Oh, April. You really were not a great month for many reasons. First, winter has refused to release its hold on Ohio; we had snow several days in April, and there still aren't really leaves on any of the trees. More than a month into spring, this is really depressing!
Secondly, I didn't leave Ohio in April, which always puts me into a bit of a mopey mood. I also spent half of April sick with a cold, so that put an extra damper on things. Overall, it's a month that I'm happy to put behind me!
April: The month in travel
There was NO travel this month. Sorry guys, but this is reality for a travel blogger who also has a home base! It also wasn't really nice enough to go out and explore closer to home, so I'm afraid this section is going to be extra boring this month.
- Countries visited: 0 🙁
- Cities visited: None, other than my home city!
- Flights taken: 0
The best thing I ate: There's a new barbecue place in town, and their smoked meat platter is pretty on-point.
The most epic thing I did: Travel-wise, I did nothing this month! But Elliot and I have been doing some fun things around our condo, like hanging up more of the artwork I've bought on my travels, and getting our patio ready for summer!
April travel highlights
I didn't go anywhere this month, but I did do a lot of planning/booking for some upcoming trips! This included booking some flights and hotels for upcoming conferences, booking flights for my family trip to Ireland this summer, and also deciding that I'm going to do a tour of themed afternoon teas in London when I'm there in June! Sometimes even just planning a trip can put you in a good travel mood.
April travel lowlights
The fact that I didn't do any traveling this month! I promise next month will be more exciting.
April on the blog
While I've published a handful of things on the blog this month, I'll admit that it was a lighter month than normal considering I didn't really leave home for the past 4 weeks. Part of this was due to the fact that I was sick for half the month, and part of it is because I spent a lot of my working time updating old posts to make them more SEO-friendly!
April traffic: 164,715 unique visitors, 240,885 pageviews
Most popular post: The Perfect 12-Day Road Trip Itinerary for Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas – This post is based on part of the road trip my sister and I did last summer to go see the Solar Eclipse, which included driving through the northern USA and checking out tons of national parks and monuments. This is a less-popular road trip route in the US, but definitely one to consider.
Other posts published in April:
- The Ultimate Guide to Planning a Campervan Road Trip in New Zealand
- The Best Ways to Stay Connected on Your Travels
- A Kayaking Adventure in Abel Tasman National Park
April on social media
Most popular Instagram post: I continued posting mostly photos from New Zealand on IG this month – and you guys really seem to like NZ photos! My most popular image in April, though, was one in which I talk about the pressure to be “perfect” on Instagram (and how I'm definitely not, but that's okay!):
Most popular Facebook post: Definitely this post about the contest WOW Air is running to hire two adventurers to go live in and travel from Reykjavik for the summer.
April business update
Income report
- Affiliate marketing: $3,117.12
- Advertising: $4,164.92
- Paid campaigns: $250
- Other: $400
(Note that this is my income before deductions and taxes.)
Business highs
I have an LLC now! – For various reasons (including my accountant telling me to do so), I decided that 2018 would finally be the year I would make this blog of mine official. I now am the proud owner of an LLC in the state of Ohio. Welcome, Round Door Media LLC! (So if you start to see this name pop up in places around the site, now you'll know what it is!)
Making headway on my new site design – I mentioned this in last month's round-up, but my new site design is coming along nicely. I hope to be able to unveil the new design in another month or two!
Business lows
Having my Greenland trip canceled – While I had some productive highs in April, I also had a big low: the tour I was planning to Greenland this fall has had to be canceled due to issues with flight availability. I'm obviously really bummed about this, BUT the good news is that I'm still going to be co-leading a tour to Iceland at the end of September. Iceland is one of my favorite countries, and I'm excited to still be taking people there. If you're interested in the Iceland tour, check it out here. (Note, though, that we only have a few spots left, so if you're thinking of signing up, do it soon!)
Upcoming in May
I actually have a lot of little trips coming up in May!
WITS – As this publishes, I'll be in Quebec City for the annual Women in Travel Summit. This is one of my favorite travel conferences because it's always filled with so many inspiring women doing so many inspiring things. This is also my first trip to Quebec City!
New Orleans – Over Memorial Day weekend, I'm heading back to New Orleans for a girls trip with one of my best friends. I absolutely LOVE New Orleans, and can't wait to eat allllll the delicious food.
Bloghouse Memphis – From NOLA, I'm heading to my second new destination of the month: Memphis, Tennessee, for Bloghouse! I'm looking forward to both the Bloghouse workshop and getting to know Memphis a bit.
Nashville – From Memphis, I'll be hopping over to Nashville for a few days to eat lots of food and see a show at the Grand Ole Opry! This will technically be in early June, but I'll likely be there when May's recap post goes up!
Amanda Williams is the award-winning blogger behind A Dangerous Business Travel Blog. She has traveled to more than 60 countries on 6 continents from her home base in Ohio, specializing in experiential and thoughtful travel through the US, Europe, and rest of the world. Amanda only shares tips based on her personal experiences and places she's actually traveled!
I hope you get another chance to go to Greenland soon, it’s high up on my bucket list at the moment and I’d love to see a fellow blogger’s review/tips/recommendations!
I hope so, too! It doesn’t look like it will happen this year, but hopefully next!
Oh we were looking for spring in February already… we had to wait until the middle of April, haha. We feel with you in this, winter always seems too long. But at least it gives us time to bake tons of cookies and catch up on movies. Congrats on the LLC and here’s to a nicer May! 🙂
We usually start getting glimpses of spring in April – sometimes even in March! But it didn’t really show up until May this year.
Sorry you didn’t get to travel in April, but honestly the weather was so crazy all over the place you might have been better off. We drove through snow & fog in Pennsylvania and Ohio with 2 dogs in tow – at the end of April! Not pleasant at all. I’m looking forward to our Summer road trips.
I’m definitely looking forward to better weather! Thankfully this month has been kinder.
Someday, I hope to be big enough to need an LLC. *sigh* But your honest review really gives me hope for better, so thank you! Just the reminder I needed 🙂 Isn’t it great when you accidentally stumble across the words you needed to hear? Thanks again and I look forward to reading many more of your stories!
I probably should have done the LLC thing years ago – but I did it now, so I guess that’s all that counts!
A LLC?! What a grown-up thing to do…
Indeed!
Sometimes it’s nice to have a month with nothing planned. I had planned to go to Normandy in April for my birthday but I cancelled this trip myself due to the weather forecast. A solid four days of rain does not put me in a good mood. So I stayed at home most of the month, which isn’t too bad every now and then 🙂
We also had some awful weather in Aprik, so I feel ya!
Seems a great month! Hope you will have some lovely trips this month! Expecting nice stories and photos!
I have a few fun trips in May, so stay tuned!
Awhile ago, I found this lovely website called afternoontea.co.uk. You can book afternoon teas in London and the UK online and receive special offers by subscribing to the online newsletter.
Hope it’s helpful to those heading to London for their 1st trip or a return visit!
I’ve been consulting that for ideas of themed teas to try!
Arrgh, you’ve got me worried now. I’m thinking about going to Greenland this summer but I haven’t booked any flights yet. Hope I’ve not left it too late.
There’s way more flight availability in the summer! But it wouldn’t hurt to look into those flights soon!
I’m in New Zealand now Amanda and I gotta say; my readers are loving my pictures and posts more than ever! We did Opotiki for a month, then Timaru for 2 weeks, now we are in Christchurch for 2 weeks. Mount Cook, Tekapo, Boulders and Shag Point Seals down. What a gorgeous place. Props to you for writing a brilliant North vs South Island comparison a while back; found it via Google, and dead on!
Ryan
Glad to hear you’re having a great time!
Wow nice job on your income! Perhaps I should get more serious about my travel blogging…Also – congrats on your LLC! I just got one in Ohio as well 🙂
Nice on the LLC! My accountant was just like, “Yeah, it’s time.” Lol.