Getting to Know a Travel Blogger : Ania Travels
Czesc! I’m Ania (An-ya) from Ania Travels I am a 26-year-old Polish-American solo travel junkie. I’m a sushi eating, wine drinking, beauty loving, adventure freak! I’ve quit my 9-5 corporate life and salary for a budget and carry-on. I am a traveller with a purpose to inspire.
I fell in love with traveling at a very young age. I was only two when my parents first put me on a flight to America and decided that we will be Americans. I spent a few summers in Poland and way too many summers going to Wisconsin Dells. We didn’t grow up with a lot of money so my parents could never provide a proper family vacation. But we dealt with what we had and I am very grateful for that.
At age 12 my father ended up in a bad work accident that made him handicapped and couldn’t work moving forward. As a young kid, I knew I needed to help out as much as I could and my mentality had to change. I had to grow up, and I had to grow up quickly. At age 16 I was working a nearly full-time job helping provide for my family. I graduated college with a BFA in Graphic Design at the age of 19 so I can start my career and support them. Quickly moving up the corporate ladder my days started blending together and there was no escaping the gray walls. Days turned into years and my career blossomed but monotony became my worst enemy. I knew I needed to escape because I could never be truly happy in this environment.
I looked back at all the trips I took as a child and the local trips I took with friends growing up, I always knew there was a little travel bug in me. As I got older the camping trips I took turned into weekend trips to Florida that turned into week long trips in Mexico. I knew travel was my real passion. This is what made me happy. The wanderlust only grew stronger and the trips with friends started becoming solo weekend trips. My friends couldn’t take off work or couldn’t afford to come with me but that didn’t stop me. I now had a taste of the world and I wanted to see it all.
At 22 I set off on my first international solo trip. I was able to find myself and my real passions on this trip. I came back different, I was more mature, I had a different outlook on life and people, and I knew what it meant to appreciate a different culture. This trip was a domino effect and I planned an international trip every year since then.
Only 4 quick years passed and the wanderlust bug overpowered me. I came to a point in my career where I was hating corporate America and myself. I’ve worked 80+ hours a week and all for what? Of course, so I can save money and travel. However, it didn’t make me happy. I could either look for another job or take a complete leap of faith and go off on my own. So I booked a one-way ticket to the world, put my apartment into storage, sold my car, and took a suitcase with me. I continued with my graphic design but also started an entrepreneurial venture with this blog as well as a media company (graphic design, social media management, photography) for the travel and hospitality industry.
I have had the privilege to travel all over the world and have found not only myself but the true meaning of beauty through nature and other cultures. I am now a world traveler living my life to the fullest every single day and checking off some amazing adventures off my bucket list.
You can follow Ania on and
What got you into blogging and how long ago was this?
I’ve been “blogging” for just over a year now. It started out as just a journal for my friends and family on wordpress.com and I knew nothing about blogging. I posted maybe once a month and used social media instead, I didn’t think blogging was for me.
It wasn’t until a couple months ago when I accidentally stumbled upon an amazing Facebook Group for travel bloggers where I thought I would give this a shot again. Since then I’ve completely redesigned my blog, created new content, learned more information about blogging than any human being needs to know and spend nearly 12 hours a day working on it to get it to where I want.
Fav destination and why?
ITALY!!!! Everything about this country is absolutely amazing. From the people, culture, food, and scenery this is definitely my favorite country. A few years ago I went on a road trip for two months across all of Italy (starting in Naples and ending in Lake Como). I feel in love with everything this country has to offer on this trip.
Blogging tip
If you want to start blogging, just start blogging. Don’t feel the need to know everything and be perfect before you start. I numerous times have put off starting or working on my blog because I felt I wasn’t good enough, there were too many bloggers already, I didn’t have a big enough following on social media, I had no idea what SEO was, and the list goes on. There was always an excuse. There will be something new you learn every single day as a blogger, but if this is something you really want to do, you shouldn’t put it off and go for it.
Dream trip
I’m saving this one for my 30th birthday. I want to go on an African Safari for about 5 days. Spend it with animals in the wild, my absolute dream trip. Then head over to Mauritius for a few days and relax on the beaches while enjoying delicious Mauritian food.
Pet peeve about travelling
Asian tourists. No offense, but… They are absolutely rude!!! These are the people that butt in lines, have selfie sticks that poke you and shove you (regardless that you’ve been standing right there the entire time) just to get that perfect photo.
Favourite travel blogger
I don’t particularly have a favourite but there are a few that I really enjoy following Anna Everywhere, Alyssa Ramos from My Life is a Movie and Glo from The Blog Abroad. I could relate to these women as I’m a solo female traveller as well. Each of them are super inspirational with their own different personalities and ways of travel. Each one also had a big impact on me when starting my travel blog.
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