I was invited to Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay for a “Travel with Style Stay” just before they do a complete face lifting to this iconic Sydney Harbour holiday destination. I would also love to include some of my travel tips by this chance.
So how would you like to sleep? I am that kind of person who loves to count stars falling asleep and wake up with the first slice of morning sunlight. Dear housekeeping, have my curtains wide open in the evening please! So here are the tips for travellers including asking for a room with right amount of direct lighting.
Firstly, why travel bloggers? Before travellers depart to their holiday or travel destination, they want to envision their location sightings but don’t feel adequately convinced by what is published on hotel websites or travel brochures. So a vast majority of people end up searching on such sites like TripAdvisor to gain access to ‘real photos.’ A travel blogger is like your blogging version of TripAdvisor but the difference is that a travel blogger (should) voice their critic, opinion and reviews from a genuine place which intrigues their followers and ultimately wins their trust and loyalty. Unlike travel advising and booking sites, travel bloggers intend to engage their readers with better articles, stories and photography as part of their personal brand for their blog. Ultimately as a travel blogger, you will have more of focus on your niche and to engage interest from your followers as opposed to creating general content to cater the general public.
1Plan Your Travel Early. When I say early, I mean really early. Consider all the possibilities and put’em in your google calendar and check list, there are many events and festivals hold around Sydney Harbour and CBD all year round, so check out if there are major road blocks if you are driving or having meetings that day. A little rainy morning can make sure you don’t get a taxi when you out of your hotel and delay for at least 20 minutes from Sydney CBD to Sydney CBD. Double confirmation for meetings, email PRs and Clients when u checked-in at hotel in case they forgot to put you into their calendar 6 weeks ago.Invite them into your google calendar and set alarms.
2Travel Bloggers Lifestyle Bloggers, make sure have your proposals ready before you book your flights – your media kits, website status and emails. Hand them over to Hotel’s marketing and public relation teams as early as possible. Your proposals mostly will be killed on their way from concierge/reception emails to marketing teams’, so make sure you follow it up yourself. Call them, email them again…ask their marketing teams’ names, email addresses, and phone numbers. if you don’t hear them back for a week, call them. So which means the conversation may take up to two weeks to complete and so you should have book your travels 6 weeks ahead, if it is for fashion weeks, 8 weeks ahead.
3Networking. If the hotels rejected your sponsorship proposal, don’t worry. Ask if there are media rates, media upgrades, explain your role, tell them why they should work with you. Bloggers and Instagrammers are still the “new media” for most businesses out there, not all the marketing “gurus” have dealt with bloggers before, it is your job to explain yourself.
4Prepare Everything. Colour Coordination. Check the hotels interiors, colour codes, look out the golden hours for taking photos. Make sure your outfits coordinate with hotel’s interiors, that means don’t bring 12 white outfits if the hotel’s interior is mostly white and muted colour tones. Check out the window’s directions if you are shooting in your room, ask for the rooms and windows facing the east if you want to shoot early in the morning. [Related Post: How to Pack a Suitcase]
5What’s in My Suitcase- Everyone is different, maybe you need 7 pairs of shoes for a week. For me, it is always skin care and vitamin pills. Choose your items what items to bring along really depends on how far you are travelling in distance. Are you are driving, flying, walking, biking, busing? If you are flying for example then take suitcases allowance into consideration. I am flying with Virgin Australia and I have a 23kg x 2 allowance for domestic travels, which is enough for me most of the time unless I am shooting for a project or away for more than 2 weeks. Always stock counter samples or travel sizes for unplanned trips and don’t use them at home. [Related Post: How to Pack a Suitcase]
6Learn how to take photos- To make sure you translate to your army of followers, the best possible visualisation. You are practically painting a picture for them so they can imagine what it would be like to travel. To achieve this, you will need to provide ONLY the best parts and to scratch the idea of taking every single detail of your journey. The golden hours are the best times to capture travel related photos and that’s when the sun rise ups and when its sets in the evening. Even many of those amazing beach bod snaps of supermodel lying on the sand or running through the water is usually captured in the crack of dawn just to get that perfect photo! That’s because the lighting is soft and vivid.
7Have your gear ready-The equipment you use will really depend on a few factors- What is your budget? Can you only carry for a ‘light travel?’ Do you have a photographer for the project and are they qualified to take the photos you want? My advice if you don’t have the cash to spend then you should get the latest iPhone. I am being serious! An iPhone is literally a ‘smart phone.’ It gets the job done easily even before you release the shutter so why not? If you are willing to make a larger investment, then buy the top notch quality camera as it truly does make a big difference from the cheaper ones. Don’t forget to get the correct lens as it is just as important as the camera body. I got to admit, I do laugh when I realise when people use a camera 3 times more expensive than mine when I would have initially thought they are using a Samsung phone! While it is a major craze these days, never use an Instagram filter unless you really know what you are doing. I have NEVER used an Instagram in my life. True story! [Related Post: How to Pack a Suitcase]
Final words … It takes a lot of initiative and hard work but will be worth it. Like @margaret_zhang elaborated in the Ted Talk Sydney, you will never succeed if you are just aiming for money in this industry, just like any other career, like if you are painting just to sell your work at a staggering price so you can get that big pay cheque in the end, then you can never be a successful painter or an artist. What are your travel tips? Let me know below or ask me any questions. K x
Photography: Demas Rusli
