When my good friend and Twitter superstar, Scott Eddy invited me to the Travel Massive party heading into the Travel Bloggers Exchange conference in Bangkok, I was manifested with a rush of emotions. First came the excitement and anticipation that slowly turned into fear and anxiety.

I mean we JUST started out our blog and new to travel, so was this an event that we should be going for? How can we be amongst so many established travelers and bloggers from around the world and not feel intimidated? Also I knew that I won’t be able to make it to the actual TBEX conference (unfortunately for many reasons) so wouldn’t people think that we weren’t serious about this?

After an hour or so of panicking, I decided to go on a proactive mode. I logged onto Twitter and started engaging with people who were talking about #TBEXAsia or #TravelMassive. I wanted to know some of these bloggers and attendees before I actually went to the kickoff party.

Anyways after a few days of tweeting back and forth with some amazing travel bloggers, the day finally came on October 14th and all my fear had turned into complete excitement. I couldn’t wait to get out of my office, go home, get dressed and hit the rooftop bar, Cloud 47 – a fitting venue for the event that expected over 350 attendees.

When we got there

After being stuck in traffic (not the smartest idea to take a car but Uber made it smooth) for about 30 minutes, we arrived at the event only 10 minutes late. At the entrance was a series of registration booths manned by staff of Travel Massive, Hivesters and Agoda. 

Step 1: show our registration profile on the Travel Massive website

Step 2: Collect complimentary drink coupons

Step 3 and 4 (optional): Register for Travel Blog Success and give submit a business card for a lucky draw

It was pretty loud so we didn’t really understand what the prizes were or where we can find out the results but I’m guessing it would be at the conference itself.

Finally, we were in. Now what? First thing we did was go grab blank name tags that had some hashtagged words written on them. #Marketer? Well I am a marketer by trade but I didn’t want to be known for that tonight. I saw #AdventureTravel…yes, that’s me. I love adventure so I picked that one up. Kanika picked up #Instagram although she soon realized she should have picked up #Youtuber.

Travel Massive Bangkok

Soon after we met probably one of the most inspiring person at the event –  a 16 year old, solo backpacker from Indonesia – Daniel from That Asian Traveler. I mean seriously, kudos to this kid for starting out so young!

The Vibe

It was definitely happening and the event was well organized. It had a blend of everything – entertainment, partying and education. We can’t complain about the free drinks either. Here’s my video tweet of the event.

 

Travel Massive Bangkok

Minus the loud music, it was very enjoyable as we walked around a very spacious venue, meeting different types of bloggers and travel professionals. Although at times it felt like people had made their own little groups and weren’t looking to socialize with others. This was expected but I’d like to have met a few more people.

I think most were here to take a break, relax and meet their friends, drink and dance before a hectic few days of the upcoming conference. The organizers did a good job of providing that.

Stand-out people we met

Definitely of course, what made this event so great was meeting some of the people we spoke to on Twitter and some whom we did not. We got to meet some old friends like Scott Eddy and Amanda Boleman from The Travellure as well as some Twitter faces we’ve been in touch over the months like Ray Cavanagh from Thaizer.

Travel Massive Bangkok

One of the coolest and humble person we’ve ever met is Kausal, a travel writer and digital strategist like myself, from Exotic Gringo. We also met a few other inspiring Indian bloggers such as TheTinyTaster, Different Doors, Rutavi and an amazing photographer, Ajay Sood.

It was a good thing I put Adventure Traveler because I was approached by a few companies who were interested in using my passion for adventure and writing to come and try out their excursion activities.

The first was Co Van Kessel, a biking tour company in Bangkok (watch out for a blog post on this soon-ish), which was soon followed by Your Local Cousin and Bangkok Food Tours. I also met a very cool German guy, Daniel Heitz who is a cofounder of an urban challenge startup and based on our conversations, I’m very excited to learn more about this venture.

One of our favorite bloggers was also there, Alex in Wanderland but she seemed a bit busy talking to her friends. Maybe next time Alex.

Takeaways

It was an amazing experience getting to meet, network and learn from these individuals but there was only so much we could talk about since a) the music was very loud and b) it was a short event

We are really regretting not being able to attend the conference to meet even more people, learn blogging tips and continue to connect with the ones we already met. However, life isn’t about regrets – it’s about opportunities and learning from our mistakes. We know we are ready to take on this journey of lifestyle and travel blogging. It’s where we belong and we’ll be sure to attend any and all future events related to travel, food and lifestyle. I’ll also be virtually monitoring TBEXAsia on twitter to be in the loop as much as possible.

 

So were you there at the event? What did you think so? Hit us up on Instagram, Facebook or our personal twitter profiles (Kanika & Shayan) if you’re interested to connect with us.