Conversation with the Best Travel Influencer Couple in India | Voyager

Four Continents, 100s of cities and numerous memories; these words can merely describe what the Voyager has traveled over the past four years. From having thriving corporate jobs to being full-time travel influencers; Sandy and Vyjay have come a long way.

Connect with Sandy and Voyager at  Blog

Voyager has been rated as the ‘Top 100 travel blogs of the country’. We had the pleasure to connect with them last week over a telephonic conversation and here is an excerpt. 

Q.
How did you start with the world of travel? What inspired you to start a travel blog?

Sandy: Actually, we have been traveling since our childhood and then after marriage, we got to see that we both love traveling. So, what happened was some friends started asking us why don’t you document your travel and it could help others and it could give tips to others like. Because orally we used to give tips to people, our friends, our relatives regarding what to do and how to do and all that. So, one day they told us to take it seriously and that’s how we started the blog.

Q. That’s nice. How long you have been running the blog?

Sandy: It’s been four years now.

Q. 4 years! That’s great. Are you full-time travel bloggers or you do it for free time?

Sandy: So, it’s now completely full-time. Though, we started it as a part-time. It really took off well within a few months. Then I quit my job and Vijay used to help me for weekends and till he has his days off. Then recently, in the last one and a half years back he also quit the job as we thought it needs a lot of time and attention. Now we both are full-time bloggers and writers.

Q.That’s incredible! And Congratulations I read that Voyager, your travel blog is listed at the top hundred travel blogs in the country.

Sandy: Thank You so much.

Q. How did you feel when you first got the news that you are listed as the top hundred in the country?

Sandy: We felt really happy when we got that feedback and the conversations we had with our readers and they actually tell us like. Ohh! You told us this and we went there and something like that. That actually gives us more happiness. Then we feel okay. Actually we share our experiences in the summary.

Q. That’s too awesome! And may I know what is your biggest achievement to date since you started your travel career?

Vyjay: So, I have been happy to say that we have transformed our hobby into a kind of a career for now. There have been many milestones that we are really proud of. Ya so, there has been listing as you talked about top 100 right. However, one of the top moments is that we got the best travel writer award in Malaysia that goes to 2019. So, that was digital, I mean issuances conference held in Malaysia. And so, there we got the best travel writers award. That was one of the achievements. The other one is we are very happy to have a number of good top national and international tourism boards in India, Gujarat Tourism, Madhya Pradesh Tourism, etc. and we also won many other international tourisms. Those kinds of assignments actually we consider our achievements.

Q. I am sure! I am sure! So, do you have a PR to get in touch with companies or the government? How does networking work?

Vyjay: No, actually we don’t have a PR. So, it is between both of us. We share the entire work like technical aspects of running boards, content reaching out to boats, and all. But initially, we focused on our work in getting out the content on a blog, and after that people started approaching us. Even now we are doing anything actively marketing on our own end. It’s more like they come to us.

Q. Right. Right. That must be great! But for the past a few months the lockdown has affected the travel industry a lot. So, what are your views on that?

Vyjay: Ya so, I understand that almost everybody in this world affected by this COVID problem. Mostly travel industries have been suffering a lot. We don’t know when everybody can travel normally. But what we still feel is that we shouldn’t lose hope. I am sure it is alike and definitely we all will get to travel one day.

Q. That too fine. But what about the finances? For example like for travel start-ups? How do you manage the problem?

Vyjay: So, for the money thing, we are still getting a few campaigns and projects. So, we are going on with that. Though it has reduced a bit it is not the same as what it was before this pandemic. But we still continue to get projects and we are working and actually we are completely tied up with the work.

Q. Okay. You have no idea that how incredibly proud I am to know about this because I have been talking to almost influences over the past week and you are the only one who is saying that you are getting the consistent work camps. I guess that is all because of the reputation that you have built over the years. And I guess the hard work is paying you a lot. Isn’t it?

Sandy: It is so. It is all also about how we keep up with the relations with our clients and whatever right. And how we are adapting to the requirements and all those things also matter.

Q. I am sure what advice would you like to give to the travel influencers and the travel bloggers?

Vyjay: So, first of all, our advice would be passionate about it. That is not only travel guiding and travel influencers. It’s all for anything you want to pursue. So, first, we look at his passion. With passion, you will get everything. So, that is what.

Q. Right absolutely. So what do you think? What platform should they start from? Should they start from Instagram should they write a blog or WhatsApp, Facebook?

Vyjay: So, It all depends upon their own strength and how and what they like to do. And because for us writing was paramount. Our focus was on the blog and still on the blog. Because we are very passionate about the written word. However, we need to complement that like a social media platform. So, we have Instagram, we have Facebook and Twitter. So, these are all towards to bringing traffic to our blog and getting readers on to our blog platform. Having said that it all depends. Maybe someone will be comfortable with the visual media then maybe then they should focus on Instagram. Someone can go with the audio.  It depends upon how they will look at it.  If someone is passionate about writing then they should have a blog and also supplemented with the other social media platform.

Q. Awesome! So what place are you planning to travel once the lockdown turns down? I have heard a lot about your success.

Vyjay: Actually, there were many places we have planned and there were a lot of assignments that turned down because of a pandemic. So, still, we have planned anything that we will go there and we may not be rushing as soon as the things turn right. I think we should move with caution and so haven’t planned anything. But we will start with India. Somewhere in India, we will travel.

Q. Awesome! What are your views on MyTravaly's closed community initiative?

Vyjay: I think it is a very good initiative because people are not getting travel but can read about it. There is a lot of content around. Sharing experiences and your platform is doing a good thing in getting all the players on a single platform where they can share their experiences and learn from each other.