The Deviant Travel Blogger

As some of you may, or may not know. To be deviant is to stray from what is considered the norm within society. Sounds fancy, I know but stick with me you will understand soon. Because that deviant travel blogger is me and if you read this blog often then you will understand me. After all, there is a lot of personality in my posts.

Why I’m not your stereotypical travel blogger

When the average person thinks of a travel blogger they think of a stereotype. We can’t blame them for it because that stereotype has thousands of Instagram followers while some of us struggled forever to make it over 100. You see, that is what they are used to, that is what they see everywhere. But that is not me. I’m miles outside the neat travel blogger box and I revel in it! We were not born to fit in we were born to stand out.

Before I start this lets make sure we all have the same stereotype of a travel blogger (Disclaimer: I am not saying there is anything wrong with travel bloggers who fit in this box) I’m talking about skinny, tanned girls (often blonde) who take perfectly put together Instagram’s in cute little outfits. But who also in contrast seem to do a lot of talking about how amazing it is to live from their backpack and be a nomad…

Let’s start with skinny, I’m all for girls loving their body regardless of their size. So to me all this talk of getting in shape for summer bores me! Quite frankly I’d rather eat a cake. I’m fat, no two ways about it; no point being polite and saying plus size. There is nothing offensive about the word fat – As J.K Rowling once said there are much worse things to be. But it does set me outside the norm. The masses are used to ethereal waifs posing in barely there bikini’s. A sight that will never be seen on my blog.

The tan, that deep brown tan that speaks of sun kissed perfection. Whilst, I would love to tan like that I never will. I was born ginger so sunburn galore; plus, I think I may have been a zebra in a past life because that sunburn only ever comes in stripes/patches. For example: My legs currently look like I have applied streaky fake tan…Thanks to sunburn that rendered them a crab stick a few weeks ago, white at the back and red at the front. The fact that my burn fades to tan is a small mercy. But my dodgy tan lines provide endless amusement to those around me. Bit hard to look like a tanned goddess when your legs look like a Neapolitan ice-cream.

I must admit the whole perfectly put together thing impresses me. If you can bare to wear a full face of make up and have your hair down in the heat then you are a stronger woman than me. I’m pretty low maintenance in general but when travelling I wear zero makeup and my hair is pretty much guaranteed to be full of suntan lotion. To those travel bloggers who are exploring in a beautiful dress with a full head of curls, I salute you! But I don’t plan to change the fact that when I explore I look like I have been dragged through a hedge backwards. As far as I’m concerned when a rare snap of me is taken I want to look how I think a traveller should: Happy, sunburnt, messy (lets be real I probably have ice-cream on my clothes) and likely to be sporting full on tourist vibes with a backpack sat wonky on my shoulders. All that time spent getting ready could be spent having fun.

Then there is the elephant in the room – The thing that if you read this blog often you will be thinking ‘Vic, normal travel bloggers don’t do that’…I don’t backpack, I cruise or can be found anywhere else in the lap of luxury. This one is definitely a bonus for the aesthetic of my Instagram. Luxury certainly makes a better snapshot than a hostel. But being enamoured with the sea certainly does make me odd. Still, since I have started my blog I have discovered a whole community of young cruisers who completely understand my addiction.

The final point is editing! Recently, travel bloggers have been exposed for pictures so edited they are virtually fake. The most editing you will get from me is an Instagram filter. One, because I am hopeless with technology don’t let the fact that I run a blog fool you. And two, because I am the most honest person you will ever encounter. My readers and followers are welcome to know all about my travel disasters. Not even so they can learn from them but just so they can laugh at them.

Being a travel blogger is not the flowery experience people portray it to be. By not fitting in the neat little travel blogger box I hope to show people that. I’m not the perfect image people portray. But I am honest, I’m me, in all my stripy tan, loud shorts wearing wonder. And I hope you all enjoy the authenticity you find here.

They laugh at me because I am different. I laugh at them because they are all the same.

Always celebrate yourself! Love a deviant travel blogger xoxo

  1. Hear hear. I detest the ‘arms in the air’ mountaintop pictures of perfection like you’ve just hiked up that hill in your floaty maxi dress… or the ubiquitous ‘watch us holding hands, I’m pulling you behind me while you take my photo’ pic. Yeah, that.

    I ain’t got time for flatlays either.

    Stubby, short-legged, slightly overweight travelbloggers FTW 😉

  2. This was so refreshingly honest (and amusing) to read! I’m lucky in that I tan well but snaps of me wandering around looking pretty aren’t likely to hit my instagram anytime soon; windswept with scratches from the tree I just walked into is a lot more likely!

    Eloise xx
    http://www.isthateloise.co.uk/

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