It’s Friday, and you know what that means…another featured guest! Today we have with us Jeremy from ‘Think Travel Lift Grow’. He was born and raised in India, and fell in love with travelling at a relatively young age. He realized he wanted to make travel a part of his lifestyle, so he did just that. Continue reading to learn more about Jeremy’s interesting story, and to see some of his incredible photos!
1. Thank you for deciding to be a part of Feature Friday. Could you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?
Thank you so much for this opportunity Larissa! Well I don’t really know where to begin, I was born and brought up in an average family in Goa, India. When I was 18 I went on my first backpacking trip for half a month across a few parts of India and realised that travel I wanted to do over the long term.
After dropping out of college I left home in April 2016 with barely $200 in savings. I learnt to build websites off YouTube and Google, then went cafe to cafe and pitched in order to get my first clients. I traveled for half a year building websites, while doing stuff like climbing the world’s 3rd highest mountain pass, meeting Dalai Lama etc.
In the background I grew my travel blog at ‘Think Travel Lift Grow’ that eventually started making enough through affiliate marketing that I could afford to stop freelancing. I share my thoughts along with a lot of helpful guides on my blog. Most of it is me sharing personal experiences and my journey.
2. Why did you decide to become a travel blogger?
I always wanted to travel the world as a kid, however I was brought in a community where you either become an engineer or a doctor and travel is something that you only get to experience one in couple of years. Everyone I knew used to call those people who travel for a living “lucky” or some other crap and I felt that there was something more to it, I ask myself “why can’t I do that” and instead of making an excuse so I decided why not put in the work and learn and actually make my dreams a reality!
3. What do you love so much about travelling?
I travel really slowly and spend a couple of months in every country I go to, the greatest thing for me over the amazing views is the people. I get to meet amazing people from different walks of life who have amazing experiences and stories.
4. Have you ever regretted doing something while travelling?
I don’t believe in having regrets in general, because every single situation or action has led me to where I’m right now and made me the person I am, so regretting my experiences would be regretting the person I am now. Have I learnt a couple of lessons? Yes. Do I regret anything? Nope.
5. What is one thing that is too large or impractical to travel with that you wish you could bring with you when you travel?
A coffee machine. I love coffee almost as much as I love travel if not more! Which might explain why I started a coffee vlog on YouTube instead of taking the usual route of travel vlogging.
6. Do you think there’s a difference between people who deem themselves tourists vs. travellers? What do you consider yourself, and why?
I believe people are focusing too much on labels – digital nomads, travelers, tourists, expats, backpackers, etc. I don’t believe I’m either, I’m a bit of everything, maybe more of a backpacker at times while other times I”m more of an expat. I believe people should stop focusing so much on the labels and actually just do what they want.
7. What does home mean to you?
Home for me isn’t a place, I have everything I own in my backpack and I occasionally call it home but for me, home is a state of mind. I have felt better at home climbing a mountain than I did in the house I grew up in.
8. What advice would you give an aspiring travel blogger?
Patience. Great things take time. Everyone wants to get paid to travel the world but aren’t willing to put in the work, have patience and provide value. I started out that way and the one thing I wish I could tell myself would be to provide more value and have more patience.
Thank you so much Jeremy for taking the time to share your thoughts, your story, and your phenomenal pictures with us. I think it’s brave and admirable that at the age of 18 you decided to create your own life, instead of following the path that society had already chosen for you.
Did you enjoy what you read? Get to know more about the blogger!
Jeremy was born and raised in India. Although it was uncommon, he fell in love with travel and decided to make that part of his lifestyle. He currently runs a blog over at ‘Think Travel Lift Grow’, and he’s also a SEO consultant for businesses. Connect with Jeremy at the following:
I love the photos, such an interesting interview! Thanks for sharing 😀
Aren’t they incredible? Thanks for taking the time to read!
These kind of interview posts are so cool!
Thank you!
What an incredible story! I can’t wait to check out more of his blog. Love these features you do!
Thank you Alison! And he’s a very interesting person indeed. I was captivated from the beginning!
Interesting story, Jeremy! What is the most interesting place you have been to, Larissa and/or Jeremy?
Thank you Patricia! That’s such a hard question to answer. I think for me, the most interesting place I’ve been is Hawaii. It’s part of the United States, but a lot of the time I was there, I would forget I wasn’t in a different country. The culture is so unique, it’s incredible!
Great feature! Jeremy is pretty inspiring 🙂
I think so as well!
That mountain view…WOW! It must be really fun interviewing different walks of life and thank you for sharing those snippets with us! Now, I gotta get my mug of coffee … 😉
Haha thank YOU for taking the time to read 🙂 it’s definitely amazing to get different perspectives and stories through others travels!
What an incredible interview! I’m so jealous that he got to meet the Dalai Lama!
Thank you! And Jeremy definitely has a lot of interesting experiences under his belt!