End of the Year Reflection (2016)

It’s almost 2016, so I wanted to do an end of the year reflection. I know most of our posts are guides on how to travel better in specific countries and cities, but I wanted to do something different with this article!

I met Heesun around January of 2013 through our good friend Tiffany. We were on the Bay Area Rapid Transit public transportation headed towards San Francisco to watch the 49ers pre-superbowl game. It’s funny because normally I don’t talk much when I meet new people, but when I met Heesun we instantly clicked! Over time we became really good friends. We have a lot of similar views and we would find ourselves constantly pondering life’s questions, talking about our learnings, and discussing our passions. One of our passions, of course, is travel.

Around the beginning of 2015, I started looking into creating websites, and Heesun and I toyed with the notion of creating our own travel blog. Both of us had gone on extended trips and visited places solo. We both shared an appreciation for journeying to new destinations and meeting new people. So we thought, why not? In June 20, 2015, we launched MeWantTravel, and it looked like this:

And later as we developed it further, it started looking like this:

The more we worked on the site, the better friends we became! We talked constantly, bouncing ideas back and forth, working on social media promotion, building content, restructuring the site, and studying SEO. We had something to look forward to every day. This project kept us fulfilled and kept our wanderlust strong.

Thinking about the progress of MeWantTravel – we’ve truly come a long way. Who knew that we’d be posting regularly for 6 months (and running) when we started this site! Our enthusiasm has not waned. Building this site has taught us a lot about entrepreneurship, networking, joining and building communities, digital marketing, and so much more.  We’ve learned that blogging isn’t just writing as there are many more components to it. But I think that’s the beauty of it. The entrepreneurial aspect of it keeps us on our toes and keeps us entertained. We enjoy reaching out to people in the space, crafting new ideas for the blog, and finding ways to share our passion.

Not only did we expand our skill sets, we learned the true meaning of hard work and patience. If you know me, you’d know I love building and growing things. We created this site from nothing, but we started to see how taking the time to nurture our self-created project can really pay off. We’ve hit a few milestones with our page views, subscribers, and social media followings, and we’ve received our first few sponsorships. Though we’re not full-time travel bloggers (yet?), we’re learning that anything is possible with the right amount of dedication.

With 2016 approaching, I’d say my biggest goal with MeWantTravel is to put more personality into the site (starting with this post)! Though I think we’re doing a great job showing people how to get around in specific countries, I’d like readers to get more of a sense of who we are and why we’re embarking on this journey with our blog. Goal number 2 – I’d also like to organize the site better so it’s easier for people to navigate through and find the information they need. My last goal of course is to visit more countries. I plan to hit 25 countries by the end of 2016!

I truly feel MeWantTravel has changed my life for the better. The project has made Heesun and I such close friends (I mean we already were, but yeah!), and I am really grateful for that. I hope 2016 brings even bigger and better things!