CLOSING KEYNOTE

Lola Akinmade Åkerström

buzz words we travel bloggers are familiar with…

YOLO

FOMO

RTW

Live like a Local

SELFIES

GLITCHFARES

spontaneity of travel+

sense of wanderlustThese words inspire our work as travel bloggers…

As travel bloggers, we

live + breathe travel

That constant needAlways be on the road

Exploring

Reporting back with enviable selfies

other words…

“I love you”

“Will you marry me?”

“Oh crap…”

“It’s not you. It’s me”

“Millennials”

“Please accept my condolences”

“It’s terminal…”

Words that cancompletely

change your life

TRANSITIONS

TRANSITIONSAS

OPPORTUNITIES

Discovering opportunities within challengingtransitions to fully live out passions

Transitions = Very scary things

They cause anxiety

Three (3) reasonstravel bloggers fear

TRANSITIONS

(1) People will think we have “settled”

Do you know whatquickly kills a travel

blogger’s “street cred”?

Not travelling

We hop back on the road prematurely

We don’t give ourselves timeto fully accept our transition

(2) We fear we will no longer become relevant

Remember Baby Boomers?

Can you guess who

irritatedthe heck out

of them?

GENERATION X

Who is currently getting under their skins?

Millennials

Growing older induces fear of transitions

What we’ve worked so hardto build no longer becoming

relevant in today’s social mediaclimate

So we keep pointing out the “faults”of the younger generation

Transition is inevitableEmbrace who we are

Find our own place and dig in

We can choose to become bitter

by fighting the inevitableand risk destroying allwe’ve worked so hard

to build…

Or….

Elegantly transition into the next stage of our professional

lives…SANTA 4.0

(3) We fear we

will no longer be

perceived in the same light

before we became caretakers

Not always about your own

minions.

Playing role of caretaker tosomeone you

love

A dear friend or family member

People make assumptions

about you beforeever approaching

you

What happens whenlife hands us

(avid travellers) more

responsibilities?

When we need to break away for

awhile to take care of loved ones?

Responsibilities as light as housesitting someone else’s

pets

Regardless of the weight of the

responsibility, it momentarily

transforms us into caretakers

“If we do not care for others, who will care for us? We should answer

those questions by reinventing ourselves yet again – competing fiercely,

but caring deeply too”Anne-Marie Slaughter

Key phrase -> Reinventing ourselves

TRANSITIONSAS

OPPORTUNITIES(1)

(1) Transitions are opportunities totransform and reinvent ourselves

How many of us are subconsciously

defined by what we do and

don’t even realize it?

My transition to Sweden

Think about it…

How do you introduce yourself when others ask

you who you are?

Do you pick your “work” first or your “character” traits first?

Certain -> Uncertain = Strengths

Problem

solverVersatile

Creative Quick study

Team player

Because that is what transitions

do…

They bring who you truly are to the

surface based on how you react to

the transition

If you don’t like the traits that are brought up to the

surface…

Opportunity to reinvent yourself

TRANSITIONSAS

OPPORTUNITIES(2)

(2) Transitions are a second chance todrop the façade

Opportunities to shed

any personas that are weighing you down

Are you playing “extrovert” when you

really are an “introvert”?

You can only perform for others for so long

Transitions can helpyou break free of that

After having my first child, I was still trying to prove to myself and the

world that I could do it all effortlessly

WHY?

TRANSITIONSAS

OPPORTUNITIES(3)

(3) Transitions are opportunities to connect with and create communities

Transitions are often detours

Sometimes those detoursare more scenic and rewarding

They can eventually

get you back on your path

and passion in a much

stronger way than

you’d ever anticipated

Shifting responsibilities + transitions

Temporary homebase

Settle into communities

Create our own communities

Question?

“Patience is key. We develop relationships not for

immediate gain but for long term community which

ultimately leads to work and other opportunities”

Leigh Shulman, Writer, The Future is Red

My relationship with Sweden

Who was this

foreigner who was so

curious about her

new home?

“It’s most important to have the attitude of a traveler: curious,

interested, constantly seeking new experiences, and paying attention

to the little details.

No matter where you live, there are beautiful places to discover in

your own backyard and in your region; you just have to be open to

finding them”Christine Amorose, C’est Christine

TRANSITIONSAS

OPPORTUNITIES(4)

(4) Transitions are opportunities to give your passions roots

To travel for the sole sake of travel is not the sole purpose of

our existence.

Three (3) examplesfrom within the travel blogging

community

AKILA PATRICK

BACKGROUND

• Passionate about exploring culture through food

• Took tons of food tours while traveling from locals to learn culture and stories

• Discovered pregnancy while in Prague, about 3 years into their long-term travels

• Moved back to Atlanta within four months.

 

TRANSITION

www.atlantafoodwalks.com

“Every time I came back to Atlanta, I wondered why no one had started a food tour here because Southern food has such a rich and complex history. Much of what we eat in the South today is what was eaten at the founding of the nation.  

I found that history fascinating and I thought others would, too, so I decided to launch Atlanta Food Walks.  Our tours focus on culinary storytelling and telling the story of the city and the places we walk through the lens of food.”

Akila McConnell

BETHANY+

RANDY

• Journalist + Photographer -> Fulltime travel bloggers

• Noticed lack of secure pockets in women’s clothing

BACKGROUND

• Creating travel supplies was easy because they knew what other travelers needed.

• Based in Boston close to family 

TRANSITION

www.speakeasytravelsupply.com

“Without Beers & Beans, Speakeasy would never have become the success that it is and without Speakeasy we

would’ve not been able to stay self-employed and grow

personally.

I have always considered Beers & Beans my baby. Now,

Speakeasy is her little sister, and they both need each other

to grow and thrive.“Bethany Salvon

The Future is Red

• Fulltime traveling family

• Professional writer + Yoga instructor before blogging

• Now based in Salta, Argentina – New landscape to explore while developing a stable life for kids.

BACKGROUND

• Daughter stopped wanting to talk to other kids.

• Said "Why say hello when I'm just going to have to say goodbye?"

• Broke their hearts and knew they couldn't keep moving around in the same way.

TRANSITION

www.creative-revolution.com

“Creative Revolution allows me to travel regularly and see new places. I can also bring my family with me.

You learn incredible things by living deep in a new country. You have to learn to live by new rules. Since I

often return to the same countries for retreats, it allows me to develop community and roots in those countries as

well.”Leigh Shulman

Transitions help us build expertise

with some form of anchoring

Passions grow roots through:

Patience + Communities + Connections + Focus

Think about building a house…

You really can’t raise its walls

if its foundation is constantly moving…

TRANSITIONSAS

OPPORTUNITIES(5)

(5) Devastating transitions are opportunities to truly reflect and reprioritize

There is no right or wrong way to mourn loss*

* - As long as you’re not physically or emotionally harming someone else

No one really needs advice beyond warm

comforting arms telling us all will be okay in the

end

It’s okay to take a break, step back from it all, and

reassess offline relationships

While loved ones want to see us happy…

They also want us to be there for them in their deepest times of need

Pamela McNaughtonSavoir Faire Abroad

Made the conscious and loving decision

to break from fulltime travelling for over a year to be with her father

who was dying from Alzheimer’s.

Excerpt from heartbreaking post

Out of sadness -> Pamela’s New Love

Urban Guide Québec

www.urbanguidequebec.com

So, to summarize…

Travel itself is not the answer

It is the avenue we choose to

live out and express our

passions

What would you still love to do that you can bring both on your travels or do while

at home?

Those unique traits you can do while traveling and while at home are the semblances

of your true passions

Candace Rose Rardon

The Great Affair

“Travel itself is not an answer. It can’t save you from yourself, or the demons

that you have. You will bring them along with you as you roam.

You can’t absolve yourself of your responsibilities or the monotony of

routines that will reappear the minute you stop moving.

And if you travel to escape darkness, it will eventually find you”

Jodi Ettenberg, Legal Nomads

We need to stop subconsciously apologizing

for our life transitions

Do you know who I feel does transitions really well?

Sample blog titles from

“Why I left New York and moved to Austin”

“Why it’s time to hang up the backpack”

“Starting again in Chiang Mai”

“Searching for a more balanced life”

“How I finally came to terms with the homebody inside me.”

“Home: The death of the nomad”

“The end of my solo travels”

“And then, I moved to Stockholm”

“And then, I didn’t move to Stockholm”

“And this is where this journey ends”

Transitions are chances to grow and explore more of what you want and leave

behind what you most definitely don’t want

We need to elegantly:

Own the choices we’ve made

Be unapologetic about them

Be honest with ourselves

Most of us travel because we are curious beings

We have an innate curiosity to explore, experience, and

share the world we see

Do we suddenly become less curious beings because

we have to stay in one place for awhile?

If so, then it’s time to reassess our motives for travel and be completely honest with

ourselves

Transitions aren’t about giving up dreams

They are about sharing those dreams

“You hurt yourself, you hurt your lover, Then you discover, What you thought

was freedom is just greed.”

Gone - Bono, U2

There’s a very thin line between freedom and

selfishness

Don’t live lives of

regret but rather,

expand our approach to tackling life

changes as they come

We need to become serial opportunists

because at every end, there is a beginning

Ending with a quote from Marc and Angel Hack Life’s

40 Lessons for Finding Strength in Hard Times