Travel Matters

What happens when a spontaneous travel tip turns into a viral TikTok video and thousands of new followers? And more importantly, how do you turn that attention into something that lasts?

In this episode of Travel Matters, TBEX CEO Rick Calvert talks with Terry Abromitis, better known as Traveling Terry, about building a travel content business that connects social media with a blog.

Terry shares how a chance encounter at TBEX Greece led to a video showing a fellow creator how to save €822 on a flight. The video went viral, helping her TikTok following grow from 58,000 to 125,000 in less than two months.

But Terry isn't interested in collecting followers just for the numbers. Drawing on her background as a teacher and digital entrepreneur, she's developing practical ways to guide TikTok viewers toward useful content on her website.

Key Takeaways

• Turn unexpected moments into content. Some of your best-performing videos might come from everyday conversations rather than carefully planned shoots.
• Make the next step easy. Every additional click between a social media post and your website risks losing potential readers.
• Give viewers a reason to visit your blog. Terry explains how a TikTok about five useful travel apps helped quadruple her website traffic.
• Prioritize publishing over perfection. A helpful video that gets posted can do more for your business than a cinematic masterpiece that never goes live.
• Use your platforms together. Social media and blogging can reinforce each other rather than compete for your attention.

Relevant Links

• Traveling Terry on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@travelingterry
• Traveling Terry's website and social links: https://linktr.ee/travelingterry
• Gerald Gruenig on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@geraldgruenig
• TBEX: https://tbexcon.com
• Travel Matters Podcast: https://tbexcon.com/podcast/
• RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk

Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What if your biggest opportunity as a travel creator isn't another sponsorship, but turning your audience into your customers?

Chris Joondeph, the creator behind Authentic Traveling, has visited 170 countries and built an audience of millions by exploring places many travellers overlook or misunderstand. But his biggest business opportunity came when he started inviting followers to experience those destinations with him.

Today, his company, Authentic Tours, takes travellers to destinations including Nigeria, Ethiopia and Somalia. And despite his enormous social media following, Chris says his tours now generate more revenue than his content.

Palle Bo and Rick Calvert talk with Chris about building an audience through short-form video, turning trust into bookings, working with local partners and creating a business around something you genuinely love doing.

In this episode:

• How Chris turned a passion project into a full-time business.
• Why his first Nigeria tour changed everything.
• How content creation and group tours support each other.
• Building customer trust and encouraging repeat bookings.
• Why everyday experiences can produce extraordinary travel content.

Relevant links:

• Authentic Traveling: https://authentictraveling.co
• Chris on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authentic_traveling
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@authentictraveling
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authentic_traveling
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/authentictraveling.org
• Ethiopia and Somalia Group Tour: https://authentictraveling.co/ethiopia-somalia-group-tour/
• Extraordinary Travel Festival (October 22–25, Bangkok): https://extraordinarytravelfest.com (Use promo code Vagabond for $100 off.)
• Learn more about TBEX: https://tbexcon.com
• Find more Travel Matters episodes in your podcast app or on https://tbexcon.com/podcast/
• Podcast produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk

Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

Google traffic is down. AI is changing how people search. Strategies that worked for travel creators just a few years ago are suddenly far less reliable. So what do you do when the rules of the game keep changing?

In this episode, Palle Bo and Rick Calvert talk with Jarryd Salem, co-founder of NOMADasaurus, one of Australia's leading adventure travel and photography blogs.

Jarryd has worked deeply with SEO for years and was experimenting with AI tools long before ChatGPT became mainstream. His view is refreshingly optimistic: the travel creator industry isn't disappearing, but creators need to stop expecting the old playbook to keep working.

The conversation moves from the changing world of SEO and Google search to something even more important – building a creator business that doesn't depend on a single source of traffic or income. Jarryd calls it the "income octopus": multiple revenue streams that can keep the business moving even when one tentacle gets cut off.

In this episode:

• Why traditional SEO strategies aren't working like they used to
• How AI could help creators discover new opportunities rather than simply replace them
• Why storytelling and first-hand experience may become even more valuable
• How the "income octopus" can make a creator business more resilient
• Why passion and authenticity still matter in an increasingly automated world

Relevant links:

• NOMADasaurus: https://www.nomadasaurus.com
• Learn more about TBEX: https://tbexcon.com
• Find more Travel Matters episodes: https://tbexcon.com/podcast/
• Podcast produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk

Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What happens when the platforms you've spent years building on suddenly stop delivering?

Travel creators have lived through countless social media changes, Google updates and shifting algorithms. In this episode, Palle Bo and Rick Calvert sit down with two creators who have built very different travel businesses – Chris Christensen of Amateur Traveler and Hendric Tay, co-founder of The Travel Intern.

Chris has been podcasting since 2005 and says he now puts far less effort into social media because the return often isn't there. Hendric takes a different approach, running a 15-person content team across a website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube – while deliberately avoiding short-term SEO tricks.

They compare what has survived Google's changes, where social media still makes sense, and how a travel creator's job changes when a passion project becomes a real business.

In this episode:

• Why Chris has reduced his focus on social media
• Hendric's value-first approach to SEO and Google updates
• Growing The Travel Intern from two people to a team of 15
• Turning a travel content brand into a travel business
• Why podcasting may be looking stronger as other platforms become less predictable

Relevant links:

• Amateur Traveler: https://amateurtraveler.com
• The Travel Intern: https://thetravelintern.com
• Learn more about TBEX: https://tbexcon.com
• Find more Travel Matters episodes in your podcast app or on https://tbexcon.com/podcast/
• Podcast produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk

Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What happens when Google and AI companies can answer a travel question using the experiences, photos and expertise of creators – without sending the reader to the creator who did the work?

Travel Matters hosts Palle Bo and Rick Calvert sit down with travel creator and former attorney Nate Hake, founder of Travel Lemming, to talk about what he sees as an existential challenge for online creators.

Nate argues that the problem isn't AI itself – it's how companies are using creators' work while taking away the traffic that has traditionally allowed publishers to make money. But he also believes creators have more power than they might think.

They discuss blocking AI crawlers, emerging licensing models that could eventually compensate creators, why personal experience is becoming more valuable rather than less, and why relying on search traffic alone may no longer be a sustainable business model.

The episode also includes an update recorded a year after the original conversation, looking at how AI licensing has developed since Nate made some of these predictions.

In this episode

• Why AI-generated answers can threaten the traditional creator business model
• How creators can block selected AI bots without disappearing from Google Search
• Why AI companies may eventually have to pay publishers for access to their content
• Why personal experience, storytelling, photos and video are becoming increasingly important
• Why creators should think beyond traffic and build products, services and direct relationships with their audience

Relevant links

• Nate Hake: https://natehake.com
• Travel Lemming: https://travellemming.com
• Nate's step-by-step guide to blocking AI bots: https://travellemming.com/perspectives/block-ai-bots/
• Nate dives deeper into AI and content creators: https://youtu.be/0ftNbm6zmK0?si=YL25bgMoaSgvTPCx
• Watch the section specifically about blocking AI bots: https://youtu.be/0ftNbm6zmK0?si=zNqEe_m2V9dJLBZ8&t=3010
• Nate on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natehake/
• Nate on X: https://x.com/natejhake
• Nate on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathan.hake/
• TBEX: https://tbexcon.com

Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What happens when the platforms that built your business suddenly stop sending you traffic – or your entire industry shuts down almost overnight?

Gary Arndt knows both scenarios very well.

Gary was one of the early stars of travel blogging and an award-winning travel photographer. Then the pandemic wiped out 95% of his income within weeks. Instead of waiting for travel to return, he built something completely different: the daily Everything Everywhere podcast.

That decision paid off. Everything Everywhere Daily has since passed 65 million downloads and now averages around 1.5 million downloads per month.

In this conversation with Palle Bo and Rick Calvert, Gary explains why he became increasingly frustrated with a travel blogging industry dominated by SEO, algorithms and interchangeable listicles – and why he believes creators should focus more on building direct relationships with their audiences.

The conversation also turns into a lively debate about AI. Gary isn't against using it, but argues that outsourcing the creative work can also remove the personality and expertise that give a creator a competitive advantage.

In this episode

• Why Gary abandoned his old travel-media business model
• How a short daily podcast changed the economics of his content
• Why SEO dependence can leave creators dangerously exposed
• Where Gary thinks AI helps – and where it hurts creative work
• Why podcasts and newsletters may be a creator's most valuable assets

Relevant links

• Everything Everywhere: https://everything-everywhere.com/
• Everything Everywhere Daily podcast: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/
• TBEX: https://tbexcon.com/
• RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk
• The Radio Vagabond: https://theradiovagabond.com

Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What happens to "family travel" when the kids are old enough to order the cocktails?

For Margarita Ibbott, it becomes a completely different kind of travel – and an interesting opportunity for destinations and content creators.

Margarita started DownshiftingPRO in 2009, originally writing about professional organizing and simplifying life. Over time, the blog evolved with her. Today, her focus is travel for the 50+ audience, including luxury and cultural experiences, girls' getaways and traveling with adult children.

Her philosophy can be summed up in four words: less stuff, more travel.

In this conversation with Palle Bo and Rick Calvert, Margarita talks about following your interests as both your life and your audience change. She shares how attending her first TBEX helped convince her to make the leap into travel content – and why she keeps coming back.

There's also the story of how a Colombian-born Canadian who desperately wanted to become an Irish dancer eventually got to live that dream through her daughter.

In this episode:

• Why your content can – and perhaps should – evolve as you do
• The overlooked opportunity of travel with adult children
• Creating girls' getaways that give destinations multiple creators from one trip
• Why the 50+ travel audience deserves more attention
• How the TBEX community helped Margarita make the move into travel content

Relevant links

• DownshiftingPRO: https://www.downshiftingpro.com/
• TBEX: https://tbexcon.com/
• Produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk

Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What happens when one of your guitar heroes tells you he has your lessons saved on his computer?

In Part 2 of our conversation with Marty Schwartz of Marty Music, we pick up exactly where we left off – with Marty casually revealing that Slash from Guns N' Roses knows who he is.

The story gets even better. On the very same day Marty met Slash, he received an unexpected phone call from Howard Stern, who had become fascinated with learning guitar. Marty also shares some of the other surreal side quests his career has brought him, including teaching Jordan Belfort and action star Jason Statham.

But behind those stories is nearly two decades of relentless creator work.

Marty explains how he turned early YouTube attention into private lessons, DVDs, digital products, courses and memberships – and why collecting email addresses became one of the smartest decisions he made.

Today, after years of putting most of his energy into platforms like YouTube, he has deliberately reversed that strategy. His priority now is the business and audience he owns.

In this episode

• The remarkable story of Marty meeting Slash – and what Slash said to him
• How a random phone call from Howard Stern turned into an hour-long conversation
• Why Marty started collecting email addresses early in his YouTube career
• The danger of handing too much control of your business to someone else
• Why creators should stop depending entirely on social platforms
• Marty's simple advice for growth – build an owned audience and stay consistent

Relevant links

• Marty Music https://martymusic.com
• Marty Music on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@MartyMusic
• Free Marty Music Guitar Courses & Resources https://martymusic.com/free-courses
• Marty Music Community https://martymusic.com/memberships
• Carter Vintage Guitars https://cartervintage.com
• TBEX https://tbexcon.com

Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

What can a travel creator learn from one of the biggest guitar teachers on YouTube? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Marty Schwartz is the creator of Marty Music, a guitar education brand with close to five million YouTube subscribers and thousands of lessons produced over nearly two decades.

Marty joined us at TBEX North America in Richmond, and although he works in a completely different corner of the creator economy, the similarities are striking.

In Part 1 of our conversation, Marty talks with Palle Bo and Rick Calvert about growing an audience before anyone really knew what a "YouTuber" was, turning free content into a sustainable business, and why creators in different industries should pay more attention to what they can learn from each other.

We also get into brand deals, the difference between free products and actually getting paid, how the pandemic transformed partnerships in the music industry, and why Marty deliberately chose an affordable Epiphone for his signature guitar rather than a more expensive Gibson.

And sometimes branding starts with something as simple as a hat.

In this episode

• How Marty rebuilt his YouTube presence from scratch and reached almost five million subscribers
• Why creators should learn from industries outside their own
• Free products versus paid brand partnerships
• How Marty turned guitar education into products, courses and recurring revenue
• Why his fedora became an instantly recognizable part of the Marty Music brand

Relevant links

• Marty Music https://martymusic.com
• Marty Music on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@MartyMusic
• Free Marty Music Guitar Courses & Resources https://martymusic.com/free-courses
• Marty Music Community https://martymusic.com/memberships
• TBEX https://tbexcon.com

Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.

With AI producing more content and Google constantly changing the rules, how does a travel creator actually stand out? Josefine and Dom of Red White Adventures have a refreshingly simple answer: be more yourself.

The Danish-Canadian couple has travelled together for more than eight years and turned what began as a casual travel blog into a full-time content business focused on outdoor adventures, slow travel, and the digital nomad lifestyle.

Recorded at TBEX Europe in San Sebastián, this conversation gets into the reality behind that journey – from learning SEO and affiliate marketing to working with tourism boards, building multiple income streams, and deciding to commit fully to the blog.

They also talk candidly about the uncertainty created by Google updates, why creators need to think long term, and why following every social-media trend can eventually make everyone look the same.

Perhaps their most useful advice comes down to something no algorithm or AI tool can easily reproduce: your own experiences, personality, and point of view.

In this episode:

• Why staying longer in a destination can lead to better travel content
• How Red White Adventures turned a hobby blog into a business
• Their approach to affiliate marketing, brand partnerships, and diversification
• Why community matters when the industry is changing
• How personality and authenticity can help creators stand out in the age of AI

Relevant links

• Red White Adventures: https://redwhiteadventures.com/
• Produced by RadioGuru: https://radioguru.co.uk
• TBEX: https://tbexcon.com/

Follow Travel Matters in your podcast app for a new conversation every Friday.