Travel influencer Archives

Travel Influencer of the Month – Radhika Nomllers

Ex: What inspired you to become a travel influencer?
Radhika: Actually, nothing inspired me, as it was never my aim. I started my travel journey in 2018 when the influencer word wasn’t coined. I quit my job to see if I could freelance and find a remote job because it was a time when remote jobs were not a thing. I started writing blogs and was active on Instagram to promote it more, and over time, it picked up with Instagram as well as YouTube.

Ex: What are the necessary gadgets that you keep with you while travelling?
Radhika: I have a lot of gadgets, but the Sony a7S III (with zoom lenses) is essential, followed by the DJI Mavic Air drone, DJI Mic, and lastly, GoPro if I am going on an adventure activity.

Ex: How do you choose your travel destinations and plan your trips? Do you have any specific criteria or preferences?
Radhika: Unlike mainstream places like Thailand and Indonesia, I prefer to go to places that excite me. For instance, I recently travelled to Mongolia, and it’s hardly covered and raw. I like to see places that offer such raw and local experiences and are more culturally oriented than places that are beautified because of luxuries.

Ex: How has travel influenced your lifestyle choices, such as diet, fitness, or sustainability practices?
Radhika: Honestly, because of travel, I’m not able to do any fitness activities as the trips are so intense and hardcore that where I am going to be in the next few days is always unpredictable. So, I don’t know when to work out, and since I’m a vegetarian, I struggle a lot with my diet too. But over the years, I have learned to carry dehydrated home-cooked foods because, outside India, we struggle to get Indian food.

Ex: Can you share a memorable encounter or interaction with locals during your travels that left a lasting impact on you?
Radhika: One of my favourite experiences was in Kruger National Park, South Africa, where we danced with the local tribes, and it was really lively. Another one was actually in Ethiopia; there were these kids, and as soon as we entered their village, they took us around the village, and those girls were really like playing around with my hair and seeing them.

Quick Bytes:

Road trips or Flights?
Ans: Flights

Beaches or mountains?
Ans: Mountains

Next place you want to go?
Ans: Antarctica

Places with the best food?
Ans: India

Longest distance you have travelled in one go?
Ans: I think it could be Mongolia, as far as I remember. It took me almost two days to get there.

Meghna Kaur | Top 100 | Influncex’20

Ex: Tell us about a change you’ve seen in the digital blogging space since you started out your journey? How has this space evolved?

Meghna: There are new trends coming in everyday, but you just have to be yourself and do what you’ve been doing since day 1, don’t change your authenticity because that’s what people admire you for.

Ex: Can you give us an insight into social media platforms that only an Influencer can know?

Meghna: It won’t be an insight anymore if I give it away, right?

Ex: What would be your calling in a parallel universe? (Alternate career options)

Meghna: I love what I do, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ex: If you were stranded on an island, what are the 3 gadgets you’d take along?

Meghna: Phone, laptop, Camera

Ex: A technology you wished you’d invented?

Meghna: nothing as such but I wish teleporting was an option.

Ex: What’s been your favorite encounter with a fan so far? (DMs included!)

Meghna: I remember my very first fan encounter, this girl came up to me and went “OMG I love you so much, I’m shivering” I was like “OMG same”

Ex: Social Media is known to expose vulnerabilities, with influencers being at the epicenter. How do you deal with the dark side that comes with the medium?

Meghna: Most of the time I get criticised for not being good at things but I don’t deny it, everyone is entitled to their opinion, I do it anyway cause it makes me happy and I want to explore myself. Honestly, it doesn’t matter if 10 people tell you you’re not good at it, there’ll be one person who will like it and you can contribute to their happiness.

Ex: Social media trolling is seeing an upward rise. Do you think this only increases with the popularity of an Influencer? How does one tackle this situation?

Meghna: There’s this song lyrics by Kanye west that says

“there will always be haters, that’s the way it is” so just move on, don’t give them a lot of attention cause in the end it’s what makes you happy.

Ex: What does success mean to you?

Meghna: Success means not knowing what day of the week it is.

Ex: Do you think Influencer Marketing is a fad? Where do you see this space in years to come?

Meghna: I feel if one platform goes another comes along and the amount of people who are coming in and trying new/different types of content are insane.

Influencer marketing is growing tremendously fast and will continue to do so.

Ex: The first destination you want to travel to post-pandemic & why?

Meghna: I really really want to go to Maldives.

Ex: What are the difficulties that you face when you’re on a solo trip?

Meghna: I’m really terrible with directions so solo travel becomes difficult for me and it can be a problem if you want to get photos taken when you’re on your own

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Manu Khandelwal | Top 100 | Influncex’20

Ex: Tell us about a change you’ve seen in the digital blogging space since you started out your journey? How has this space evolved?

Manu: When I started blogging back in 2014, there were lesser bloggers and fewer blogging communities. In recent times, social media has played a good role in maintaining the reach. Apart from being consistent and having good content, one needs to have a good follower base as well.

Ex: Can you give us an insight into social media platforms that only an Influencer can know?

Manu: Making posts on trending topics, creating posts that have a probability of going viral, and posts that contain any unique information which is not available anywhere else, also work effectively.

Ex: If you were stranded on an island, what are the 3 gadgets you’d take along?

Manu: Camera, as I love photography, a sports watch as it is a perfect and useful gadget to accompany any travel plan and, of course, a First Aid Kit.

A technology you wished you’d invented?

Manu: I always thought of making a device through which one can easily call or message someone without any network.

Ex: What’s been your favourite encounter with a fan so far? (DMs included!)

Manu: I usually get an appreciation for my blogs and photos. My favorite one so far is when a woman got inspired by one of my trek blogs. She contacted me on Instagram to appreciate me and she got so inspired that she took her first solo trip after getting motivated from my blogs

Ex: Social Media is known to expose vulnerabilities, with influencers being at the epicenter. How do you deal with the dark side that comes with the medium?

Manu: Everything in this world has its pros and cons and so has Social Media. I always try to play safely in most of the scenarios. I use social media for the purpose it is meant to be, viz, to connect with the world and share my travel insights.

Ex: Social media trolling is seeing an upward rise. Do you think this only increases with the popularity of an Influencer? How does one tackle this situation?

Manu: No, I believe the popularity of any influencer doesn’t have anything to do with the increase in trolling. For me, the best way to tackle these situations is by ignoring them.

Ex: What does success mean to you?

Manu:For me, it means doing something that makes me happy, something that I am passionate about and something that I enjoy doing all day.

Ex: The first destination you want to travel to post-pandemic & why?

Manu: I would probably be going on Gaumukh Tapovan Trek in Uttarakhand, which is an excellent high altitude trek and known for its magnificent views of snowclad Himalayan peaks and massive Gaumukh glacier (Source of river Ganges).

Ex: What are the difficulties that you face when you’re on a solo trip?

Manu: If something goes wrong or any unfortunate thing happens, there should be someone along with you so that you feel confident at that moment. Facing that situation alone makes solo traveling a bit scary. Apart from this, solo traveling is sometimes more expensive than group travel, as you cannot share things, be it a room or a taxi.

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Larissa D’Sa | Travel | Influncex’20

Ex: Tell us about a change you’ve seen in the digital blogging space since you started out your journey? How has this space evolved?

Larissa: When I started posting content on social media, I was 19. Facebook was a much popular platform, and I’d just started posting on Instagram. I’d say a lot has changed in the blogging space, for the best. From posting photos of things you’re passionate about, to getting paid for doing what you love, it’s been a boon to the creative minds.

Ex: Can you give us an insight into social media platforms that only an Influencer can know?

Larissa: Social media doesn’t belong to the weak-hearted. With all the fun and frolic, comes great responsibility. As rosy as it looks, creating content also involves days and weeks on planning. Most of us are usually multifaceted by conceptualising, directing, shooting, and editing our content in-house. That’s also the beauty of social media – it’s made me self-reliant, and I’ve learnt and picked different skills to be my own production house.

Ex: Social Media is known to expose vulnerabilities, with influencers being at the epicenter. How do you deal with the dark side that comes with the medium?

Larissa: I don’t deal with it. I ignore as much as I can, and simply block away. Although, sometimes it’s also important to call out haters and trollers, because I also feel it’s my responsibility to clear the trash out from the internet .

Ex: Social media trolling is seeing an upward rise. Do you think this only increases with the popularity of an Influencer? How does one tackle this situation?

Larissa: Like I said, with all the fame, comes great responsibility. I personally feel it’s wise to be careful with your statements and words you use. For that, one needs to be aware of all that’s happening around us, and also be sensitive towards various causes.

Ex: What does success mean to you?

Larissa: Completing my to-do list, and sleeping with the satisfaction of spending an ideal day – means success, at least to me. Success can be very subjective, so with that being said, I personally believe that successful days, one after the day, leads to a successful life.

Ex: The first destination you want to travel to post-pandemic & why?

Larissa: I would love to travel abroad, but given the situation, I guess it would be wise to move around in India, and maybe I’m all set to do a trek in the mountains.

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