12 Inspiring Travel Blogs Income and Traffic Reports

Travel blogging is one of the top ways you can make money online. Billions of dollars are spent each year in the travel industry and this presents an opportunity for you to get a slice of the pie.

If you enjoy traveling, you might as well get paid to do what you enjoy. You can make a full-time income or a decent side income from blogging.

Examples of successful travel blogs

In this article, you will see 12 examples of travel bloggers who are making a full-time or part-time income from blogging. The article includes short profiles of travel bloggers, earnings per month, blog traffic, monetization methods, profitability, and blog age.

The information comes from income reports from travel bloggers. The featured income reports cover a period from 2016 to 2021.

Quick insights from travel blogs

Here are some quick insights from the income reports:

• Travel bloggers on this list mostly made money from display ads, affiliate marketing, and sponsorships.
• Some of the popular travel blog niches included luxury family travel, solo female travel, local city travel, van life, work abroad, and ethical tourism.
• The highest-earning travel blogger on this list (Heather Delaney Reese) made $222,857 in one month.

Travel Blogs Income and Traffic Reports

Let us explore the travel blogs traffic and earnings reports in detail.

1. It’s a Lovely Life

It’s a Lovely Life is a luxury family travel blog started by Heather Delaney Reese. She started the blog when she became a stay-at-home mom after the birth of her children. The blog has over the years evolved into a family affair. Thanks to the blog, the family can travel 150+ days a year while still earning a six to seven-figure income.

• Monthly income: $222,857 (August, 2019 income report)
• Monthly traffic: n/a
• RPM: n/a
• Income sources: Affiliate and Sponsorships Income (46.5%), Products (53.5%)
• Profitability: 36.0%
• Blog age at the time of the report: 6.6 years (Started in 2012)

2. Local Adventurer

Local Adventurer is a general travel blog that was started by Esther JuLee while still working as a wedding photographer. She was later joined by her husband Jacob Fu. They are currently based in Las Vegas (US) but they move to a new city each year and share their experiences with their audience. In 2019, they made most of their income from sponsorships.

• Monthly income: $ 41,003 (October, 2019 income report)
• Monthly traffic: 541,829 Pageviews  
• RPM: $76
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (22.7%), Affiliate Income (4.9%), Sponsorships (72.4%)
• Profitability: 78.4%
• Blog age at the time of the report: 5.1 years (Started in 2014)

3. Adventure in You

Adventure in You was started by Tom Rogers and Anna Faustino. Before they became full-time bloggers, Anna worked as a teacher in the Philippines while Tom worked as a waiter in the UK while studying for his degree. Through their blog, they help people have the best experiences while traveling. In 2018, they made most of their money from sponsorships and affiliate marketing.

• Monthly income: $23,120 (May, 2018 income report)
• Monthly traffic: 498,991 Pageviews  
• RPM: $46
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (16%), Affiliate Income (25%), Sponsorships (55%), Products (4%)
• Profitability: 88.3%
• Blog age at the time of the report: 3.3 years (Started in 2015)

4. Two Wandering Soles

Two Wandering Soles was started by Katie Diederichs and Ben Zweber from Minnesota (US). They started their blog in 2014 soon after they got married and quit their jobs to travel. Before becoming full-time travel bloggers, Katie taught English in Miami and Ben was an engineer. Their blog covers topics such as van life, responsible travel, and work abroad opportunities.

• Monthly income: $16,389 (April, 2019 income report)
• Monthly traffic: 290,098 Pageviews  
• RPM: $56
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (34.2%), Affiliate Income (65.2%), Sponsorships (0.6 %)
• Profitability: 95.6%
• Blog age at the time of the report: 5.2 years (Started in 2014)

5. Discover the Burg/ Living the Dream

Discover the Burg and Living the Dream are blogs run by Jeremy Jones, a full-time travel blogger from Pittsburgh, USA. He has visited over 74 countries in 12 years. His income report covers income from both blogs although Discover the Burg contributes about 95% of this income. He made most of his income in 2021 from display ads.

• Monthly income: $12,714 (November, 2021 income report)
• Monthly traffic: 243,000 Pageviews (Discover the Burg), 17, 450 Pageviews (Living the Dream).
• RPM: $48.8
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (93.6 %), Affiliate Income (4%), Sponsorship (2.4%)
• Profitability: 55.8%
• Blog age at the time of the report: Discover the Burg: 6 years (Started in 2015), Living the Dream: 11 years (Started in 2010)

6. Practical Wanderlust

Practical Wanderlust was started by Lia and Jeremy Garcia, a married couple from California (US). Lia worked as a Business Systems Analyst for five years before quitting her job to travel and blog full-time. She was later joined by Jeremy who still works as a high school teacher in Oakland (teaching filmmaking and digital media art).

• Monthly income: $10,911 (October, 2018 income report)
• Monthly traffic: 188,118 Pageviews  
• RPM: $58
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (41%), Affiliate Income (35.5%), Sponsorships (16.5 %), Products (2%), Services (5%)
• Profitability: 88.5%
• Blog age at the time of the report: 2.4 years (Started in 2016)

7. A Dangerous Business

A Dangerous Business was started by Amanda Williams while she was still working as a copy editor at a local newspaper. Initially, the blog was more of a creative outlet to beat boredom but five years later, she was able to earn a full-time income blogging.

• Monthly income: $8,629 (April, 2021 income report)
• Monthly traffic: 348,995 Pageviews  
• RPM: $25
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (76.4%), Affiliate Income (24.4%)
• Profitability: n/a
• Blog age at the time of the report: 10.6 years (Started in 2010)

8. A Passion and a Passport

A Passion and a Passport was started by Jessica Kleiner. She has a master’s degree in speech pathology and she works in education. Her job in education enables her to juggle travel blogging with a 9-5 since she can take advantage of a 10-week summer break to travel. She has traveled to over 45 countries while still maintaining a work-life balance. She travels solo on more than half of her trips.

• Monthly income: $6,163 (Monthly Average for 2018. Yearly Total: $73,959)
• Monthly traffic: 168,156 Pageviews   (Average for 2018)
• RPM: $36
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (64.2%), Affiliate Income (28.4%), Sponsorships (7.4%)
• Profitability: n/a
• Blog age at the time of the report: 5.8 years (Started in 2013)

9. Desk to Dirtbag

Desk to Dirtbag was started by Ryan Shauers, a graduate in Arabic studies from the University of Washington. Before starting his blog, Ryan spent five years working in Washington DC as a legislative assistant in Congress. He lost his job when his boss retired, so he decided to travel across the US living in his truck.

• Monthly income: $4,461 (July, 2019 income report)
• Monthly traffic: 143,000 Pageviews  
• RPM: $31
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (77.3%), Affiliate Income (18.2%), Products (3.5%), YouTube (1%)
• Profitability: 73.1%
• Blog age at the time of the report: 7.2 years (Started in 2012)

10. Going Awesome Places

Going Awesome Places was started by Will Tang, a former consultant who has traveled to over 51 countries. He started his blog in 2012 as a way of keeping in touch with his friends and family during a 3-month trip to Asia. The success of his blog enabled him to get into blogging full-time in 2017 (roughly 5 years after starting his blog).

• Monthly income: $3,875 (August, 2016 income report)
• Monthly traffic: 49,782 Pageviews    
• RPM: $78
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (12.6%), Affiliate Income (6.9%), Services (73%), Sponsorships (7.3%), Products (0.2%)
• Profitability: 90.4%
• Blog age at the time of the report: 4.2 years (Started in 2012)

11. The Wherever Writer

The Wherever Writer was started by Laurie, who has been blogging since 2001. Although she started the Wherever Writer in 2012, she made her first $1,000 around 2017, 5 years after deciding to get serious about monetizing her blog.

• Monthly income: $3,575 (February, 2018 income report)
• Monthly traffic: 60,273 Pageviews    
• RPM: $59
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (31%), Affiliate Income (66%), Products (3 %)
• Profitability: 97.7%
• Blog age at the time of the report: 5.6 years (Started in 2012)

12. Indian Girling

Indian Girling was started by Shruti Pangtey, a blogger from Dehradun, India. She is currently (as of 2021) a master’s student in Germany. Her blog shares her experiences traveling around Europe.

• Monthly income: $3,323 (September, 2019 income report)
• Monthly traffic: 21,000 Pageviews    
• RPM: $158
• Income sources: Ad Revenue (4.5%), Affiliate Income (7.5%), Services (18%), Sponsorships (60.2%), Products (9.8%)
• Profitability: 91.5%
• Blog age at the time of the report: 1.2 years (Started in 2018)

According to this 2021 video on her YouTube channel, she currently makes $12,000 a month.

Final Thoughts

The travel niche has traditionally been a solid niche to get into. However, the COVID 19 pandemic exposed some weaknesses in this niche.

Although the COVID 19 pandemic hit this industry hard, there are bloggers on this list who still managed to earn decent incomes in 2020 and 2021. These travel bloggers adapted by shifting their content towards local travel and lifestyle content.

The travel niche is a popular niche with lots of growth opportunities. If you do a lot of traveling, you can start a travel blog to document your journey. You might even get sponsors who will be willing to fund your travels if your blog gets big enough.

If others are making money from travel blogging, then you can do it.

Starting a blog is easy and you don’t need any technical skills. However, to make money from your blog, you need to set it up correctly so that it is optimized to make money.

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