Presenting my second installment of The Best New Travel Blogs You Haven’t Heard Of Yet. After the phenomenal feedback from my first article on new travel bloggers I decided to turn this into a monthly feature here at the HoliDaze. So, if you happen to be a new blogger within the last 12 months — or know of an awesome new travel blog — then feel free to submit your recommendations at the bottom of this post for consideration in the upcoming edition this April.
My Wanderlist
Travel Curiously
Now although the following blogs are listed in no particular order, that does not apply for this first one. My buddy Brad is a downright badass and currently attempting to corner the adventure travel niche with stories like no other. And let me say, he is doing a downright awesome job. I first discovered his blog back in the middle of 2013 when he had a mere half-dozen posts and have been hooked ever since, literally salivating when I see that “new post on myWanderlist” email in my inbox.
Don’t expect weekly updates from this blog but do expect each post to be like no other you have ever read. I am amazed that more people have not found this blog yet and making it a personal mission to spread the word. My only regret is that when Brad came to Indonesia I was busy staring in a tourism film and didn’t have the opportunity to travel with him on his quest for monkey brains. Although he was unable to find them, that didn’t stop him from having some amazing adventures.
Recommended Post The Most Macabre Meat Market: Tomohon, Sulawesi
Tieland To Thailand
Quit Your Job – Sell Your Stuff – Travel Abroad
Chris and Angela started there blog a year ago and are doing amazingly well so far — so good in fact that I guarantee that most people reading this post have already heard of their cleverly named blog. After they decided to (you guessed it) quit their jobs, sell their stuff and move abroad they picked Thailand. In fact I had the pleasure of meeting them while I was passing through Chiang Mai last year and found them to be amazingly wonderful people. I get immense joy out of reading their blog and highly recommend it to anyone thinking of visiting Thailand or wondering how to quit their job and move abroad.
Recommended Post Living As Young Expats in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Travel? Yes Please!
A Travel Inspiration Blog Sharing Photos, Stories, Reviews, And Tips
Over the last month or two I’d seen various people sharing posts from Rhonda and Mike’s blog but didn’t actually getting around to reading it myself until the last couple of weeks. They had me hooked from the start! It’s a perfection combination of catchy writing, impressive photography, useful insight/advice, and of course a stylish web site as well. Plus I also find them very easy to relate to. They love culture/history, hate rushing through countries just for bragging rights (“I visited XX number of countries this year!”) and are no good at traveling light. Not to mention the fact that recently they have been visiting some amazing locations in Europe. Count me in!
Recommended Post Making Travel Dreams Reality- Seven Steps to Stop Dreaming and Start Packing
Gallivant Girl
Independent Female Adventure Travel
I’ll be honest, I haven’t read much of Anastasia’s blog yet — I just discovered it a couple of weeks ago — but what I have seen I love. Not only does she have a cool style of writing that is both informational and inspiring but she takes amazing photos. Some of her posts have given me great insight into places I’ve never heard of or never thought of visiting. Well done Anastasia! 🙂
Recommended Post Mostar: Battle-Weary and Bloody Beautiful
Besudesu Abroad
Culture, Food And Photos From Around The Globe
Why do I love Beth’s blog? It’s simple: she is a recent college graduate who has decided that rather than pursue the “American Dream” (ugghh) she has instead decided to pursue her own dreams and travel the world. From this June onward she has a jam-packed travel schedule that will take her through some of the best European countries. Might as well start following her now and see what adventures she gets herself into 😉
Recommended Post Top 10 Reasons You Should Travel After Graduation
One Year, One World
The Johnstons’ Round The World Trip
At barely one week old (yes, seriously) Britnee and Mark’s blog is by far the newest in this edition of The Best New Travel Blogs. As such, don’t expect there to be tons of posts just yet. However after seeing it and reading all their posts I immediately wanted to include it in this list. Although they still have two months before their last day of work they certainly have some exciting adventures ahead of them. My only hope is that they do not stop after one year but rather continue on living a nomadic lifestyle. Hopefully by shining a light on them and their voyage we as readers can help give them the support to do just that 🙂
Recommended Post Why I’m Quitting My Job To Travel
Derek, thank you so much for recognizing our blog! We are working hard so it goes without saying that we are so extremely happy to be featured on your awesome site. We are looking forward to meeting up with you again very soon! Maybe this time it will be in your neck of the woods 🙂
Happy to, I love y’all’s blog! (Yes, you can take the boy out of Texas but you cannot take the Texan out of the boy LOL.) And as I’ve mentioned already, really wish we’d had longer to chat in Chiang Mai. I’m getting ready to leave Vietnam now but am not exactly sure where I’m headed, all I know is that I have to be back in Indonesia by May for the Tour de Horror. If you two plan any trips outside of Thailand let me know, otherwise I should be back there in June/July at the latest. Keep in touch!
A week old! You found that one quickly!
I’ll have to make time to check these out, good looking stuff though.
What can I say, I’m always on the hunt for new bloggers. Thanks in advance for finding the time to check them out Stephen, I know they will appreciate it 🙂
Wow, Derek, thanks for recognizing my blog. I’m flattered you like my stuff, it’s great company. I strive for nothing boring.
You were one of my first fans when I was in that, “writing to no one” phase, a few “test, test” posts and a dream to share my craziest stories from 8 years of seeking out the most extreme in travel. I’m not sure why you followed me, haha!
I was planning to jet-set all over Indonesia and come down and meet up, but somewhere in the middle of Sulawesi, I lost my ATM card and only had $200 cash in my pocket. Game. Changed. Next thing you know, I’m looking for the cheapest bus to ANYWHERE and living with sea gypsies. (Turned into a great story)
I’m trying to setup a few things in Indonesia that are a bit complicated to pull off. I’ll definitely let you know when I am back down there.
I recognize a diamond in the rough when I see one. Glad I did too. Didn’t realize the circumstances behind what led you to live with the sea gypsies but hey, everything happens for a reason. And yes indeed, it definitely turned into a great story. Keep me updated with all your plans on Indonesia. I definitely have a lot of contacts there now that most likely can help facilitate any future plans you might have. Would be great to come up with some sort of collaboration as well. I’m not 100% fluent in Bahasa Indonesia but have gotten good enough to start writing in the language and that will definitely be a plus for my future plans in that country 😉
Yeah, I didn’t really know what to do at the time, and I completely lost connectivity with the sea gypsies. Yeah, let’s collaborate and do something crazy. Anything is on the table. I sent you a note.
Again a great list, some are familiar and some I’m going to discover right now 🙂
Thanks for checking them out 🙂 I’ve got your site bookmarked for consideration in the April edition but honestly haven’t read anything yet. I will soon though — you’ll undoubtedly see a comment or two as I do, not to mention I’ll probably start following your various SM profiles as well. Anyway, thanks again for stopping by and cheers to travel blogging! 😀
What an honor! Thanks Derek for featuring our blog. Hopefully we’ll run into you somewhere in this world, maybe even in Utah. Happy travels!
Ehhhh….probably not in Utah. I know you don’t know me or my travels at all but I gave up my life in the States and don’t plan on returning. In fact part of why I’m continuing my life on the road / in the air is to find a new country to call home. Asia has been my temporary home for most of these years — I can never stay away for long — but I don’t know where I’ll eventually end up. As such, please let me know once you two have a firm itinerary of where you’ll be visiting on your RTW adventure. I’ll be bouncing around SEA, India and the Middle East, and Western Europe for the next year so maybe we can find somewhere where our schedules overlap. I’m sure at some point you’ll be publishing your route on the blog so please tweet / email me when you do, so that I don’t overlook it. Would be a joy to talk travel with y’all and swap stories / advice 🙂
Haha, not Utah then…somewhere else in this world we will meet up! Probably after August we may end up in the same areas as you, so we’ll be in touch. Thanks again!
Thanks so much Derek for featuring our blog. We’ve been working extremely hard on it, so to be recognized is such an honour! I really love this new feature you’re doing- it’s always great to discover new, amazing blogs. I can’t wait to check out the rest of this list!
You are most welcome Rhonda. I was amazed with all you two have accomplished with your blog thus far and happy to include you in this month’s round-up. Keep me updated on your adventures and somewhere along the way we’ll cross paths in real life 🙂
Great to see your latest instalment of this list Derek. You do read extensively. I only recognise Beth’s contribution out this bunch. Also with one just a week old you are hot off the mark!
Thanks for the great reviews, plenty for me to read here 🙂
Yeah, I do read a lot of blogs. Luckily I think compiling this list on a monthly basis is less work than Nomadic Samuel’s job curating the top 100 travel blogs 😉
That is true, Nomadic Samuel’s list is a fabulous resource. It must take him ages to compile and analyse all the data. I dare say he gets many hundreds of submissions to assess too.
I’ve never quite got round to applying yet. I don’t think my site qualifies on his criteria yet. It doesn’t stop my ambition though, I’d love to make his top 100 one day 🙂
At least with your lists it is new and up and coming. The criteria is great content and great people. Less focus on being already established and known by everyone. You give people one of those initial steeping stones that they all need. Full credit to you for doing this Derek.
Great suggestions – can’t believe One Year, One World is so new, looks amazing!
It does! I was blown away by the design of their site. Usually new blogs look rather amateurish. In fact there were a couple I debated adding to this list but navigating their site was just such a hassle and their designs were so basic and lacked any flair, and as such I just felt they weren’t yet worthy of being one of the “best new travel blogs” — of course I still have them bookmarked so hopefully they will get their act together soon 😉
Great list Derek, i have come across a few of these blog but a few are new to me – thanks for the intro! Look forward to reading more abotu them 🙂
Hey Derek, thanks for the mention! I really appreciate you following along.
Sorry I’m only responding now, I saw your mention on Twitter, but I hadn’t gotten to chance to see the article until now! You’ve got some great other bloggers on here as well– I love reading Tieland to Thailand, and now I’m checking out some of the others!
Awesome, always looking for new RTW blogs to follow! Thanks 🙂
Great list! Thank you for recommendations!
Great collections of blogs!! I appreciate your work and Thanks for sharing your experience…
Looking for travel blogs as part of Phuket vacation planning and voila…found really good ones here – from your list. First bet was Tieland to Thailand (http://tielandtothailand.com/) and it didn’t disappoint me. Thanks man for this!
I’m a newbie travel blogger, I will read through the ones you’ve listed above…they look pretty cool, thanks for doing this inspirating motivating nomination…
PS: The name of my blog is, “Travelogues of an African girl.” africanahgirl.com
Thanks for the kind words and for stopping by 🙂 I’ve already bookmarked your site and will give it a read this week while compiling the June list. Talk more soon!
My favorite one also has the best photography. lol big shocker there.
Lol no surprise there. So in other words you like Marta’s blog, In A Faraway Land, most, yeah?