Travel Matters

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.