The Venue

This meetup was held at NoPa Kitchen DC, a chic and award-winning American Brasserie. The restaurant is named after it’s location, just North of Pennsylvania Avenue in the heart of DC’s Penn Quarter.

Walking distance from concert venues and museum, the restaurant offers a space for everyone. Private rooms serve the needs of business groups, a ‘lively bar and happy hour’ offers a great space for the young professional to decompress.

The atmosphere is the innovation of DC Restaurateur Ashok Bajaj and designer Martin Vahtra. Exposed white brick walls, worn metal lighting, and wood-paneling creates an industrialized, yet rustic ambiance.

The Experience

As always, the #DCTravelBlogger meetup was a lively experience with around 25 travel and food bloggers from various locales. The intimacy of the small guest list allows for great conversation among the amazing movers and shakers in the industry that attended.

Delectable small plates of croquettes and charcuterie, the inspiration of executive chef Matt Kuhn, were served during the event. Truly special was the Pink Paradise cocktail,  that NoPa’s bartenders replicated from the Ocean Club Resort’s menu. What better to get excited about the resort experience giveaway than a fun, pink tropical cocktail.

Giveaways

This year’s giveaway sponsors truly brought the excitement to the event. I was thrilled to offer the following giveaways:

• a four night/three day stay for two at the Ocean Club Resort in Turks and Caicos
• one round trip summer ticket from BWI to Frankfurt with Condor Airlines
• one bottle of aged Don Q Rum
• one box of assorted snacks and gifts from GuestBox

Gift Bags

I couldn’t let people leave empty-handed. Consequently, every guest walked away with a cute, reusable canvas bag from Ocean Club Resorts. Bloggers received goodies from a handful of amazing sponsors.

How can you walk away with a frown when you have a teddy bear pilot in your bag? Sponsors for the bags included Ocean Club Resorts, Condor Airlines, National Geographic Magazine, The Washingtonian, SterilStay, GuestBox, Skincando, This Bar Saves Lives, Don Q Rum, and Mühlhaus Coffee.

Where would an event be without an amazing location and guests? Sponsors are important, but I couldn’t have pulled off this event without my amazing guests and NoPa Kitchen DC. If you couldn’t make it, be sure to follow The Dining Traveler on social media at the handle @diningtraveler.

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Yours Truly,

Jessica

The post Recap: DC Travel Blogger Spring to Summer Meetup appeared first on The Dining Traveler.

The Guests

This time I co-hosted the event with Allianz Global Assistance whose representative Danielle shared their travel insurance tips with our guests. The event was intimate, with 25 guests, mostly travel bloggers and freelance writers with some destination and hospitality public relations reps in the mix. From Ashlee Tuck of Will Drink for Travel to Tierney Plumb of Eater DC, the guest list was as diverse as the travel stories.

Thanks @AllianzTravelUS for being the perfect #DCTravelBlogger co-host! #travelhappy pic.twitter.com/mSEXwwsD1l

— Jessica van Dop (@DiningTraveler) September 27, 2017

The Happy Hour

Let’s talk about the Happy Hour at Sakerum. Although Sakerum is located on the vibrant 14th Street Corridor, the rooftop is a hidden gem. As you enter the restaurant the lower level is dark with a sushi bar and cozy booths designed for date nights. However, when you enter the rooftop is a completely different scene: it’s colorful, light and airy. The best part is their happy hour menu! $5 glasses of wine and $5 sushi rolls is something you don’t see often in the district! I think I found my new happy hour place…

Fun times at the #DCTravelBlogger fall edition! Thank you @AllianzTravelUS and @SakeRumDC for the mid week break! pic.twitter.com/NgE6py4Jrl

— Aparna (@aparnakris) September 26, 2017

The Gift Bag

We worked with some great brands that were generous to contribute to our #DCTravelBlogger bag. It ended up being the perfect travel kit! Who doesn’t love wine and travel magazines? #DCTravelBlogger gift bag contained Rosa Regale Sparkling Red Wine, Source Naturals Melatonin, PowerBar, Premier Protein, Lexli Skin Care, latest issues of NatGeo Traveler & Washingtonian, and The Bizarre Truth by Andrew Zimmern Book, courtesy of The Travel Channel. Also, several lucky guests won giveaways from Sakerum, Smith Publicity, and Samsonite.

I’ve been organizing the #DCTravelBlogger meetups for the past two and a half years and love meeting fellow like minded people. I love how diverse our travel blogger community is in DC. Looking forward to hosting more events. I am working on an educational event for the beginning of 2018. Is there a specific subject you’re interested in?

Again, big thanks to Sakerum and Allianz Global Assitance for co-hosting this lovely event.

All photos by Estefania Rincon

The post Recap: DC Travel Blogger Fall Meetup appeared first on The Dining Traveler.

I Love my Job

Before people go into the comments section to write”if you don’t like being a travel blogger, you can quit”, I will preface by saying that I love what I do. I’ve had the opportunity to meet amazing people and see parts of the world that I only dreamed of as a child. What began as an expat blog almost ten years ago has evolved into a community in which we (my kick-ass contributors and I) strive to give our audience travel and food tips they can use in order to make their travels better. But it is hard work. Becoming a travel blogger was organic to me. Back in the day there were no courses, no Instagram, barely any Facebook Groups to share your content. Although I spent thousands on an MBA, I feel that I have learned more from my experience running The Dining Traveler than my 18 months of graduate school.

Constant Learning

Professional careers require constant learning. Blogging is not exempt from that principle. One of most important things I’ve learned in the Marine Corps 20 years ago was the leadership trait “know yourself and seek self improvement”.  In this ever evolving digital media world, one has to be on their toes at all times. Whether it’s trying to crack the code on Instagram algorithms or mastering SEO, there’s always something new to learn in the blogging and digital content creation business. Becoming a travel blogger has taught me not to put my eggs in one basket, such as putting all my efforts into one social media channel (look at what happened to Vine).

The Business of Blogging

I was recently approached by a headhunter of a luxury jewelry shop looking for an in-house marketing manager. She found my profile on LinkedIn and was interested in talking to me about the position. She started asking me about what I did as The Dining Traveler. She said “We’re looking for someone who has managed a $1M marketing budget”. I explained to her that although I didn’t have that particular experience I did have other budgeting experience from my military assignments. What struck me from the conversation was that she said “oh, The Dining Traveler seems like a nice hobby”. The tone was very condescending.  No, lady, The Dining Traveler is my job. Not only do I monetize from my blog, but I use it as a platform for writing, consulting, and photography. Perhaps I may have not fit the profile she was looking for but no need to demean someone’s job.

The Behind the Scenes

If you’re becoming a travel blogger for the sheer luxury of traveling for free, you’re in the wrong business. When people say “you travel for free”, I disagree. The closest I’ve come to traveling for free is going on vacation to Thailand in which I spent all my miles and points on flights and hotels and I did not owe anyone anything!  By anything I mean blog posts, social media shares, photographs, whatever. Media trips are business trips. I traveled all over the world as a Marine Corps Officer. On the job, I’ve traveled to exotic places like Thailand, Japan, Australia, among others. Regardless of the objective, I owed the boss something at the end of the trip. Same analogy for media trips. A destination or hotel invites travel bloggers to experience their destination, they expect coverage in return. They are not going to spend thousands of dollars on your trip just so you can chill on the beach.

The Time

Every now and then you run into a blogger who became an overnight success, which is awesome for that person. However, for the majority of us it takes time to develop a brand, make connections, write stories, and most importantly develop an audience. Like every good salesperson, you have to attend the conferences, meet the influencers, and I cannot stress it enough, be in a state of constant learning. While on the road, the end of the day is reserved for writing stories, editing photos, connecting with your audience on social media. You always have to be “on”.

The Hustle

Last year, I became pregnant with my piccola. I was shocked that many people thought I was going to stop producing The Dining Traveler just because I was having a baby. Some PR firms stopped inviting me to their events. How is this different from any other profession? I have friends that range from engineers to lawyers who have kids and get back in the grind. Kids have to eat. Parents need to work. As a business owner, the most challenging part was trying to figure out how to take time off as your momentum as a brand is growing. I am grateful, with my good health, that I was able to travel up to my 36th week. I am also thankful for smartphones! Behind the scenes as I was waiting to give birth, I was still sending pitches. If you got an email from me earlier this year at 3am, I was probably nursing my baby as I did that. Now that she’s six months, she’s been to 3 continents and 8 states. The fact that I can provide her with experiences I never had as a kid, make it all worth it.

Spending Money

Like any business, running a travel blog has an operating budget. In my case, I hired a developer to design the current website and migrate all my content from Blogger to self hosted via Bluehost. It requires paying hosting costs and also a marketing budget. I’ve also hired outside contractors for support. More about my Blogger platform migration experience here.  It takes a village and time to create good content. A village that sometimes I cannot afford. Travel costs money. Even when you go on trips that most things are comped, there are always expenses incurred. I self-fund many of the trips featured on the blog. My audience not only wants to know about the destinations, but also how to get there. Looking for a hotel, planning an itinerary, looking for local tips is one of my favorite things about traveling.

Making Money

One of the most difficult parts of this business is dealing with people who want you to work for free and/or try to devalue your work. Whether it is working on a campaign, writing/photographing for a client, or monetizing on the blog, it takes time and preparation. You don’t go to a TV station and ask for free ad space, don’t expect the same from a blog. What’s more disappointing is to see bigger brands trying to take advantage of bloggers versus startups who even if it’s a nominal fee, acknowledge that it takes money to survive.

Becoming a Travel Blogger

I just wanted to share a bit of the behind the scenes of becoming a travel blogger, at least from my perspective. I quit my full time job at The Pentagon almost two years ago to pursue The Dining Traveler full time. As any job, it has its ups and downs. As any small business you have your good and bad months. Becoming a travel blogger has been one of the most challenging and time consuming things I’ve taken on, but I am grateful to make a living by seeing the world. Being your own boss, publicist, salesperson, etcetera is not the most glamorous but it’s sure an awesome learning experience. Whether I continue to do this for a year or twenty more, I can say that what I have learned from this journey is priceless.

The post Behind the Scenes: Becoming a Travel Blogger appeared first on The Dining Traveler.

Location

We hosted the happy hour at the new Tredici Enoteca restaurant at the St Gregory Hotel (check out my review). I love the modern design of the hotel. It’s perfect for a gathering. Our co-host for the event was Destination DC. The theme was Date Nights to celebrate DC’s romantic themed getaways ideas. That led to Tredici Enoteca bar team to create a special cocktail: the Date Nights DC. The cocktail is  made from a combination of gin, agave, hibiscus, pineapple and seltzer, garnished with mint.  The cocktail was light and flavorful, perfect to start the evening.

The Vibe

We had a great time catching up with fellow bloggers and destination reps from the local area. We also had a luggage demo by Don Chernoff, the creator of SkyRoll, and innovative line of suitcases. SkyRoll was gracious enough to giveaway two bags to two lucky guests.  Kate Gibbs from Destination DC also shared some tips on what’s new in the city and their new #DCinLove campaign.

The Giveaways

Great brands graciously hosted giveaways for our DC Travel Blogger Meetup. Although I never win anything {sad face}, I do love a good giveaway!  The giveaways included: the new Stryde suitcase by Samsonite, tickets to Taste Frederick Food Tours by Visit Frederick, a two-night stay at The Essex Resort in Vermont, tickets to Mangia DC Food Tours, a curated gift bag by fellow blogger Troy Petenbrink of The Gay Traveler, a beautiful map by artist Anna Grunduls, and local attraction tickets by Destination DC.

The Gift Bag

Guests walked away from the DC Travel Blogger Meetup with a fun gift bag with goodies such as: Nature’s Bakery bars (side note: my new favorite travel snacks), postcards by Anna Grunduls, caramels by McCrea’s Candies, Badass Power Cookies, samples by Frederick Benjamin, insulated lunch bags by National Harbor CVB, travel-sized Poo-Pourri spray, amenity bag by Allianz Travel Insurance, and local-made soaps from Joyful Bath Co.

DC Travel Blogger Meetup Verdict

Had a lovely time catching up with my fellow travel bloggers and looking forward to more get togethers in 2017! Are you a #DCTravelBlogger? Send me an email to add you to our mailing list at jessica (at) diningtraveler.com

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