Read This Blog: The Traveling Philosopher

Behind the blog: The Traveling Philosopher, also known as Spencer Spellman, is a full-time freelance writer who just made the move to Costa Rica. He’s wise beyond his years and is always down for a good philosophical discussion about e-books and link juice.

What’s in a name?: “Well actually, I didn’t [come up with the name for my blog]. I’m terribly uncreative when it comes to things like that. It puts me on the spot and I don’t work that way. It was actually the result of a GChat conversation with Abbie Mood. She’s super creative and I just started throwing some words and ‘traveling philosopher’ was what stuck out. It just kind of fits who I am, and it must come across that way to others, because I get a lot of comments about how the name just seems to “fit” me. So there you have it, the cat’s out of the bag.”-SS

Why should you read?: “As a travel writer, this is the one place that I don’t have to color within the lines. I’m pretty unreserved on my blog. Also, I’m not using it to make money, so rankings, SEO, clicks, and all that other stuff doesn’t matter to me. A lot of my posts are totally off the whim and come to me while I’m waiting at the airport, showering, or eating breakfast. While I consider myself pretty methodical, there’s no method to the madness of my blog. I think there’s a snark and a voice on my blog that you won’t find in a lot of other places.”-SS

Favorite posts: “Wow, great question. There are so many that I really liked, but looking through my posts, it’s definitely one I entitled ‘The Long Way Home.’ I wrote it at 4 a.m., after an evening out with friends in Brooklyn. It was one of those real philosophical nights and I just started writing what was on my mind. I was really vulnerable when I wrote it and actually woke up a couple hours after writing it because I thought it was so bad, I was just going to unpublish it, but I already had several comments from subscribers and ended up getting over 20 comments. The comments were some of the best and most encouraging I’ve ever received.”-SS

Spencer writes such great, thought-provoking posts that it’s difficult for me to choose just a few to mention. “Write Your Own Story” is about not relying on others and going after your own dreams, something I understand completely. And then there’s the age-old argument of payment for travel writing in both “Huffington Post Travel Section and the Devaluation of Words” and “To Pay, or Not to Pay: That is the Question.” And I can especially relate to “Career Break? More Like Life Break” because I don’t have a career to break from. Just some monotony.

What are your favorite blogs to read?: “Well of course mine. I’m thinking about making it to an ebook, selling it on Amazon, and making a little moolah. I’m probably a little biased, since some of my favorite blogs are friends of mine. Abby Tegnelia is who inspired me to go to Costa Rica and she has a great blog called The Jungle Princess, from her time living and traveling in Costa Rica. She’s a kick ass writer and there’s a voice you don’t see on my other blogs. Valerie Conners recently set out on an RTW trip, which she’s chronicling at Passenger Conners. Lastly, I would say YTravelBlog. They are a great example of how you can be a couple and even have children and still travel.”-SS