Shadowing Practice: What it’s really like to be a full-time travel blogger - Learn English Speaking with Video
Les maken...
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Always in the world's most beautiful places, starting out on new adventures and getting paid for it.
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Hannah and Nick from the Netherlands have made their dream come true: They're travel bloggers. But is it really as great as everyone thinks?
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Hey, we're Hannah and Nick! And this is our job.
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And we could say that in every part of the world.
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We’ll spend a day with Hannah and Nick, see what they get up to on their travels, learn about the worst part of the job, and of course, find out how they make a living from it.
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We catch up with them on the Portuguese island of Madeira.
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Today, they plan to explore a certain lane in the small town of São Vicente.
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We just like the framing there, and we know that this is gonna work well for some social media posts. So, we want to have a shot there just to have it integrated in one of the reels that we might create.
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The two set out with a camera, a smartphone and a tripod.
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They usually research the location beforehand and have a good idea of where the sun will be.
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Their previous jobs have given them a trained eye: Hannah was a graphic designer, and Nick was a web developer.
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You might want a little bit more mountain.
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They also know the ins and outs of posing for the camera.
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They know how important photos are in keeping their fans engaged on their blog and social media accounts.
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Then Hannah and Nick move on to the next spot, one of Madeira's famous hiking trails.
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They’ll get into how exactly they make their money later.
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For now, we want to know how they got this job.
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It all started in 2016 with a GoPro camera they bought at auction for 11 euros.
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We had one photo in the Philippines that had this super-blue heart-shaped lagoon and GoPro commented on that photo.
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So we went from zero to 7,000 followers in one night.
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And that was the starting point where we were like, okay, maybe we should do something with this.
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Because a lot of people started asking questions underneath that post, like "how did you get here? Where did you stay?" They started a blog and began investing more and more time in it.
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In 2017, they quit their day jobs and became full-time travel bloggers.
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Now they have a blog featuring travel tips for around 60 countries and more than 400,000 followers on Instagram. What do you need to succeed at it?
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Dedication and love for travel.
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Right? I guess those two.
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Yeah, because there is not necessarily a skill, because nowadays you can also do everything with your phone.
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So you don't need the biggest camera or all the knowledge about how a camera works in that sense.
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Hannah and Nick usually have a drone with them, though.
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Today, they will use it to capture the island's beauty.
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Of course, they want to inspire others to travel, but how honest and unbiased can they really be?
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In our Instagram stories, that's where we really show the behind the scenes, our opinions.
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Writing in the guides. We're also honest about things there.
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Also, if something is really popular, but we don't think it's worth it, we would mention that as well.
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Hannah and Nick also did some advance research for their lunch and marked potential restaurants on Google Maps.
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They always prepare well. They have a method for choosing destinations, too.
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That's mostly a mix of what's becoming popular, because that's obviously good for the blog and for the Instagram, to have a bit of that "wow" effect that people don't know everything about it already.
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The afternoon is spent indoors.
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The two Dutch travelers edit the photos they took that morning, write Instagram posts, and do research for future trips. They also have a meeting scheduled with a staff member. Hannah and Nick now employ six people.
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This raises the question: how do they generate income?
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We make money mainly through the blog. When someone is scrolling through an article, there are affiliate links inside. And that means that if someone books an accommodation or a tour, we would earn a small percentage of that without them paying more.
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And then another big part is collaboration with companies or tourism boards on social media.
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What we mostly do is work together with a tourism board of a certain country or city.
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They work around 50 hours per week, in the evenings and on the weekends, too.
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They want to end their day at a lookout point. They have learned the hard way how important it is to switch off and take a break. After years of constant travel, Nick suffered from burnout in 2019 because he had taken on too much at once.
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What are the other down sides to their job?
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Sometimes it is difficult with having friends and family obviously.
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Everyone is a little bit everywhere and we try to be home every once in a while.
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But if something happens, just moments, you want or you need to be there.
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In the first few years, it was also a difficult thing between the two of us as a couple.
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That it was always talking about the business, and it was never really any private life left.
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But in the last few years, we managed also because we have a team now behind us.
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Time for a reality check: desk work and an unstable income but also traveling, exploring new places, and meeting people all over the world.
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Is this the perfect job?
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Well, I think a 10 out of 10.
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Let's say nine.
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Sometimes we would love to have a really fixed base where we can enjoy also a big part of the year.
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But we couldn't wish for a better job to have, because every job has its pros and cons, and I feel like our job has a lot more pros than it has cons.
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So, what do you think?
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Would being a travel blogger be your dream job?
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Let us know in the comments!
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Over deze les
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.