Hello friends! Since I fell so behind on these recaps at the end of last year, I've decided to just do them quarterly going forward. I know some of you like to read them (and I personally like having them to look back on as a record of my year), so I hope you enjoy this slightly new format!

I hit the ground running in 2024, with a trip less than a week after New Year's, followed by a big bucket list trip in March!

Let's take a look at Q1 in 2024, shall we?

Q1 (January-March): The months in travel

• Countries visited: 3 – Mexico, USA, and Peru
• States visited: 1 – New York
• Flights taken (incl. connections): 9
• Days spent on the road: 32

Travel highlights

Chilling on Isla Holbox – A week after New Year's, I flew down to Cancun and then took a shuttle and a ferry over to Isla Holbox, a small island in the Gulf of Mexico where it's impossible to not relax. I met my friend Kasey there, and we spent a week eating delicious food, reading on the beach, and going on short little adventures. This isn't my normal type of trip, but it was the perfect way to kick off the year! (Read more about Isla Holbox here.)

Showing Elliot around NYC – Towards the end of January, I went to New York City for the annual IMM travel media conference. Elliot decided to come along with me, and we made a long weekend out of it – and it was his very first trip to NYC! We did several classic touristy things, including going up to the Top of the Rock observation deck, visiting the New York Public Library, riding on the Staten Island Ferry, eating at Ellen's Stardust Diner (with the singing wait staff), and seeing a Broadway show (we saw Hadestown, and it was amazing).

Exploring Lake Titicaca – In March, I spent 16 days traveling around Peru with my travel bestie Ashley (she's gonna pop up a lot this year!), mostly on a tour with Intrepid Travel. There were lots of highlights, but the one that pleasantly surprised me the most was Lake Titicaca. The world's highest-elevation navigable lake is SO fascinating. We spent an entire day visiting different islands in the lake and learning about the people that live on them. (More info here.)

Hiking to Machu Picchu – The other highlight for me in Peru was Machu Picchu. But I didn't reach Machu Picchu via the regular route; I hiked 8 miles along the Inca Trail to get there! I booked this 1-day Inca Trail hike, which was super challenging but SO rewarding. The views were just incredible, and it's an experience I don't think I'll ever forget.

Travel lowlights

The neverending flight delay – My travel year got off to a rocky start when my flight from Cleveland to Cancun got delayed by nearly 7 hours due to a mechanical issue with my plane. I was on a non-stop flight, and so just decided to wait (in the airport lounge, thankfully). And while we did eventually leave, the delay meant I arrived too late in Cancun to catch my transfer and make the ferry over to Isla Holbox that night. Meaning that I had to book a last-minute room at an expensive airport hotel and re-book my transfer, adding an extra $500 to my trip cost.

(I was able to submit this to my travel insurance, but my plan has a per-day cap for travel delays/interruptions. I did get about half my money back, but it's a good lesson that just because you have travel insurance doesn't necessarily mean all unforeseen expenses will be covered.)

I almost had an issue on my way home from this trip, too, as it was during the week after an exit door had been ripped off a Boeing plane in-flight and they were grounding a lot of MAX planes. I ended up re-booking my flight home through a different airport (on different aircraft) just to be safe, and luckily it all went well!

The Peruvian Amazon – I wrote about this on Facebook and got told I was a stupid, entitled tourist – and maybe I am! But I can't help how I feel about an experience, and I'm not afraid to say when I don't like something (which admittedly is not often!).

Basically, my Intrepid Travel tour around Peru included 2 nights at a lodge in the Amazon jungle near Puerto Maldonado. I knew I was going to hate the heat and humidity of the jungle, but would never hold my own personal issues against a place or experience. But this one just… was not good.

It mostly came down to expectations being incorrectly managed, and perhaps really bad luck with staff and guides. It started off with almost a full day traveling to the jungle from Cusco (which almost didn't seem worth it for 1.5 days in the jungle). And then there was a series of mishaps, miscommunications, and things that didn't seem to run smoothly that all added up to a bad experience for almost everyone in my group.

Some of the things we all struggled with included not being informed ahead of time that the lodge cut electricity several times during the day, including overnight, meaning zero airflow inside buildings in the middle of the jungle; poor experiences with the restaurant/bar staff (including one bartender who tried to serve alcohol to literal children); and excursion schedules that didn't make sense with guides who didn't really seem to care whether we saw wildlife or not (even though that's kind of the point of going to the Amazon!).

All the little things added up to an experience that I would not repeat and probably wouldn't recommend to others, either, when I know there are better options in other parts of the Peruvian Amazon!

January-March on the blog(s)

If you remember from my last update, a lot of blogs (mine included) were affected by Google updates towards the end of 2023. The hits kept on coming in Q1 of 2024, with another “Helpful Content Update” in March that wasn't helpful at all to anyone other than Reddit (if you've noticed a lot of Reddit and Quora forums in search results this year, we have this update to thank).

My main site avoided the worst of these updates, but I didn't have as big of a post-holiday traffic bump as usual, and Cleveland Traveler was affected at least slightly. Which just means that traffic (and therefore income) is down year over year overall.

A reminder to subscribe to my newsletter if you haven't yet, as Google can't touch who that's shown to.

A Dangerous Business traffic

• January: 93,000 visitors and 142,000 pageviews
• February: 74,000 visitors and 116,000 pageviews
• March: 78,000 visitors and 130,000 pageviews

As for content, I'm still working through my backlog from the last year or so, which means I published posts on a mix of destinations, from the Oregon Coast to Slovenia to the Isle of Skye. I actually did manage to publish at least one new post per week, which I'll count as a win! (And yes, even with all the Google volatility, I've still been publishing new content like usual, because I still want to write it for anyone who does manage to find it.)

Most popular post: Are Intrepid Travel Premium Tours Worth It? My Honest Opinion – I've taken many tours with Intrepid Travel, including some of their newer “premium” tours. This post takes a look at whether I think they're worth the extra cost or not.

Other posts published:

• What to Pack for a Galapagos Cruise (+ Full Galapagos Packing List)
• 10 Reasons to NOT Drive the Ring Road in Iceland
• How to Hike to Ponta da Piedade from Lagos, Portugal (on New Boardwalks!)
• Visiting the Oregon Coast in Winter: 13 Unique Things to Do + Helpful Tips
• 3 Days in Prague: The Perfect Prague Itinerary for Your First Visit
• 17 Things You Need to Know Before a Trip to Slovenia
• 11 Awesome Things to Do at Lake Bled in Slovenia (+ Helpful Tips for Visiting)
• The Ultimate Guide to Visiting Piran, Slovenia (Things To Do + How to Stay Overnight)
• 19 Essential Things to Do on the Isle of Skye in Scotland
• 12 Best Beaches in Vieques, Puerto Rico You Need to See for Yourself
• One Week in Northern Ireland: The Perfect 7-Day Northern Ireland Road Trip Itinerary

On Cleveland Traveler, the post-holiday months are historically some of the worst, and that was true this year, too. The problem is, I think this site is finally being affected by Google's changes to search results, so I'm not sure I'm going to see the summer bump I usually do.

Cleveland Traveler traffic

• January: 30,000 visitors and 42,000 pageviews
• February: 30,000 visitors and 41,000 pageviews
• March: 31,000 visitors and 50,000 pageviews (about a 28% drop YOY)

If you want to see what I've been up to on Cleveland Traveler lately, visit the site here. The site is largely in maintenance mode now, where instead of writing lots of new posts, I'm mostly focused on keeping all my current posts updated – the majority of them need updated every year, if not multiple times per year to stay relevant.

January-March Q1 business update

The traffic loss from the end of 2023 is starting to be reflected now in my income earnings, with the biggest hit being to my ad income (it actually doesn't look too bad when averaged out this quarter, but that's because January was pretty strong). Luckily my affiliate sales have stayed up, and I'm also bringing in some money in other ways – though I need to work on growing my non-ad income streams.

As a reminder, I'm moving away from sharing exact income figures by the month. Instead, I'm now giving you the average in each category over the whole quarter, as it's just easier for me to calculate when I'm covering more than just a month at a time!

A Dangerous Business average Q1 income report:

• Advertising: $6,800 per month
• Affiliates: $4,800 per month
• Product sales: $215 per month
• Other: $480 per month

Cleveland Traveler average Q1 income report:

• Advertising: $4,000 per month (this is because holiday ad revenue hit my bank account in Q1)
• Paid campaigns: $400 per month

(Note that this is my income before deductions/expenses and taxes.)

Business highs

Going to IMM in NYC – I've been kicking off my business year by going to IMM every January, where I spend an entire day having speed-dating-style meetings with representatives from various tourism boards and PR companies. It's hard to say just how helpful this event is every year (sometimes it takes more than one year to build a relationship that will convert into work), but I figure the networking is never a *bad* thing, and it also means getting to see travel industry friends!

Business lows

I'm on the diversification struggle bus – As my site traffic just continues to slide, I'm trying to come up with other ways to bring in income that aren't so reliant on Google. The problem is, I don't really have any great ideas. I don't make much money from social media (even though I think I create good content there, too!), I have no interest in doing trip planning or becoming a travel agent, and I don't feel like I have the expertise to write travel guides or other books. So I guess I'll just keep keeping on and see what happens!

Upcoming travel plans

I'm off to Europe for 2 months again this spring! A few of the highlights in Q2 will include:

April: Outlander Cruise – My favorite river cruise line in Europe (Avalon Waterways) has run several cruises in the last decade with Diana Gabaldon, author of the “Outlander” series. These are my mom's favorite books, so when I learned of a new cruise way back in 2022, I jumped on booking it for us! And now we finally get to go! We'll be starting in Prague, getting on the ship in Germany, and then sailing down the Danube to Budapest, all with Diana onboard!

April: Italy – Because my mom kept saying she probably wouldn't travel to Europe again after this trip, I told her I'm taking her to Italy, too. So after our cruise we'll be heading to Venice (and meeting up with Elliot there!), and then will travel to Florence and Milan, too.

May: Paris and Loire Valley – From Italy, Elliot and my mom will fly home, and I'll be headed to Paris to meet up with some friends and then spend a few days chateau-hopping in the Loire Valley. I'm excited to explore a new-to-me part of France!

May: Stockholm – From France, we're flying to Stockholm to see Taylor Swift!! I wasn't able to get Eras Tour tickets in the US, but we did luck out and were able to get tickets to the show in Stockholm during presale last year. We'll be standing all night on the floor, but I'm still so excited!!

May/June: Poland – And then I'm wrapping up my spring in Europe in Poland. I'm meeting Ashley in Warsaw, and we've planned a 2-week road trip around the country to visit all the cute cities and lots of historic (mostly WWII) sites. I last visited Poland in 2013 and LOVED it, so I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Until next time… happy travels!