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INTERVIEW WITH TRAVEL BLOGGER ADVENTUROUS KATE

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Amy Aed 25

I started travel blogging the same way everyone else did – with no idea about how to do anything. I was able to learn about the industry through both trial and error, along with constantly looking up to popular blogs that had already been established.

One of my favourite bloggers when I first entered the game was Adventurous Kate – I loved her energy, her travels, and her writing. If it weren’t for her continuously producing inspirational travel content, then I’m certain that Wandering Everywhere wouldn’t be even close to where it is today.

A couple months ago, I was finally able to interview the wonderful Adventurous Kate – and here’s what she said.

Adventurous Kate hiking in the mountains

Firstly, what was the main motivation behind you quitting your job at the age of 26 and travelling across Southeast Asia? Have you always wanted to stray from the 9-to-5 life?

When I was 25, I was working in search engine marketing, a field I didn’t enjoy, and felt like my home city, Boston, wasn’t challenging enough for me. Originally I decided to move to New York, but I soon realised that my true dream was to travel the world long-term. I didn’t have enough money for my dream trip around the world for a year — but I DID have enough money to travel somewhere cheap for a shorter amount of time. Because of this, I decided to head to Southeast Asia for seven months.
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I never had major career dreams in college or beyond — just a vague idea that maybe “working for a PR firm” would be fun. You can thank pop culture for that. Sometimes I joked that it would be my dream to get paid to blog about my life. Back then, in 2006, making a full-time living from a blog was unheard of unless you turned it into a book or movie deal. I can’t believe I made it happen!

Women’s empowerment is a big theme on your blog. How did your family and friends react to you breaking the news that you would be travelling solo, and did it turn out to be as unsafe as everyone said?

Friends and family had a variety of reactions. My mom herself is a traveler and she understood the urge I had and supported me fully. Dad wasn’t pleased when I told him about it, but he came around fairly quickly. My parents both wanted me to stay in touch with daily emails. At first I thought that was overkill, but I grew to enjoy it and it’s something I practice to this day when I travel solo.
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As for others, I found that the people who traveled the least tended to be the most alarmist. The craziest question I got asked was, “What will you do if the Khmer Rouge rises again?” Seriously. MAN, am I glad my friend broke up with that dude!

From the outside, it looks like you live the dream life. What’s it really like to build and sustain a blog, and subsequently travel the world?

Nobody lives a dream life. That’s something of which to remind yourself, and often. People’s social media feeds don’t tell anything close to the full story. And of course a travel blogger is going to live what looks like a dream life.
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I know I am extremely fortunate. Travel blogging isn’t heart surgery, and it isn’t coal mining, either. To be able to travel and write for a living is a luxury and a privilege.
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But nobody sees the hard work it requires behind the scenes. Nobody sees the volume of work that is done on the back end as opposed to the front end, and nobody knows that I pay tens of thousands of dollars per year just for the basics of having a functioning site kept online. Nobody sees how much time I spend chasing down payments, even when they are outlined in advance in the contract. A lot of the work is ugly and unpleasant, and the good parts are what keep me going, especially after eight years of being a full-time travel blogger.
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Adventurous Kate upon a boat, taking photos

How did you originally monetise your site? How do you maintain it now?

If you were making money through a travel blog in 2010, you were selling text links — either on your own site or other sites that you owned. That was pretty much the main way of making money back then. I haven’t done that in years, though I still receive constant requests (“I’d be happy to write a free guest post for you! All I ask for in return is a small link pointing to my site…”).
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Today I don’t only monetise to fund my travels — I monetise to fund MY ENTIRE LIFE in New York City in addition to my travels. There are three primary ways I make money: affiliate marketing, display advertising, and campaigns with brands.

Why exactly did you decide to settle down in NYC instead of travelling the globe nonstop forever?

One of the biggest reasons why I moved to New York was because my sister and best friend had moved there. Having those connections in real life was important to me. But beyond that, I love New York, and I find it’s one of very few places that can stimulate me intellectually on a regular basis. I will never know New York fully, and that actually gives me comfort.
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New York is also the center of the media world and travel industry, which has given me lots of perks, like New York-based campaigns and opportunities like going to the US Open. It helps that New York has more direct flights than anywhere else in America. And New York is a reasonable distance from my family in Boston (a 3.5 hour train ride away). It’s been 2.5 years and I am still madly, irrevocably in love with the city.

What country would you recommend for female solo travellers?

I highly recommend Thailand for solo female travellers. It might not be the most traditional pick, but I love that there is almost zero catcalling in Thailand, it has excellent travel infrastructure and a well-worn tourist trail, Thais are extremely friendly and welcoming, the food is delicious, and it’s a very cheap country, especially in the north. But the top reason why I recommend Thailand to solo female travellers is because there are usually street vendors around late into the night. That prevents you from being in isolated situations.

What would you say to other females who ache to travel but believe they don’t have the confidence/ opportunity to?

Don’t feel like you need to leave on a solo trip to Turkmenistan to be a traveler! Take it easily and gently. Start with a weekend solo trip to a nearby city you’ve always wanted to visit. Or you can join a group trip to a destination that intrigues you. Having the security of a group will give you peace of mind and it could open the door to future solo travel!
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Adventurous Kate hitchhikes
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They say to never meet your heroes – and yet I am, having interviewed one of my all-time favourite travel bloggers, feeling as though I’m even more prepared to take on the world. Kate is absolutely one of the best people I have ever interviewed, and I admire her a lot for being able to build such a successful travel blogging empire, in turn influencing thousands of others like myself.
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I hope that Kate has helped to inspire you too, in some way. If you have any other questions you’d like to ask her, feel free to let me know in the comments below!
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Great interview. I love how Kate is honest about the work behind the scenes and what it takes to travel professionally. Running a blog or a site of any kind takes a lot of time and effort, even if you’re not doing it for a profit. I can only imagine how much more work it is if you do as a full time work.

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¡¡Hola Amy!! No conocía a este personaje, pero sin duda, tenéis el mismo espíritu aventurero. No hay nada mejor en esta vida que poder hacer y vivir de lo que realmente te gusta. Como todo, tendrá sus momentos buenos y malos, pero merece la pena. Espero que tú puedas seguir con todos tus proyectos para este nuevo año, y a ver si puedes hacer ese Camino de Santiago que quieres. Feliz 2022. Besitos.

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A super interesting inteview and article!
I really appreciate especially the fact that the tone is kinda realistic and not “everything’s cool all the time”
Kate seems a truly amazing woman!
XO
S

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What a great interview! So awesome that you got to interview one of your all-time favorite travel bloggers!

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What a great interview. She’s right; there’s no Dream Life as it seems on Social Media. Any success has a lot of hard work behind it!

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Great interview.. what a cool and brave woman. Love it.

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Great interview. Love travel. Exciting to see how to turn that love of travel into a full-time gig.

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I love this! So inspiring… I love traveling! I think it’s amazing that she does what she loves and makes money at the same time. What a girl boss!

Lots of love,
Krissi

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Lovely interview and great to be able to relate to someone who has made the jump into being a full time travel professional and making it work.

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I love reading stories detailing when people’s dreams become reality! This was such a fun interview to read through and it truly sounds like Kate is living her dream 🙂

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Very informative interview. Also 26 and thinking about travelling for a bit

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All true! I didn’t travel much during my youth and I regret that now. I didn’t realize what I was missing. Now I travel as much as possible and enjoy the benefits you cite. Great post.

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I was JUST reading about how traveling can improve your memory, so it’s so cool that she gets to travel as a living!!

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Thanks for the interview. I also follow “Adventurous Kate” and one of my favorite things about her is that she isn’t afraid to say what she thinks. I have been impressed by her willingness to post about the importance of travelers being vaccinated–commentary that shouldn’t be political, but is.

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This is so cool! I’ve loved following Adventurous Kate too, and what a privilege it is that you got to interview her! I’ve always wanted to move to Thailand – well ever since I visited 4 years ago, at least, and I’m happy to hear she recommends it! Great post. Xx Sara

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What a great interview! Kate was one of the first travel bloggers I followed and I still love reading her posts.

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I enjoyed reading this post. It’s always good to hear from a successful blogger & hear about how they managed some of the challenges. It’s inspirational too! Thanks so much for sharing!

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I loved reading this! I forgot how much I enjoy a written interview. Thanks for sharing!

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Thank you so much for sharing! I really appreciated learning from someone who has a lot of experience in the field. I’m working on monetizing my blog now!

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I loved reading this article. So inspiring. I have always wanted to visit Thailand and loved that she talks about it being a great place for solo female travelers. I love hearing women succeed when they follow their hearts! Way to go!

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