The Blue Sky Traveler Brand ....
Authentic & Destination Focused Travel Content
Travel is a luxury to experience different places, cultures, and to open yourself to new experiences.
It is an investment of both time and money where the reward far exceed the costs when the experience is authentic.
Disclosures
For most of my corporate career from 1997-2013, I traveled on my own funds or as add-ons to corporate trips. For example, I would be traveling to a destination for work Monday through Friday, which my company paid for me to travel to the destination, and then I would extend my trip through the weekend using my own funds and then fly back on Sunday. I prioritized travel over other personal hobbies during my non-working time.
My year long sabbatical in Europe during 2014 was entirely self-funded and the impetus for starting my travel blog and instagram.
Since then, this blog has grown out of pure passion for travel and photography and I wanted to insure it stays that way. I have made financial choices (ie having other online businesses) which allowed me to grow this blog slowly and not be dependent on it for income to live and compromise the integrity of my recommendations.
Starting in 2015, I have accepted hosted and paid opportunities with travel destinations, organizations or companies to experience their products or destination and share my experiences. This means I receive compensation or I may receive items such as flights, rooms, meals & products gratis.
Though I may receive goods, services or experiences from my host, the opinions are my own. Over 80% of my travel and content is self-funded to insure I am putting my money behind my travel recommendations.
I have also included affiliate links in my blog of products I endorse and have used. By clicking these links and sometimes only with purchase, I receive a small commission for recommending these products at no extra cost to you.
Amazon Affiliate Program Disclosure
Blue Sky Traveler LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Per the FTC Disclosure rules, I am required to disclose when affiliate links or compensation occurs and this is indicated in each article.
If you have a concern about anything I have written, questions, or would like to provide updated information, please contact me.
Editorial Policy
This travel blog started as a passion project to share my personal travel experiences. It has become a trusted resource not only for personal friends but also my valued audience.
To this day, the majority of my travel (over 80%) is self-funded with non-sponsored related income. This allows me to keep my passion for travel, flexibility to explore, and ability to only work with travel brands on this blog that I truly use and believe in.
I do enjoy working with travel brands that align with my vision of travel and find it a great way to explore travel opportunities I would not have thought of or experienced on my own, not only for my blog & personal experiences but to also introduce these places, products and experiences to readers of this blog who are hopefully inspired to travel and see more.
My goal is to provide an authentic partnership with these brands, the people who read and use this blog to travel, and most importantly myself.
Though I now work with several brands, all content is based on my personal experiences, preferences and authentic recommendations. Should I receive any compensation (paid or hosted) for any article or mention, this will be disclosed at the end of the article.
My focus for BlueSkyTraveler is sharing real & personal travel experiences.
LINK INSERTION: I do not recommend or insert links of products & services that I do not use and authentically recommend. Link schemes including paid links, link swaps, and other methods to manipulate incoming/outgoing links are against Google’s Policy and I find it unethical.
GUEST POSTS: I do not host guest posts from other travelers/companies as I cannot guarantee they have actually been to the place or the authenticity of post. I feel these practices are rarely about sharing travel experiences with readers and more about inorganic backlinks.
The guest posts articles I am sent are almost always canned researched articles (as opposed to real life experience) with little value for readers. I personally find it frustrating to visit a destination based on an article and quickly discover that the person writing the article was clearly never there or simply just took a selfie and left. No value.
I am happy to engage, endorse and represent brands that I use and love. Please get in touch with me with me if you think that Blue Sky Traveler is the right platform for your travel related product or service.
