Yesterday was my birthday! I celebrated here in Mexico, which I don’t think I could have guessed if you’d asked me last year where I’d be. A happy surprise.
I turned 29, and I’m feeling pretty good about it. I’m in a good place in my life now, an exciting one! The world is still full of interesting possibilities, but it’s not as scary as it was when I was 26 or 23 (the real world is horrifying when you are 23).
However, there is one big problem with turning 29, and if you are reading this blog you can probably figure it out…
In exactly one year my twenty-something travels will be over. Which is not to say I plan to stop traveling, just that time keeps marching on and I haven’t yet figured out how to stop it.
Call it poor planning, but honestly, when I started this blog as a 24 year old, desperate to see the world, I never once imagined I would still be doing this five years later. I just wanted to motivate myself, and others to get out and see the world while they are young.
This website has taken me places beyond my wildest dreams, literally and figuratively. I’m happy to keep going, having adventures and writing about travel and life. The NAME though, the name is the problem.
Of course, it’s not just the name. I don’t travel exactly the same as I did when I started this blog. I’m slower now, I’m less interested in backpacking and more interested in long term travel and food and culture. I’ve still got plenty to say, but it’s not necessarily the same stuff as when I started out. At the same time, traffic has never been higher, so at least someone out there must be enjoying what I’m putting out there.
For years people have been asking me “what happens when you turn 30?” like it’s the most clever question in the world. I usually shrug and say I’ll figure it out later. But ugh, later has come and I need to come up with a solution that’s smarter than Thirty-Something Travel (because, really, how stupid would I be if I just set myself up for the same issue ten years down the road? Not that I know I’ll be blogging in 2024 but I sure as heck didn’t expect to be blogging in 2014 either.)
So, because the whole thing kind of gives me a headache, I’ll ask you guys. What should I do?
I think the easiest answer probably is to rename the website. Mike did it earlier this year, going from Art of Backpacking to Art of Adventuring and it looked relatively painless. Would you guys still read this blog by some other name? And what should that name be?
The other option I can see is to turn Twenty-Something Travel into a resource site for younger travelers and start an entirely new blog for my own writings. To be honest that doesn’t sound super appealing to me, but I have poured a lot of time and effort into this site in it’s current incarnation.
I’m open to any other suggestions if you’ve got them. What’s important to me is maintaining my platform for writing about travel and connecting with readers. I don’t want to alienate people but I do want to stay true to my ever-evolving self. The question is how do I balance the stuff I want to talk about with the stuff you guys like to read about?
I’ve still got time to figure this out, and you can rest assured that any decision I make will be well agonized over. There will be big changes on the site over the next year I’m sure. For now though I’m going to kick back with a Bohemia (the superior Mexican beer), and relax. It was just my birthday you know.
I don’t care what you’ll call the blog – I’ll still read it 🙂
Happy Birthday!
First off: Happy Birthday! A birthday by the beach sounds wonderful 🙂
I personally feel (as others have said) that your readers have really grown along with you. I’m only 21 but I really appreciate all of your writing on long-term travel. The stuff you originally wrote on backpacking, hostels, etc. is still here; it’s accessible to the new generation of travellers. Maybe making a little box on your home page to direct younger/newer travellers to those resources might be helpful.
As for the name, I don’t think you need a drastic change – no one (worth your time) is going to get upset over a 30yr old writing content on TST. That said, I think a cute addition like 20+ travel might be nice. You wouldn’t need to change the actual URL web name, but maybe just add it to your homepage graphic. It’s actually encouraging for travellers like myself to see that you have sustained a blog & your travel lifestyle into a new decade!
That’s a new idea I hadn’t thought of!
I love the name of this blog so I would keep it! I don’t think turning 30 or moving away from backpacking travel necessarily means you have to tweak the site. As long as your blog is about adventure and exploring new cultures, I think it is in keeping with the original spirit of the site.
You could keep the name. It could always be a source for travelers in their twenties. Maybe open it to other guest posters who could keep the 20something portion of the website alive.
And then start introducing the 30s traveler. For people with families and possibly kids. Then eventually start calling it “generation-something travel.”
What if you de-emphasized twenty-something travel and emphasized your exisiting tag line instead
Happy Birthday! A change in title, or whatever you chose, isn’t going to mean much in the end. It’s your content that draws people in and keeps them reading. And you’ve got that in spades.
Happy Birthday! I guess you have a year to find a new name 🙂
My vote is for: twenty-to-sixty-somethingtravel.com Cover all your bases.
And for the record, Negra Modelo is the superior Mexican beer…
You know what they say! Life starts at 30 (40) (or even 50) but I am sure you have already lived your 20s life to the full and ready to be more adventurous in your 30s. Good luck Steph! Welcome to the club!
Actually the second I started reading your post I thought “Thirty-Something Travel’ would be great because you’d still have the original ‘Twenty-Something’ connection but, yes, of course you could eventually have the same issue. Therefore I vote for the decades idea or to not change the name at all.