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13 Travel and Language Blogs You Should be Reading

Here, you will find a short and concise list of 13 travel and language blogs that completely blew our minds.  The list features key contributors to the travel industry who, through their passion for the world, are sharing some of the best content on the internet!  Our intention wasn't to rank the blogs because we think they all add something unique and compelling, making each of them the best in their own way. So we urge you to check them all out if you're interested in travel or are looking for some extra inspiration to help you plan your next big adventure!  The list is in no particular order!

Susan Shain - www.susanshain.com

“This is one serious travel blog that won’t take itself too seriously. Pinky swear.”

Formerly Travel Junkette, Susan Shain’s self-titled blog is exactly what I look for when I’m planning a trip or just browsing for an interesting read about someone else’s adventures. As the name change indicates, Susan Shain (the blog) has matured and evolved along with the author herself. Her creative and engaging posts rope the reader in with catchy titles like “How to Kiss in Mongolia” (which showcases Susan’s love for photography, candy, children, and baby animals) and “Why I Hate Skiing in Japan” (Don’t be fooled, after reading, it would seem that skiing in Japan is glorious).  Susan is not getting rich with her writing but in many ways she is ‘living the dream’ of every travel blogger, supporting herself as a freelance writer and digital marketer – giving her the flexibility to travel when and where she wants to. As a self-described ‘refugee from cubicle life’ Susan resembles thousands of other bloggers in her intention, just trying to get out of the office and live life in the wide world, but her exceptional execution sets her apart. Her extensive posts cover diverse travel experiences in over 40 countries, including unique trips into the wilderness and first-hand stories about doing a variety of seasonal work. This blog offers the best of both worlds – humorous, personal stories from the adventuress herself, and plenty of practical information on traveling and working abroad. There’s lots of content but it’s simple to navigate thanks to helpful links that let you jump easily between narrative and how-to information without disrupting the cohesion of the reading experience. What makes this blog so great is that it is the embodiment of a passion project. Susan Shain is a fun, funny, lighthearted, and inspirational blog written from a young female perspective. Susan’s posts, while very informative, give the reader the feeling of having an easy conversation with a close friend, and the images she captures are just as engaging spirited as her writing. 

Ryan Barry Travels - www.ryanbarrytravels.com

Adventure Travel Blogger & Fine Art Nature Photographer – "Trust me, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

Adventure travel blogger, fine art nature photographer, and aspiring painter Ryan Barry has put together an understated but exquisite blog. Ryan Barry Travels describes Ryan’s unique, nature-oriented trips and is the perfect companion to his Nova Scotia adventure tour company Great Earth Expeditions. This sleek blog manages to be both professional and fun. It is evident that it evolved organically, as a natural result of the author doing those things which he is most passionate about. Ryan’s articles are full of useful, informative, unassumingly conveyed facts about local history and culture, such as the story of the Mi’kmaq god Glooscap, which is integrated seamlessly into the post “Cape Split, Nova Scotia – Natural wonder or mythical creation?” Most of his posts cover excursions in Nova Scotia but his most recent addition to the video series ‘Great Earth Expeditions – The Travel Series’ takes place in enchanting Iceland! Ryan Barry Travels is full of spectacular nature photography with descriptive, clever, and entertaining captions that show you that Ryan doesn’t take himself too seriously. There is one particularly lovely photo of a majestic bald eagle swooping down to snatch a fish off the beach in the post “Babymooning, Cabot Trail (Day #3) Swimming with the Dolphins, well kinda” captioned Nice of you to drop in for a meal, the juxtaposition of which makes me laugh. Ryan’s writing style is very lyric and poetic but still fun and a bit whimsical. Each post encourages the reader to slow down and appreciate the essence and the beauty of nature, from the minute to the magnificent. The voice of an expert and the thoughtful, practised esthetic of fine arts are evident in both the images and writing of Ryan Barry Travels. This proud Canadian blogger offers the reader informative, well-curated calls to adventure, making this one of my favourite nature and wildlife experience blogs!

Eh Canada Travel - www.ehcanadatravel.com/blog

“Sorry to disappoint but what you get are two brothers who wear allot of hats.“

This fun, quirky, familiar feeling blog is one of the most comprehensive blogs I have come across about the diversity of adventure travel opportunities in Canada. Eh Canada Travel was created and is maintained by brothers Colin and Greg Girard who, like many other bloggers, left the corporate world to pursue travelling and writing as a full time career. The enthusiasm of the Girard brothers is evident throughout the blog and the ‘Map of Blog Locations’ reveals a series of pins that truly extend from coast to coast – although the areas of focus are Western and Northern Canada. Posts range from adventure experiences like “Selkirk Tangiers Heli Hiking, Flightseeing, Revelstoke, BC” to detailed articles about interesting but lesser known attractions like “Interview with Hopkins Dining Parlour in Saskatchewan, Canada”. The first post includes photos and video along with plenty of useful information about planning your own heli hiking, flightseeing experience, while the latter offers a unique insight into an eclectic and whimsical historical house in Moose Jaw. The Hopkins House, which has been featured on “Creepy Canada” and in the book “Canada Ghost to Ghost”, is said to harbour Minnie the Ghost and other supernatural spirits (oooooo!) This comprehensive, clever, and frankly phrased blog really showcases the variety of Canadian cultural and natural wonders as well as the many ways you can choose to experience them. This is a useful and entertaining resource for learning about a wide range of exciting wilderness activities that you might not have considered otherwise.

Raw Langs - www.rawlangs.com

“The more you learn, the easier it gets. Honestly.” - Alex Rawlings, Language Teacher and Polyglot."

Even within a somewhat specific genre like ‘travel’ the best blogs are those which have an even more explicit focus. Raw Langs is just that, a fantastic blog about the reciprocal relationship between travel and immersive language learning. The creator and author of Raw Langs is Alex Rawlings, a young man with a very impressive ‘About Me’ page. Even though he is just 21 years old Alex Rawlings already teaches four languages: English, German, Russian, and Greek. He is currently fluent in 11 languages and was named Britain’s most multilingual student in 2012. He is originally from London but this adventurous blogger has lived all over the world, improving and expanding his language skills through experience with native speakers. Rawlings had this to say about the advantages of studying a language in its cultural context: “It doesn’t matter how hard or easy a language may be. If you don’t have any need to learn it, then you probably won’t. But even with the hardest language in the world, if you really want to speak it then you will. Work hard at it, and you’ll even speak it well.” Despite his many accomplishments, Alex’s blog remains funny, accessible and unassuming. His posts combine thoughtfully edited videos, beautiful photos, and eloquent writing. Additionally, the entire website is available in all four of the languages he teaches! Raw Langs functions partially as a way for interested students to get in touch with multilingual Rawlings and as a way for him to advertise and post about the monthly Polyglot workshops he runs in partnership with other well-known polyglot Richard Simcott. Aside from these practical goals, Rawling’s blog is about the nature of languages and why we learn them. He doesn’t just talk about the practical aspects of language study but about the very personality of different languages. Some of his best posts include “Falling in and out of love with Portuguese”, “How to pass for a native speaker”, and “How to Really Learn 30 Languages”. This is an excellent blog for anyone interested in the experience of learning another language. It tackles big questions like ‘Is linguistics a science or an art?’ with short pieces that are at once informative, entertaining, and encouraging.  

Lindsay Does Language - www.lindsaydoeslanguages.com

"Blogging, vlogging, and teaching all things language."

Lindsay Does Language is an enthusiastic and nicely focused blog dedicated to the author’s unbridled passion for languages: “I learn, teach, blog, vlog, eat, sleep, and breathe everything language.” One of the things that makes this blog so excellent is how interactive it is. While the website is certainly injected with Lindsay’s personality and enthusiasm for language learning, the focus is more on networking to build a community of language learners who can work and study together. Lindsay Does Language does a wonderful job of creating a language-learning community in the following ways:
  1. She keeps this blog separate from her personal blog Mundo Trundle, making it easy to navigate and appropriately specific. No matter what's happening in our author's life, you're sure to find only language-learning related content here. 
  2. She regularly collaborates with other bloggers to produce more multifaceted content such as in her Blogger Linkup posts. In these collaborative posts, bloggers share their monthly goals and encourage readers to do the same. 
  3. She offers organized, fun and useful challenges that all readers can participate in, such as the #IGLC Instagram Language Challenge. Readers are asked to make a sentence inspired by the prompts and share it! Accessible contests like these, which incorporate social media, promote learning and engagement in a very accessible way. 
  4. She provides helpful, FREE learning materials to email subscribers!
Lindsay’s video “Here are some favourite words of just a handful of attendees at this year’s Polyglot Gathering in Berlin in May” really captures the spirit of Lindsay Does Language, as a place for people to come together to learn new languages and better understand each other for no particular reason (other than for the love of language). This video is particularly interesting because it’s actually a compilation of different speakers at a Polyglot workshop run by one of our other top-bloggers, Alex Rawlings, and Richard Simcott. If you’re looking for a blog to help keep you on track with your language learning goals, then Lindsay Does Language is perfect for you!

The Adventure Blog - www.theadventureblog.blogspot.ca/

“News, commentary and insights on adventure from around the globe.”

The web is seemingly filled with average, run of the mill travel content, urging young wanderlusts to leave their conventional lives behind and book a one way ticket to everywhere, accentuating the need for excitement and adventure that can’t be fulfilled by the old ball n’ chain 9-5 lifestyle. While I believe in and promote this mantra to the fullest, it’s difficult to find a source that offers travel info and acumens that doesn’t preach the exact same message as the other 50,000 blogs from around the world.  After scouring the web for such a lead, and virtually giving up, I stumbled across The Adventure Blog. For many, adventure travel should be about endless fun and exhilaration (and almost nothing else), and what better way to convince millennial wanderlusts to ditch the less-than-compelling 9-5 life than by serving up fun and exhilarating stories of real experiences. The Adventure Blog does just this; covering cool and unique travel encounters and insights that are way more exciting than “the best 10 places to eat on a rainy day in Barcelona” post you’ll find on basically every other travel webpage. The Adventure Blog’s latest post features one of the world’s most fascinating adventure events – the Primal Quest Adventure Race – this race pits 11 4-man (co-ed) teams against one another in a 643 km battle across the rugged terrain of Lake Tahoe, California. It is a well-written, intriguing account that invites the reader to learn more and follow suit by reading other like-minded posts. In short, The Adventure Blog showcases useful and (more importantly) exciting content for people specifically interested in adventure travel from a wide-range of perspectives. There is a tonne of info to be found here and visitors can easily find a variety of articles sorted by category, interest, and popular tags.

Travel with Pedro - www.travelwithpedro.com/

“Sharing some travel tips, experiences through stories and practical information on how to travel the world in comfort without breaking the bank.”

If you’re in search of a blog written from the perspective of someone who works in the travel industry, then Travel with Pedro might be the place to start. He has seemingly been all around the world, and his blog is where he shares his stories of his time spent exploring new places far from home. While English is not his first language, he is still able to convey his insights and sentiments in a clear, concise and creative way and this further adds to the blog’s charm.  Pedro provides thorough accounts of his trips and adventures on almost every continent, and he writes and shares detailed and enthusiastic food reviews from each of the exotic places he visits. He focuses on the highlights – cool and unique dishes – rather than describing the subtleties of every one of his meals abroad. During his latest trip to Thailand, Pedro tried a local delicacy – deep fried scorpion! He says the cultural dish is a must-try despite the creature’s hair raising reputation in other parts of the word.  Pedro’s site also has a relatively new feature – he writes useful reviews of the hotels and restaurants he’s recently visited. While this section of the website does not have much content yet, there is lots of potential! All in all, Travel with Pedro is pretty cool and offers up some nice and thoughtful insights. You can tell his goal is to help other travellers as much as he possibly can, which is a commendable feat for a travel blogger. While this isn’t the best site to visit for every destination, his posts are thorough and provide future travellers with useful and intriguing information.  Travel with Pedro is definitely worth a visit if you’re thinking of travelling but are unsure of where to start!

Off Track Travel - www.offtracktravel.ca/

“If you’re looking for outdoor adventure and long-term travel advice and inspiration, you’re in the right place.”

As a British-Canadian couple making their way around the world, Jean Robert and Gemma, the creators and architects of Off Track Travel have sought to inspire would-be travellers to follow in their footsteps. The website as a whole showcases the fun, fascinating, and informative experiences of this adventure-seeking couple as they venture to new and exciting places. Together, the website and blog offer reviews and stories of the places the couple have travelled to along with information on working holidays (Canada, United Kingdom, and New Zealand), stories about the various road trips they’ve undertaken, insights into the many outdoor adventures they’ve tried, and general travel tips for curious adventurers.  The layout of the website makes it very easy to navigate and its contents are well organized – a major plus for visitors in a hurry. I would highly recommend Off Track Travel to individuals interested in travelling around Canada in particular since it offers a wealth of relevant and useful travel information about this magnificent country. Jean and Gemma showcase many of Canada’s highlights with a wide-range of photographs and narratives recounting their first-hand travel experiences. Off Track Travel is a great resource for other destinations as well, however, it’s clear that Canada is our bloggers’ principle area of expertise. I was also rather impressed with the outdoor adventure section of the website, as it covers a cool and unique side of the travel industry that is becoming increasingly popular among travellers and adventurers alike.  They highlight top places (mostly in Canada) for experiencing adventure travel through camping, cultural cuisine, hiking, paddling (canoeing and kayaking), snowboarding, and wildlife exploration. They also include many beautiful photographs that showcase different activities and locations. Off Track Travel is an awesome resource for helping you plan your own adventure and it also makes for a fun read. I visit this website fairly often just to see where this adventurous couple is off to next!

Indelible Adventures - www.terence-indelibleadventures.blogspot.ca/

“Indelible Adventures is about engaging your senses and passions to live a more fulfilled and present life.”

Perhaps the most detail-oriented blog on this list, Indelible Adventures does an excellent job of creating a compelling series of travel narratives that connect the adventure-seeking reader with his or her next destination. The posts are written from a position of passion and intrigue which enables the reader to feel comfortable and connected with both the writer and the experiences being shared. Indelible Adventures is a well-written blog that implicitly invites visitors back for more through its fun attitude, inventive style, and creative conceptualization. With passions that go far beyond conventional travel, Indelible Adventures creator Terence Wallis shares his love for the world through photography, cuisine and (of course) adventure! His posts have an inspiring style which encourages readers to follow in his footsteps and seek out their own adventures. Thanks to his creativity and evocative style Terence has built up a loyal following of readers (myself included!) who eagerly await tales of his next adventure. One of the best parts of Indelible Adventures is the exquisite photography, which is an integral part of Terence’s storytelling and accentuates the beauty of the destinations being written about. While it might be easy to snap a pic of a fleeting sunset or pristine mountain range, it is not just any picture that can evoke the complex range of emotions that come from experiencing a place of beauty – Indelible Adventures does just this, in a big way.  From faraway lands to his home in Toronto, Canada, Terence captures unique, sometimes fleeting moments, and shares them with his global readership so that we too can appreciate the wonder of travelling. Visitors to Indelible Adventures will also find a variety of useful travel tips that help with every stage of the travel process – from packing suitcases to the bewildering experience of returning home. This helps make Indelible Adventures a very valuable resource for wanderlusts who are unsure of how to plan and need sound advice from a veteran traveller willing to share his experiences and memories. 

Our Big Fat Travel Adventure - www.ourbigfattraveladventure.com/

“One couple’s incredible journey around the world.”

What started out as an online travel journal for friends and family to follow this wanderlust couple’s journey around the world has successfully become a hub for travel information and stories with readers and followers around the globe! Amy and Andrew (Our Big Fat Travel Adventure creators) set out to fulfil their dream of seeing the world and haven’t looked back since, chronicling each and every adventure they embark on as a way to remember their wild experiences and share them with other like-minded travellers. By sharing their personal accounts of adventure they hope to inspire others to get out there and see the world in all its vastness and beauty! Our Big Fat Travel Adventure hosts a great mix of information including travel costs for particular countries, complete travel guides for specific destinations, and tips for trip planning (financing, getting around in a new place, useful travel gear and equipment, specific vaccinations travellers should know about before departure, etc.) With so much information, Our Big Fat Travel Adventure is one of the best blogs to help you with your own travels! I also really like the way they use social media to keep in touch with their readers. While it’s important for any blogger to have a social media presence, Amy and Andrew use these tools in a cool and effective way.  Their constantly updated Facebook page and Twitter feed showcase their adventures in real time, essentially eliminating the spatial and temporal distance between them and their followers. When you’re off travelling the world it’s easy to get lost in new experiences so a constant social media stream connecting them in real-time is truly a feat! To sum up, Our Big Fat Travel Adventure is a great resource if you’re looking to plan an adventure of your own and are looking for pointers from a couple who have done it themselves! 

One Girl's Adventures - www.onegirlsadventures.com/

“Come Explore the World with Me.”

As a restless web surfer with a case of wanderlust, I immediately had high expectations for One Girl’s Adventures when I first stumbled across it. This charming blog is quick to grab the attention of visitors with its welcoming homepage and it’s assertive yet easy to navigate layout. I had high expectations from the outset and somehow saying that it delivered on them still feels like a huge understatement. It’s easy to tell that Jen blogs to share her stories and experiences without any sort of hidden agenda. She likes to travel, document her adventures and inspire others.  One Girl’s Adventures features detailed and genuinely insightful posts about cool destinations. While this might not seem like something completely out of the ordinary, Jen’s writing has a very particular style – she has managed to create something I had never considered, a blog with swagger! So how exactly has Jen created a blog with swagger? Firstly, she knows what she’s talking about, and nothing ever seems as credible as when it’s coming from an authoritative and in-the-know source. Secondly, her humbleness and brevity is not only insightful, it’s believable. And thirdly, it’s just a fun site to visit! Content wise, there’s a lot to read, which is great for visitors who are looking for travel inspiration or for those just looking to read about Jen’s worldly adventures. She has been around the globe and her posts represent destinations on nearly every continent on this beautiful planet, from the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru to the grassy meadowlands that shelter Bhutan. Her stories are organized by country so it’s easy to find your bearings and navigate the site when you are searching for particular content. Jen also provides a useful resources page full of tips and tricks for travellers, including places to find affordable flights. This is a new website feature, so I can only assume it’ll gain momentum with time. All in all, this is a great website to find travel inspiration or simply follow Jen as she takes you on a journey with her fun and insightful narratives! 

Rexy Edventures - www.rexyedventures.com

"Adventures of a Deaf and Handsome Luxury Backpacker Travelling the Unexpected."

Rexy Edventures is very much a ‘cool guy blog’. If you have ever stayed in a hostel then you have surely met one or two entertaining characters like Ed Rex, the exuberant young man behind Rexy Edventures. There’s always that one person in every hostel who seems to have been everywhere, have a story about everything, and the abundant energy to tell you all about it if you have time to listen! This same character invariably manages to stay up later than you, get up earlier than you, and do and see more than you (even if you did bring a guidebook that you actually read and marked with little sticky papers). Just to clarify, I don’t actually know about Ed Rex’s sleeping habits, but his blog paints a picture of a zealous traveller and blogger in perpetual motion. One of Rexy’s most fun posts is entitled “The Naked Travel Blogger”, in which he recounts his surprising experience working as a gardener on a Nudist resort in Australia – ‘surprising’ because he wasn’t aware that ‘open-minded’ meant ‘but-naked’ when he took the job. This post really captures the essence of Rexy Adventures as our blogger shares a story of personal growth that all started with trying something new in a new place. He relates the positives and the pitfalls of his vaguely absurd experiences abroad in a funny, facetious, and forthright fashion, and includes a few cheeky photos that show off his personality. A big part of Rexy’s blog that makes it stand out from others is his frank, thoughtful, and informative posts on what it is like to travel as a deaf person. They are also funny. (Did I mention that this blog is funny?) These posts help to break down stereotypical views of deaf people and show that there are advantages (like being able to sleep perfectly soundly in a noisy hostel) as well as disadvantages to travelling as a deaf person, but that there is no reason deafness should stop anyone who feels called to adventure! Rexy’s description of sounds that most of us take for granted also adds a unique and compelling dimension to his blog as the reader is transported to the moment being described, to what he calls “The World of Rexy”. Rexy Adventures is a blog pervaded by confidence and growth – qualities that people look to gain from travelling. It seems like Rexy is governed by persistent optimism, he takes what life throws at him and turns it into opportunity. The evident enthusiasm in this blog really makes it a wonderful read in addition to being a helpful resource.

Ottsworld - http://www.ottsworld.com/start-here/

"The Quest for Newness."

Ottsworld by self-proclaimed Nomad, Adventurer, Digital Wanderer, Badass, and Corporate America Runaway Sherry is more than just a travel blog, it’s an honest and informative blog about unconventional living. It’s about personal growth, the world – the beauty, complexities, and possibilities which exist all around us – and the happiness that comes from understanding the difference between what you want and what you need. Ottsworld is a wonderful reminder that life is about being happy, not about being ‘normal’.
Sherry started her travels in 2006 with the intention of taking a year long career break. The plan was to travel to 20 something countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe and then return to the conventional, corporate world. Ottsworld is evidence that the ‘return’ part never happened. Sherry has now been on the road for 9 years, living out of a suitcase, doing odd jobs, and blogging about her adventures. Her career break has turned into a career unto itself. She has been to all seven continents and her posts are focused on local, ‘authentic’ experiences in each place as well as the way each experience has benefited her person. One of the most compelling series of posts on Ottsworld is called “The Niece Project”. Sherry doesn’t have any children of her own or any plans for children but she does have nieces. She told each of them that for their 16th birthday she would take them to any country of their choosing “Because once the world starts to open up to you – so does your mind” and “The Niece Project” relates their adventures together. These pieces are particularly fascinating to me because they come from the perspective of a seasoned traveler re-experiencing international travel for the first time. They address the idea of what makes a family, show the way that travel can strengthen all sorts of bonds, and emphasize the value of seeing, learning, and being present in the world! The Nomadic life is certainly not for everyone but it is possible and can be incredible. Check out Ottsworld for a thoughtful, comprehensive blog about world travel! Ottsworld also pairs very well with Sherry’s other business/website ‘Meet Plan Go’ which can help you plan your very own career break.