Most individuals won’t ever go to Iraq. The media drilled it into our heads: that is enemy territory. Step foot on this historical land and one thing dangerous will occur. As a substitute, we’re instructed to go to Paris. Seize fish and chips in London.
Keep secure. Keep typical.
Likelihood is, if you happen to stroll previous somebody sitting in a restaurant and even at their desk and look down at their telephone, you’ll catch them watching a creator traipsing by way of the cherry blossoms in Japan or seated at a noodle shack in Vietnam. And often, the particular person watching is rotting away of their cubicle, wishing they had been anyplace however enduring “workplace tradition” with its celebratory pizza and banal chatter.
In keeping with current knowledge, 78% of Individuals admit that social media influencers prompted them to discover new locations, eating places, or sights. We’re all dreaming of being all over the place, throughout generations:
- 86% of Gen Z say social content material has immediately influenced their journey selections.
- 71% of Millennials prioritize experiences over possessions, which explains why somebody backpacking by way of Indonesia would possibly really feel extra aspirational than somebody shopping for a Rolex.
However hardly ever are these desires of being in a former struggle zone.
Meet the Man Who’s Been All over the place (Actually, All over the place)
Combine wanderlust with a touch of economic voyeurism, and also you get the oldsters throwing their belongings in a pack and going for it. A type of individuals is Tom Grond, aka Traveltomtom.
Traveltomtom has been all over the place. And I’m not kidding.
Once we sat down to speak about his life as a creator, the dude known as me from a resort in Iraq as casually as somebody chilling poolside on the St. Louis Ramada. The Dutch journey vlogger has captured over 1 million YouTube subscribers together with his high-energy, budget-conscious adventures.
Tom’s content material is thought for cinematic storytelling and excessive challenges, like hitchhiking throughout nations or visiting each nation. He blends sweeping drone pictures with unfiltered, on-the-ground experiences.
And he’s obtained his movies all the way down to a science; Tom turns uncooked journey moments into curated tales with out falling into influencer cliché. Whereas many YouTubers depend on clickbait thumbnails to promote lukewarm content material, Tom leans on sharp modifying, Web optimization-smart titles, and a mixture of trending and evergreen locations that ship.
Nicely Traveled
Saint Augustine as soon as stated, “The world is a guide, and people who don’t journey learn just one web page.” Or, if you happen to favor your knowledge with a aspect of snark, Dick Clark put it this fashion: “Jet lag is for amateurs.”
Chatting with Tom from Iraq, I used to be greatly surprised by his optimism about touring by way of one of many world’s most contentious areas as if it had been no huge deal. He admitted that elements of well-traveled Europe had been far sketchier than his present locale.
“I feel vacationers ought to come right here. This place has 4,000 years of historical past. The individuals, they’re fantastic.” And if you happen to watch his movies in Baghdad, you see a aspect of the town past the rubble, past the autumn of Saddam Hussein.
You see individuals. You see life. You see markets and meals serving as a heartbeat.
Exterior of YouTube, Traveltomtom is crushing it on Instagram and TikTok, turning his journeys into scroll-stopping clips the algorithm can’t get sufficient of. He’s found out learn how to steadiness staying actual and enjoying the sport, mixing sincere takes with viral-ready hooks. His feed is a blueprint for different creators: learn how to make journey really feel thrilling and worthwhile, with out promoting your soul.
Tom has been on the highway a very long time: since 2006. That’s lots of aircraft rides and meals, each good and dangerous. And possibly a couple of abdomen bugs, too. He was writing travelogues lengthy earlier than everybody with an iPhone determined to doc the world. His weblog grew to become one of many largest within the English market. Regardless of getting a level in enterprise economics, the thought of a desk life by no means caught. For some time, he was a seashore bum within the Caribbean. In 2012, he pivoted right into a full-time traveler. He calls his weblog his “silent engine,”.
With it, he’s visited 159 nations.
The Technique Behind the Content material
He’s constructed a profession mixing content material technique, social media, and Web optimization to attract and maintain site visitors. Whereas the weblog thrived early on, his growth into platforms like Fb, Instagram, and TikTok blew his attain large open.
At first, his journey cycle seemed like this:
- Lower your expenses
- Hit the highway
- Return house
- Discover work
- Repeat
Ultimately, that advanced. “I saved about €75,000, which was about $100,000 again then. I may survive for 4 years,” Tom defined. From 2014 to 2016, as social media exploded, he realized his rising following may get him locations. Actually.
Although broke, he stayed in luxurious resorts within the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and India — all bills lined. It sounds unimaginable, however there was a catch: publicity didn’t pay the payments.
At a running a blog convention in Turkey, Tom had his wake-up second. Fellow bloggers with far smaller followings had been pulling $10,000 a month as a result of they monetized their web sites. And so they had been coming to him for journey recommendation.
“I ought to be trying as much as you,” he instructed them. “Sure, I went to the Maldives in five-star resorts and had superb journeys in Thailand. However I used to be not making a living.”
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Round 70% of journey manufacturers now use influencer advertising and marketing. On common, manufacturers make $5.78 for each $1 spent on creators. As of 2023, 75% of vacationers flip to social media for inspiration, explaining why Tom’s multi-platform strategy hits so laborious.
That was when he shifted from “man who travels” to “man who made journey a enterprise.”
“I already had the web site, however I needed to make it worthwhile. The important thing query was: how do I appeal to individuals to my weblog?” Along with his background in arithmetic, it grew to become a puzzle to unravel. “Getting cash on-line is a numbers sport. Once you drive site visitors to your website, it converts into income. Every 1,000 guests was price $30 on the time. With 5,000 a day, that’s $150. I grew to become obsessed.”
Nonetheless, he by no means totally chased the cash. “If I had prioritized monetization and running a blog over having fun with life and creating social media content material (which I like greater than writing blogs), I may’ve earned extra. However I’m happy with my strategy.”
That mindset helped when COVID collapsed the journey trade. His earnings plummeted: all the way down to $700 a month at one level. However he tailored, caught to locations like Thailand the place cash stretched additional, and weathered the storm.
When journey reopened, so did alternative. “It exploded in one of the best ways — for bloggers, for content material creators. There have been so many alternatives.”
The Highway Much less Travelled
When requested about favourite and least favourite locations, Tom by no means trashes a spot, not out of politeness, however perspective. “There’s no nation on the planet I wouldn’t return to. Even when I didn’t have the perfect expertise, I’d nonetheless give it one other shot. However West Africa — that’s not for inexperienced persons. It’s a tough go.”
His favourite spots? Hawaii, Argentina, and French Polynesia. However he’s not only a seashore man. “The ladies all the time need bikini seashores,” he laughs, “however I like the mountains.” The Himalayas are what transfer him most. Sitting beneath 25,000-foot peaks, he says, you understand how small we’re. “Humanity is principally nothing in comparison with nature.”
That seek for perspective and locations unshaped by tourism nonetheless drives him. Tom is content material in Basra, Iraq, the place summer time temperatures can hit 120 levels Fahrenheit and tourism is nonexistent. His days are quiet. Mornings are for strolling, sipping tea, and chatting with locals.
There are not any English menus, and there are not any selfie-stick crowds. It’s simply him, the town, and the second.
“I actually love these locations the place nobody is right here as a vacationer,” he says. “In Thailand, menus are available 5 languages. Right here, individuals ask me what enterprise I’ve. They’re shocked after I say I’m simply visiting.”
That distinction defines him now. Lately, he went to India together with his girlfriend, his first severe relationship. She needed to see the Taj Mahal. He tagged alongside, however admitted, “I’ve accomplished this earlier than. That form of sightseeing doesn’t excite me anymore.”
The Penalties of Content material Creation
Final yr in Dubai, his girlfriend found a surprising sulfur pond hidden behind a mosque. They adopted a quiet path to it. It was stunning. She posted a TikTok that hit one million views in a single day.
Then Tom posted.
Inside every week, the place was sealed off and brought off Google Maps; closed to the general public. “We actually contributed to it going viral,” he admits. “And now it’s gone.”
That stress between sharing and preserving weighs on him. “After 12 years, there’s no thriller anymore. You’ve seen the world — now you need to really feel it.”
Tom not sees himself as only a man making journey movies. He’s a citizen of the world, one who understands the facility and duty of pointing a digital camera at one thing unknown.
Past the Fringe of the World
The place he’ll go subsequent is anybody’s guess. Nonetheless, there’s knowledge he leaves behind: see the world with open eyes. Locations like India, Colombia, and even Iraq demand that we drop our preconceptions on the door as a result of actual journey is an training.
And as Traveltomtom sees it, there’s objective in getting misplaced, even when it’s simply sipping tea in quiet reflection, someplace they instructed you to not go.
Not for the likes.
Not for the story.
Simply to be there.
