Highlights From a Year of Traveling and Blogging
A year ago today, as the clock struck midnight, I excitedly raced home to hit the official launch button on a little site called Mapping Megan. My goal was, that if I could create something which would inspire others to travel the world; create something which would eventually help fund my travels, it would be a dream come true. This was a three year goal. Never did I imagine I would achieve it all in one.
These past twelve months have been a phenomenal rollercoaster ride of traveling and blogging. I no longer speak one particular language, and adrenalin has become part of my daily life. I no longer have a physical address or place to call home, and my time is measured in little moments. All of my worldly possessions fit into my suitcase; I am technically homeless and unemployed.
Through our blog we have made a fantastic array of friends from all over the world. Through our blog we have been given extraordinary opportunities to travel the world. Through our blog I have managed to establish myself as a travel writer, and through our blog we have been fortunate enough to share our amazing journey with the rest of the world. What a year!
With Anna Kate from The Legendary Adventures of Anna. I have met some of my best friends within the last 12 months through blogging.
These last 12 months have completely changed my life, and I have been overwhelmed with the support, encouragement, and kind words from every single one of you. The last year has seen us travel extensively throughout the United States, and to Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, Chile and Easter Island, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and the Faroe Islands!
We have partnered with some fantastic brands to bring you reviews on hotels and tours around the world, including Kimpton Hotels, the Mandarin Oriental, DoubleTree by Hilton, SADCars Iceland, Safari Quads Iceland, Arctic Adventures, and many more.
We have had our blog recognized by companies such as Viator and Lonely Planet, and have had our writing and photos featured on over 100 different travel blogs and websites. And best yet, through our blog we actually managed to make money while traveling the world.
To my family, my friends, and everyone who has visited over the last 12 months, I send an incredible thankyou. Click play below to join us for a year’s worth of highlights from traveling and blogging, and here’s to another great year to come!
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Feel free to tell your friends as well! Spreading the word about our blog would be the best birthday gift of all!
We highly recommend Sharon Gourlay’s “How to Make Money From Blogging” – She details strategies for monetization and the exact methods she uses to make an annual $150,000 income.
57 Comments
What an amazing year! Congratulations on making our dreams come true.
Thanks Heather! We really appreciate your support and kind words! Thanks for being here and being apart of our journey!!
Amazing video, and what an incredible achievement to edit iTB down to 4 minutes, which looks great. You still need to travel to Alaska and New Zealand which are both amazing countries, but then I am slightly biased coming from NZ.
Enjoy your time in Arizona.
Thanks Murray! Lol I know, it took a while!! And my editing software died a far few times, I think potentially from the size of the video library I tried to import lol!!
Alaska and NZ are on the list for this coming year – they’re both incredibly high on our bucket list! Should be a good video again next year :D!
Congrats, Meg! What an accomplishment!! Love the video :)
Thanks Phoebe!! I had a lot of fun putting the video together – was a great trip down memory lane!
Many, many congratulations on your first year. I find that really hard to believe it has only been a year, it seems you’ve been around for a lot longer.
You’ve achieved so much in so little time. Built a fabulous brand and readership and generate superb content and videos.
I hope the party celebration was fitting.
Wishing you many more years of continued success and adventure.
Thanks Guy – that really means a lot!! Lol the party celebration was actually passing out in a hotel room after the last 3 months of super whirlwind travel :D But wouldn’t have it any other way!!
Megan, what a year for you guys! Congrats on making it a self-sufficient venture; it’s a testament to your obvious hard work and positive attitude. Keep it up for years to come!
Thanks Derek! We really appreciate your support and encouragement! Have a great weekend :)
Congrats on 1 year, Meg!! That’s an awesome accomplishment! Keep living it up :)
Thanks Cory! Loving following your adventures as well – you’ll be at a year soon too!!
Congrats and wonderful work, Meg—what an incredible first year you’ve had! Look forward to seeing what next year (and many years after) will bring for you :)
Thanks so much Ryan!! Time just flies!!
Love the video! Happy birthday and keep up the great work. Looking forward to seeing where the next year takes you.
Thanks Susie! Loved putting the video together – was a great way to head down memory lane!! Thanks for reading and being apart of our journey :)
Absolutely killing it Meg! Congratulations. Can’t wait to see what the next crazy year brings you!
Thanks Jazza! It’s been a great year – hard work but overall pretty great!
Very awesome video! Good luck on your future traveling!
Thanks Jeff! You guys will have to come and visit us in AZ!
Great! Kudos to you for building a fantastic blog! Thanks for an encouraging and inspiring post! I have been blogging for two years.
Thanks so much Renuka! And congrats on making the two year mark! I’ve been told not many people make it past one – so I’m so stoked to be surrounded by such a great and motivated group of peers!!!
Congratulations! It’s inspiring to see what you’ve been able to accomplish in just one year. AMAZING. Looking forward to more posts and pictures, and wishing you continued success as you explore the world!
Thankyou Sarah! We really appreciate you being here and being apart of this crazy journey we’re on! Hope you have a great weekend :)
Great work girl! Amazing in just 1 year to have taken it so far. We’re same as you, just backpacks to our name and I think 15 months on the road now. Bit more tricky to be self supported by blogging when there are 4 of us and one blog, but working on it! Keep going, you’re doing a brilliant job.
Thanks so much Alyson!! So impressed with your 15 months on the road!! We’ve only done 3 so far and are completely exhausted lol!! Slower travel for us from now on :D!
Also very impressed that you manage to travel with 4 – lol 3 months in Mike and I are still learning how not to annoy the crap out of each other :D!!
Continued safe travels and keep up the wicked work you guys are doing also!!
Congrats on the one year! We accomplished a fraction of what you did on our career break. It’s a lot of work to keep up with a blog while traveling. How did you get so many followers?! kudos to you!
Thanks Gerard! It’s definitely a lot of hard work – I was lucky (from a blog standpoint) in that when I immigrated to the US to live with Mike, it was 3 months before I had authorization to work. So I had a LOT of time to sit at home and build the blog and network etc.
I spent that time building my social media following by trying to be everywhere at once and being super active on each different platform. Commenting on other peoples blogs to let them know you’re there, guest posting on different blogs to widen your audience, all of that!
Give me an email if you like (meganjerrard@gmail.com) – I have a write up I send out to beginner bloggers with tips for how to grow your following and audience – there might be something useful for you to take away :)
Congrats on a great year, Meg!! <3
Thanks Karisa!! Thankyou so much for all of your early on support :) Can’t believe it’s been a year!
Awesome video! The last 3 words in the video practically sums it all up!
Thankyou so much!! It’s been a fairly nuts year – looking forward to settling in to one location for a while and taking a breather!!
“If you live for something”.. it really seems like thats exactly what you did in the past year, congratulations Megan, great video! Looking forward to another year with more adventures of yours! :)
I had a bunch of different songs with really great messages chosen at first, but I thought this one fitted really well!
Thanks so much Caro! Glad to have you apart of our journey!
Congrats on one year of travel! Thats a huge thing to accomplish! Hopefully I can do it one day :)
Thanks Danielle! If Mike and I can do it, anyone can!!!
What an inspiration! Can’t believe you’ve done all this in a year! But it says in your sidebar you’ve been blogging for seven years?
Living the dream Megan keep it up!
Thanks Josh!! I launched this site as my first “professional” blog 12 months ago; though I started with a personal blog on blogger & then tumblr many, many years ago. The first 7 years it just mapped my travels on a day to day basis, just for family and friends and because writing was something I loved!
It used to be “Where in the World is Megan Claire”, which you can still find on Tumblr, but when I made the change to this self hosted website & created the brand “Mapping Megan” I imported all of my blog posts from prior years, so you can see everything here in one place!
So this is technically the anniversary of my first year of professional blogging!
Aaaahhh I see! Great idea. I’ll have a poke around in your archives then ;)
I send likes, comments.
But don’t get reply back
Hi Avinash :) Thanks for following our blog! We aim to reply to everyone and every comment, so I apologize if your comments and likes were missed.
We do truly appreciate your support though!
Megan and Mike
AWESOME!! All that in just one year–very impressive and very inspiring too! Wishing you all the best success and thrilling fun in the next 12 months to come!
Thanks Dana! So glad you enjoyed the highlights! It’s definitely been an action packed year, who knows where the next one will lead!
Thanks for being apart of our journey!
Congrats on the great video and a year of travel. I hope you can keep going!
Thanks Dan!! Fingers crossed that it’s a bigger and better year in 2015!
What an incredible year!!! Congrats on your first year. Looking forward to following your adventures overseas next year.
Chalsie | The Workshop Co. x
Thanks Chalsie! We have indeed had a year full of excitement and adventure – so glad to have you as part of our wonderful community – welcome!
Wow, what an exciting and inspiring video! The word jealous does not even cut it right now, I’m green with envy at everything you’ve done and achieved in the last year! Well done to you though, you really have turned dreams into reality!
Thanks Catherine!! So glad you enjoyed it! We’ve definitely had an action packed year and it’s been such a blast – though if I can do it so can you!! My main aim is to prove that dreams are within reach for anyone :D!
What a year you guys have had. Have really enjoyed following your adventures. Can’t wait to see what you get up to in 2015.
Thanks Matt! We hope 2015 holds amazing adventure for you as well, and will also be following for your updates! Happy New Year!
Congrats. Wish I were younger. However have not done too badly in the 60 range for countries. Love the language part as I want t be a traveler who bounds with locals.
Yes Alaska is nice but so is our north Yukon, NWT and Nunuvut. Of course the best place in the world is Vancouver Island.
Thanks Ian :) It’s been a truly phenomenal year. 60 countries is not bad at all! I’ve always been of the opinion that it’s not the number of countries which is important, but the quality of experiences which you enjoy along the way.
Bonding with locals is one of my favorite parts of travel also. So glad you enjoyed the video! We’re spending a bit of time in Vancouver Island in a few weeks actually and really looking forward to it. Stay tuned for photos and updates!
Happy travels & thanks for following our blog :)
Congrats Megan! Awesome! I wish you the best for this year and hope we meet somewhere :-) Thanks for sharing your experiences. Greetings from Argentina.
Thanks Poli!! And wishing you amazing travels throughout Argentina!
Congratulations! This is one of our favorite blogs and is very inspiring for us! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!
Thankyou so much! I’m so glad to hear you’ve been enjoying the blog – feel free to reach out at any time if you have any questions about the trips or adventures we take :)
Happy travels!