10 years of TRAVELITA – A look back and an outlook

The relationship of people to the time factor is strangely distorted. And so I, too, am torn between: “Where have these ten years gone?” and “wow, I’ve experienced a lot in the past decade!” Everything is different. Everything is the same – somehow. And no: in August 2012, when I used the free time I had reclaimed after completing my master’s degree at ETH Zurich to document my travels and excursions in a blog, it would never have occurred to me for a second that this “project” would accompany me for over a decade.

Why I still believe in the blog in 2022

The world of digital media has become much more diverse since I started my blog. The (web) blog boom of the 2010s shifted to social media platforms from 2015 onwards. When I started my blog in 2012, hardly anyone would have thought of calling posting photos on Instagram “blogging” as well. And today – ten years later – many companies, from Tiktok, YouTube to podcasts, use the entire range of visual and auditory platforms. I have always followed this development with interest. However, it has become clear to me that the blog – in its original form – is still my favorite medium. I like the interplay between text and image; in particular, the careful compilation of images that match the text. And I appreciate the fact that the content on the blog can be structured thematically and can be found quickly by everyone, regardless of the time factor. And above all: I am not directly affected by incomprehensible algorithm changes here (Instagram sends its regards).

On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of TRAVELITA, I have written an FAQ. Most of the answers to the most frequently asked questions at the time are still valid. And even then, I asked myself briefly: “Has that really been another five years?” Well. The past ten years seem to me to have been marked by a consistency that is sometimes hastily equated with “stagnation” in our society. Accordingly, an inner voice makes itself felt in me from time to time, which wants to make me know that I should “develop”. And believe me, especially during the pandemic, I’ve been thinking about closing the blog chapter from time to time in order to try something “new”. But with these mind games, I realized one thing above all: Blogging is simply still fun for me!

And so, as written in the introduction, many things are the same as they were ten years ago: same apartment, same job, same blog motivation. But also many things differently: no longer an employee, but co-owner of an SME. No longer 100 blog readers per month, but around 100,000. No longer short, quickly written texts that primarily serve as a reminder for me, but comprehensive guides with (hopefully) added value for you.

I would like to use the milestone of ten years to take a look at the blog statistics, reflect on my highlights, answer frequently asked questions and venture an outlook.

10 years of TRAVELITA – what does that mean in numbers

To date, I have published 915 articles on 60 different countries on the blog. More than half of the articles (> 400) are dedicated to excursion destinations and hiking tips in Switzerland.

Since the blog launch in August 2012, TRAVELITA has recorded over 4 million readers and over 7 million page views. Of course, there are other blogs out there that can come up with more impressive numbers. However, the fact that I still run the blog without external content suppliers (or without co-bloggers) in a 20% part-time workload is quite decent.

It is also exciting to see which posts have recorded the most views in the past ten years. In the following list you can find the ten top posts in descending order (1st place = most read post).

1. Top Swiss excursion destinations: 99 ideas for a day trip
2. 55 beautiful and special hotels, hostels and alpine huts in Switzerland
3. 9 Attractions around Zurich
4. Hiking tip: From the Äscher to the Seealpsee
5. Italy Insider Tip: Our Road Trip Through the Marche
6. Bisse du Ro – Bisse du Ro – Bisse hike in Valais
7. Our 7 tips for a short trip to Colmar
8. 5 great excursion destinations and hikes in Aargau
9. Hengst – Schibengütsch: Schrattenfluh circular hike
10. Varenna – the most beautiful place on Lake Como

The highlights of the last 10 years

Many highlights of the last ten years are related to the blog. The following are ten projects, experiences and travels that have been particularly formative for me:

1. The book project “Culinary Time Travels” with the Swiss Historic Hotels. From organizing the photo shoots to working with 54 different hotels and their different personalities to fine-tuning the text as part of the proofreading, I learned and gained new experiences on so many levels.
2. In the first half of 2018, the “great journey” took us from Patagonia via Hawaii to Nukus, the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan in Uzbekistan, in six months.
3. The ascent of the highest mountain in Iran – Damavand as part of a press trip with Globotrek (new Nature Tours Tours).
4. The opportunity to experience the Great Barrier Reef as part of a press trip and meet a cassowary in the middle of the Daintree Rainforest.
5. Our road trip through Oman and the associated realization that I am incredibly fascinated by the barren landscapes of the Middle East. Another exciting anecdote: When we planned the road trip back then (at the beginning of 2016), there were very few travel reports online – today the search term on Google delivers about a dozen very similar posts in milliseconds.
6. The invitation to Einstein St. Gallen, where dinner in the then newly opened Michelin-starred restaurant “spoiled” us forever.
7. The city trip to Le Havre, which is exemplary for all those trips and trips to places that I would hardly have visited without a blog. Simply because without a blog and associated contacts to tourist offices, they would never have appeared on my “travel radar”.
8. The hike over the Besseggen ridge, which unexpectedly took me out of my comfort zone. Since then, many kilometres of hiking trails have been added and I would probably be much more relaxed about the scrambling there today.
9. The participation in the SRF-PULS report is representative of all those situations where I have become richer by an experience thanks to a courageous leap over my own shadow.
10. My career as a pool model, which – unbeknownst to me – even got me a poster space at Zurich main station.

In addition to all these highlights, there were of course also one or two annoyances. Unfortunately, we have also been confronted with content theft (both text and images) from time to time in recent years. But probably all bloggers out there can tell you a thing or two about that.

Answers to frequently asked questions

«Can you make a living from blogging?»

These or similar questions are asked to me from time to time. The answer to this question hasn’t changed since the FAQ was written five years ago. For me, the blog is and remains a side hustle. This is a conscious decision that allows me to be very selective when it comes to cooperations and only choose those that a) are 100% in line with my interests and b) are paid fairly on top of that. With the income from paid cooperations, we in turn finance trips that we implement without cooperations (such as this year’s France road trip or the Puglia trip).

“Are holidays actually a permanent state of affairs for you?

In fact, I “only” have five weeks of vacation per year and with an 80% workload I get 34 regular working hours per week. In this respect, it never ceases to amaze me that I seem to give some people the feeling that I am constantly on vacation. That’s definitely not me. But maybe it’s also because we rarely spend our weekends at home and I’m therefore on the road two to three days a week. For me, however, this deliberate change of scenery contributes significantly to a good work-life balance.

“How many collaborations do you have per year or are you always invited?”

Since I don’t pitch collaborations myself, the number of collaborations depends on whether I receive the right requests. We select those that fit our range of topics, are in line with our principles and can be accommodated in time. In recent years, I have averaged about one to two collaborations per month, with these mostly concentrated in the winter and summer seasons and we mostly implement self-paid projects in spring and autumn.

“Tell me, where did you get all your ideas?”

I find inspiration through many different channels. On the one hand, some tips are sent to me by readers. Then the exchange with colleagues, friends or even family always results in new ideas for excursions and future travel destinations. On the other hand, of course, I also come across exciting places when researching (or sometimes purely by chance) on the Internet, on social media platforms or print magazines. But to make sure I don’t forget these ideas right away, I started keeping a bucket list a few years ago. On it, I record exciting accommodations as well as interesting hikes and regions in the sense of a theme memory.

“Are you planning a longer trip/break?”

Nothing is planned at the moment. But I still have one or two travel dreams in the back of my mind, the implementation of which would require more than the standard two to three weeks of vacation. This includes, for example, a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway to Lake Baikal. It is to be hoped that the conflicts smoldering in the world will calm down a bit at some point…

And what’s next?

You have also asked me this question and I am known to have a hard time with it. The internet often gives me the feeling that the next phenomenal project should always be in the pipeline. And I don’t have such a project at the moment. I’m not looking for a house, I don’t have any expansion plans, I’m not getting a pet, and I want to stay true to the way I’ve designed the blog over the past ten years. A remark I made a long time ago about my blog presence has stuck with me to this day: “Anita, you have to show yourself more.” My answer then as now: my blog posts contain a lot of my personality. If that’s not enough for you, you’ll find plenty of other sides out there in which self-staging is practiced. And that’s okay.

But what you can expect here in the future are:

• Carefully selected travel tips and excursion ideas, which have been researched and tested by me on site from A to Z.
• Furthermore, a colorful mix of day trips, hut tours, wellness weekends, city trips and holiday inspiration.
• A focus on destinations that can be reached by train from Switzerland.

And finally, of course, I would be interested in your feedback: What do you appreciate about TRAVELITA? Are there any topics that you are particularly interested in? More that – less this..?

I look forward to your feedback and input. Either here via the comment field or by mail to anita@travelita.ch.