Travel Blogging and Social Media hashtags and feature accounts

As we all know, being on social media is crucial especially for bloggers and artists because that's the main way people find out about us. As a travel blogger, it's good to have visibility via specific hashtags and features. These are the ones I find most useful for Instagram. Keep in mind that I keep my caption clean from these hashtags and only use my own, but add them in the comments below to give a neater look to the photos. 

Top Travel Hashtags

Daily Travel hashtag: #TravelTuesday #WanderlustWednesday 

General Travel hashtags: #travel #wanderlust #explore #travelfind #discover #instatravel #traveljunkie 

use: season, day, county, city, occasion as well. 

Top Travel Feature Accounts

Might be a good idea to start with smaller accounts because bigger ones get 100s of tags a day. 

#LPTraveller @lonelyplanettraveller 
#BBCTravel or #LoveTheWorld @bbc_travel
#WeLiveToExplore @WeLiveToExplore
#wonderful_places @wonderful_places
#TheGlobeWanderer @TheGlobeWanderer
#beautifuldestinations @beautifuldestinations
#IPulledOverForThis @IPulledOverForThis
#PassionPassport @PassionPassport
#TLPicks @travelandleisure
#discoverearth @discoverearth
#darlingescapes @darlingescapes

Top Travel Feature Accounts and Hashtags Specifically for London

#ThisisLondon @London
#london4all #london4all_video @london4all
#TopLondonPhoto @TopLondonPhoto
#London_only @London_only
#lotiloves @londontheinside
#timeoutlondon @timeoutlondon

Top Travel Feature Accounts specifically for females

This photo was featured on @Globelletravels  and there are a number of travelling females account that support and empower such as: #Girlsborntotravel @Girlsborntotravel , #girlsmeetglobe @girlsmeetglobe , #girlsLOVEtravel @girlslovetravel , #femmetravel @femmetravel, #TheTravelWomen @TheTravelWomen. 

Top Travel Feature Accounts specifically for Muslim and/or Arab travellers:

The photo below was featured on #361.world @361.world 
There is also #muslimtravelers @muslimtravelers 

For Feetlfies (feet selfies) for when you are travelling and when you are home: 

#fwarabs @fwarabs

#fromwhereIstand #FWIS @fromwhereIstand

#Ihavethisthingwithfloors @Ihavethisthingwithfloors

#Ihavethisthingwithtiles @Ihavethisthingwithtiles

PS. remember that if you are using brands/products or you are in a place that owns a social media account you should tag them too! 

connect with me on insta @designeresra

Over to you: What are your favourite travel hashtags and accounts? 

My Travel Tech Kit

Hey everyone! I am packing for a short trip and I thought it's time to share my travel tech kit with you all in case you are wondering! :) You can shop the list below as well :)

PS. These are affiliate links, if you buy via my links you'll pay nothing more and I'll get a small bonus for sending you! :) 

Devices: iPhone + iPad

Cameras (for photos & videos): Canon G7x mark 1 + Nikon D7100 + GoPro Hero 

Chargers: 1 charger for iPhone & iPad + 1 charger for the external charger + camera charger

Pods: Tripod (light weight from Amazon Basic) + monopod (aka selfie stick) + a tiny phone tripod (I usually use that at home, but take it on art trips to record process videos.    

Extras: Headphones + external charger (I take two) + three memory cards 64GB + adapter 

PS. Make sure everything is charged before you pack it. 

I pack all the kit in one carry on bag. I am still a beginner in photography, so I only use one lens (the one I got with the camera). On longer trips, I pack my laptop and external hard drive too, which makes the bag really heavy! 

Over to you: what's in your travel tech kit?

My First Travel Vlog

Hi everyone, 

For some reason, I am not crazy over videos, but I have been talking myself into making some videos especially for some of the unique destinations that I was fortunate to visit such as Iran. 

Making a travel video was the hardest thing I have done in my blogging career. Some might laugh, but I am serious. It was weeks and weeks of agony. The process started from the trip. I had to be conscious during my trip and take more videos because I usually just take photos and write about the places. I had to discard a lot of videos I took because they were shaky, unclear and some were even taken with a dirty lens! :O

Then came editing!

Here are some of the challenges I faced while making the video and some of my solutions: 

• Choosing the right footage. I had to choose from four devices. 
• Writing a voice over to match. 
• Picking a mic to record my voice over because the built in mic was too weak and caused an echo. I ended up buying the snowball mic from Blue Microphones because it had over 600 positive reviews.  
• Choosing Music that I am allowed to use. That was really stressful and just settled for a track from the free Youtube Audio Library.    
• Editing! This dilemma took the longest. I started with making the movie on iMovies and the audio on GarageBand. I worked them both, but then bringing the movie and the audio together was painful, so I followed Super Kat's advice and I switched to Adobe Premier Pro and that just saved my life and made the process much quicker. (I spent an extra 5 hours, but they were good 5 hours).  

I was very excited when I finally finished the editing. I know the video still needs to be better, but that's my first one and I am hoping it will get easier the more I do it. Now, I leave you with it! 

Feel free to share any vlogging making tips in the comments below! 

Five Packing Tips for Lighter Bags

I have been going on short breaks lately on really cheap flights and part of the cheapness is due to the lack of luggage. When I first started traveling my bags were semi heavy and I regretted it. Now I have been flying much lighter & here are my top tips:

1- Throw in the towel

Literally. Just don't pack one. Most places will have spare clean towels. 

2- Plan your outfits

Just take one outfit for either each day or one for two days ( rotate them). As a hijabi I wear an extra layer so I pack two basic long-sleeve under shirts, light tops and two headscarves (hijabs) that could go with more than one outfit. To give you an idea here are the outfits I wore in Iran and Morocco. 

3- Only take two pairs of jeans

Including the one you are wearing. So you are only packing one. Skinny light jeans are even better. 

4- One or two pairs of shoes

I usually just take one very comfortable pair that is tried and tested. If you must, take another cute pair ( preferably flats coz they can be squashed into a tiny amount of space). 

5-Edit your makeup kit

Do you really use everything in your makeup bag? Take absolute essentials. Primer ( with moisturiser in it), foundation ( with spf/ sun block in it), concealer, powder, blusher, eyeliner and all-day lipstick & maybe one extra dark colour in case you do something fancy. Keep in mind liquid makeup goes into the liquids bag outside. 

Over to you: What are your top tips for a lighter bag whilst travelling?