Travel Linkup: Travel Blogger Problems.

 

It’s been a while since I took part in the monthly travel linkup as I’ve just been so busy the past few months. But I saw this one and knew I had to take part! I think many of us travel bloggers are guilty of the following problems, and if it’s just me…well…this is slightly awkward. Oh gosh please say some of you do these things too!?
#NotSoLuxLife – a travel blogger’s nightmare; people walking in the way of your photo.

1. Extreme Planning

 

Now I know this one isn’t just me! Being a travel blogger I can’t bear to think of missing something awesome when I’m going somewhere; whether it’s a foodie place or something to see. I’m a little bit of a control freak and plan everything to the extreme, I have spreadsheets for restaurants and the itinerary, and when I’m trying to persuade friends to come on a holiday with me, I put together a huge powerpoint presentation for them detailing everything from flights, to hotels, to activities and restaurants, with a final slide with the budget breakdown. Yep. Extreme.
Gilmore Girls GIF

 

2. Having to photograph absolutely everything, and multiple times

When you get to a really cool location….”Oh, can you please just take a photo of me on my DSLR for the blog/Facebook/my parents? Make sure it’s landscape and in focus…Oh. Could you also take a portrait version for Pinterest? And then a square one on my phone for Instagram? Hang on, let me just film a quick vlog on the vlogging camera too.” Basically. This is why I have to create powerpoint decks to persuade my friends to come on holiday with me.
Kanye West Creative Genius GIF

3. Taking multiple cameras on every trip

 
So on every trip I take the following; my DSLR (plus lenses), my GF5, my underwater camera/vlogging camera, and my phone. Yep, four cameras. My friends and family think I’m crazy. And then when you ask someone to take a photo of you, you have to show them how to use the camera, and then it never comes out quite how you imagined it…especially if people start to walk in-front of the camera and you give them your ‘not impressed’ face…which is what happened when my friend captured the brilliant photo below! I love the ‘before’ and ‘after’ haha!
 

4. Not having enough holiday days for every trip you want to go on

Those of us with full time jobs will know the pain of having to strictly plan out every holiday day. Taking a holiday day for something requires a lot of thought and consideration, and you always have to turn down multiple press trips to cool places in Q4 because you’ve already used up all your days. Which leads me onto…. (after the GIF…)

Glee Oh Hell To The No GIF

 

 

5. Having to turn down free holidays 

Ok, technically they’re not actually free holidays as we do actually have to work whilst we’re there and for a few weeks after. However, it’s definitely a #travelbloggerproblem complaining to your parents that your day involved having to turn down a press trip to the Greek Islands because it’s September and you’ve run out of holiday days. It also sucks turning down trips because you’re already going to be on an absolutely awesome 10-day trip to Antigua (this month I turned down Lanzarote, Greece, and a cruise because of Antigua…not that I’m complaining. ANTIGUA HURRY UP).
Glee Santana Can't Believe GIF

6. Going on a ‘no blogging’ trip…and blogging about it

There aren’t many trips I’ve been on since I started this blog that I haven’t blogged about. I think there may only be 3 or 4. Oops. Even when I went to Paris in January with my mum and said I would have the weekend ‘off’ and not blog about it…I still reviewed the hotel. To be fair though I’m pretty good at keeping certain things off this blog, I’m very private about work and relationships/dating, but when it comes to travel, oh hell yes everything is getting blogged.

Tyra Banks Rooting For You GIF

7. The holiday and press trip social media humblebrag

We’re human, we all do it every so often. You know what I’m talking about.
Ron Burgandy Anchorman Big Deal GIF

8. Getting swept up with the latest #travelbloggerdestination of the year

Do I really actually want to go there? Or do I only want to go because OMG, every other travel blogger is going this year! I’ve been guilty of FOMO too many times and thought about booking a trip somewhere where actually…I didn’t wanna go. I only wanted to go because OMG EVERYONE ELSE IS. Thankfully I’ve always seen sense before it’s too late, and I always put destinations that have been on my list for a while before new ones that get added to the ‘to-do’ list.
Ain't Nobody Got Time For That GIF

9. Falling asleep to social media 

I am the *worst* person for this. I check my social media accounts right before I fall asleep. Then if I wake up in the night or I can’t sleep, I check them again. First thing in the morning? I check my social media. Last summer at Peter’s annual summer pool party, I had a mini freak when I realized my phone was about to run out of battery at 8am and the party was still going on but I’d been asleep for a coupla hours (coz lolz I can’t last til 8am). I messaged him straight away with an abrupt message; ‘MY PHONE IS ABOUT TO DIE I NEED YOUR CHARGER COME FIND ME ASAP’. Thankfully he found me 10mins later (because I was too lazy to get out of bed and go find him) charger in hand and saved my bacon. Coz omfg I almost went like 10mins without checking Twitter. Fml. I’ve just realized what a loser I am.
Kim Kardashian Instagram Gif

10. Getting your camera out in a Michelin starred restaurant


Being a luxury travel and food blogger has its perks, but I don’t think I will ever get over the shame of having to get your camera out in a Michelin starred restaurant and photograph everything. I get the same awkward feelings when wanting to film/photograph business class flights and the public areas in luxury hotels.

Zooey Deschanel New Girl GIF

11. Having multiple hard drives for the 1000 photos and hundreds of video clips you take per holiday/trip

Yeh. I have like five external hard drives. All full. All full of thousands of photos and videos from the past 15 years of my life because I’m a digital hoarder and refuse to delete anything. EVEN BAD PHOTOS OF MYSELF (I mean just check out the first photo in this post). And photos of food. Is it just me who keeps photos of food from restaurants? Or is that every food blogger? So basically if you ever need to blackmail me, just steal my hard drives and find the awful photos of me. I do delete blurry photos though, FYI.
Phoebe Friends Cool Gif
Going on holiday with a travel blogger is so much fun.
So tell me, what’s your top #travelbloggerproblem?
 
How to link up your post
Just pop your post up over the first week of the month (the 1st – 7th May 2016), and add it to the link up widget found on Emma or Lauren’s blog from the 1st May.
There are no real rules, you just have to check out some of the other cool bloggers that are involved in that months travel link up, tweet a few of the posts out to your followers that you think they will love, and make a few comments here and there.
It really is a great way to meet some new travel bloggers and share some blogging joy!
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Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

Find me on: Web | Instagram

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20 Comments

  1. Frankie | TheMayfairy.com
    May 1, 2016 / 11:13 am

    Haha, this is awesome. I am also a digital hoarder, though I occasionally try to go through all the hard drives to delete at least some of the nonsense!

  2. Angie SilverSpoon
    May 1, 2016 / 11:19 am

    Love this and as you know, No.1 is ridiculously me!! I also laughed at getting your camera out in a Michelin starred restaurant…I literally have no shame now!

  3. Hannah Bailey-Churcher
    May 1, 2016 / 11:28 am

    LOVE this Lux! I'm totally going to have a go, I'll drop my link back when I'm done!xo

  4. SteffR
    May 1, 2016 / 11:35 am

    I'm not even a travel blogger and I do some of these! (so maybe I have a travel blogger buried inside of me!). Even before I had a blog I would obsessively plan most trips (executing that plan in reality is always another matter!) Plan: Visit three museums, four national monuments, take a pit stop in must see restaurant, go shopping and do a walking tour in one day – Reality: get halfway through one museum, have a sandwich in Pret, get lost looking for monument, take bus to wrong neighbourhood, try not to cry! ;-0). I'm actually planning an un-planned break in London in two weeks right now, trying not to freak out with the over-planning but I don't even have a hotel yet omg!

  5. B.
    May 1, 2016 / 2:42 pm

    I love that you used gifs! Why can't we all just have *just enough* time and money to go on all the trips? I don't think we're asking too much!

  6. Lucy
    May 1, 2016 / 8:12 pm

    Haha! I love the before and after shots, they're hilarious! Sadly I don't ever manage to get an after shot as my boyfriend (who is a keen photographer and will spend ages trying to get the right shot of random strangers walking down the street) refuses to take more than one of me when I ask. So rude. That must be soul destroying having to turn down such amazing trips! xxx
    Lucy @ La Lingua | Food, Travel, Italy

  7. Suze @LuxuryColumnist
    May 2, 2016 / 7:27 am

    This really made me smile, you've summed it up so well! I always have to take a back up camera in case something happens to the first one, combined with a GoPro and 2 camera phones, a tripod and all sorts of battery chargers! It weighs a tonne

  8. Sophie @ October's Girl Blog
    May 2, 2016 / 8:34 am

    Haha, I get the rage when other people walk into my photos too. I waited for at least 10 mins before to take a shot of an artefact in the Met Museum in NYC without other people in it! I also love that you create Powerpoints of holiday planning for you and your friends!

  9. The Travelling Teacher
    May 2, 2016 / 11:30 am

    Loving the GIFS! I am so with you on the power-points, I did one for the Husband as a way to persuade him that a gap year of adventure would be a totally good idea! 🙂

  10. Travel w/ Penelope&Parker
    May 2, 2016 / 11:35 am

    I have had to give up bedtime social media in favour of a book, sleeps been much better since! I'm not sure I realised how much Mr P must really enjoy our trips until I read your list!!

  11. Emma @ AdventuresofaLondonKiwi
    May 2, 2016 / 6:06 pm

    Super bonus points for the Gilmore Girls gif 😀

  12. Tanja / The red phone box trav
    May 2, 2016 / 8:41 pm

    you've made some great points! My blog is still just my hobby,so no free trips for me. But I'm totally like that Gilmore photo:))

  13. Carmen's Luxury Travel
    May 2, 2016 / 10:14 pm

    Ha, I can so relate. This was a fun read, thanks for sharing!

  14. angloyankophile
    May 3, 2016 / 7:14 am

    OMG the gifs killed me. Too funny. Agreed on all of these – especially the multiple photos for everything. I think I have zillions of identical photos on my camera that I still haven't deleted!

  15. Posh, Broke, & Bored
    May 3, 2016 / 4:15 pm

    Oh God, all of THESE. It's like watching a show reel of all my holidays. We bloggers are such special people, it's no wonder we flock together like birds of a messed up feather – who else is going to tolerate us standing on chairs in Michelin Star restaurants to get the perfect 'food lay'?! x

    Jasiminne: Posh, Broke, & Bored

  16. Honey @ The Girl Next Shore
    May 3, 2016 / 10:16 pm

    I second this! =)

  17. Jessi @2feet1world
    May 4, 2016 / 8:31 am

    Haha, so much brilliance. I am really trying not to keep multiple copies of photos of me – particularly the bad ones! Love that before and after comparison 😉

  18. Connie Consumes
    May 5, 2016 / 8:21 pm

    So much laughter and nodding right now!!!

  19. Andrea Petersen
    May 10, 2016 / 4:56 pm

    HAHA OMG Catherine this is actually TOO good!!! Love all the clips you've found as well, they are literally spot on! Lots of love, Andrea xxx

    Andrea's Passions

  20. Lara Oliveira
    January 9, 2018 / 11:08 pm

    Hahahaha you absolutely nailed it with this list, bloggers are a strange breed indeed 😛 I still let overwhelming awkwardness get the better of me when I know I would have nailed that shot if only there hadn't been 50 people standing around to wonder what the hell am I doing! :-S XO

    http://missportmanteau.com/

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