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Nadia Breen

NI woman's travel blog success while driving around the world in a campervan

A NI woman has told of her and her boyfriend's blogging success while attempting to drive around the world in their converted campervan.

29-year-old Cazzy Magennis from Belfast is currently travelling with her partner Bradley Williams (28) from Kent.

The two graduates set off to South America after university and then decided they wanted to continue travelling the world.

Read more: More chaos as easyJet flights cancelled to and from Northern Ireland

They have built a business from scratch which is now 'one of the biggest travel blogs on the web' - Dream Big, Travel Far.

Back in 2016, the pair never imagined they'd be doing what they are now. Their travel blog gets over 320,000 monthly page views and is still growing.

Cazzy and Bradley (Cazzy Magennis)

Cazzy told Be : "Bradley has been seeing the world from a younger age, as he’s been on a lot of awesome cruises. So when we met, we both realised we had a love for travel, and like most university students, wanted to travel after we graduated. At the time we didn’t realise it was something we would end up doing full time or that it would become our full time job.

"After we came back from our initial trip after university to South America, we decided that we wanted to keep travelling. We had heard that some people make money online with travel blogs and we thought we could do that too. So we put a lot of time and research into how to make money travel blogging, and in the meantime, we did copywriting for other clients to fund our travels. Then when the blog started to take off, it became our full-time job. It took about 2 years before we made any money from our blog and we’ve been doing this for around 6 years now."

The 29-year-old said travelling the world was daunting to begin with. She described how she felt on their first night.

"I was sitting in a hostel in Rio De Janeiro after a long flight to get there, and suddenly felt overwhelmed and nervous by all the new surroundings and the fact that I was actually really far from home. I sat wondering if was I brave enough. Turns out Brad was having the same thoughts!

"But after that first day, when we started exploring, those fears turned into excitement, and we’ve loved it ever since," Cazzy said.

The Belfast woman explained why the pair started the blog.

Cazzy and Bradley (Cazzy Magennis)

"Initially, the blog started out as a way to inspire people to travel with type 1 diabetes. I’m type 1 diabetic, and I couldn’t find any resources of people travelling on big adventures, especially not full time. So we decided to start Dream Big, Travel Far together as a way to inspire people with type 1 diabetes to not give up on their dreams.

"Eventually, over time, we also decided to expand into general travel, and after years and years of hard work, we’ve eventually grown the blog into one of the biggest adventure travel blogs on the internet, which in turn has allowed it to turn into our full time incomes.

"We actually make more from this job, than we ever would from jobs our degrees would have given us. But, it’s a business and as with all businesses - there is a risk, it takes time, and you have to work hard," Cazzy said.

She added: "It’s the biggest dream come true ever! We know how lucky we are and we’ve worked super hard to create a life we love. It’s truly amazing. But it’s also important to remember that things can change. For example, when Covid hit, it meant our business took a real hit.

"We’ve travelled to over 60 countries together since we started. We’ve done Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, India, Nepal, Indonesia, The Philippines, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Morocco, to name a few.

"We’ve almost been to every country in Europe... I think we have 2 or 3 more left to go! And right now we’re in Canada, driving across to Alaska, then eventually driving the whole way down to Argentina which is exciting!"

Cazzy said that growing up in Northern Ireland, she "didn’t see the greatest deal of opportunity" and always knew she wanted to leave.

Cazzy and Bradley's converted campervan (Cazzy Magennis)

"I had great experiences growing up and my school really encouraged us to run with our dreams and that made me feel confident that I could achieve what I wanted. It gave me the confidence to actually go abroad for uni. I do love Ireland in general, it’s a great country and I love exploring it when I return. I think options and opportunities are slowly getting better," she added.

For those wanting to travel the world but might be feeling daunted at the idea, Cazzy said "do it".

"If there’s anything that recent events in the world have taught us is that life is short, and you only get one chance. Not everyone gets the opportunity to travel, so that in itself is a real privilege. So if you have the chance to see other places in the world, meet new people and experience new cultures, then I think it’s the best thing you can do. The world is such an interesting place and there’s so much to see.

"Stay open-minded, be sensible and have fun!" she said.

Read more: easyJet announces new flight route from Belfast City Airport

Read more: NI couple left waiting extra week to return home after flight cancellation

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