Jul 23, 2019
About the episode:
Gary Arndt is an awarding-winning blogger and travel photographer who has been traveling around the world since 2007. His travels have taken him to 200 countries and territories in the Traveler’s Century Club and 128 United Nations countries. He has also visited more than 380 UNESCO World Heritage sites and all 50 U.S. states.
His blog, Everything Everywhere, is considered one of the best travel blogs in the world. It was named one of the Top 25 Blogs in the world by Time Magazine and it earned a Gold Medal in the travel blog category in the North American Travel Journalist Association (NATJA) awards and a Gold Medal for Best Travel Photography Blog in the 2018 TBCAsia Awards.
He is one of the most awarded travel photographers of this decade.
Since 2009, he has been the co-host of This Week in Travel, an award-winning weekly podcast that covers travel industry news and is also the host of The Well-Traveled Life podcast.
He is also an associate producer and senior travel correspondent for On Travel on the American Forces Radio Network. Gary is an accomplished public speaker and has spoken on topics related to travel and new media on six continents.
In the episode:
02:09 – Gary’s career began with starting an internet company in 1994 before he decided to travel around the world. In 2007, he sold his home to travel for a year, which turned into 10.
4:09 – Gary thinks he would have gotten on Instagram or started an email list sooner if he got to do it all over again.
4:40 – One of the reasons Gary stopped traveling full time was because it was difficult to work on his website and newsletter while he was traveling.
7:06 – For Gary, social media is at the heart of what he does, letting him reach out to his readers himself.
9:35 – From his website to social media, Gary says that everything has changed since he started out.
14:27 – Nancy asks if people save Gary’s email newsletters for tips about travel to which Gary says most people just go to Google.
16:49 – When Gary started, the term “blogger” was looked down upon and not as respected as standard publications, which was an obstacle he had to overcome.
21:51 – Gary shares that he measures success in terms of revenue, visits to the website and podcast downloads.
23:49 – To build his network, Gary simply got out there and traveled.
25:00 – Gary has used his network to advance his career to gain followers and support.
26:04 – Gary says there isn’t a single resource he can rely on because of how quickly things change. He uses about 100 sources to gather information to stay in touch.
29:23 – Gary advises people looking to have a career like his to start their website today and understand that it will take time.
30:26 – Gary shares that travel has changed a lot over the years and will continue to do so, such as the transition to online resources and publications.
31:46 – Gary created a list of the top 1,300 travel blogs in the world, which can be found on his website.
Quote:
"Armchair travel is interesting only to a point. At the end of the day, people want information because they want to go somewhere." - Gary Arndt, travel blogger and photographer
Links:
Everything
Everywhere: https://everything-everywhere.com/
This Week in Travel
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-travel/id327760888
Looking to connect:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyarndt/
Twitter: @EverywhereTrip