Connecting With Jeremy From Think Travel Lift Grow

My phone beeped and I glanced at the WhatsApp message that I had received. My Dad had just informed me that his friend’s son was in the same area that we were in. Where is that? Well we were in Siem Reap and were due to head out to see the ruins of Angkor Wat.

Who was this guy? I couldn’t help wondering what he would be like. Then again when parents tell you to do something you go right ahead and do it… Right? Wink… Wink… Well at least this time we did and I was so glad that I met Jeremy. He is a travel blogger too! It was very interesting to share our experiences over a meal.

What Shawn and I found even more interesting is that Jeremy lives just a stone’s throw from my house in Goa. It was so surprising that our paths literally never crossed. Especially since Goa is a place where everybody knows everybody! And then here I was, miles away from home, in a country that wasn’t even my own talking to this young man who challenged himself by leaving everything he knew behind to travel the world.

Jeremy lives an extremely minimalistic lifestyle and he is definitely rocking the backpacker lifestyle. That’s why I was so thrilled when he said he would write a guest post on GlobeTrove about travel itineraries. Well let’s see what Jeremy from Think Travel Lift Grow has to say, shall we?

Ever since I’ve met you I’ve been enamored by your travel philosophy. Could tell our readers a little about what inspired you to travel and why you started Think Travel Lift Grow?

The name “Think Travel Lift Grow” was partly inspired by the amazing book “Think and Grow Rich” which absolutely transformed my way of thinking. I’ve always wanted to travel as a kid growing up however that always felt like a distant dream that might come true someday if I was “lucky”. I was told as a kid that I had to work 9-5 for 45 years of my life and then at the end of that I’d be able to “do what I want”, Think Travel Lift Grow helped me change that, it first helped me out as a platform to share my story and then also grew to cover my expenses.

Have you ever planned a travel itinerary during this one year? How do you even begin to decide where you want to go and how long you want to stay there?

I’m not one for planning. I usually have an overview of the potential country or countries I might go to next but other than that I don’t really plan. I don’t recommend it, but it works for me; I enter a country blind like I tend to end up countries and the only thing I usually know is the name of the capital or the popular city. If I find a city or town that I like, I have the tendency to just live there until I feel like it’s time to leave.

I’ve followed your travels ever since I met you in Cambodia and I must say that I enjoy reading about your escapades. Could you tell us about some of the most memorable places you’ve stayed at?

I’ve stayed at some pretty great places. Some of them include guesthouses in the mountains while trekking in Nepal, Monasteries in the middle of mountainous valleys, camping in below freezing point and so many other amazing places. I recently also met a fan on the road and crashed at his place, and later had to break into his house… but that’s a whole other story.

Over time people change their styles of travel. Among the many travel bloggers that I have interviewed I know for a fact that yours is the most unique. Could you tell us a little about it? Has the way you plan your trip changed over time?

I have noticed my style in travel change a little. When I started traveling I didn’t have a lot of savings and hence had to depend on the sharing economy a lot or live in a tent. However now as I have grown to find a balance, I tend to spend a month living in a place and then a month or 2 backpacking. Traveling all the time is exhaustive especially when it’s not a holiday but instead a way of life, so I had to find a balance.

Life is what you make of it. I view you as a very hard working individual. Travel blogging isn’t an easy task. How do you balance work and travel? It must get to you at some point.

Most of what I do as a travel blogger, I don’t consider work, so that makes it a lot easier. The actual tbh never ends, from optimizing articles to come on the first page of Google to writing more guest posts to learning new skills to grow the biz. The work never really ends. When I live in a city for a while I tend to get a lot of high intensity work done however while on the road I try and focus more on documenting my travels. It’s a balance of both.

Experience is invaluable. Do you have any tips for people who would like to travel like you do?

It’s a lot of hard work to do what I do, no doubt about that. But it’s also a lot of hard work to live a lie. So if doing what I do is what you really want and not something you are fascinated by solely as its trendy, then you should be ready to put in the work. Because the tried and true path of hard work and patience is the only one that works. There’s no hack or secret to what I do.

Thanks Jeremy. I really appreciate the time that you took to write out these answers for us. I’m sure that our readers will find them extremely helpful. You can catch Jeremy on his Think Travel Lift Grow page on Facebook or on Instagram. Also, don’t forget to stay tuned to find out what our next travel blogger has to say about travel itineraries.

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