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Episode 83May 1, 2026· 51:16

From $0 to $2K a Month: How a Travel Blogger Cracked SEO, Affiliates, and AI Overviews

▸ Show notes from the creator
What if the blog you abandoned for twelve years could quietly turn into a reliable two thousand dollars a month? That is exactly what happened to travel blogger Michelle of Travel HerStory, and in this episode she breaks down the SEO shift, affiliate strategy, and content habits that finally made it click. Michelle sits down with Ashley Grant to share the real numbers behind her travel blog comeback, including how she went from "throwing paint at the wall" to ranking on page one of Google. You will hear how she edited a hundred old posts to spark new traffic, why she leans on Pinterest and Google as her two main drivers, and how AI Overviews sliced her income in half for a single brutal month before bouncing back. She also gets candid about the ad networks she has used (She Media, Journey, and a surprise early invite to Mediavine), her favorite affiliate programs like Stay22 and Travelpayouts, and how Amazon commissions add up even when readers buy something totally random. Beyond the money, Michelle and Ashley dig into E-E-A-T and why authentic, personal storytelling beats generic AI content every time, how to spot sponsorship scams, the power of pillar posts, and how landing contract writing work with brands like AAA created income that does not depend on the algorithm. Whether you are a new blogger or a seasoned creator rethinking your traffic strategy, this conversation is packed with practical, honest advice you can act on today. About Michelle: https://www.travelherstory.com/about-me-solo-female-travel-blogger https://www.instagram.com/travelherstory/ https://www.facebook.com/travelherstory
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About this episode
What if the blog you abandoned for twelve years could quietly turn into a reliable two thousand dollars a month? That is exactly what happened to travel blogger Michelle of Travel HerStory, and in this episode she breaks down the SEO shift, affiliate strategy, and content habits that finally made it click. Michelle sits down with Ashley Grant to share the real numbers behind her travel blog comeback, including how…
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Full transcript
00:00
When you're craving more of what you love, you'll
00:02
find it in North Myrtle Beach. Treasure time
00:04
together in a place that feels made for slowing
00:06
down and soaking it all in. Enjoy classics like
00:10
strolling the pristine beaches and unwinding
00:12
over waterside dinners, or immerse yourself in
00:14
adventures like kayaking through scenic waterways
00:17
and horseback riding on the sand. Discover South
00:20
Carolina's gem, North Myrtle Beach, where every
00:23
day brings more of the activities you love. Plan
00:26
your escape at explorenorthmyrtlebeach .com.
00:30
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for more details. Welcome to the Blogate Friends
01:05
Show. Ashley Grant here, and I just want to welcome
01:28
you to the Bloggy Friends Show. We're so excited
01:31
to have you join us on this journey of sharing
01:32
our knowledge and experiences with you. Whether
01:35
you're a blogger, a content creator, or just
01:37
someone who's interested in learning more about
01:38
the digital world, we've got something for you.
01:41
So grab your notebook and a pen to take some
01:42
notes, or just sit back and take in all the amazing
01:45
information and ideas we're about to share with
01:46
you. Let's get into it. Well, Michelle, welcome
01:50
to the show. I'm so excited to have you here.
01:52
Why don't you tell us a little bit about what
01:53
it is you do? Yeah, so I'm a travel blogger.
01:57
that has a blog called Travel Her Story. So I
01:59
came up with the name because it's like history,
02:02
but it's spelled with her. And I love history,
02:04
but also wanted to tell my journey of traveling.
02:07
So that's a little mix of both. I always like
02:09
kind of dual names. That's awesome. When did
02:13
you start your blog? So I started it like 12
02:16
years ago. I was working in TV at the time, but
02:19
I had a job that basically, unless something
02:21
broke, I really had nothing to do. And I had
02:25
a friend back in high school who had started
02:27
a blog. And she was like, oh, why don't you try
02:28
this thing? And I had absolutely zero idea what
02:31
I was doing. I was just like, oh, I write stuff
02:32
and people will find it. Nope. I know how that
02:36
works. You know, like I was writing blog posts.
02:38
They were like, my. fourth day driving across
02:41
America and I was like nobody's googling that
02:44
you know but it gave me the bug for like giving
02:47
starting writing basically so I started that
02:50
but like I said had no idea what I was doing
02:52
I also was working a full -time job and and so
02:55
I would travel very intermittently so it wasn't
02:59
really great as far as consistency and I remember
03:04
I kind of learned like some random classes but
03:06
like they just didn't give me the the proper
03:09
knowledge to actually take this seriously and
03:12
then it was about like a year and a half ago
03:13
I had left my job because it's kind of a toxic
03:17
situation and was doing like a networking thing
03:22
and I met this guy who basically does like a
03:24
tour groups for photographers so he'll take a
03:27
bunch of photographers to like the Sahara and
03:29
they'll photograph And I was like, yeah, I used
03:31
to have this blog, but like, I don't really do
03:33
anything with it anymore. And he was like, well,
03:35
you're spending money having it up there, aren't
03:37
you? And I was like, yeah. And he's like, well,
03:40
give it a try. Like, at least make what you're
03:41
making, what you're spending on it. So this way
03:43
it's not lost. And I was like, yeah, he's right.
03:45
Like, I have the time. I don't have a job right
03:47
now. You know, staring at LinkedIn all day is
03:50
kind of infuriating. You can only do that before,
03:54
like, you lose your marbles. So I was like, I
03:57
need a hobby anyway right now. So I went back
03:59
in, but then, like, I actually really started
04:01
learning about SEO this time rather than just
04:03
kind of, like, throwing paint at the wall. And
04:06
it started making money. Like, oh, okay. This
04:11
is awesome. Who knew? Yeah. Well, I was like,
04:16
God, I wish I knew this 12 years ago. I was raking
04:18
it back in for 12 years. But, you know, you can't
04:22
regret choices. You can only, you know, do what
04:24
you can. So, yeah, I started making a... a few
04:28
hundred a few hundred and then I actually saw
04:30
something on threads post like what they're making
04:32
for the month and I was like oh that'd be interesting
04:34
like let me like do the math because we make
04:36
a little bit here and a little bit here and a
04:38
little bit here you see it but you don't really
04:39
like calculate it and then I was like suddenly
04:42
like oh I'm making like two grand a month like
04:44
consistently like I was like okay this is like
04:47
something I should like put more energy in so
04:50
that's that's how I went from you know very like
04:53
not knowing what I was doing well to like 11
04:56
years later, finally figuring out what I was
04:58
doing. Yeah, I'm still trying to figure it out,
05:01
if I'm honest. I mean, yeah, I will say I have
05:03
been doing this full time, like actually making
05:05
full time income as a writer since. Goodness,
05:09
I guess you'd say I went pro in 2011 and I started
05:12
making full -time income in 2014, but not all
05:16
of it was under my name. I started doing stuff
05:18
for like other people's blogs. And so a lot of
05:20
it was ghostwriting and things like that. What
05:22
were some of your monetization methods for whenever
05:25
you, I guess, got serious? So mostly where my
05:29
monetization even today is, is ads and affiliates.
05:32
Ads is kind of just nice. I kind of view it as
05:35
backup money because if somebody doesn't buy
05:37
something, at least they were there and like
05:39
maybe I made a couple cents off them. But I really
05:41
push for the affiliates. So hotels, activities,
05:44
so like selling, you know, winter's coming up.
05:47
So I did, I went to Finland a couple years ago
05:49
and did all the winter activities like reindeer
05:51
sleigh riding, dog sledding, aurora hunting,
05:54
things like that. So selling tickets to that
05:56
where you get commission. And then some product
05:58
-based stuff. So like Amazon, like I'll promote.
06:02
what my hostel packing list is and, you know,
06:06
link to there. So if they buy the, you know,
06:09
a towel or whatever it is in there, they'll,
06:11
I get a commission off of that. So that's awesome.
06:14
So in terms of ads, is it Google ads or Mediavine?
06:17
What are you using? So I used to be with SheMedia.
06:20
That's what I was with actually like eight, nine
06:22
years ago and never made any money off of views.
06:26
So when I joined back up to like getting serious,
06:28
I was still with them. So at first I was with
06:31
them. And actually, I know a lot of bloggers
06:33
who like don't like them, but I've never really
06:34
had any issue with them. I just went switching
06:37
to Journey because when Journey first launched,
06:39
which is Journey is like kind of like Mediavine's
06:41
like little sister where they like let people
06:43
under 50 ,000 views in or 50 ,000 sessions. So
06:47
I joined that. And then actually about a month
06:51
or two ago, I got an email from Mediavine and
06:53
I hadn't hit 50 ,000 sessions. But they were
06:55
like, we're going to invite you in. And I was
06:57
like, oh, OK. And it was actually so. knew that
07:00
I posted in a Facebook group and I was like,
07:01
is this real? Like I checked the email and it
07:05
doesn't seem like a scam. Like they didn't ask
07:09
for anything weird, but like it was so, so new.
07:11
And now they've started inviting more people
07:14
in their under 50 ,000 sessions. But yeah, at
07:15
first I was like, I don't know. I get it, man,
07:20
because there's a lot of scams out there. Like
07:22
it's it's it's kind of insane how many scams
07:25
there are. And I've even had the people that
07:27
will send you a message and they're like, we're
07:28
going to pay you a thousand dollars. All you
07:30
got to do is put one post. And it's like, yeah,
07:32
that looks really shady. I had somebody the other
07:35
day that said they had like a company name in
07:38
it because most of the time they don't have a
07:39
company name. They're like, hi, I'm Tony. And
07:41
I want to pay you to do this. And you're like,
07:44
pay me to do what? Like, give me more details.
07:48
Yeah. But this one had a company name and it
07:50
said, and they were like, oh, we're going to
07:51
give you like a three night stay and pay for
07:54
your airfare to use our products. I like looked
07:57
at the company name and like, then they didn't
07:59
have any packages for America. Like they're all
08:02
on like other continents. And I was like, so
08:03
you're going to pay me to. do something you guys
08:09
don't offer like so I emailed back basically
08:11
saying like I don't see any of these things available
08:14
on your website and then no response oh god you
08:17
called it out yeah I forgot their plan click
08:21
google that's funny and then you know that's
08:23
the important thing though is that you know as
08:25
bloggers especially today we have got to be you
08:28
know doing our due diligence and and being careful
08:30
because there's a lot of bad actors out there
08:34
Yeah. And like years ago when I, like I said,
08:37
I was not making money at all. I'd get emails
08:39
like, hey, we want to promote our product and
08:41
your thing. Can you take guest posts? And if
08:44
it was like somewhat travel related, like I remember
08:46
when I was on Dubai or something and I've never
08:48
been to Dubai. So I was like, sure. It's content
08:51
for my website. It never ranked. Yeah. Like it
08:55
was just nonsense. They put together and put
08:58
a link in it. Like, you know, and I wound up
09:00
like being like, I can't do these anymore. Like,
09:02
it's just not worth it. The only time I do that
09:05
kind of like link stuff is if it's like another
09:07
blogger that I'm like, oh, OK, you like are actually
09:10
in the same position as me. You're not just some
09:12
weird company trying to promote their casino
09:13
or whatever. Yeah, I have a pretty strict rule.
09:16
No casinos. And the thing is, it's not I'm against
09:20
gambling. I'm not against gambling. But I don't
09:23
know, something about just putting a link to
09:25
a casino, I don't, absolutely not. Yeah, no,
09:29
no, no. There are funny links for me. Yeah, the
09:32
other one is Bitcoin. I will not promote Bitcoin.
09:35
And it's not that I think that all of it's a
09:38
scam, but I mean, you know, a lot of it is. Well,
09:41
there's a lot of, yeah. Yeah. And like, I'm sure
09:45
you feel similarly. Like, I don't know enough
09:47
Bitcoin about a Bitcoin. So even if a company
09:49
would be legit, like, I don't know. And I don't
09:52
want to tell other people it like, you know.
09:55
Yeah. And just the fact that I know a couple
09:57
of people, I don't know them personally, but
09:59
I know friends of friends that have lost significant
10:01
amounts of money. Like one of the guys that I
10:03
was talking to. A friend of his lost like fifteen
10:06
thousand dollars in a Bitcoin scam. And I'm like,
10:09
yeah, I'm out. I don't want to I don't want to
10:12
play that game. And I know and I know another
10:13
one. He made fifty thousand. But it's like you
10:17
don't know enough unless you know enough. Yeah,
10:20
it was the saying, you know, enough to be dangerous
10:23
or something like that. I'm not, I don't know
10:26
enough to be dangerous. So that's probably a
10:29
good thing. So we'll stick to, we'll stay in
10:31
our lanes. So speaking of which, so when did
10:33
you actually start making money? I know you said
10:35
that you started like, you know, finally making
10:37
a couple hundred and then finally got to two
10:38
grand, but what was the timeline? What did that
10:40
look like? So I started editing because I had
10:43
like a hundred blog posts or nearly a hundred
10:46
that were like from the olden days and I didn't
10:48
know what I was doing. in like March of 2024
10:52
and then I feel like it was like maybe like September
10:54
that I was like oh this is like real real money
10:58
so like six months like you know give or take
11:01
a little bit that I yeah really started cranking
11:04
it up and of course like when you when you have
11:05
almost like no views it just looks like a you
11:08
know Everest going up basically from the timeline
11:11
of how many views and then of course at some
11:13
point it starts like you know tapering off or
11:16
going down a little bit and stuff and I'm like
11:18
oh but you know again I went from like almost
11:21
nothing to like I have 80 posts that I've edited
11:24
and now you know my blog is like oh shit there's
11:27
stuff to rank on Google so yeah so it was about
11:31
I would say six months where and that was ending
11:34
old blog posts which took me like a couple months
11:36
and then starting to create new stuff OK, well,
11:41
just hearing 2024 is probably going to excite
11:43
some of the bloggers that are listening right
11:44
now, because I know several people that got hit
11:47
hard by the Google helpful content update, which
11:49
I call anything but helpful. So I'm curious,
11:53
like, do you think that the content update helped
11:56
you or that you just were already doing different
11:59
things and so it didn't really impact you? So
12:03
like the I know like they've had like a couple
12:05
different updates and I think. Because I'm trying
12:08
to remember, would you know that when they had
12:11
that like big one that really shook everybody
12:13
up? It feels like it was 2023. It feels like
12:16
it was like either 2022 or 2023. So I think I
12:20
was like on the aftermath of that. So I think
12:24
maybe whatever I was doing, Google's like, oh,
12:27
this is somebody different. Like we're not going
12:29
to. And I obviously don't know for sure. I'm
12:32
just guessing because Google's not going to tell
12:34
us anything. People constantly ask me, like,
12:36
how do you rank? And I'm like, well, you have
12:38
these 200 guesses that you make every time. But
12:42
yeah, so I think maybe I was just, because I
12:43
honestly, when I started, like, retaking it seriously,
12:46
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for more details. It's all the changes and everything.
13:51
I was just going. One of the big people that
13:53
I learned a lot from is Nina, who owns SheKnowsSEO,
13:57
who has a Facebook group. It was exclusively
14:00
for travel bloggers pretty much at the time,
14:02
but now it's for all bloggers. And learning a
14:04
lot from her. So, yeah, I think I wasn't even,
14:09
like, kind of aware of it when I was restarting.
14:12
I've obviously become aware since I've done other
14:14
updates, and I've definitely seen, like, get
14:17
affected from some of them. But, like, luckily,
14:20
it'll, like, dip for a month, and then it will
14:22
kind of, like, figure itself back out. And I'm
14:25
not going to say I've, like, cracked any code.
14:27
I think it's just dumb luck for some part. And
14:31
just continuing to make sure. it's actually things
14:34
I give a hoot about. Like I said, like not posting
14:37
random, like Dubai articles from random guest
14:39
posts. Like I don't care about that. I've never
14:41
been there. I have no skin in the game. But for
14:45
instance, like one of my top posts is like an
14:47
anti -theft purse I use all the time. So that's
14:50
something I'm very passionate about. I know about
14:51
it. I've used it for years. Like I can talk very
14:54
personally about it. So if I can't qualify that,
14:57
then I just don't do it. And I think that kind
14:59
of. at E -E -A -T for Google really likes. Like,
15:03
oh, she actually really knows about this and
15:05
cares about it. So yeah, I know the A stands
15:07
for authority, but I can't help but feel like
15:10
it should be two A's, authority and authenticity,
15:13
because that really does matter. I mean, like
15:15
we've talked about the guest post a couple of
15:17
times and I do accept guest posts personally
15:19
on my own website, but I mainly do it from a
15:22
research perspective because like I kind of like
15:24
to see what people do send me so I can see what
15:26
I want to play with. But but I have a special
15:29
category on my website that you would have to
15:31
know what you're looking for to be able to find
15:32
it, if that makes sense. So like all my guest
15:34
posts are corralled in one spot on the site.
15:37
But I don't know if that's the best way to do
15:39
it or not. But I'm playing with it and just seeing
15:41
kind of what happens. But so coming back to the
15:43
helpful content update and and Google and all
15:46
the things I'm curious, have you seen any impact
15:49
because of AI? Because that's a big question
15:52
that everybody's talking about right now. Yeah,
15:54
I want to say it was either in June or July this
15:57
year that they turned on AI overviews for Europe
16:00
is what I was told. And like my month that month
16:04
went half the income, like just sliced in half.
16:08
And I know it was mostly the AI because my impressions
16:11
were still great. So it wasn't like I lost rankings.
16:14
You know, it wasn't like, oh, Michelle, you lost
16:15
the post number one spot for this. That's why
16:17
it changed. my impressions were still pretty
16:20
much the same as the prior month but like all
16:22
the click -throughs were like in the toilet you
16:25
know so like that tells me it's still on google
16:27
just people have decided not to click it and
16:29
why have they decided not to click it well they're
16:31
getting the answer above it you know so yeah
16:34
so like for a month I like lost and I was like
16:37
that month I was like oh no what am I gonna do
16:38
like it's a night thing and then it was like
16:42
weird like the next month everything went back
16:43
to normal I'm like knocking on wood right now
16:46
um because I I I've just been like, OK, I'll
16:50
take it. So that was the only month that like
16:54
AA really did me in. I'm sure it's still doing
16:58
me in in some format. I'm sure people are Googling,
17:00
you know, things to do in Paris rather than clicking
17:02
on a blog post. But there's some of that I just
17:05
can't control, you know, like it's going to happen.
17:07
So it really is. And so with that in mind, you
17:11
know, one of the things I'm thinking about really
17:13
heavily right now, and I plan on interviewing
17:14
a few people to discuss it, is. How are you anticipating
17:18
that you're going to need to promote your website
17:20
outside of just trying to rank for SEO? So I
17:24
do a lot of Pinterest is how I also bring in
17:27
traffic. So Google and Pinterest are the two
17:29
main drivers. I know a lot of people as far as
17:32
like AI are like, oh, I really want to rank in
17:34
the where they note you as a source. You know,
17:37
it's like if said, you know, you're Googling
17:39
your, you know, thanks to you in Paris. And it
17:42
has that AI box and you click on it and it says,
17:45
you know, Susie's blog. nobody's yet proven to
17:48
me that that actually gives them any traffic
17:50
so I've tested with it a little bit and I've
17:53
actually gotten myself to be sourced accredited
17:58
or whatever you want to call it up there but
18:00
I've never seen I mean I've had like maybe 50
18:03
AI views a month it's according to my Google
18:06
Analytics so like until somebody's like oh I'm
18:08
getting like 10 ,000 views a month from that
18:11
I just don't. And I get it if you're maybe, like,
18:14
I don't know, let's say, like, a big brand Marriott
18:17
where, like, you Google, like, the best hotels,
18:19
you know, to stay at. And, like, you want to
18:22
be Marriott and that you show up in there. But
18:24
for, like, me, like, unless it's coming, clicking
18:26
through my blog, I'm like, I don't know, like,
18:28
why am I going to. I, you know, I can't disagree
18:33
with that at all because the unfortunate thing
18:34
is, yeah, if they're getting the answer and not
18:37
needing to click through, it doesn't do us much
18:40
good. I mean, yes, of course. Everybody wants
18:42
that, you know, feather in the cap of, oh, I'm
18:44
showing up all the time. But if no one's clicking
18:46
through, you're not making money. And so that's
18:49
kind of one of the things that I've been talking
18:51
to a lot of people about lately is like, okay,
18:53
so do we invest in ads? Do we start an email
18:56
list? Well, if we start an email list, then we
18:58
have to buy ads to get the people to the email
18:59
list. So it's an interesting game that we're
19:02
all kind of playing right now. And there's a
19:04
lot of guessing involved. Would you agree? Oh,
19:07
yeah, 100 % guessing. And as far as email lists,
19:09
like I never. I've done email lists for other
19:11
companies where I've like been the person like
19:13
hired to do their email list. So it's not that
19:15
I don't know how to do it, but for me as like
19:16
a blogger, I just never really invested in it.
19:19
I have started a little bit to start investing
19:22
in it, partly because I wrote a book and I want
19:24
to promote that to people. But also like I've
19:28
seen people who are like ranking the number one
19:30
spot where they'll have like a travel guide and
19:32
they're like, oh, do you don't have enough time?
19:33
Click this and give me your email and I'll email
19:35
you the travel guide. So I'm like, okay, like
19:37
I'll test that out. Has it been super successful
19:40
so far? No. But to your point of like, you just
19:45
got to guess and hope something works. But as
19:48
far as like imparting any wisdom on people, yeah,
19:50
Google and Pinterest are still my main drivers.
19:52
The only other thing I'm kind of testing out
19:54
now is definitely like, you know, when you Google
19:56
something and it'll like show like Instagram
19:58
videos and TikTok videos and whatever. And I'm
20:01
not a big video person. I kind of hate editing.
20:03
As far as somebody who used to work in TV and
20:05
post -production, it's hilarious that I hate
20:07
editing, but I do. But I've definitely started
20:09
to like upload all those like little clips or
20:12
do like TikTok videos. I do mostly slides where
20:15
I'll be like, you know, things to do in Paris
20:16
and I'll do like, you know, 15 slides of different
20:18
things. Just to see if I start to rank, I have
20:22
not found myself to start to rank yet. The only
20:25
thing I've gotten so far is like some YouTube
20:27
shorts. I've gotten like a thousand views, but
20:29
has that driven anything to my website? I don't
20:30
think so. Because I think it's similar to TikTok
20:33
where you just kind of, like, scroll through
20:35
and you're not really, unless you're, like, really,
20:37
really interested, you're probably not clicking
20:38
on that person's profile. So, yeah, it's all
20:40
just, like, a game of testing different things.
20:42
I've even started posting my, like, blog posts
20:44
on LinkedIn. Because somebody was like, oh, you
20:46
should create, like, a page for your company.
20:49
And I was like, oh, okay. And has that driven
20:51
anything yet? No. But, you know, it's like one
20:53
of those things where you're like, you got to
20:54
test it for a few months and see if it works.
20:57
Yes, that's the facts, man. One of the girls
20:59
that I interviewed for a podcast on podcasting,
21:02
she said she gives six months for any test that
21:06
she does. And, you know, the funny thing is,
21:08
it's like as bloggers, sometimes it's like, well,
21:10
six months could mean that, you know, we're having
21:12
ramen noodle packets instead of an actual meal.
21:16
So it's a weird game. Well, definitely I've had
21:20
friends who are like, oh, I'm going to try blogging
21:22
now that it's working for you. And I've told
21:24
them all like. some people are gonna like pitch
21:27
that it's gonna take like two weeks and you're
21:29
gonna be making like five thousand dollars a
21:31
month I was like that was never realistic for
21:33
me a lot every so often I'll get a blog post
21:35
that like immediately ranks but more often than
21:38
not it's six months later that it's ranking on
21:41
the page you know and I've had blog posts that
21:44
were like number one and like I had one that
21:45
like brought me in like five hundred dollars
21:47
in revenue on just activities Like, I was selling,
21:49
like, you can get this pass and you can go to,
21:52
like, five different attractions. Well, they
21:54
got rid of that pass. So my blank, since my blog
21:57
post was focused all on that, my blog post, like,
22:00
fell off. Which, as far as the Google helpful
22:02
content update, that was actually, I thought
22:04
it was, like, that's pretty fair. It's no longer
22:06
available. My post is now out of date. So, of
22:09
course, I went in and, like, edited it to, like,
22:11
make it up to date. And that was a couple months
22:14
ago. And now it's finally on the bottom of page
22:15
one. But I was like, page one. Yeah, well, it
22:19
fell off page one for, like, those few months.
22:21
So, like, I was not making the revenue I was
22:23
before. All that $500 was, you know, when it
22:26
was number one on the Google. And I had, like,
22:30
the number one slot for, like, almost a whole
22:31
year. I was, like, very proud. I was like, this
22:33
is great. This is great. And then I got rid of
22:34
that damn pass. No. But, yeah, blogging is not,
22:37
like, a short -term, like, I'm going to make
22:39
a million dollars next week. You know? Like,
22:42
some people, like, snag. It is such a long game.
22:45
And, you know, that's kind of why I started diversifying
22:48
myself of not just focusing on just my own website.
22:51
I started working for other people. So I definitely
22:53
get that it's you never know what's going to
22:57
happen. So I'm curious, do you find yourself
23:00
working for other people as well? Or are you
23:02
really like zeroed in on just working on your
23:05
own website? I mostly just work for my own. I
23:08
have done a couple guest posts for other people.
23:11
And that was mostly just try to improve my DA,
23:13
domain authority for anybody who's still learning
23:16
blogging. But I didn't find it really worked.
23:19
What I did instead was I found this company called
23:22
Quoted. So there's Harrow and another company
23:26
where like journalists will pitch like, I'm looking
23:28
for somebody who's been to Paris in the fall.
23:31
I have questions and you can respond and hopefully
23:33
they pick you. I never really got any responses
23:35
on Harrow, but quoted, you pay a monthly fee
23:39
and you get access. Like I've gotten features
23:41
in Travel and Leisure, AOL, Yahoo, I'm trying
23:47
to remember, HuffPost. So like names we all know.
23:50
It's not like, you know, Joe's Taco Hut in the
23:53
side where you're like, I've never heard of Joe's
23:54
Taco Hut. And that's helped boost my DA a little
23:57
bit. So I've spent more time doing that than
23:59
anything. But I have actually gotten like a real,
24:02
real job from this. weird story like last year
24:06
I post on LinkedIn my kind of like my blog and
24:09
I was kind of hoping like well maybe somebody
24:11
will see this and they'll hire me you know it
24:13
was like kind of like I'm gonna brag a little
24:15
bit you know maybe somebody's like oh she knows
24:17
what she's talking about they'll hire me and
24:19
it worked AAA who does famously like car insurance
24:22
and things like that for people and you can get
24:24
your car towed and stuff like that but they also
24:25
do have travel advisors you can go to them and
24:28
they'll help you book your trip So they reached
24:31
out to me and were like, hey, do you want to
24:32
write some content for us? So I worked for them
24:35
for a couple months last year. And then they
24:36
unfortunately laid off all the contractors, which
24:38
included me. So I was only with them for a couple
24:40
months. But I actually started up as a last week
24:42
with them again, writing some more content. So
24:44
basically writing those like things to do in
24:46
Paris so that you click on that. And then we'll
24:49
use them as for travel advising. So I'm very
24:53
thankful that, you know, my blogging has led
24:55
to like real full time money. even if it is just,
24:58
you know, contractor work. Absolutely. And, you
25:01
know, the cool thing about it is not only are
25:03
you, you know, getting income from a client,
25:06
you're making money on something that you own
25:08
as well. So it's like an in tandem thing. And
25:11
I think it's good because it shows, you know,
25:13
any future employers or future clients that you're
25:16
continuing to put yourself out there and that
25:18
you actually, like you said, know what you're
25:20
doing. And it's funny you mentioned quoted because
25:21
that's how you and I met. I'm looking for podcast
25:25
guests and I am going to sign up for. In case
25:28
Alex Sanfilippo is listening, I am still planning
25:30
on signing up for Podmatch. But yeah, I've been
25:33
playing with Quoted as well and seeing what kind
25:35
of things pop from that. And I do have to say...
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26:39
took over Harrow. I'm still getting pretty decent
26:41
responses. It's not nearly as spammy, but the
26:44
frustrating thing about Harrow is that you still
26:47
do get a lot of AI -generated bull. So that's
26:51
a big issue that I'm dealing with. But I'm curious.
26:53
So you mentioned Pinterest. You mentioned Google.
26:55
You mentioned that you're putting yourself out
26:57
there unquoted. Anything else you're doing to
26:59
kind of drive people to find out who you are
27:01
and where you are? Not really. I mean, I really
27:05
don't love the social media. Like I said, I post
27:07
now on like Instagram and TikTok mostly to see
27:10
if I can rank on Google. Like I know. I do not
27:14
have the energy to like create TikTok videos
27:16
where you're like the hook at the beginning,
27:18
like find out how I survived this thing. And
27:20
then it's, you know, a five minute. I just don't
27:22
have that patience. That's why I'm doing slides
27:24
like 15 things to do in Paris. And it's just
27:25
like images and it's like Eiffel Tower, Arc de
27:28
Triomphe. And I'd rather do it. I'd rather angle
27:31
myself as like I said on LinkedIn where like
27:34
I meet with like the AAA or stuff like that.
27:37
And that's part of why I'm like posting my blog
27:38
posts on there is like hoping that like tourism
27:41
boards would be like, oh, she really does like
27:43
know what she's doing. And also like I don't
27:47
know how long I stay with AAA. Like I said, contractor
27:49
work, I would love to stay with them. They're
27:50
a great team. But like maybe I'll go to travel
27:52
and leisures. Maybe I'll go to somewhere else.
27:54
Or to your point, it was like tandem work. You
27:58
know, if the blog post isn't ranking for these
28:00
couple of months, I still don't have to eat ramen
28:02
noodles. And I've met some lovely people on LinkedIn,
28:05
a lot of other girls who are writing for like
28:09
Business Insider and stuff like that, which they
28:11
paid like a few hundred bucks an article. And
28:14
I haven't placed any yet. I've pitched a few
28:18
times, like maybe like about half dozen times
28:19
to different outlets. I've got one no from like
28:23
Trev from. teen vogue and one other no and i
28:27
remember like oh man i used to read teen vogue
28:30
i would have liked them um but you gotta like
28:33
yeah you gotta keep like finding ways and i'd
28:35
rather do that than kind of like guest post for
28:37
you know like a random site where i'm like yeah
28:40
well you know this is like a 2da site i don't
28:43
know what those do uh i'd rather like you went
28:47
to like the professional writer side you know
28:50
where you're like oh i wrote for business insider
28:52
and travel and leisure and Hyundai Nest or whoever
28:55
is, you know, offering up spots. But I think
28:57
I just got to get better at pitching. And I've
28:59
been told from people who have been pitching
29:01
for quite a while and doing it successfully,
29:03
that's been kind of dry the last couple of months.
29:05
So I was like, maybe it's not me. Maybe in the
29:07
new year it will. You know, a lot of people,
29:10
they say past Halloween, people kind of start
29:14
shutting down for holidays already. So that's
29:17
what it is. That's kind of true. And then it
29:18
picks up like, you know, I used to actually,
29:21
you know, speaking of the ghostwriting that I
29:23
said that I had done, some of the ghostwriting
29:25
clients I had were actually travel agents. That's
29:27
how I began with the ghostwriting side of things
29:30
is a bunch of travel agents needed content for
29:33
their websites and they didn't have time to write
29:35
it. They wanted to just sell their packages.
29:36
So, yeah, I definitely. understand the ebbs and
29:40
flows of when people are booking trips and things
29:42
like that. So I'm curious with the affiliate
29:44
sales that you're doing, how do you find your
29:46
affiliate partners? So I've signed up for a couple
29:50
of different ones. I used to, when I first started,
29:53
again, I had no idea what I was doing. So I'd
29:55
sign up for like random ones. What I found is
29:58
most successful is I really love Stay22. They
30:00
do hotels. um get your guide activities and they've
30:04
just started retail so you can like um do i think
30:08
it's like best buy and nike and target and maybe
30:12
walmart um nordstrom's i know is one of them
30:15
so you can basically sell um get commissions
30:18
through those rams as well not just the hotels
30:22
and the activities but they have some great AI
30:25
tools where if like somebody's like you know
30:27
like I have a bunch of posts on Paris so if you're
30:30
on my things to do post then you're on my three
30:32
days in Paris post and then you're on my how
30:34
to be safe in Paris post it's gonna like the
30:36
AI is gonna be like oh wow they're really like
30:37
keen to go to Paris And it will kind of shoot
30:40
you off into some like hotel booking pages. And
30:43
that's where I get a lot of my bookings is that
30:45
like it's like, oh, yeah, you might be interested
30:47
in this. They also have some great AI where it
30:50
will like find text. Maybe I didn't like highlight
30:53
this hotel is near the Eiffel Tower. It will
30:56
link it automatically for me to an affiliate
30:59
link. So it takes a lot of the work out that
31:02
you would normally do. And I'm not saying don't
31:04
link to anything. Like don't rely on this tool
31:07
100 % if you're selling some specific hotel.
31:10
But it's nice like a backup, right? Because if
31:12
I like forgot something or they think text could
31:14
be conversion worthy, I guess I'll call it, it
31:20
will highlight it for you. So I really like Stay22.
31:23
I've really enjoyed working with them. The other
31:26
one I use is Travel Payouts. They have more variety.
31:29
So you can do like car rentals. You can divide
31:31
or trip advisor with them. You can do the hotels.
31:34
You can do get your guide. They even have, I
31:36
think, travel insurance. They've got all kinds
31:38
of stuff in there. That one I just, like, have
31:40
never made as much money. I do Omeo with them,
31:43
which does, like, a lot of train and bus travel.
31:45
I've made, like, a couple bucks on that, I think.
31:49
I know a lot of some bloggers who really may
31:51
bank with that one, but for me, Stay 22 has been
31:54
better. And then I'll also, like, sign up for,
31:57
I'm part of the Amazon affiliates. So, again,
32:00
like, if I do my hostel list and I, you know,
32:02
do, like, you need this padlock and you need
32:04
this towel and you need these flip -flops or
32:06
whatever, it'll link. The nice thing about Amazon,
32:08
though, is even if they don't buy the thing I'm
32:11
promoting, let's say like the padlock, but they
32:13
buy their coffee because they always get their
32:15
coffee off Amazon. I still get a commission because
32:17
they can't get my link. So I've seen plenty of
32:19
times. Oh, yeah. That brings up some good memories
32:22
for me. I posted my most popular current post
32:26
as of the time of this recording in November
32:28
2025 is I did a. a recipe for the bonefish Hawaiian
32:33
orchid martini. That is like the most popular
32:35
thing I have on my website. And I linked to a
32:38
coconut syrup by Monin. Well, people click that.
32:42
They don't buy the syrup, but like someone bought
32:44
an Xbox, someone bought a Dyson hairdryer, someone
32:47
like all kinds of crazy stuff. And so it's fun
32:49
that like I'll get $12, which pays for the martini
32:53
because they clicked the Monin. Yeah, no, I've
32:56
had the same where I've been like, what the hell
32:58
does somebody buy today? And then I'll look and
33:00
it's like car parts. Yeah. You know, like I'm
33:02
like, I know car part is like under a hundred
33:04
bucks. We all know that, you know? So I was like,
33:07
there was one day that I was like, I made like,
33:08
like a good amount in affiliates. And I was like,
33:11
what did somebody buy? And it's like, oh, okay.
33:14
All right. This makes a lot more sense. And that,
33:16
that nicely picks up around Christmas because
33:18
obviously everybody's shopping too. Because that
33:21
is one thing I'm like, when you asked me, I was
33:24
earlier working on and I didn't mention is like
33:26
making my blog a little more seasonality proof.
33:29
So I have one location, Finland, that I did in
33:32
winter. That's like my, you know, winter travel
33:35
post. But the rest of them are pretty like. either
33:39
evergreen or more summery stuff, you know, going
33:41
to Europe in summer. So that's another thing
33:44
I'm working on. But yeah, Amazon, like if you're
33:45
not part of Amazon, I mean, I don't love Jeff
33:48
Bezos, but I do like that. Absolutely. It's such
33:52
a low barrier to entry. It's just, it's really
33:54
good. But so it sounds like you need to create
33:56
a travel gift guide. Yeah, that is definitely
33:59
one of those things that I'm like, I gotta keep
34:01
doing this. I keep like, because I've actually,
34:03
that's how some of the ones I'm quoted, like
34:05
they've been like, what's the 10 items you want
34:06
for Christmas? I'll be like, you need these items.
34:09
So you need to write your own. Absolutely. I
34:11
need to write my own. That's one of those things
34:13
that I'm like, I'm working on my pillar post
34:15
right now. Hence, I've written like 15 posts
34:18
on Paris. I've written like. 20 some odd on Austria,
34:22
20 some odd on Greece. And then anybody who's
34:25
listening is like, what's a pillar post? Rather
34:27
than writing one article on a post, you write
34:29
as much as you can, basically. So whether that's
34:32
where to stay, the itinerary, travel tips, how
34:36
to get there, restaurant guide, whatever it is,
34:39
just so that Google's like, oh, they know this
34:40
thing and they don't just know like one. section
34:43
of this little thing so that's mostly what i've
34:46
been working on but yeah no i need to do gift
34:47
guides because i do very well with products i
34:49
mean some of my top poster products yeah and
34:52
those one again like i usually link to an amazon
34:54
or some kind of other um some of them i partnered
34:57
with directly so i don't link to amazon i'll
34:58
link to their their dedicated affiliate program
35:01
um and still have done well with those so yeah
35:04
i think Products are easy for me because I like
35:07
will not write about it unless they like sent
35:09
it to me. So I have the photos of me with it.
35:12
I can be like, I use this on X trip wherever
35:14
I was going and it did X, Y, Z. And I liked X,
35:19
but I hated Z, you know, whatever it is. So yeah,
35:22
product posts do very well for me. Those are
35:25
fun. So I'm curious with, you know, travel, obviously
35:28
you're doing a travel website. How often do you
35:31
travel? I spent four and a half months in Europe
35:34
this summer. That was the longest I've been gone.
35:37
That's awesome. And I went with no return ticket.
35:41
It was mostly I had like family things that I
35:43
had to come back for that wouldn't make me come
35:45
home. I probably would have been still over there
35:47
because people have been like, how's it being
35:49
home? And I'm like, yeah. I'll go back. I'll
35:53
go back. I was running out of Shangri -La. Yeah,
35:57
as an American, you can have like 90 in a 180
35:59
-day period. I think I used like 60, so I was
36:02
like, I'm pushing the limit, you know. But yeah,
36:07
so I did four and a half months in Europe. Like
36:11
last year, December to January, I was in Mexico
36:13
and Bacalar. Before that, I was in, I think,
36:17
Finland and Sweden. So I'm actually honestly
36:20
like two to three years behind on posts because
36:22
I've been doing the pillar posts of destinations
36:26
I did, you know, a little while back. So people
36:29
have been like I've met on travels. Like I met
36:31
people in Poland this year. I met people in Belfast
36:34
and Budapest and wherever. And they're like,
36:35
oh, where's the post where I met you? Not there
36:39
yet. Yeah. I'm working on it. It's in the queue.
36:42
It's in like, it's got all these other posts
36:45
that I got to do first. Yeah, I get it, man.
36:48
And it makes me curious though, whenever you're
36:51
traveling and you're thinking about it in terms
36:53
of, okay, I'm doing this for content. Does it
36:56
hurt your travel experience or does it enhance
36:59
it? I had somebody ask me this recently, and
37:03
I think because I really only do photos, it doesn't.
37:08
bug me so much I think if I was sitting like
37:11
there and like recording videos and most of all
37:13
those people with the steadicam and making it
37:15
perfect which their videos look amazing like
37:17
congrats to them but like I think that would
37:19
take me out of the experience as somebody who's
37:21
just doing photos I can like kind of easily snap
37:24
one and like kind of like mentally go back into
37:26
being a tourist for a second um I do like take
37:30
notes like if I'm like oh this thing really sucked
37:32
like I was telling somebody the other day I did
37:34
a tour in Turkey And the tour guide, like, lost
37:36
several people. So I'm going to remember that
37:39
when I write the blog post. Like, we had to go
37:40
back for them. Like, there was, like, three people
37:42
they left behind. And I remember he asked me
37:45
for a review at the end. And I was like, wow,
37:47
the gall of this. You're like, you don't want
37:49
a review from me, man. And really, we only went
37:54
back because somebody else on the bus was like,
37:56
these people from Saudi Arabia aren't on our
37:59
bus. Yeah, because we would have kept going.
38:03
That just transported me back to my honeymoon
38:05
20 years ago. I got left behind. I was on an
38:08
excursion. We went on a cruise for our honeymoon.
38:11
And we got left behind by the bus in Belize.
38:14
And it was like a two -hour drive back to the
38:16
port. And so we're like, okay, what do we do
38:19
now? We're in a foreign country. Like, what do
38:21
we do? And it just so happened we got very lucky.
38:23
A different cruise ship had not left yet. And
38:25
they let us sit on the stairs of their bus for
38:28
the two -hour drive back to town. So we got very
38:30
lucky. oh man you yeah you really lucked out
38:33
i was on one in thailand where we were like island
38:36
hopping to like uninhabited islands it's not
38:38
like you know island hopping where you're like
38:41
oh just go to the nearby resort awesome we left
38:44
somebody behind and then but like luckily we
38:46
drove away we see him from the shore like waving
38:48
his hands in the air we went back but i was just
38:50
like something like oh my god like what if like
38:52
what if he wasn't prompt enough about waving
38:55
at us i guess he could have got on one of the
38:56
other boats i was sitting there but i was just
38:58
like that like what if it was the last boat like
39:00
I don't know I just like I'm one of those people
39:01
like what if what if what if um I was actually
39:04
telling my friend the other day he's like he
39:06
has kids and he's like how do you slow to travel
39:08
I'm like I was like, a lot of people will be
39:10
concerned about, like, speaking the same language.
39:12
And I'm concerned about being left behind on
39:14
this whore in our country, okay? I always introduce
39:16
myself to the guide. I remember their names so
39:19
that this lady, they're like, oh, that blonde
39:21
girl from America, you know, who asked me my
39:24
name or was nice to me. Whatever, like, I can
39:26
get them to hopefully remember me so that they're
39:28
not like, where is she? It's so funny. You just
39:34
created another blog post you need to write.
39:36
A what if I'm left behind, this is what you need
39:38
to do to not get left behind. Well, exactly.
39:40
That's what my friend said. He's like, well,
39:42
then you need to write that down. So other people
39:43
know, like, you know, make sure you're rememberable.
39:46
So people you're not like ditched behind when
39:49
they like forget, you know, that's really solid
39:52
advice. So we've talked about a lot, but one
39:57
of the things that we also mentioned that I kind
39:59
of want to circle back to, we talked about AI.
40:01
I'm curious because everybody's asking about
40:04
it again. Are you using AI in your writing? What
40:07
are you doing with that? Yeah, I use it for like
40:10
a lot of like outline creation because I realize
40:14
it can't replace me. You know, it's not going
40:16
to. uh be scared in the ATM cave in Belize like
40:20
I was and talk about how I was excited it was
40:22
like an Indiana Jones invention that I realized
40:24
this was an adventure I wasn't prepared for um
40:27
so just not gonna come up with that stuff it's
40:29
not gonna be lost on the island in Thailand you
40:31
know it's not gonna be lost in Belize from the
40:34
bus you know um but I will use it like I'll be
40:37
like hey I'm gonna write a post on how to be
40:38
safe in Paris give you some an outline of like
40:41
what I should do and like it'll give me you know
40:43
like you know uh use a money belt or something
40:46
like that but then I'm going to fill that out
40:48
with like oh I actually like you know an anti
40:51
-theft person this is why you know um so I can
40:54
I think it all can only if you're asking it like
40:57
what's the weather in Paris in April everybody's
41:01
gonna have the same answer you know that's fine
41:03
for me um in my opinion at least but yeah if
41:06
it's something like a little bit and and to the
41:09
point I said earlier like I rank For the posts
41:11
I rank, it's usually like the very personal posts.
41:13
So like I did the ATM cave in Belize, which there's
41:16
like Maya sacrifices in this. You have to go
41:18
through like this watering cave and climb up
41:20
into it and whatnot. That was a very personal
41:24
post for me because I was like, I love Indiana
41:25
Jones. I thought this could be amazing. And then
41:27
I kind of like panicked a little bit because
41:30
that's very personal. AI is not going to come
41:31
up with that. Maybe they can guess like. A lot
41:34
of people don't do well in this cave. They're
41:38
not going to have my exact experience. So yeah,
41:40
I really just use it. Or I'll use it, like I
41:42
said, if I'm doing a lot of posts on Paris, I'm
41:45
doing things to do in Paris and an itinerary
41:47
post in Paris. And I talk about the Eiffel Tower
41:50
in both of them because obviously it's like the
41:51
biggest landmark in Paris. I'll have it reword
41:54
what I've written in the first post just so it's
41:57
not the exact same words. But I'm feeding it
41:59
my content and going, hey, can you rewrite this?
42:02
you know so that it's angled more to or you know
42:05
how to be safe around the the Eiffel Tower in
42:08
Paris or something like that so yeah I don't
42:10
just go like go write me a post on how to be
42:12
safe in Paris and hit publish I always reread
42:15
it it doesn't always sound like you so you know
42:18
I have like a more like a quirky I'm very pop
42:21
culturey so I'll like throw on pop culture references
42:23
that it's just not gonna do so yeah I don't think
42:27
it's I don't think it's like generate and publish
42:30
I think that's not it Thank God, because I tell
42:33
you what, that's one of the big things that I've
42:35
been talking to a lot of people about is if you're
42:37
going to use AI, that's fine. But don't forget,
42:40
you still have to be a human. Yeah. Yeah. So
42:44
one of the things that I'll do is I'll leave
42:45
in the show notes. I wrote a blog post for GoDaddy
42:48
about the importance of humanizing whatever it
42:51
is you're getting from AI. There is a proper
42:53
way to write a blog post using AI. So it's good
42:57
to hear that you're doing it that way. Yeah,
42:59
I think I actually listened to your episode on
43:02
using AI. And I remember there was like a website
43:08
you mentioned that you can find out if an article
43:11
is generated by AI. Yes, I'll have to put that
43:14
in the show notes as well. Copyscape does it.
43:16
And then I'm actually going to go ahead and pull
43:19
up the other one. Yeah, because I actually like.
43:22
Last night I was kind of testing it out because
43:24
I was like, oh, this is interesting. And I put
43:25
in some articles that I knew I had used AI for.
43:28
And it told me 0%. It's probably because you
43:31
went back and humanized it. Yeah. Well, that's
43:33
what I'm thinking because I was just like, I
43:35
definitely know I like put in some prompts, you
43:37
know, to like get some information. And I like,
43:39
you know, copy pasted it in there to like see
43:41
what it would say. And I was expecting it to
43:43
say like at least like, I don't know, a couple
43:44
percent, you know, like maybe like 5 % or something
43:46
like that. Um, cause like I said, to the outline
43:48
and I was like zero and I was like, oh yeah,
43:50
I guess me. It matters taking those extra couple
43:56
steps. I mean, it really does matter. Um, the
43:58
website that I was, um, that I've been using
44:01
is writer .com backslash AI content detector.
44:04
And then the other one that I have been using
44:06
has been, um, like I said, copy scape and, um,
44:10
That one's a little bit more sensitive. So like
44:12
if you're trying to get the actual passages highlighted
44:15
that may be most likely to be AI, it'll tell
44:17
you which ones flag the system. But yeah, there's
44:21
something to be said for if you're going to use
44:23
a tool like an AI generator, at least please
44:27
go back and fix it. Yeah, yeah. Make sure it
44:30
sounds like you. Make sure it has your personal
44:32
experience. Because again, you know, it's not
44:34
going to be scared in Belize in the cave. It's
44:36
not going to be lost in Paris. It's not going
44:38
to be. I'm buying by the tour bus, you know?
44:41
Yeah. And those are the posts I think that people
44:44
mostly enjoy reading. I mean, I can still think
44:47
of blog posts that I really enjoyed reading.
44:49
Well, the reason I went on that cable is because,
44:51
you know, other people's blog posts, because
44:53
they don't let you take your camera in, so you
44:54
kind of just have to imagine what it looked like.
44:56
Oh, man. Yeah. You know, I think that we're going
44:59
to see that a lot more, that people are going
45:01
to be looking more for that human connection,
45:03
that human element of, OK, yeah, everybody can
45:07
have the same top 10 post, but there's nothing
45:09
quite like saying this is how I felt in that
45:13
moment. And if you want to feel this, this is
45:15
what you need to do. Yeah. Yeah, and I love writing
45:18
those posts rather than anything else. I was
45:20
telling my friend the other day, I was like,
45:22
we went to Disneyland and there's a Disney around
45:25
the Matterhorn. Well, I went to go see the real
45:27
Matterhorn this summer, but apparently I went
45:29
too early. All I saw was whiteout. There was
45:31
a blizzard up top. So I joked I've spent less
45:34
money going to Disneyland and seeing the Matterhorn.
45:37
That's awesome. Now that's going to be a blog
45:39
post. Unless they just happened to go in April
45:43
to the Matterhorn and seen the Blizzard 2. But
45:45
you know what I'm saying? It's not going to be
45:46
like, you know, they're like, oh, by the way,
45:48
go to Disneyland for treatment. I only have a
45:53
picture of me just in like white sky behind.
45:56
There's supposed to be like 27 or 29 peaks there.
45:58
I saw nothing. What are the odds? Oh, man. It
46:03
just sounds like a very entertaining blog post.
46:05
Oh, yeah. It's going to be like this. I was so
46:07
excited going up the cogwheel train. I paid over
46:10
$100 to go on this train. And guess what? I saw
46:14
nothing. I saw nothing. All I could do was laugh
46:18
with everybody else up top. Well, you know what?
46:20
I got to say, at least she walked away with a
46:22
story and a laugh. Yeah. Yeah. You know, at least
46:25
that's one of those things not to do posts. Don't
46:27
go in April. Yeah, that's kind of it reminds
46:30
me of what happened whenever I went to Paris.
46:31
I wanted to see the gardens in Paris. And of
46:35
course, when we went, none of the damn flowers
46:38
had bloomed, but we just so happened it was about
46:42
a week before Notre Dame burned. And so so we
46:46
went to Notre Dame and as we're in customs in
46:48
London, it's all over the news that it's burning.
46:51
And I'm like, but we were just there. Yeah, it's
46:56
wild, wild stuff. So I love the fact that you
46:59
are sharing your travel experiences. And so if
47:01
people want to read your travel experiences,
47:03
where can they find you online? So it's travelherstory
47:06
.com. And again, her story like isn't like history,
47:10
but with her at the front of it. So is there
47:12
anywhere else you want to direct people to that
47:14
they can find you? All of my social medias are
47:16
pretty much Travel Her Story, except for I think
47:18
TikTok is Travel Her Story blog. So yeah, I think
47:21
the rest of them like threads, Instagram, Pinterest
47:24
are all just Travel Her Story. Well, we'll share
47:27
that all in the show notes. But before I let
47:28
you go, you did mention that you wrote a book.
47:31
What was the book? Yeah. So again, I'm a big
47:34
Indiana Jones fan and I kept wanting books like
47:36
that. And there's a couple of Indiana Jones books,
47:40
so I'm not trying to hate on them or anything,
47:42
but I wanted more, you know, like there's just
47:45
not enough action adventure in my opinion. And
47:47
so I wrote one that's very kind of Tomb Raider,
47:49
Indiana Jones. I'm trying to get it published.
47:52
I have an agent who wants me to resubmit January.
47:55
So now I just have to wait two months to January,
47:58
which is a painful wait. But yeah, it was basically
48:00
this woman who reclaims art and artifacts that
48:03
are stolen. And she winds up, of course, getting,
48:05
you know, kidnapped or somebody who's after the
48:07
same artifact. And that leads to this whole,
48:09
whole big, you know, search for this Mayan artifact
48:13
that she joins up with a ragtag team to kind
48:16
of get there first. So it's a fan fiction. I
48:19
love it. Yeah, kind of, yeah, a little bit like
48:22
the original character. So I'm not using Indiana
48:25
or Lara Croft, but very much in that vein. So
48:28
if you like one of those two or kind of Jumanji
48:31
or any of those kind of action -adventure -y
48:33
things, it should be up your alley. So fun flavor.
48:36
I love it. That just sounds fantastic. Well,
48:39
I wish you much success. I hope that it gets
48:41
published. And if nothing else, at least self
48:42
-publish it because it sounds like that story
48:44
needs to be out in the universe. Thank you. That's
48:47
awesome. Well, Michelle, I want to thank you
48:49
so much for taking the time to chat with me today.
48:51
And yeah, is there anything else that you want
48:54
to share that I haven't thought to ask you yet?
48:57
I don't think so. But if anybody has any questions,
48:59
they're welcome to reach out. I usually answer
49:02
a lot of questions on threads. So that's why
49:03
I do my monthly posts of how much I make. So
49:06
if you're like, hey, how'd she do this? Feel
49:08
free to reach out or I can answer emails as well,
49:11
too. But threads is usually where other people
49:13
ask them questions. So maybe sometimes you'll
49:15
be inspired for another question. So, well, that's
49:17
fantastic for accountability, at least. Yeah,
49:20
trust me. I will sit there and be like, oh, no,
49:23
this month is doing either great or terrible.
49:27
You know what they say, what gets measured gets
49:30
improved. That's true. That's very true. And
49:33
thank you so much for having me, Ashley. It was
49:35
very enjoyable talking to you. I enjoyed it,
49:37
too. It was a good time. And bloggy friends,
49:39
until next time, may your page views be high
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