have a great Podcast show (Positive World Travel Radio) and write awesome destination piece articles and take great photos.

Travel Yourself Canadian Cailin ONeils site is one for the lovers of visual content. You will find great travel videos and interviews with fellow travel video bloggers, as well as video hotel and hostel reviews and anything travel related.

Follow  Cailin as she travels the world giving tips and tricks on how to get around and make the most of your own adventure.

 

Family Travel Bloggers

 

Travels with a Nine Year Old – began as the chronicles of one single parent from Britain, Theodora, and her nine year old son. It was based on one year of adventure around the world, but then they fell in love with Asia and realized slow travel is better than fast.

This site is about their journey. And a bunch of other stuff too.

Almost Fearless I could have put Christine Gilberts site in the round the world and video categories, but chose the Family category because she does it all with her husband Drew and son Cole.

Christine quit her cushy corporate job in America to travel full time — this time as a writer, a photographer, a blogger, a documentary filmmaker, and now as a mother.

 

Travel Photography Blogs

 

Ken Kaminesky Ken is a professional and takes amazing photos. He loves photography and believes each person and every place has it’s own story, and hes on the road to discover the world around him and to take a whole lotta photos while hes at it.

Canvas of Light Daniel Nahabedian is another expert travel photographer with an incredible background. He was born in Lebanon, raised in the UAE, carries a French passport, speaks 5 languages, and currently lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Daniels mission is to share the knowledge he acquires during his travels through photography.

 

Adventure Travel Blog

 

The PlanetD Dave and Deb are known as Canadas Adventure couple, with good reason. They have climbed, paddled, hiked and biked their way through 5 continents. From cycling 12,000km in Africa, trekking to the Pinnacles of Borneo, and reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

They also take AMAZING photos and are about to embark on the Mongol Rally.

 

Travel Podcast

 

Indie Travel Podcast - Craig and Linda Martin are two Kiwis who have been traveling around the world since 2006. They are the founders of the award winning Indie Travel Podcast as the best Travel Podcast according to Lonely Planet.

Their podcast serves as an online home to expats, digital nomads, career breakers, and backpackers. Not only do they have a great podcast, but they also publish audio, video, photos and articles.

 

Budget Travel Blog

 

Budget Travel Adventures Jeremy Branham loves to travel, and do it on a budget. Hes also a father and a sports fan. His site is about budget travel, family travel and vacations, domestic and international travel.

Jeremy believes that budget travel is not about how much you spend.  It’s about getting the most out of your travel experience with the money you spend. His site offer travel tips, weekly travel deals, and stories to give you a better travel experience.

 

Round the World Travel Blogs

 

Wandering Earl Derek Earl Baron has been traveling the world for over 12 years. We love the way he writes, he is very honest and has some of the best travel stories and adventures you will ever read.

He has traveled places such as the Middle East, and has worked on cruise ships, volunteered, and taught English.

Go Backpacking Dave Lee left the comfort of home in the USA to travel around the world documenting his travels through writing, photos and video. Daves site offers great independent budget travel tips and advice, and he also blogs about his life as an expat living in Colombia.

Dave is also the brains behind the Travel Blog Success course on how to build a better travel blog.

Bacon is Magic - Ayngelina Brogan is a Canadian who has spent the past year traveling through Latin and South America. She documents her travels through articles on destinations, food experiences, and life experiences as a solo female traveler.

Her stories and photos are fantastic and take you along for the ride.

Go, See, Write Michael Hodson is an Attorney from the USA who took off to travel the world in 2008 taking in 6 continents and 44 countries with two rules: no reservations and no airplanes.

Michael loves diving, beer, and he writes travel stories with lots of humor and great photography mixed in. He is the man behind the Ultimate Train Challenge.

Finding the Universe Laurence Norah is from the UK but spent a lot of his childhood growing up in the Seychelles.

Throw in some time spent growing up in a VW van touring the UK, a 60,000km road trip around Australia, a summer living in Germany, and now living the expat life in New Zealand, and you get your full-time traveler slowly exploring the world.

The Globetrotter Girls are Jessica the American freelance travel editor, and Dani the German freelance photographer. In 2010 they packed up their London flat and decided to kick the idea of having a ‘bucket list’ and instead started living their bucket life.

They live as digital nomads, are big believers in slow travel, and believe that ‘budget travel’ need not be a dirty word. We love their passion for travel and living out loud.

Traveling with Sweeney Catherine Sweeney is a native of Chicago and grew up with a love of travel. Cathy shares her perspectives on places shes been and other travel-related topics. She has a wide range of U.S. travel experiences, a modest range of international travel, and her writings may be nostalgic at times.

Her stories also tell you about friends, family, and people shes met along the way.

Brendans Adventures Brendan is a travel writer and photographer from Canada and has been on the road for nearly two years. He believes that travel is a better educator than the classroom, and shares his travel tips and stories through writing, photography, and videos.

Brendan is also currently living the expat life in Colombia.

Brooke vs the World- Brooke is from Illinois and is on an extended journey to see the world, which includes her current stay as an expat in Australia. Her blog is about a girl living abroad and all the successes and failures brought about in the process.

Brooke also runs the very informative WhyGo Australia.

Cest Christine A Californian by birth, Christine Amarose has been addicted to travel since her parents stuck her on a plane by herself at 6. She has a background in Journalism and social media, but quit her corporate job to blog, soak up the sun and parler Français in Nice, France.

Christine is currently living the expat life in Melbourne, Australia and believes in setting up base for a period of time in a location and really getting to know it as the locals do.

Globo Treks Norbert is originally from Puerto Rico but has spent a lot of time living in New York City. He loves to experience different cultures first hand and a trip to Thailand in 2008 changed his life.

Whilst his site contains many stories, adventures, travel tips, destination reviews, and photos, most of all his site is an inspiration and a way to let you know that trekking the world is possible and that you can do it too.

Todds Wanderings Todd Wassell is a guy who left home over 11 years ago to be an English teacher in Japan and has been living abroad ever since. He has a background as a conflict resolution and human rights expert who has lived in Japan, Thailand, Timor Leste, Sri Lanka, and most currently Kosovo.

Hes also visited over 30 countries and his blog site is a way to share his travel experiences, destinations and advice.

Wander and Explore Mary Myers from Pennsylvania loves to experience unique and informative adventures that include exploration of places with cultural, architectural, natural, geological, and/or culinary interest.

Follow Mary on her explorations around North America.

The Aussie Nomad - Chris Richardson decided that after 6 years in the cubicle answering the phone and spinning the sales pitch there was more to life. So after short trips to Hong Kong, Singapore and Phuket he figured that opening up the macbook and starting life as a nomad was calling.

Chris is known as the tech guy in the bloggers circle, and his blog serves as a guide to others that it is possible to uproot yourself and find a new way of living.

A Dangerous Business Amanda Williams grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Ohio. She has a journalism degree, and is obsessed with travel, especially New Zealand where she lived for a while and traveled extensively.

Besides that, Amanda has been to 9 countries on 4 continents and is of the belief that there is no right way to travel and that you should just get out there and do it.

Aarons Worldwide Adventures Aaron is an independent travel junkie. His adventures started at the ripe old age of 4 when a midlife crisis took his family from Massachusetts to Ecuador where he became fluent in Spanish and gained a unique appreciation for foreign cultures.

Since then hes been to 4 continents and experienced some of the great wonders in this world, including the Amazon Rainforest, the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu.

Gap Year Escape - Amar Hussain is the Editor-in-Chief and a veteran of world travel. This site started off as the ramblings of a solo traveler and has since grown into one of the largest Gap Year blogs on the web with great destination pieces.

It’s draws on the experience of veteran travelers across the globe, and has been featured on Lonely Planet, STA Travel buzz and various other leading travel websites.

The Travel Chica Stephanie from Ohio has taken a sabbatical to travel solo through Central and South America. She writes about independent travel and her attempt to live simpler, consume less, and experience more.

She hopes to introduce you to new places and experiences, inspire you to go out and explore the world, and perhaps provide a little entertainment.

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To follow these bloggers on twitter, just follow the list we have already set up for you Travel blogs to Follow on Twitter

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