Imagine getting paid to travel around the world?
Well, that’s exactly what a day in the life of travel blogger and lifestyle content creator, Asha Singh, looks like.
Having grown up in the South Coast, KwaZulu-Natal, Singh is renowned for her travel content on TikTok, Instagram as well as her blog.
Currently based in Johannesburg, Singh works in digital marketing by day but she still find the time to fulfil her passion for travel.
She explained that being able to travel the world in this way is something that she has always dreamt about.
“I never would have thought I’d be working in social media and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities I would get through blogging and creating,” she said.
“I mean getting paid to travel? That’s a literal dream I’ve been getting to live out.”
Singh added that getting out of her comfort zone to explore beautiful places - and inspiring her followers to do the same - is the favourite part of being a lifestyle and travel content creator.
She started her blog in January 2017 and, from there, she discovered just how much she enjoyed creating and capturing moments.
“Whether that’s through writing, video or images,” Singh said.
“It actually started out as a writing portfolio for me to showcase my writing if I went into the career path of journalism.”
But it has not all been sunshine and roses.
“I think the biggest challenge in this industry generally comes from yourself - and that’s self-doubt,” Singh said.
“It’s easy to get imposter syndrome, like why am I even booking these kinds of campaigns, I literally shoot all my content on my iPhone 13 while these bigger influencers have whole teams who shoot for them.”
“It can be really daunting,” she admitted
Singh added that she admires content creators who have been in the industry much longer than she has.
“There’s so much talent in South Africa and it’s exciting to see that we can finally have the platforms to showcase this through the internet and appear alongside global creators.”
“In the travel space, some of the creators I really admire are @wanderwithiana, @thobi_rose and @gophari,” said Singh.
The content creator has travelled locally and internationally, with some of her favourite destinations this year being the Garden Route and Victoria Falls.
“It’s the first time I’ve properly explored the Garden Route and my favourite destinations in this part of the country were Tsiksikamma in the Eastern Cape and the Thesen Islands in Knysna,” she said.
Her other travel highlight was staying at the Turbine Hotel while exploring the Thesen Islands.
“Victoria Falls was an African gem that I really enjoyed, and I loved that you get to experience both Zambia and Zimbabwe, with their unique attractions and cultures, and Victoria Falls Safari Lodge was a fantastic home base for this trip.
“I also got to experience travelling through Zimbabwe on the Rovos Rail and that is truly a bucket list experience every South African should do,” said Singh.
And when it comes to why South Africans should explore the country more, she said: “No two parts of this country are the same. You can experiences mountains, sea, desert, city and everything in between.”
She added that international travel is expensive and is often a lot more challenging, when compared to travelling locally.
This includes issues arising from language barriers, visas, cultural differences and currency exchanges.
“You don’t have any of those hurdles travelling in South Africa so it’s a great place to start exploring the travel bug,” said Singh.
The young traveller also shared some pearls of wisdom for aspiring lifestyle and travel content creators.
“What we do as creators essentially is story telling, so what stories do you want to tell?
“Content creation is essentially finding the right medium to tell stories so think about the unique stories you have to tell and then just do it,” said Singh.