{"id":111105,"date":"2017-12-21T10:09:13","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T10:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=111105"},"modified":"2017-12-27T12:49:20","modified_gmt":"2017-12-27T12:49:20","slug":"vuelio-meets-hand-luggage-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/vuelio-meets-hand-luggage-only\/","title":{"rendered":"Vuelio meets Hand Luggage Only"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hand Luggage Only<\/a> was recently awarded the prestigious Best Travel Blog at the Vuelio Blog Awards 2017. We caught up with the authors, Yaya and Lloyd, to talk all things blogging and put them on the spot with some quick-fire questions [VIDEO BELOW].<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yaya and Lloyd started Hand Luggage Only back in 2014, first as a hobby before eventually going full time. The blog is now their lives \u2013 and both bloggers are bemused by the fact they get to work on their hobby.<\/p>\n

\u2018People say: \u201cWhat hobbies do you have?\u201d but travelling was and still is our hobby\u2019, Lloyd says, before adding, \u2018I really<\/em> need to get some new hobbies!\u2019<\/p>\n

The pair never seem to stop; straight after their Vuelio Blog Awards victory they went home to pack before heading off to Saint Kitts and Nevis. Packing after celebrating, says Yaya, was \u2018tricky\u2019. The night before Vuelio meets them, both were awake until the early hours working on the website \u2013 it\u2019s a full time job in every sense.<\/p>\n

They have to fit in the website development around a huge amount of travelling \u2013 they\u2019re pitched four (that\u2019s four!) trips a day. We sit down just three weeks after the Awards and they\u2019ve already had three separate journeys in that time.<\/p>\n

Do they ever get time off, just to have a break?<\/p>\n

Yaya laughs: \u2018We try to book ourselves time off from travelling, to work on the site, but then we get an exciting opportunity that we can squeeze in and we\u2019re off again\u2019.<\/p>\n

And what about holidays? If you travel for work do you ever get a holiday?<\/p>\n

\u2018We definitely take personal holidays\u2019, Lloyd says, \u2018where we spend time just enjoying the location but it\u2019s harder to switch off when your hobby is also a job. A holiday for us is going home \u2013 being with the family and doing nothing\u2019.<\/p>\n

The strong work ethic extends to when they\u2019re travelling, with packed itineraries often out of their control.<\/p>\n

\u2018The tourism boards and companies we travel with fit a lot in, so our experience probably isn\u2019t the same as a normal traveller\u2019, Yaya says. \u2018We\u2019re doing 15 or 18-hour days and we have to film and photograph everything too. It\u2019s not the same as a journalist, because we\u2019re also running the blog, whereas they have colleagues and publishers back home\u2019.<\/p>\n

If you could set your own travel agenda\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019d build in a block of time for us to work on the blog and the blog posts. We have deliverables with the PRs and brands and it\u2019s good to get a few hours each day to meet them. PRs are a lot better now; before it seemed like they didn\u2019t really understand this need\u2019, Lloyd says.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the one thing they both want more of: time to work. It\u2019s this tireless mentality that helped them win the Award. The judges were also impressed with the beautiful photography and personal tone.<\/p>\n

\u2018Winning was amazing\u2019, says Lloyd, \u2018the event feels like the Oscars of Blogging and the win was just so unexpected\u2019.<\/p>\n

Yaya adds: \u2018When you\u2019re working on the site so much it can be in isolation, so to get recognition and to come together with other bloggers was brilliant\u2019.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for the pair of influencers?<\/p>\n

\u2018Not influencers, we hate that word! We\u2019re bloggers, we don\u2019t feel comfortable calling ourselves influencers\u2019, Lloyd explains.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s next for the bloggers?<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ve booked some time off until the third week of January so we\u2019ll be implementing new functions on the site in that time and catching up with some trips we\u2019re writing up\u2019, Yaya says.<\/p>\n

But if they get offers to go travelling in that time?<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ll see\u2019, Lloyd says,<\/p>\n

laughing.<\/p>\n

As we leave, we take the opportunity to hit them with some quickfire questions. The full video is below, and we can only beg forgiveness from Yaya for missing one of his answers \u2013 the Vuelio team were dodging traffic at the time.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n