Five years ago, having just returned to Australia after spending a long period of time in Europe, I needed a place to show off all the photos I had taken with my shiny new DSLR purchased in London. Jet-lagged, broke, unemployed, bored and living on my mum's living room floor, I hopped on Tumblr and created From Another Angle - a travel blog.
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| Great Russell St, London UK. One of my personal favourites. |
When I travel, I like to submerge myself in the place and absorb everything I possibly can. I would also do my research. Along with my photos I would write in the caption a random fact about the place that other people (other than locals) may not have known. For example, did you know that the Eiffel Tower was considered an eyesore by France's leading artists and designers? I would also add little funny anecdotes to accompany my pictures. Did you know that once I wanted to practice my Spanish, so I stumbled into the men's Prada store in Madrid and asked the sales assistant if they sold shoes? Not a particular type of shoe - shoes in general.
Okay maybe that wasn't that funny. You had to be there.
The main purpose of the blog was for people to see the world from another angle -
my angle. I also stole the line from a Jewel song.
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| St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican |
The blog must have struck a chord with some people because by late 2011, I had already amassed 10,000 followers on Tumblr. Back then, that was a huge deal. I was actually getting offers to monetise the blog and I had no idea what monetising the blog actually entails!! Get paid to blog? Whaaat? Who gets paid to blog?
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| That's me in London. |
I was a 'travel blogger' before knowing that travel blogging was a thing. The entire time I was writing the blog, apart from a one-week snowboarding stint in New Zealand, I didn't leave Australia. I was in the process of transitioning into full-time employment and moving to Sydney. I was merely writing about my travels over an 18 month period based on memory alone (lucky I have a good memory!) Other travel bloggers were blogging on the road. As for me? I had no idea when I was going to travel again. I had plans and was saving money to visit
my friends in Michigan, USA but I wasn't sure when that was happening. But the one thing I knew for sure was that I wasn't going to embark on an epic trip like that ever again. I was running out of things to write about.
So I backed up the blog and took it down from the internet. From Another Angle was over. I lost all my followers. I regret doing that, because since then, I did actually do more travelling. I had since visited America (and yes, I did see my friends in Michigan), Canada, Philippines and Singapore. But you live and you learn I guess.
Not all was lost, though. I'm still friends with some of the people that befriended me because of that blog. I would consider one of them one of my
best friends. I hope those same people follow me on my new blogging journey - which is this blog. When I finally get the design finalised that is.
Sometimes I think about what my life would be like had I kept going with the blog. I could've had a very different career. I could have been a writer instead. But I knew in my heart that the blog had run its course and all things have an expiry date.
I could have been famous!
No, perhaps not.
But I still have all the content of the blog and I have plans to turn it into a keepsake that I can have with me forever. Perhaps if anyone else out there is interested, they can also have it as a keepsake for themselves as well. Watch this space.
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