[ad_1]
Exciting news! I’m celebrating my 20-year blogging anniversary this month. My story goes back a long way, starting half a decade before the A Lady in London blog existed. I never imagined I’d someday be one of the first professional travel bloggers, and I certainly didn’t anticipate the adventure my journey would be. Speaking of which, you’ll want to hear the details…
20-Year Blogging Anniversary
I started my first blog in my college dorm room in Providence, Rhode Island in 2002. Two of my suitemates had blogs, as did a couple of our other friends on campus.
We were all about to head off for winter break before dispersing across the world to study abroad. I was heading to Prague, and my classmates were going to Hong Kong, Vietnam, London and other far-flung destinations.
My First Blog
Knowing we wouldn’t see one another until the following August, my suitemates suggested I start a blog so we could keep in touch for the eight months we were apart. One of them sat down and walked me through the process of setting it up.
Just like that I had a blog. And without knowing the long-term implications of it, I became a blogger.
I kept the blog for a year and a half. I wrote about my time studying abroad in the Czech Republic, my relationship drama with my boyfriend, and my summer internship at the US Embassy in Paris (where I managed to convince a few of my fellow interns to start blogs as well).
When I got back to campus in August, I wrote about my studies, my relationship drama with my boyfriend, and my job offer from an investment bank.
As graduation approached, I decided to stop running the blog. I was going to be an adult, after all, and adult life is boring.
Who wants to read about what it’s like to work at Goldman Sachs? (In retrospect, a lot of people. But I probably would have been fired for blogging about it).
My Second Blog
Two years later, I left the bank to work as a macroeconomic analyst at a hedge fund in San Francisco. While there, I missed having a creative outlet so much that I decided to start another blog.
I was concerned about the lack of women in the hedge fund world, so I created a blog to address it. It was about demystifying the often opaque world of this corner of the financial services sector.
I wrote a handful of posts about what hedge funds were before I got so bored of writing about investing that it started feeling like work. I abandoned it.
A Lady in London
A few months later I quit my job to move to London (with no job and no plan). The day after I left the financial sector, I created another blog. This one was called A Lady in London, and it was going to be about my expat life in the UK.
As with my first blog, I saw it as a way to keep in touch with family and friends back home. Professional blogging didn’t really exist back then, and I never imagined my new one would be anything but a hobby.
In the two months leading up to my move, I wrote about my visa process, excitement about the prospect living overseas, and close-to-home adventures around the Bay Area.
When I got to London, I covered topics like flat hunting, getting set up as an expat, and my early explorations of the city. I had enough sense not to write about my relationship drama with my boyfriend.
Then I started traveling. One of the reasons I moved to London was that I’d had an amazing time traveling to different European countries every weekend when I was on the continent in college, and I wanted to do it again. I did.
Back then flights were cheaper than water, and my friends and I traveled all over Europe for the cost of a modest meal. I once flew to Portugal for £1.
I went further afield, too. Cartagena and Senegal were two of many long-haul destinations I traveled to. Australia and New Zealand didn’t even seem too far away.
I wrote about all my trips on my blog, and I soon realized that despite being called A Lady in London, it was actually about global travel. But London was my first love, and I never thought to change the name.
Going Full-Time
A couple years after I launched A Lady in London, the blog had attracted a significant following. Blogging was becoming something you could monetize, too.
I made it my New Year’s resolution to quit my job in 2010 and start running the blog full-time as a business. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time.
I had to wait until January 8th to hand in my notice since my boss got stuck overseas due to heavy snow. But I made my resolution happen and I’ve never looked back.
Today the A Lady in London blog is recognized as one of the top travel blogs in the UK. I’m proud of the hard work I’ve put in and the business I’ve built.
There have been big ups and downs over the years (don’t get me started on how difficult it was to make a living from a travel blog in 2020), but it’s been an adventure I’ll always treasure. It still is. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for it.
Blogging Today
This year I embarked on a new blogging journey and a new chapter in life. I started splitting my time between London and California, and I launched a second blog called California Wayfaring. You can read the story here.
It’s been more work than I ever imagined I could handle (all the hours I’ve spent at my desk have landed me in physical therapy), but it’s been incredibly rewarding. I can’t wait to see how this new blog’s story unfolds.
Thank You
As I celebrate this 20-year blogging anniversary, I’m grateful to my college friends who encouraged me to start blogging way back in 2002, my followers and subscribers for supporting me along the way, and you for reading this right now. Thank you!
The journey is still in progress, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings. I hope you’ll come along with me for the blogging adventures that are yet to come.
Find my blog helpful? Buy me a coffee!
New here? Join thousands of others and subscribe to the A Lady in London blog via email.
Pin it!
[ad_2]
Source by [author_name]