In this electrifying episode of Travel Matters, Palle Bo and Rick Calvert sit down with Christine Lozada, famously known as the Drone Queen. Dive into the world of drone photography and videography as Christine shares her journey from a newbie to a renowned drone expert. Discover the secrets behind capturing breathtaking aerial shots, navigating legalities, and utilizing drones to land incredible travel partnerships. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just curious about drone technology, this episode is packed with insights and tips that will elevate your travel content creation to new heights.

Three Key Points

1. Drone Photography and Videography Essentials: Christine Lozada reveals her top tips for capturing stunning aerial shots, including the importance of smooth, cinematic movements and understanding safety settings to prevent crashes.
2. Strategic Use of Drones for Content Creation: Learn how Christine uses drones not only to enhance her travel videos but also to differentiate her content, land partnerships, and monetize her work. She emphasizes the accessibility and affordability of drones as powerful tools for storytellers.
3. Memorable Drone Experiences and Safety Insights: Christine shares captivating stories from her drone adventures, including an encounter with a black tip shark migration and a daring drone retrieval from a cliff in Ethiopia. She also discusses the evolving ease of flying drones and how they have become essential tools for modern travel creatives.

In this episode of Travel Matters, join hosts Palle Bo and Rick Calvert as they sit down with travel blogger Mike Shubic from Mike’s Road Trip at TBEX North America 2023 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They dive into Mike’s journey from early tech adoption to exploring the latest in AI tools, sharing invaluable insights for content creators. Tune in to hear about Mike's adventures, the transformative power of AI in the travel industry, and how technology is shaping the future of content creation.

Key Points

1. AI Tools for Content Creation: Mike Shubic discusses various AI tools like ChatGPT, Luminar AI, and others, highlighting how they can enhance content creation, marketing, and video production, offering new revenue opportunities and audience engagement for travel creators.
2. The Evolution of Travel Blogging: Mike shares his journey from starting Mike’s Road Trip in 2009 to becoming a travel influencer, discussing how early adoption of video and new technologies like AI have transformed his career and the travel blogging landscape.

Future of AI in Travel and Content Creation: The conversation explores the potential and challenges of AI, including its impact on white-collar jobs, the importance of maintaining human creativity and artistry in content, and how AI can be a valuable tool without replacing the authenticity of personal experiences.

In this final episode from TBEX Europe 2023 Kalamata, you can meet two guests.

First, Rick talks to Elena Sergeeva. With a decade-long career in Sales & Marketing, she co-founded Travel Bloggers Greece in 2015 with the purpose to unite like-minded individuals and to educate the Greek market on how to work with bloggers. She is the founder of several travel blogs. She also works with JayWay Travel, one of the sponsors of TBEX.

She did a session at this TBEX called “Destination Blogging Community and DMO Partnerships: Value and Opportunities” where she talked about how working with blogging communities provides new marketing opportunities and continued growth for Andros Island. The session covered the needs of a DMO from the local travel industry – Projects to empower the island’s footprint in the global tourism market.

And our last interview from TBEX Europe 2023 is with Ivan Bengeri from Croatia. In 2013 he quit his 9-to-5 job to travel around the world. In November 2014, www.bengeri.com travel blog happened, and since then, Ivan has been blogging and traveling full-time.

So far, he’s been to 60+ countries, walked a Camino de Santiago (800 km) in September 2018, represented Southeastern Europe (SEE) as a travel influencer on Kerala Blog Express 2019, and in 2020 he launched Bengeri.travel agency to share his love for traveling.