I can’t really believe it, but four years ago I bought this space on the internet and launched Away With Maja. Wow. Four years. If you had told me when I was up late at night in my bedroom at my parents’ house, poring over themes and WordPress how-to’s, that I’d be where I am today with it, I wouldn’t have believed you.

This year has brought huge milestones for me. My first year at one (ONE!) full-time job. My first regular freelance writing job. My first events as a blogger. This has been a monumental year—I can tell I’m on the cusp of something very, very exciting to come. If you want, you can catch up on my older blogging recaps from 6 months, 1 year, 18 months, 2 years, and 3 years.

For the first time, I have openly shared my goal of being able to take this blog full-time. In September, I came back from an amazing trip to the Balkans. My manager asked me in my one-to-one what my career goals were, and what I wanted to be doing in five years. Without hesitation, I responded by saying, “I want to be working on my blog full-time as a content creator.” It was the first time I’d said it out loud to someone who wasn’t friends or family! Eeeee!

My first real break came with Thrifty Traveler. The first time where I thought, “yeah I can actually do this and make it work!” came when I pitched to Thrifty Traveler, and became a regular (paid) contributor for them. I write one post a month for them, they pay a good rate, and it’s a company I absolutely love (their flight deals are out of this world). I told myself I could never justify cutting back hours at my job (or even leaving full stop) until I had some sort of regular, stable income coming in every single month. This was it. I love writing for them—and having it as a source of income is huge.

I made my first money from ads this year! I signed up to Google Adsense in October 2017, when I started getting regular traffic and realized I need to monetize it. Even if it was £0.01 per day, that was still 1p I wanted to earn. You have a reach a threshold, which is £60, before you actually see any money though. I hit it in July and got my first ever paycheck from Google!!! It felt amazing after working so hard. I don’t have many ads on my site since I find them annoying. And if I’m not going to make a lot of money from them, I don’t want to clutter my site unnecessarily. I’ve had such a big increase in traffic from last year, I’ve nearly made my next £60 payment as well! This might not seem like a lot of money, but every single bit I earn means the world to me.

My ultimate goal this year is to drive traffic to my blog so that I can apply for Mediavine. Mediavine is an advertiser program which puts ads on your blog that are much more targeted—it’s basically like Google Adsense, but not shit. Once I have a regular passive income (aka, I don’t have to do any work for it, it’s just there and I get paid), a lot of doors will open for me. In order to qualify for Mediavine, you have to have 25,000 sessions per month. I’m about half-way there, so have a huge drive to grow my reach and be able to apply!

I invested in myself big-time. This year I signed up to Nomadic Matt’s Superstar Blogging course. While it’s a lot of information to digest (some of which I didn’t need as I’ve already been blogging, like how to pick a blog name), ultimately it’s given me motivation to push myself and continually work on my blog to make it the absolute best it can be. It’s also reminded me that I do need to invest in myself more and more. I need to purchase courses to learn more, and I need to pay people to help me with things I need (a logo is at the top of my list!). I need to buy better gear to continue working how I want to work (on the hunt for a new camera!). It’s coming, piece by piece.

Of everything that’s happened in the last year, I’m most proud of myself for attending several blogger events. It’s nerve-wracking for me to walk into a room where I don’t know anyone and network. But I’ve done it several times now, and I’m really proud of myself! Despite all of my amazing experiences traveling solo, I still sometimes get really bad social anxiety. So going to these events where I knew no one was huge for me! I went to the media promotion for the York Food and Drink Festival in September and went to Leeds for a USA-themed evening with eShores!

I also got invitations to attend events and share about them on my blog and social media! In the past few months, I’ve been able to bring Adam as my +1 (he loves being Mr. Away With Maja!) to the Van Gogh Exhibition, to the Wine Festival at the York Food and Drink Festival, and to Castle Howard for a gin and cheese tasting! I’ve had a lot of fun attending events and sharing them. I think it’s also a great opportunity to network and get my name out there. It’s not easy to put yourself out there, but I intend to try to do this more in the upcoming year!

I work extremely hard to manage my time effectively. Considering that I work full-time, I still manage to spend a lot of time blogging. Most evenings are spent working on my blog, either writing and publishing posts, posting and engaging on social media, and editing photos etc. I always have blog projects to be working on during my days off. Even in January, when I worked nearly every single day and basically had no life, I still published lots of posts and had my best ever page views! This isn’t easy—it means turning down plans, lots of nights in, and getting up early in the morning to get stuff done before work. But I can tell it’s working, and that makes it all worth it.

I know a lot of the actionable steps to take to achieve my long-term goals. After four years of blogging, I have a strategy now. Dare I say it, I even have a good strategy now! I need to continue guest posting and put myself out there for freelance writing. I need to continue producing excellent content to drive traffic and increase views. I need to focus on my email list as a way to connect with my readers even more! I need to get my ass into gear with Pinterest (why is it that I’ve said this in like the past 3 years of recap posts?!?). Creating a strategy (as well as planning all my content for the month in advance) has been huge for me to manage my time efficiently, and to reach my goals.

I am the best version of myself when I’m on the road. On my trip to the Balkans this summer, I was happier than I’ve been in a long time. I felt like I was in my element exploring lesser-known cities, drinking cheap mojitos all night, jumping on moving coach buses from the side of the highway. This is when I feel like I’m the absolute best version of myself. Traveling and exploring makes me happier than anything else. I miss it hugely when I’m stuck in the office all month or when I don’t have any adventures planned. While I love weekends away and spending a week in a different destination, being gone for 2.5 weeks really reminded me just how much I love longer trips, and just exactly how I thrive on them.

I am so ready for what’s ahead. While yes, travel blogging full-time might look like a dream come true, I know from the others before me that it’s not easy. There will be late payments and invoice chasing, tears shed over bad wifi connections, and lots and lots of emails. I know that it’s not always as dreamy as it looks in Instagram photos, and I know it’s not for everyone. But I am so sure that it’s right for me. Bring it on 2020, I’m ready!

I wouldn’t be doing this without your support. None of this would be possible if I didn’t have readers like you who take the time to follow along with my adventures. By reading my blog you make this possible. One of the best ways to support my blog is to engage with my posts on social media: liking, commenting, and sharing is all completely free! If you do make purchases through my affiliate links, I receive a commission at no extra cost to you. I’m an Amazon affiliate member now, so by purchasing anything through my Amazon links is huge. I’d love it if you’d use the following links when booking a trip as every little bit adds up!

• Book hostels through Hostelworld!
• Book hotels/accommodation through Booking.com!
• Sign up to and book accommodation through Airbnb!
• Book flights through Skyscanner!
• Learn about travel insurance through World Nomads!
• Send money internationally through Transferwise!
• Sign up to get my favorite travel credit card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you to each of you for supporting me. For reading my posts and clicking through my links and letting me chase this dream. Thank you to every single person who has ever clicked onto this site and taken the time to read a post. I couldn’t do it without you. It means the world to me. I can’t wait to see what the next year of Away With Maja will bring!

What would you like to see on Away With Maja in the future? What type of posts and content do you enjoy?

Thank you to all of you for following along! Happy travels!