Welcome to my second travel blogging month in review! I’m excited to write these personal posts to keep myself accountable and to track my progress, especially my travel blogging aspirations.
I’m going to share personal, business, life, and blogging highlights and challenges, as well as things I’m working on.
This post may contain affiliate links and I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no additional cost to you. Please see my disclosure for more information.
Okay, let’s dive into this month’s highs, lows, and everything in between. October was very different from other months because I was on vacation and it’s the start of my favorite season: Fall.
Personal Highlights
My mom stayed over for a week, after my Oaxaca, Mexico travel, so that I’m not alone while my husband was away on his Oktoberfest trip (which included a European excursion through Iceland, Edinburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Munich).
It was nice to spend some quality time with her and have dinner every night with my parents. I don’t see them as often as I’d like, but cherish every moment I can. However, towards the end of the week I was pulling my hair out.
I love my mom, but I’m grateful I have my own place, lol.
Travel Highlights
Fall season is my favorite season to travel: the weather is perfect (not too hot or cold), it’s usually low season (places are less crowded and accommodations are cheaper), the changing colors of leaves are beautiful, and I get to wear comfy sweaters, jackets, coats, and boots (not worn often in Los Angeles).
Speaking of accommodations, Hotels.com is my favorite way to search for great hotels to stay during my travels. I also use Airbnb a lot too for one of a kind stays.
I met up with my husband the second week of October (finally, after 2.5 weeks apart) and right after Oktoberfest to start our travel through Europe for 2.5 weeks and Canada for 1 week with family.
This was our Itinerary:
Favorite Experience
Hands down is traveling with my husband. We hadn’t traveled together since February. I love being around him, visiting new places and trying new foods. We complement each other well too.
I’m super into my bookmarks in Google Maps and hitting all the popular spots of a new city, and he’s more laidback and great at finding cool coffee shops, boutiques shops, and breweries.
What Surprised Me
I really enjoyed Budapest! I came in with zero expectations and was blown away by the city. It’s more modern and metropolitan than I thought, yet charming and colorful. The quality of light was beautiful, the food was amazing, the people were very nice, and there was so much to do.
I didn’t enjoy Prague as much as I thought I would. I read about Prague from a fiction book many years ago (story set in Prague) and fantasized about visiting the fairytale city and crossing Charles Bridge. However, I found the Old Town lacked the charm I expected.
Lessons Learned
Visit new places with an open heart and zero expectations. It’s more fun, you discover the city and its people from a different perspective, and you warm up to the new places you visit. Life is too short and the world too wide to stay in one place.
One big lesson is seeing how other people live and what their quality of life looks like. I could see myself living in all these different places and loving it.
Next Up
The next few months are all about hunkering down and growing our savings for our next big trip Spring 2025, spending quality time with loved ones during the holidays, and taking small trips within the U.S.
Passive Income Reflections
I’m super into the whole Financial Independence / Retire Early community, that’s why we got into real estate investing. Last month I mentioned converting two short-term rentals into mid-term rentals. It’s been working so far.
I think Airbnb in general was pretty slow last month, but thankfully we got some last minute bookings that helped us cover mortgage.
Our gross rental/Airbnb income was $17,390.37 but our expenses were: $16,439.67, so cashflow was $950.70. Definitely not enough to live off of.
However, I am including our personal residence mortgage and utilities into the expenses above. I think the big takeaway is to reduce our expenses.
If you’d like to become a host, please consider using my Airbnb referral code. You’ll also earn free money after a successful stay. If you do sign up, let me know if you need any advice!
Active Income Reflections
I run my own architecture firm in Los Angeles, California, specializing in residential design. Since I was away most of October, my income also dipped.
My take-home pay was $1,520 (W-2) and I pay myself 50% of gross income (following the Profit First formula). As you can see, I didn’t bring much money in.
It’s a combination of not booking new clients before my vacation and completing most of my projects before I left. The money that did come in were clients paying their invoices late.
The good thing is that I budgeted for decreased income this month. I had enough in my business account to cover monthly expenses such as insurances, business subscriptions, and car loan.
And I have a healthy fund in my HYSA (High Yield Savings Account) for low income months and had saved for this trip.
Now the problem for me to solve is how do I maintain my active income going while out on vacation? We’ve contemplated hiring someone to replace me, but it gives me anxiety to have someone depend on me for their salary. TBD!
Travel Blogging Journey
What I did: I was only able to publish one new blog post the first week of October and have several posts on “draft” and SEO research stage. I’m hoping to churn out more posts in November.
What worked: I learned more about keyword research this month (use code KSDISC for 20% discount). And took lots of pictures and drafted compelling blog titles.
What didn’t: I don’t have a consistent blogging schedule while traveling! It was hard for me to sit down and type a blog post after being out all day, taking pictures.
Income Goal: I made $48.11 in Hotels.com / Expedia.com affiliate income! It’s not a ton of money but at least it’s showing me that people are clicking on my links and using them to book their hotels.
It makes me really happy!
Final Thoughts
October was just slow all around – in my design business and on Airbnb. The silver lining is that I can go away on vacation (as long as I had the necessary funds to cover expenses and the vacation).
With the upcoming holidays, I’m not positive business will pick up. It’s OK because I can use the downtime to work on my travel blog.
If you’ve got any tips to whether the slow season of business or want to chat about travel, business, or travel blogging, send me a message—I’d love to hear from you!
