I am a month behind on publishing this put up… whoops! I suppose that is what occurs whenever you begin touring often once more after 2 years at dwelling and completely overlook find out how to steadiness work with adventuring!
July was a quiet month with no journeys, however then August and September felt like pre-Rona instances with a lot of initiatives and adventures packed in. The approaching months will likely be quieter – which is an effective factor; hopefully I can make amends for every part I’ve to jot down and share!
This summer time actually flew by… so let’s check out it when it comes to the highs and lows.
July and August: The months in journey
- International locations visited: 2 – USA and Iceland
- States visited: 1 – Massachusetts
- Flights taken: 4
- Icelandic scorching canine eaten: Too many
- Days spent on the highway: 18
Journey highlights
Mountain climbing to see an lively volcano – My pal Adventurous Kate and I have been fortunate in that our Iceland highway journey coincided with a volcanic eruption! The lively volcano was in the identical space as a 2021 eruption, that means there was already a partial path established to hike to it. We modified our plans barely to have the ability to do the hike on our first full day within the nation. The hike was lengthy (8 miles spherical journey) and fairly tough on the ankles, however getting to observe effervescent lava for an hour (from a secure distance, in fact!) was SO COOL. Bucket record examine for positive.
Highway tripping round Iceland – After the volcano hike, Kate and I spent almost 2 weeks highway tripping round Iceland. We did ALL THE THINGS, together with whale watching, waterfall chasing, quirky museum hopping, and hitting up as many scenic spots as attainable. We have been exhausted on the finish of every day, however it really was a dream Iceland highway journey! We had principally nice climate, too, which was sudden however an enormous bonus.
Visiting ALL the new springs – One other factor we did in Iceland was go to as many scorching springs and thermal spas as we may! In reality, for the primary week of the journey, we visited a scorching spring each single day! This was actually enjoyable – and I wrote this weblog put up about it.
Seeing a corpse flower bloom – Okay, so this one is not a journey spotlight because it occurred at dwelling in Ohio, however a corpse flower bloomed on the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in July, and I received to go see it! The corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum, or titan arum) is a large plant that solely flowers as soon as each 7-10 years on common. The bloom is alleged to odor like rotting meat/rubbish/pungent ft, and since there aren’t lots of them left on this planet, a bloom at a spot like a zoo or botanical backyard all the time attracts a crowd! I made a Reel you may watch right here.
Journey lowlights
Actually, I haven’t got any main journey mishaps to report! I opted to not examine a bag to Iceland for worry of misplaced/delayed baggage, and did not have any main flight delays. (Properly, technically my flight from Boston to Reykjavik was delayed, however it did not have an effect on my journey in any respect.)
I am going to depend myself fortunate, since journey snafus are nonetheless fairly commonplace should you’re touring internationally proper now.
July and August on the weblog(s)
This summer time was a bit up and down for site visitors, with a dip in July and a slight rise in August. However the back-to-school journey site visitors stoop is coming in September…
Although my fundamental website is doing comparatively effectively income-wise, my site visitors has nonetheless not totally recovered from the pandemic. And, actually, I am beginning to really feel like possibly it simply will not. The world has modified, and I suppose that is simply the brand new regular!
A Harmful Enterprise site visitors: 156,396 distinctive guests and 215,130 pageviews in July; and 185,683 distinctive guests and 246,026 pageviews in August
Hottest put up: The Good 10-Day London and Paris Itinerary for Your Dream Europe Journey – This monster of a put up is likely to be the largest put up I’ve ever printed – however that is simply because it is chock FULL of all my ideas for planning an unforgettable journey to London and Paris.
Different posts printed:
On my Cleveland area of interest website, I hit a brand new site visitors report this summer time: two consecutive non-holiday months with greater than 50K guests! I’ve cherished seeing this little website develop, and loved spending July getting out and doing a lot of enjoyable native stuff like going to baseball video games and testing new eating places.
Cleveland Traveler site visitors: 54,673 distinctive guests and 70,424 pageviews in July; and 51,674 distinctive guests and 64,115 pageviews in August.
If you wish to see what I have been as much as on Cleveland Traveler recently, go to the positioning right here.
July and August on social media
The largest social media information from the previous couple of months is that I had an Instagram Reel go viral in August. Like, REALLY viral. Like, 35 MILLION views viral. (It was this whale Reel from my Arctic journey in case you did not see it.) This led to a lot of new followers and extra publicity for my content material on Instagram, which is absolutely thrilling!
I am nonetheless sharing Iceland content material on my @dangerousbiz IG account, so should you missed that journey, test it out!
Hottest put up on Instagram (@dangerousbiz): (Aside from the whale reels…) I encourage you to click on over and browse the caption on this put up, the place I discuss my ideas on local weather change and the best way we discuss it on-line.
Hottest put up on Instagram (@clevelandtraveler): Reels do infinitely higher on my native account than photographs, and this one itemizing a few of my favourite native patios was the most well-liked.
July and August enterprise replace
Bear in mind, I report my earnings after they hit my checking account, that means these promoting earnings are from April and Might, and the affiliate earnings are principally from June/July journey.
I had funds come by way of from some journey campaigns throughout these months, which helped increase my general revenue. I really feel like I’ve achieved extra of those partnerships in 2022 than in earlier years (and by “these partnerships,” I imply working with tourism boards and journey manufacturers to go to and promote locations), however what can I say? We’re all making up for misplaced time!
Nonetheless, although, no less than half of my travels this yr have been unsponsored and paid for out of my very own pocket.
A Harmful Enterprise July revenue report:
- Promoting: $11,335.33
- Associates: $3,652.9
- Course/product gross sales: $429.29
- Journey campaigns: $5,937.74
- Different: $1,297.78
A Harmful Enterprise August revenue report:
- Promoting: $12,244.26
- Associates: $5,652.9
- Course/product gross sales: $167.67
- Journey campaigns: $952.77
- Different: $140.34
(Notice that that is my revenue earlier than deductions/bills and taxes.)
On Cleveland Traveler, advert earnings are fairly regular, persistently hitting that $2K monthly threshold now, which is greater than I ever anticipated to make with this website!
My @clevelandtraveler Instagram account additionally lastly received accepted into the Reels bonus program, which permits me to make some cash from the movies I put up on IG. (It is actually laborious to earn greater than $100 monthly on this bonus scheme, however hey, I am going to take the additional $100 for sharing content material I used to be going to share anyway!)
Cleveland Traveler July revenue report:
Cleveland Traveler August revenue report:
- Promoting: $2,100.39
- Social media: $107.6
(Notice: A Harmful Enterprise was began in 2010, and has been monetized for greater than 10 years; Cleveland Traveler was began in 2019, and has been monetized for two.5 years.)
Enterprise highs/lows
The summer time was good; regular. Nothing stands out as notably tremendous good or tremendous dangerous, however that is really simply superb for me!
Upcoming this fall
I haven’t got something deliberate previous October – but! I am itching to do one thing Christmassy in December although…
October: Austin, TX – Final yr, we have been speculated to go to Austin for the Components 1 US Grand Prix. However COVID ruined these plans, and we deferred our tickets to this yr. I am undecided what number of F1 followers I’ve following me, however I plan to share it with you anyway! We’ll be in Austin for a couple of week, spending 2 days on the race and the remainder of the time visiting with mates and exploring Austin a bit!