Sustaining during the lockdown: A travel vlogger’s version

• Mohammed Salim Khan, Travel Blogger, writes how the pandemic-induced lockdown has impacted travel industry and with it, travel bloggers.
• He writes, "When all this ends and we’re free to travel again, I hope that I can continue to connect with my audience as I have been doing these past few months."

Lockdown has been difficult for everyone, but even tougher for the itinerant and wanderers. The past few days have been rather frightening and the places that were once major tourist hotspots are now deserted. The spread of the coronavirus has unexpectedly brought the usual life and travel to a standstill.

As a travel vlogger, I was scheduled to be on one of my international trips during this period and recording interesting content for my YouTube channel. But the content I had planned has now been scrapped – or at least put on hold indefinitely and I am grounded in my apartment in Mumbai waiting for the pandemic to end.

The fear of coronavirus had not sneaked in when I planned my itinerary for 2020 and also posted my resolution of uploading 200 vlogs and going for 12 International trips in 365 days. It wasn’t until March when the world was reporting a huge number of cases and India declared a nationwide lockdown. It was confirmed that the pandemic could severely disrupt not just my travel plans, but also my income.

A major source of income for vloggers is YouTube ads, brands and affiliate marketing. But with the pandemic in motion, the businesses are on a stand-still and there’s not much earning. The travel and tourism industry across the globe is affected and has left millions without a job.

You always presume some degree of risk when you earn from social media and blogging. It can be constant, but never definite. But right now we’re in an unpredictable situation. Being a travel vlogger, I am hardly ever at home, so I was happy to spend this time with my family and also myself. I decided to focus on my health and work schedule.

When the lockdown was announced, I took a break for a week to plan my next steps and come up with ideas on how not to lose my connection with my subscribers. My only motto is that the show must go on and everything else will fall in place. I took this quarantine as a challenge.

After taking a break for a week or so, I decided to challenge myself to upload 21 vlogs in 21 days as a motivating factor. It would not only bring my subscribers closer to me but also create a sense of suspense because they wouldn’t know what to expect next.

The challenge was more for me than for my audience. I took it up by adding a fun element of playing indoor games and challenged my viewers to play them too. I started recording daily chores like cleaning, buying groceries, and talking to friends. But there was a risk that the audience won’t like such kind of videos. However, to my surprise not only did they love the videos but I had never gained so many subscribers in 21 days.

We’re all sitting at home. So, it’s pretty obvious people that we are spending double the time on our phones, looking for the next entertainment. As vloggers, our biggest dilemma is which part of our lives we should disclose next.

Roy T. Bennett has rightly said, “You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.” This is absolutely true. In the four years of my YouTube journey, never have I ever seen such a growth in my subscribers and views on my travel videos which is the crux of my channel. So go through it to grow through it.

When all this ends and we’re free to travel again, I hope that I can continue to connect with my audience as I have been doing these past few months. It’s been exciting to share the ‘home-life’ side of the travel blogging world, and I love the relations and bond that we are building during this time!

- Mohammed Salim Khan, Travel Blogger