Travel Blogger Interview Series – Siddharth and Shruti

 

It’s October, that means we have yet another interesting interview with some fellow travel bloggers! Each month, we post a fun interview that we conduct with travel bloggers that we’ve met either during our travels or through online blogging communities. On Dates in the States, we want to showcase these wonderful people so you can meet them, too!

This month we’ve interviewed Siddharth and Shruti from SiddharthandShruti.com. They’ve created a website all about their “life in co-op mode”. They are a geeky couple from India who love to eat, travel, and play video games together.

If you are a travel blogger interested in being featured in one of our upcoming interviews, please contact us!

 

1. Tell me about yourself and your blog. Where are you based out of?

We are a married couple based in Mumbai, India. The blog is about our adventures together; mostly travel-related but occasionally infused with other geeky stuff that we enjoy like games and TV shows.

 

2. How did your blog begin? What gave you the idea to start it?

We had originally acquired the domain siddharthandshruti.com in the months running up to our wedding to put up a ‘Save the Date’ website. After the wedding, we figured that rather than let the website fall into disuse, we should put up things we like to do as a married couple instead. What started as a lifestyle blog eventually evolved into a travel focused one. We both love to travel, so most of the content we’ve put up is travel-related although there are a few other random nerdy things as well.

 

3. I LOVE how your travel blog focuses on your life in “co-op” mode, what are your favorite video games to play together?

As the name suggests, we try to play games that feature co-operative modes of play. Playing against each other might lead to arguments! Recently, we’ve been on a bit of a retro kick with games like Caesar III and Pharaoh from Impressions Games’ city builder series. We’re also playing the insanely difficult Dead Ops Arcade 2 mini-game from the Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

 

4. Do your favorite video games influence the places you travel to?

Interesting question. Drawing parallels from Caesar III and Pharaoh, we’d absolutely love to visit Italy and Egypt to explore the fascinating history of these lands.

 

5. What was your most recent trip?

Indonesia. We explored the islands of Bali, Gili and the lesser known Flores.

 

6. What has been your most memorable experience while traveling?

Catching the Northern Lights in Iceland. It’s an extra special memory because that trip was our honeymoon. 

 

7. I see you have a Travel Tips page on your blog, any special tips you’d like to exclusively share with our readers?

Don’t be afraid of spontaneity. Most of our adventures have happened because Plan A did not work and we had to explore other options. There is no perfect itinerary and more often than not you will miss out on a couple of things that you meant to see. Instead of feeling disappointed, try and think of it as an opportunity to revisit.

 

8. Our blog has a focus on budget travel, can you tell us how you afford to travel? How many times a year do you travel? Any travel budgeting tips?

We keep our dates flexible. We plan our trip around sales and off-peak travel dates. We almost never travel during summer which saves a lot of money. Sometimes we pre-book parts of our itinerary, which is more cost effective than paying on the spot. We also have a travel savings account which we exclusively use for our trips. Creating a travel fund gives you the option of slowly building up resources rather than shelling out a big amount all at once.

 

9. We also love helping other bloggers grow their following and create their blog like a business. Do you have any social media tips and tricks for growth?

Numbers are stressful. Instead of focusing on just growing in size, grow with like minded people who actually enjoy your content. We have seen better engagement on social media when we narrate personal stories rather than just a short caption. It is worth putting in the extra effort to create a micro-blog than a quick fix.

 

10. What is your next destination and why?

We’re heading to the south India in October to witness a rare bloom. A bluish-purple flower called the Neelakurinji blossoms in the hills once every 12 years after the rains and covers the valleys around in shades of blue.

 

You can find us on our Blog – https://siddharthandshruti.com/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/SiddharthShruti

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/siddharthandshruti/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/siddharthandshruti/