I'm a month behind on publishing this post… whoops! I guess that's what happens when you start traveling regularly again after 2 years at home and totally forget how to balance work with adventuring!
July was a quiet month with no trips, but then August and September felt like pre-Rona times with lots of projects and adventures packed in. The coming months will be quieter – which is a good thing; hopefully I can catch up on everything I have to write and share!
This summer really flew by… so let's take a look at it in terms of the highs and lows.
July and August: The months in travel
- Countries visited: 2 – USA and Iceland
- States visited: 1 – Massachusetts
- Flights taken: 4
- Icelandic hot dogs eaten: Too many
- Days spent on the road: 18
Travel highlights
Hiking to see an active volcano – My friend Adventurous Kate and I were lucky in that our Iceland road trip coincided with a volcanic eruption! The active volcano was in the same area as a 2021 eruption, meaning there was already a partial trail established to hike to it. We changed our plans slightly to be able to do the hike on our first full day in the country. The hike was long (8 miles round trip) and pretty rough on the ankles, but getting to watch bubbling lava for an hour (from a safe distance, of course!) was SO COOL. Bucket list check for sure.
Road tripping around Iceland – After the volcano hike, Kate and I spent nearly 2 weeks road tripping around Iceland. We did ALL THE THINGS, including whale watching, waterfall chasing, quirky museum hopping, and hitting up as many scenic spots as possible. We were exhausted at the end of each day, but it truly was a dream Iceland road trip! We had mostly great weather, too, which was unexpected but a huge bonus.
Visiting ALL the hot springs – Another thing we did in Iceland was visit as many hot springs and thermal spas as we could! In fact, for the first week of the trip, we visited a hot spring every single day! This was really fun – and I wrote this blog post about it.
Seeing a corpse flower bloom – Okay, so this one isn't a travel highlight since it happened at home in Ohio, but a corpse flower bloomed at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in July, and I got to go see it! The corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum, or titan arum) is a massive plant that only flowers once every 7-10 years on average. The bloom is said to smell like rotting meat/garbage/stinky feet, and since there aren't many of them left in the world, a bloom at a place like a zoo or botanical garden always draws a crowd! I made a Reel you can watch here.
Travel lowlights
Honestly, I don't have any major travel mishaps to report! I opted not to check a bag to Iceland for fear of lost/delayed luggage, and didn't have any major flight delays. (Well, technically my flight from Boston to Reykjavik was delayed, but it didn't affect my trip at all.)
I'll count myself lucky, since travel snafus are still pretty commonplace if you're traveling internationally right now.
July and August on the blog(s)
This summer was a bit up and down for traffic, with a dip in July and a slight rise in August. But the back-to-school travel traffic slump is coming in September…
Even though my main site is doing relatively well income-wise, my traffic has still not fully recovered from the pandemic. And, honestly, I'm starting to feel like maybe it just won't. The world has changed, and I guess this is just the new normal!
A Dangerous Business traffic: 156,396 unique visitors and 215,130 pageviews in July; and 185,683 unique visitors and 246,026 pageviews in August
Most popular post: The Perfect 10-Day London and Paris Itinerary for Your Dream Europe Trip – This monster of a post might be the biggest post I've ever published – but that's just because it's chock FULL of all my tips for planning an unforgettable trip to London and Paris.
Other posts published:
- 12 Touristy Things Worth Doing in London (and 5 You Can Skip)
- 1 Perfect Day in Paris: The Best Paris in a Day Tour
- The Best Things to do in Lexington, KY: The Perfect 3-Day Itinerary
- 10 Tips for How to Pack Carry On Only for Your Next Trip
On my Cleveland niche site, I hit a new traffic record this summer: two consecutive non-holiday months with more than 50K visitors! I've loved seeing this little site grow, and enjoyed spending July getting out and doing lots of fun local stuff like going to baseball games and checking out new restaurants.
Cleveland Traveler traffic: 54,673 unique visitors and 70,424 pageviews in July; and 51,674 unique visitors and 64,115 pageviews in August.
If you want to see what I've been up to on Cleveland Traveler lately, visit the site here.
July and August on social media
The biggest social media news from the last few months is that I had an Instagram Reel go viral in August. Like, REALLY viral. Like, 35 MILLION views viral. (It was this whale Reel from my Arctic trip in case you didn't see it.) This led to lots of new followers and more exposure for my content on Instagram, which is really exciting!
I'm still sharing Iceland content on my @dangerousbiz IG account, so if you missed that trip, check it out!
Most popular post on Instagram (@dangerousbiz): (Other than the whale reels…) I encourage you to click over and read the caption on this post, where I talk about my thoughts on climate change and the way we talk about it online.
Most popular post on Instagram (@clevelandtraveler): Reels do infinitely better on my local account than photos, and this one listing some of my favorite local patios was the most popular.
July and August business update
Remember, I report my earnings when they hit my bank account, meaning these advertising earnings are from April and May, and the affiliate earnings are mostly from June/July travel.
I had payments come through from some travel campaigns during these months, which helped boost my overall income. I feel like I've done more of these partnerships in 2022 than in previous years (and by “these partnerships,” I mean working with tourism boards and travel brands to visit and promote destinations), but what can I say? We're all making up for lost time!
Still, though, at least half of my travels this year have been unsponsored and paid for out of my own pocket.
A Dangerous Business July income report:
- Advertising: $11,335.33
- Affiliates: $3,652.9
- Course/product sales: $429.29
- Travel campaigns: $5,937.74
- Other: $1,297.78
A Dangerous Business August income report:
- Advertising: $12,244.26
- Affiliates: $5,652.9
- Course/product sales: $167.67
- Travel campaigns: $952.77
- Other: $140.34
(Note that this is my income before deductions/expenses and taxes.)
On Cleveland Traveler, ad earnings are pretty steady, consistently hitting that $2K per month threshold now, which is more than I ever expected to make with this site!
My @clevelandtraveler Instagram account also finally got accepted into the Reels bonus program, which allows me to make some money from the videos I post on IG. (It's really hard to earn more than $100 per month in this bonus scheme, but hey, I'll take the extra $100 for sharing content I was going to share anyway!)
Cleveland Traveler July income report:
- Advertising: $2,495.21
Cleveland Traveler August income report:
- Advertising: $2,100.39
- Social media: $107.6
(Note: A Dangerous Business was started in 2010, and has been monetized for more than 10 years; Cleveland Traveler was started in 2019, and has been monetized for 2.5 years.)
Business highs/lows
The summer was good; steady. Nothing stands out as particularly super good or super bad, but that's actually just fine for me!
Upcoming this fall
I don't have anything planned past October – yet! I'm itching to do something Christmassy in December though…
October: Austin, TX – Last year, we were supposed to go to Austin for the Formula 1 US Grand Prix. But COVID ruined those plans, and we deferred our tickets to this year. I'm not sure how many F1 fans I have following me, but I plan to share it with you anyway! We'll be in Austin for about a week, spending 2 days at the race and the rest of the time visiting with friends and exploring Austin a bit!
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!
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