We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rocky Trifari. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rocky below.

Rocky, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The Rocky Safari travel blog is a website aimed at teaching aspiring digital nomads about living a location-independent lifestyle. The Rocky Safari is the world’s #1 independently owned travel blog for information about slow travel, wildlife conservation, and cultural preservation.

After ten years of being in this business, people frequently ask why I first started blogging.

There was a wide variety of reasons but I believe it can be boiled down to my main mission: to create a greater sense of understanding within people all around the world.

So often our news publications are filled with headlines about conflicts, tragedies, and loss. The negativity can be a real burden and certainly does little to help create a more peaceful world. I wanted to develop an online resource that would approach cultural topics with a sense of curiosity to cultivate a deeper sense of understanding.

By reaching readers around the world and introducing them to different ways of thinking, alternative ways of life, and unfamiliar ideas, my goal is to help create a greater sense of openness and understand in a world where so much diversity exists. That’s at the core of my mission. That’s why I write.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Writing about slow travel, wildlife conservation, and cultural preservation was a natural path for me.

I’ve always had these specific interests so writing about them was a creative way for me to share my love with the rest of the world. Travel was introduced to me from an early age and after graduating from college, I began taking solo trips more often.

While traveling, I quickly realized the importance of drawing attention to underrepresented topics about minority groups, endangered wildlife, and other complex topics.

I see blogging as a platform to share data, information, and ideas with the world.

A rewarding aspect to being found through the internet is that many of the people who read your writing are seeking out related information and are happy to go through the journey of discovery with you. The best stories I get are from the times when a reader informs me that an article I have published reshaped how they viewed something. It’s amazing to hear how writing can influence, impact, and make a difference for those who read it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Travel blogs can be over-glorified by readers and other travel bloggers alike. I have noticed so many travel blogs on the internet fall short on showing the full-picture: something I’ve consistently made a point of focusing on since the start of my blog.

Most of my posts show the pros and cons, ups and downs, and full-scope of the topics I write about.

While traveling can be a lot of fun, it doesn’t come without risk.

Here’s an example: In a recent blog post, I wrote about my first-ever hot air balloon ride.

In this particular article, I created a detailed resource covering all of the information someone might need to know before purchasing tickets to go on a hot-air balloon ride. The truth is, however, my pilot nearly got into a hot-air balloon accident when I was a passenger on one. It wasn’t his fault but it had the potential to end badly. Thankfully, we escaped unharmed. It would have been dishonest to omit that story from my post so I made sure to include a full explanation of everything that went wrong along during my ride, in addition to what went right.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

My college professor once recommended the book “In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed” by Carl Honor. I’d recommend this book to anyone who wants to focus on mindfulness, slow travel, and being more present. Although I’m a huge proponent of long-term thinking, there are some cases where it’s better to be in the moment.

Before I left for my first-ever solo backpacking trip in 2018, I watched the 2007 film: “A MAP FOR SATURDAY”. The documentary does an incredible job of capturing why many people enjoy backpacking. It portrays the desire to experience something new, the way travelers meet friends along the way, and the travel bug that you get once you come back home. No film has ever captured the ups and downs of backpacking as perfectly as this movie does.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.therockysafari.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockytrifari/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therockysafari/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rockytrifari/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/therockysafari

Image Credits
Rocky Trifari