Whatever We Do Needs to Result in Peace and Happiness

It is who we are and we see ourselves doing that for the rest of our lives. The way we measure success depends on how content we are with what we do. If something makes us happy, makes us feel content with what we have achieved, that is what we term as successful. And that is our mantra in life.

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

Travelmynation is run by Archana and Vidur and we have been professional travel bloggers since 2015. From well-paying marketing jobs in Fortune 500 organizations, we moved to travel blogging as that was our true calling and we’ve not regretted that decision ever since. In these 5 years, we’ve connected with some amazing personalities online and offline and worked with the biggest travel-related brands across the world!

Along with blogging, we have recently launched a travel startup, Moto

Overlanders, which focuses primarily on an adventure, offbeat motorcycle and SUV tours to destinations like Arunachal, Nagaland, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Spiti, and Ladakh. There are a lot of exciting and unique trips planned and we are in the process of announcing them very soon.

2. What led you to start your page on Instagram and what is it about?

Travelmynation started first on Instagram as a platform where we could document on travels. It wasn’t meant to turn into what it is today! As we kept posting content, people started appreciating our style of travel and the story we were telling. That motivated us to get a little bit more serious about our content and from there onwards, Travelmynation turned into a platform where we shared our travel stories, helped people travel better, and helped brands connect with relevant audiences.

Travelmynation is all about our travel process. Everybody has their style of travelling and we wanted to share ours with everybody. Our niche is focussed primarily on offbeat travel and luxury experiences. Almost all of our travels are road trips and the longest one we did was about 13,000 kilometres long when we drove from Bangalore to the northern states in 2018.

3. What does travel feel like to you?

Passion drives our liking towards travel so for us, it is everything we’ve got. It’s not a career option, it’s not a hobby; rather it is part of who we are and our way of living life. We are both explorers and are super curious to know what’s out there and this is what drives us to travel more and more.

We love to get out of the city, travel to remote areas, and connect with nature. The promise of a simpler life free of the distractions of the modern world is something we connect with a lot!

4. Being a travel photographer, how would you spice up your travelling portfolio to avoid monotonous photos?

There isn’t a strategy towards creating content and we look at how spontaneous we can get. Most of our pictures are not posed but clicked at the spur of the moment.

Our pics tend to depict our emotions at a particular moment, the landscapes, people, cuisine, and the tone of the destination we explore. I think that’s what our audience appreciates.

5. What do you think influences consumer behaviour?

A couple of things. Firstly, when we see something new or unique we tend to get curious about what it is. For example, we were one of the first people to travel to Thang village in Ladakh.

It’s in Nubra Valley and the last publicly accessible area towards the border. When people see our pictures there, they wish to travel to the same place. They discovered something new and wanted to be a part of that new experience.

Secondly, the promise of a greater value add. It could be a better product, a cheaper one, or something that promises to deliver something unique.

6. What is your idea of success or your mantra in life?

Well, the answer is kind of philosophical but this is really what we believe in. Whatever we do needs to result in peace and happiness. We left behind lucrative careers to get into blogging only because travel is what makes us happy.

Live simple, enjoy the little things and take people along in your journey to fulfilment and happiness!

7. How can someone become a successful social media influencer?

Tough one because there is no right answer to this. The reason for that is that most of the online personalities don’t have the power to influence.

We are all mostly social media content creators but the power to influence someone is with a very few of us. If you want to be a successful influencer, you need to build a really strong, organic presence that is highly relevant to the audience base.

Only then will they listen to you. And this only happens across a certain period. For people to listen to you, they will need to hold your opinion in high regard and that kind of credibility takes time to build.

Interview by - Amruta Liz Binoy