Traveller of the Month: Trevor from Nomadic Backpacker

Welcome to the first Traveller of the Month for 2024! I’m super excited to be bringing back my Traveller of the Month series and continuing to showcase fellow bloggers so they can share their travel stories and wisdom with you.

For January 2024, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Trevor of Nomadic Backpacker!

PS: Missed any of my previous featured travellers? Meet all of the Travellers of the Month here.

All right, onto Trevor!

Please introduce yourself, Trevor. What’s your travel story?

I am a former racing cyclist and mountain runner from about an hour north of London (UK). I have worked as an electronic engineer, waiter and postman all of which was to fund my travels as a budget traveller, a backpacker.

I have backpacked through 106 UN-listed countries and 7 others I personally include in ‘my list’.

I am currently in England, trying to sort out my admin. Being of no fixed abode sounds appealing but have you ever tried to maintain an existence without an address?

When did you start your travel blog and what sort of stories do you share there?

I have been running my NomadicBackpacker blog since 2019 and it focuses mostly on my travels since just before the pandemic kicked in.

I provide budget travel tips like how to travel without using expensive tourist shuttles, going for the local chicken buses instead and information about crossing borders.

I am not against flying, it’s just that it’s much more fun to travel overland and my angle, my niche if I dare to use that word, is how to travel cheaply.

What do you do when you’re not travelling or writing about travel?

My whole life has been devoted to travelling and when I am not on travels, I am working to save money for the next adventure.

If you had to sum up your travel ethos in one phrase, what would it be?

Everywhere is game.

I am not all about nice. I go to many off-beat places as well as the more established places. Every place has a past, a history and thus a story that can be told and shared.

What’s your earliest travel memory?

Going to Devon with my mum, dad and sister.

What is your most unique travel moment?

In 2015/2016, I backpacked the 19,000km from Cairo to Cape Town. Overland. Absolutely no flights.

Incredible experience although after 7 months I arrived in Cape Town, my last port of call, and was attacked by two guys with knives. Not quite the ending I was hoping for.

How did COVID-19 impact your travels?

I was stuck in Kenya with all land borders and the airport closed. This was a very nervous time. The onus was on not getting sick.

Quarantine hotels would have cost big bucks and never knowing how long it was going to continue, was an intense time. I was ‘stuck’ for 105 days before getting an evacuation flight out.

Throughout the ordeal, I suffered and continue to suffer from anxiety. Being stuck played on my mind more than getting sick.

How can the travel industry or blogging community be more inclusive? What travel stories are we not hearing?

Bloggers write about only the nice part. So this is maybe only 80% of the experience. The other 20% should not be forgotten.

This is true life. Travels is not just an Instagram-perfect moment.

What is the longest trip you’ve ever been on? Shortest?

My longest trip was 1423 days.

The shortest would be a day trip or overnight trip from a permanent or semi-permanent base. And I have had surprisingly few of them because I go away for long periods so ‘short trips’, are included automatically and become part of the travels.

Fill in the blanks: Travelling has made me ____

Restless

What destinations are you nervous about visiting?

After surviving the attempted mugging at knifepoint in Cape Town, I’m nervous about places with bad reputations.

Though saying that, in 2022, I backpacked one of the most dangerous countries in the world, Honduras which included the capital, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, the most dangerous city in one of the most countries.

How do you cope with travel burnout or bad days on the road?

Yes, bad days on the road do exist. Not every day is paradise. Just deal with it however you feel right.

I am never one for sleeping-off bad days even on the worst of days. I have travelled many times after I’ve been running to the loo all of the previous night. I just eat bananas and sip a warm flat cola.

Travel burnout is caused by doing too much. Too much sensory overload? Give the sights a rest. Who cares if you’ve missed another church or museum?

Park yourself on a comfy chair on the hostel balcony rooftop, read a book, drink a beer and more importantly disconnect from the WiFi.

What do you wish you saw more of in the travel industry? What do you wish you saw less of?

More truths, fewer lies. I am not a fan of paid hostel reviews because the blogger will leave out the bad stuff.

Why blog about a place including importantly how you got there when you didn’t go there and you’ve copied someone else’s fake blog? Don’t fake it ’til you make it.

Don’t update blogs for 2024 by adding the date to the title when it’s a blog post from 2018.

Travel blogs are written around ads. I know people wanna make an income but the ads can be very intrusive and detach the reader from the article.

And I’d like to see less ‘I travel on 10 USD a day so I am a better traveller than you’.

Yes, I am a budget traveller. It’s my style. But I don’t care if you like travelling with a bigger budget or if you prefer 4-star hotels over a hostel.

Which other travellers, bloggers and writers inspire you?

Michael Powell of TheCandyTrail for his travels (which is how I came to travel in Africa), his ability to portray the story, and the wonderful photos.

Wade Shepard of Vagabond Journey for his kindness in giving me my first big break. I wrote 10 articles for his blog, during the Covid Lockdown, when I was stuck in Kenya for 3 months.

Jonny Blair of Don’t Stop Living for his blogging style and for telling it like it is. Nothing is glossed over.

Lastly, where can we find you online?

Blog: https://www.nomadicbackpacker.com
Twitter: @NomadicBackpac1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nomadicbackpac1 

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Thank you for kicking off my Traveller of the Month series for 2024, Trevor! Head on over to Trevor’s blog to hear more of his hot takes and stories from the road, plus stay tuned for February’s Traveller of the Month!