Travelling Tom turns five

Taking a selfie at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City last week. This was my first new country of the year.

So, here we are.

Five years of Travelling Tom, and while the natural focus would be flashing back to five years ago and saying “how far I’ve come” in the last half decade, it’s hard to not take a look back over the last 12 months and how much has changed in what would usually seem such a short space of time.

I should be telling you about my 80th country, how much I enjoyed a trip to Toronto for my girlfriend’s 27th birthday, how interesting Algeria was and how much I recommend it for a weekend break - even if getting the visa was an expensive hassle.

Alas, I’ve had little travel, got no girlfriend and my life has suddenly become a lot different since the blog turned four in November 2019.

My last trip before lockdown was to watch Roma play in Ghent, Belgium. Here’s a shot of our AS Roma North UK fan club in a bar before the game.

The crazy world in which we live in the year two-thousand and twenty is one that no-one alive today will ever forget. Life has almost been put on pause in many respects, and to escape the hellhole that is the United Kingdom at the moment, I’ve flown out to my first new country of the year, Mexico, where I’ve actually been able to enjoy myself.

It’s been a crazy trip so far, and although I’m writing this in my 74th country, by the time it goes live on Sunday I will be back in my bedroom, quarantining because of the embarrassing Coronavirus response that the UK government has had.

But right now I can at least reminisce on an amazing trip - seeing some of the incredible sights that Mexico has to offer, partying in Cancun, meeting existing friends and making new ones. 2020 looked in danger of taking travel away from us for the rest of the year - but proper travellers will always find a way.

Moving forward

About to drop the hottest album of 2020 on a stag do in Prague on August bank holiday weekend.

I’m hoping everything will be back to normal, or as close to normal by next summer. I’m not expecting anything in the early part of 2021 - usually I’m looking forward to a plethora of already-booked trips, but there’s no point in laying out a load of money that could go up in thin air if the situation hasn’t improved enough.

But one thing that lockdown has been good for is giving me renewed perspective for Travelling Tom. Every year when I write these posts I have high hopes for the year ahead - hopefully I grow my website and social media presence, start making some decent money from it and have the blog as a true side hustle. But, to be honest, I’ve been less inspired to do so this year.

I have, however, ramped up my interest in pursuing video. Over lockdown I made it one of my priorities to work through old travel video content that I’ve never got around to editing and to start pumping out videos on my YouTube channel. Since Tuesday 9 June 2020, I’ve uploaded a video every week and I would like to keep doing so for the foreseeable future.

My first trip since lockdown was a trip to Prague, Czech Republic with the lads for a stag do. Here’s how it went down.

If you like travel vlogs, then you’ll love my upcoming Mexico and Sweden series, so make sure you check me out and subscribe to Travelling Tom on YouTube so you’ll be notified of when those vlogs go live.

I still enjoy having a blog, and having that personal space on the internet to share my thoughts - a space that I own. But, in truth, blogging just isn’t as exciting as video. There’s a reason video is the most engaging type of content, and that’s not to say blogging doesn’t have its place. But, in my opinion, it just doesn’t have the allure of video.

I think, in the travel sphere, blogs are great for getting information, inspiring you and helping to plan your trip. But video does all that, and entertains you at the same time. The biggest and best travel characters tend to do a lot with film, not just with a keyboard - and a big part of that is because travel is so visual; of course video is going to convey this in a more interesting way.

So, what’s next?

I did my first vlog collaboration with Mulvey (pictured right), when I flew out to Cancun and met him and his mates. You can check out the vlogs we did on Mulvey’s YouTube channel.

Honestly, I’d love for my blog, social media channels and YouTube vlog to become massive, someday. A lot of people say “I just do this because I love doing it, I’m not bothered about getting big.” I love being in the travel game, and I do actually do all this work because I enjoy it, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t care about growing, because I absolutely do.

But there is a lot for me to overcome if I am ever going to make this into a legitimate success. I need to simply do more, be consistent with it, market myself effectively and build multiple revenue streams, so that I don’t end up becoming a one-trick pony. It’s something I definitely can do, but, during lockdown times, motivation can be difficult, even if you have a lot more free time.

Don’t get me wrong, my blog will always be a success on a personal level, regardless if it ever truly takes off or not. It’s encouraged me to travel more, it’s pushed me to meet more people and learn new skills, it’s made me want to create video content that I will always be able to look back on and re-live trips with.

But, the opportunity is there for me to push on. Can I afford to have another year of standing still? Maybe. But I believe that I really need to set the wheels in motion well before I turn 30 if this is ever going to work.

Closing words

The five years of Travelling Tom have been an absolute blast, and although the tail-end of this period has been awful for the most part, on the whole it’s been the best.

I’d like to thank everyone that’s read, watched, shared or engaged in any other way with the content that I’ve produced over the years, because everything helps.

I’d also like to thank everyone who has travelled with me, and who I have made memories with over the past half-decade. They have been some of the best days of my life, and being able to share them with family and friends has always made it more special.

For now, all I can really say is subscribe to my YouTube channel, because I do have some great videos coming up on there. I have also posted a blog post every single week on here since I started, so stay tuned for more travel content.

Here’s to everyone getting back to travel as soon as possible and an even better five years ahead!