Eleven years ago this month, in March 2014, I hit “publish” on my very first post, marking the beginning of One Trip at a Time. At the time, Lee and I had just returned from one of our first trips together and I was busting with excitement to share it with friends, family, and anyone and everyone that would listen to me.
Starting out, One Trip at a Time was simply a journal of our travels. It was a way to capture the places we visited, special moments, and even some misadventures along the way. I also used it to track my travel goals, plan for future trips, and reflect on each year’s travel with an annual recap (something I really miss doing!). As part-time travellers, we made the absolute most of our annual leave and business trips, and this blog became our space to relive all those wonderful experiences.
First photo I posted on my brand new travel blog in 2014
Another thing I really enjoyed was interacting with readers and connecting with other bloggers. Whether it was someone reminiscing about a place they’d visited or a message from someone planning a trip and finding our site helpful, those comments made blogging even more rewarding.
Now, here in 2025, I find myself looking back at how it all started, and I realise that I really miss that “old-school” style of blogging! So, after much mulling, I think it’s time for One Trip at a Time to return to its roots.
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After a few years of posting regular travel journal type posts, I began to make some changes in 2018, driven by the possibility of turning One Trip at a Time into a way to fund more travel (or even to travel full-time one day). To learn how to do that, I took blogging courses, studied what “successful” travel bloggers were doing, and started changing the blog’s focus based on all this “advice”.
Instead of focusing on personal travel stories, I shifted to creating in-depth, researched travel guides and SEO-friendly posts. Lee also joined me so we could post more articles, more frequently. And for a while, it worked.
The blog gained some traction and reached more people searching for travel advice. So, while One Trip at a Time grew in that sense, it really didn’t bring in a significant income, and then, of course, 2020 happened, putting a pause on everything related to travel, especially continuing to try and grow a travel blog.
Copenhagen in October 2019 on what would be our last trip before the world shut down in 2020
During this time, we did enjoy aspects of the changes we’d made but in the process we fell woefully behind on documenting our own trips. We prioritized writing “better” articles (based on our experiences) over simply writing our travel journal, and now looking back, I really miss having that record of our many adventures and wish we’d kept up with our travel journal too.
In the past couple of years, we’ve written only a handful of new posts so, it became clear that our passion for the blog was dwindling. I’ve felt completely stuck and have wondered many times whether I even wanted to keep the blog up and running at all.
The more I’ve thought about the possible directions One Trip at a Time could go, the more I realized that what I truly miss is the fun of writing about our travels simply because I want to and not because I feel obligated to create a certain type of post.
I want to return to that “old school” way of travel blogging, sharing our adventures as they happen, especially while the details are still fresh in my memory (which is why I need to write about our most recent trip to Quebec City sooner than later!). I also want to connect with readers over our shared love of travel and go back to injecting more of our personality (and opinions!) into our posts.
Don’t get too excited though, you still won’t see many more photos of us because we still very much prefer being behind the camera!
Our most recent trip in October 2024 took us to beautiful Quebec City in Canada.
I want One Trip at a Time to be where we get to relive our adventures, both as I write about them and then later on when we read back through the posts.
I also can’t deny that there’s a bit of nostalgia happening here with this desire to recapture the way travel blogging felt when I first started — before everything became about keywords, pageviews, and keeping up with social media. Ugh! It’s just all too much!
Moving forward, One Trip at a Time will return to being blend of personal travel journals and, only when I feel inspired, in-depth travel guides. I’m also excited to bring back some of the types of post I’ve missed the most, like tracking our travel goals, sharing trip plans, and, especially, our annual travel recaps where we reflect on all the amazing adventures we had during that year.
I’ll also be revisiting past trips that have never made it onto the blog, finally documenting those experiences before the little details fade from memory forever. And, of course, I’ll still share travel tips and advice along the way wherever I can.
Ranville War Cemetery on our last day in France for our WWII trip in 2014.
So, whether you’ve been reading for years or are just finding us now, we’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment, share your own travel experiences, let us know if there are places you’d like us to write about next (we may have been there), or just say hello.
Here’s to reliving past adventures and exploring the world …One Trip at a Time!
Thanks for reading!
I’d love to hear your thoughts or your own travel stories in the comments. I read every one and enjoy chatting with fellow travellers.
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WHERE ARE WE NOW?
At home in beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada.
UPCOMING ADVENTURES
Spring 2026 – Norwegian Fjords Cruise, Prague City Break, and Balkans Tour
“Absolutely loved visiting your site! Each story feels so alive — it’s not just about destinations, but about the emotions, people, and moments that make travel meaningful. Your writing truly transports readers; I could almost feel myself walking those same paths
Love this return to classic travel blogging! Personal stories always make the journey more relatable and inspiring.
Thanks! I’m glad to hear there are others like us that are looking for a bit more of the personal stories.
Great post! I’ve always believed that travel is one of the best ways to grow as a person. It’s amazing how exploring new cultures, trying different cuisines, and stepping out of your comfort zone can completely change your perspective on life. Thanks for sharing your experience—it’s really inspired me to plan my next travel adventure!
Thanks Arman! We definitely agree with you. Hope your next adventure is amazing!