In our new interview, we meet Lizzy, who will be traveling with us to Jordan in May as our next TripLegend Ambassador. At @flossys_wonderland you can follow her journey on Instagram. Here she tells us more about what she loves most about travelling, eye-opening experiences, and a thrilling story about a mistake in Costa Rica.
Hi Lizzy, we’re looking forward to having you as our new TripLegend ambassador! Your story is quite impressive and takes courage. Before our journey finally starts, we would love to introduce you to our adventurous community.
Today, a large part of your life is travel blogging. But how did it all begin?
I started my Instagram account during the first lockdown, I think May 2020, so you could say I had a lot of time on my hands! I initially started the account because I planned to go travelling that year, and I wanted a place to put all my memories – mainly for my family and friends to keep up with the travels and for me to have a nice little visual diary of everything I did / the memories I made. You could say I became a bit addicted to creating – I loved photo editing in particular, and used to spend hours on Lightroom making presets and playing around with tones.
I also took a photography course, to try and improve my skills. It all then began to spiral, I reached a bigger audience and started gaining followers. I put in a lot of hours, I’d spend hours in the evenings brainstorming ideas and pulling together photos from my archives. I reached out to my favourite creators for advice, watched countless Youtube videos and studied accounts which I aspired to be like someday. I also put a huge focus on building a community of people who would consistently show up and interact with my posts (and I would do the same for them), and I loved it all! I felt like I had found my passion.
Over the course of that year I grew an Instagram & TikTok account and built my photography skills. Over 2021, I started reaching out to hotels to ask if they would be interested in my photography services, I grew a portfolio of hotel collaborations within just 6 months, visiting almost 10 properties around the world. I then launched my website, and the rest is history!
Your blog is relatively new, proving that it’s still possible to make it as a travel blogger. What advice do you have for people who have not yet taken this step?
I think in terms of making travel blogging full time / making money from it, you have to show up because you love creating and interacting with others, not because you hope to one day make lots of money / travel for free. I put in thousands of hours of work before seeing any monetary incentive, so you really have to enjoy being active and creative, and dedicated to it. A few tips I would say for making a social media account successful would be:
- • Spend some time thinking about the true value you will provide to people through your account. What can you help people with? What’s your goal? Why would someone want to follow you? What insights do you have that are unique or uncommon that people would find useful? These days, it’s not enough to just be an amazing photographer or similar, people want a reason to go to your page and to follow you, and they need a reason to stay and be interested in your content.
- Once you understand what value you will provide, really focus on improving your creating skills – whether that’s photos, video, copy. I took a photography course, brushed up on my video skills, tried to learn from my favourite creators and built my skills as much as I could. I still am learning and building my skills everyday!
- • Make sure you take the time to build and interact with your community, they are the most important aspect of your social media, with a strong community you will see great results. Answer every comment, every DM, interact with new people, leave thoughtful comments on others work which shows to them you have taken the time to read their work and it resonates with you. I have met some amazing people through Instagram, which I am actually now friends with in real life too, building that community is the best thing you can do because you will have people on there which support you and show up for you every time you post new content or a story you’re not sure whether to post.
- Build a relationship with your followers through your everyday life and stories, be informal, interactive, let them see the real you!
- Be consistent – there will be lots and lots of times you feel like giving up, like you’re talking to an empty room, like the ‘algorithm’ hates you, when you get your first negative or hateful comment, if a post does terribly – but keep going. There isn’t a single person on Instagram that gets amazing results every single time they post or every time they show up on stories, engagement is like a rollercoaster, but you just have to ride it and stick with it and always be consistent.
If you put your all into the above things, then I can guarantee to you, you will succeed!
Is it hard for you to leave your fiancé at home to travel?
Is it hard for you to leave your fiancé at home to travel? In general, not really. We do miss each other when we’re apart but we both understand that we have our own lives and goals and sometimes that means doing things apart. We are always really supportive of each other going on different trips / spending time in different places!
What do you love most about traveling? What inspires you to go out into the unknown again and again?
One of my favourite ever feelings ever is when you land in a new country or place that you have never been before, you leave the airport and hop on public transport (I love getting the bus at this point). You are watching out the window at this completely new place you have never experienced before. I take it all in – the houses or buildings, the nature, the sky – just everything about this place that my eyes have never laid eyes on before. It’s completely captivating, it’s when I am most inspired, and it is crazy exciting wondering about all the possibilities and experiences you are going to have in this place, all the memories you will create, the people you will meet. I crave that feeling because when I have it I know 100% that my mind will be opened further, and I will be able to see and do things I have never seen or done before. That is when I feel most alive!
While traveling, you come across many different cultures and languages. What do you do if someone doesn’t speak English?
While I am still very bad – I have tried to learn Spanish while travelling South America. I can understand it much more than I can speak it, and you can usually get by if you understand basic phrases and words. South America is the only continent I have travelled to where the people usually don’t speak any English at all, so that is the only place where I have been in that situation. Usually, I can have broken conversations enough for us to understand each other. Other than that, I use Google translate if I am really struggling, you can download a language to use offline, so you can translate anything whenever you need to! It’s really useful.
You moved to Amsterdam recently. Why did you choose that city? Can you give us an honest summary of what expat life is really like?
I have always wanted to move abroad, but never really knew where I might go. I thought a lot about places I would like, and I narrowed it down to Melbourne, Sydney, Berlin or Amsterdam. After travelling for a long period, I realised Australia was going to be too far from home to live permanently, because I wanted to be closer to family and friends. For me, the word ‘home’ has always been quite fluid, it doesn’t feel like a specific place or a house, it’s more of a feeling. I can’t really describe it, but I was sure I would have that ‘feeling’ here in Amsterdam, and I was definitely right!
A few reasons I was drawn to Amsterdam were that it has a really free spirited culture, the extraordinary is the normal, it is a place where anyone and everyone can be totally free to be whoever they want to be without fear of judgement. It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but without feeling like you are in a ‘big city’. It is quite small which I love, because I adore nature and don’t like to feel like I’m in a concrete jungle – Amsterdam definitely doesn’t feel like that. Lastly, it is English speaking, and its possible to work and live here without needing to speak the language fluently (thats not to say I’m not trying though haha!).
Expat life for me has been an incredible experience, it has pushed me to do things I would have never done and I feel like a much more confident person. I was worried that there was going to be a language barrier at first, but it really hasn’t been at all. The local people are extremely welcoming and friendly, and are always open to chatting. Back in England its seen as a bit ‘weird’ to just stop and randomly talk to people in the street or when you are out, but here it is very common, and most days I will find myself meeting and speaking to people just out and about which I think is really cool. I don’t feel too much like an ‘expat’ here anymore or an outsider, I just feel like it’s my home. I think around 1 third of people who live in Amsterdam are also expats, which makes the whole experience much less daunting, because so many people are the same as you.
I have really pushed myself to do things by myself whilst being here, from going out for lunch or a coffee by myself, to taking myself on a day out or just exploring the city, and I have loved every minute of it. I also love the cycling culture here, I never cycled back in England but I cycle everywhere I go now and I adore it! Even in the height of winter there are always lots of people out on their bikes. I feel much more self sufficient without having to rely on public transport or worrying about traffic, I know I can just go wherever I want to go and there would be very few things that got in the way. Overall, I love expat life in Amsterdam, I feel like I know myself better than I ever have before, and I feel comfortable to be completely myself without judgement from others.
When you think about all the places you’ve been to so far: What is your favorite travel destination and why?
This question is so difficult to answer! I love so many places for different reasons. I think if I had to pick one, I would choose Iceland . I absolutely adored my time there. The nature is jaw dropping. We hiked on a glacier, saw the northern lights, swam in a natural hot river while the outside temperature was only around 1 or 2 degrees C, stayed on an Icelandic farm and watched the stars every night from the geothermal hot tub, we explored the waterfalls, geysers etc. The air and the sky felt different there, like you were on another planet. Amazing country and it gave me a feeling I haven’t experienced in any other country I have been to, I can’t describe it but I just felt like it was a very special place.
I also love Mexico, Peru & Italy too!
If you could choose any place in the world to stay there forever, what place would you choose and why?
I think my honest answer to this is that I really don’t know! I don’t see myself as staying anywhere ‘forever’ and I feel like throughout my life I hope I am always going to visit new places, live in different countries and always be exploring. A place I have visited which I think I could live is Holbox in Mexico. It is a true paradise, crystal clear tropical ocean, white sand beaches, an amazing community spirit and laid back culture. Beautiful nature & wildlife, a lovely beach town where everyone is friendly and relaxed.
The atmosphere is unmatched to anywhere I have been before and I could see myself spending a lot of time there in the future. I just really love Mexico in general and it is one of my favourite countries, I have so much left to explore there but I have a real connection with the country and people, and I hope one day I will live there for some time. I hope to also spend some time in Australia & NZ, maybe for a year or so.
You’ve been traveling for years now; what was the most fulfilling experience you ever had while traveling?
The experience I immediately thought of when I read this question was snorkelling in the Galapagos. It was a once in a lifetime experience. We went out to a cove called ‘Devil’s Crown’, it is named one of the best places to snorkel in the world – and I can see why! We were driven out on a boat in our snorkelling gear, and when our guide said go, we all fell backwards off the side of the dinghy into the ocean. I remember the first moment I put my snorkel under the water, and it was like being in Finding Nemo! Underneath me there was a school of about 14 sharks, turtles, penguins, sting rays and manta rays, an array of the most colourful fish, some sea lions. I had a feeling of ‘wow, I’ve really made it’. It was truly magical and an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.
"»I had a feeling of ‘wow, I’ve really made it’«
- Lizzy
Another experience I wanted to mention was in Peru. I worked with some amazing people there, one lady in particular named Petit, she owned a hotel called the Sol Y Luna in the sacred valley region of Peru. The hotel was surrounded by the Andes mountains, and the hotel profits funded the Sol Y Luna Association, which is a home and school for the most vulnerable children in the Sacred Valley region of Peru who had been maltreated, abused or abandoned. During my time there I got to visit the association and spend the day with the children, I learnt about their stories, ate lunch with them and photographed the children and home. It was incredibly eye opening and emotional and it will forever hold a special place in my heart.
And what was the worst? Is there a moment or a place you absolutely regret traveling to?
I think the worst travel memory I have is no reflection on the destination / country at all – it was actually just down to a silly mistake we made once haha. In Costa Rica we hired a car to explore, and we were using an offline maps app called maps.me (word of advice – do not use this app in Costa Rica, it is wildly inaccurate!). Anyway, we were following the map driving to our next destination and ended up going down this dirt track road, but before we knew it we were going down a very steep track, in a small car, on the side of cliff and we realised if this was the wrong way, there was no way our little car would be able to reverse (too steep) or turn around (road was too narrow).
We carried on driving in the hope the road would turn back to a normal road, and it didn’t. At this point I was getting very worried, we were in the middle of no where, barely any people around, and our car was actually stuck! It was also late afternoon and the sun was going down – could we end up stuck on a cliff side with no one to help and no phone signal!? Miraculously, a man on a motorbike appeared from no where, we think he was a farmer in the local area. He didn’t speak any English (obviously) and it was the beginning of our trip and our Spanish was very poor at this point, we also didn’t have any phone reception so we couldn’t translate anything. We tried to explain in very broken Spanish that we were stuck, and asked him for help, to which he didn’t reply at all and just rode off back up the road! We thought we had ruined our chance of help / rescue!
Within about 5 minutes, the man reappeared with his friend, who was driving a huge pick up truck! He had gone to get help, the man with the pick up truck tied our car to his with a big rope, and pulled us back up the hill! It was an amazing moment, we were so grateful and couldn’t believe how lucky we had been, and how kind these 2 men were, helping out stupid tourists who had got themselves in a huge mess! We gave them some money for their time and help, and thanked them many times, we ended up having a laugh with them (even though none of us spoke the same language, we managed to get by and make some jokes). Even though the experience was really scary, it makes you realise how amazing people can be in times of need!
The only other experience was when I was stung by a creature called a ‘Bluebottle’ while snorkelling, the creature stuck to me and I had to peal it off – it was probably the most painful experience of my entire life and we were out at sea on a boat quite far from any civilisation, so there was nothing I could do.
Aside from these, there are not many experiences that stand out in my head that are really awful. There are countries I have been to which I haven’t liked as much as others, but I have never regretted visiting them, because if I never went I would never know! I think it is all part of the travelling experience and you are bound to not fall in love with every place you go.
Your first trip as an official ambassador is to Jordan. What fascinates you about Jordan the most? What do you expect from the adventure with TripLegend?
Jordan has been top of my bucket list for a few years now, mainly because a huge goal of mine is to see all 7 wonders of the world before I am 30 (I have 4 years left, and 4 to go haha). Jordan is obviously home to Petra, and it appears to be an otherworldly place - I have seen hundreds of photos and videos and I am so unbelievably excited that I will be able to see it in real life. I also know there is much more to Jordan than Petra, to visit the Wadi Rum desert and float in the dead sea are just a few things I am also really looking forward to. I am also very interested to see what Anman is like, to try the local food and drink, and get a true feel for the culture.
I think the tour with TripLegend is going to be breathtaking! I expect to be fully immersed in a totally different culture than I have ever experienced. This will be my first organised group tour, as I have only ever travelled through my own planning / preparation, so I am really excited to have a tour guide who can explain more about the culture and history than I would usually know, and I can also ask more questions about all the different experiences and sights!
What do you think is the most significant benefit of group traveling?
For me, I am usually the person that takes care of all the organisation, planning etc, so it will be really great to be fully looked after and feel more relaxed that the whole trip has been organised for me! Aside from this, it will be great to share experiences and make memories with like minded travellers, who I would be unlikely to meet outside of travelling. I am sure the group will form a special bond by the end of the trip, knowing we have explored and adventured together!
Bonus: Do you have a favorite quote?
"Feel the fear and do it anyway."
I truly believe life begins when you step outside your comfort zone. People always ask me ‘were you not scared to do that?’ Like when travelling, doing thrilling activities, quitting my job, moving abroad etc. Well honestly – usually yes I am, but it would never stop me, because amazing things and experiences happen when you just go for it, and then suddenly you realise it wasn’t actually that scary at all.
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