‘I love my job, but the loneliness is hard’: Actuality of life as a journey influencer – The Irish Times

Children today need to develop as much as change into influencers. So do adults.

Survey after survey tells us that many younger folks everywhere in the planet crave nothing greater than to down instruments, strap on a backpack and stride off into the horizon, with telephones, selfie-sticks and GoPros to doc their journey.

It’s a pleasant thought. But what’s the fact like? We spoke to 5 of Ireland’s best-known journey influencers and content material creators about their working lives and what the grind actually entails.

Between them, Cassie Stokes, Éadaoin Fitzmaurice, Brinsley McNamara, Niamh Flynn and Stephanie Barry Woods have greater than 1.2 million followers on Instagram, in addition to two e-book offers and two journey firms – however what are the highs and lows of their chosen careers?

‘I love my job, but the loneliness is hard’

Éadaoin Fitzmaurice

Éadaoin Fitzmaurice has 344,000 followers on Instagram and 169,000 on TikTookay. Her follower rely has grown via steely dedication and a spotlight to element. The Arklow-born influencer is a graduate of communications in DCU: she initially wished to get into tv presenting, however after a stint working for Lovin Dublin as a social media co-ordinator, she realised content material creation ticked a variety of the identical containers. After working for Web Summit, in 2022, when she had constructed up her Instagram web page to 30,000 followers, she took the plunge into full-time content material creation.

“I moved in with my parents, I put it all on the line, and I worked my ass off. By October, I had 100,000 followers. And I grew by 100,000 the following year.”

Fitzmaurice’s pursuits vary from journey to meals to the Irish language. On her Instagram you’ll discover colourfully showcased, smartly-curated lists of nice locations to go to in Ireland. The emphasis is on enjoyable and quirkiness, with pull-in questions like “Is this Dublin’s best sandwich?” or a sequence making an attempt out saunas in each county in Ireland.

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Behind the scenes, the 31-year-old works laborious. A typical day may embody a radio phase for Newstalk, collaborating with a model for a social media video, then driving across the nation to attention-grabbing areas, and filming herself. “Monday is content day, so I can spend the rest of the week editing,” she says. “It’s funny shooting by yourself and seeing people look at you. But I’ve been doing this so long you get used to it.”

What catches hearth on Instagram or TikTookay sooner or later could not draw eyeballs the subsequent: Fitzmaurice devotes appreciable graft to understanding the algorithmic modifications that have an effect on her attain. “There’s a real science,” she says. “You want your page to have longevity, so you constantly have to change. When I started three years ago, my list content was doing incredibly well. Now you have to have different hooks to lead people into the lists. It takes time and commitment, and that commitment can never falter.”

The self-employed life-style might be isolating. “Last summer I was working on a project that involved driving around the country on my own for weeks on end. It was so heavy on your psyche because you’re on your own all the time. That loneliness is hard. A lot of content creators are friends. We’re support systems to one another.”

Fitzmaurice is managed by the Collaborations Agency. Many profitable influencers have businesses to characterize them, she says, which “does set something of an industry standard around rates, but of course they take a cut”.

Financially, there’s no ceiling on what’s potential to earn as an influencer. “The average content creator is probably on a fairly normal salary, anything between €30,000 and €60,000, but the really big creators with millions of followers are 100 per cent on a six-figure salary,” she says. “If you work really hard, the doors are open, which is one of the great things about this industry. And it’s predominantly female-led. It’s amazing to see these women on six-figure salaries or setting up their own brands or writing their own books.”

In an trade that’s typically rife with suspicion round what’s #gifted and what’s not, Fitzmaurice says transparency is essential.

“If something is an ad, it has to be labelled in Ireland. If you’re going to take your audience for a ride or do deals under the table, you’re tarnishing your own brand. Some creators are not as obvious labelling their ads, but that will come and bite them in the ass. Management are also really good. If I forgot to hashtag #ad – that wouldn’t happen, but if it did – my manager would ring me straight away and get me to fix it. There’s a team behind the machine.”

Fitzmaurice lives together with her fiance and their canine in Dublin, and the couple plan to marry subsequent 12 months. Will she be doing this job endlessly? It’s not a query she worries about. “Is any career long-term any more?” she says.

“People are changing their careers five or six times in their lifetime. Things are going really well for me. I love my job and I feel so privileged and lucky, but if we look to have a family in future maybe my perspective on the work I’m doing will change.”

‘I host women’s group journeys: it’s the most effective factor I’ve achieved’

Stephanie Barry Woods

To her 115,000 Instagram followers, the life Stephanie Barry Woods leads is splendidly cosmopolitan. From Cork, Barry Woods ditched her graduate banking job in London to go backpacking 10 years in the past together with her now husband Tim. Since then, she has visited 52 international locations, with lengthy spells in Bali, Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne. Currently in Bangkok, the subsequent cease on the horizon is Tokyo. “We’re going to settle there for about two years.”

Followers can count on jaw-dropping landscapes and surroundings on her @stephmylife Instagram feed, in addition to useful journey recommendation and personality-driven moments: Barry Woods usually exhibits herself in peculiar day-to-day mode, celebrating birthdays, selecting out cute outfits for a visit, or chilling out in her newest abode.

She and Tim purchased a home in Abruzzo in southern Italy in 2021, which they use in summer time as a European base. “The hard thing about living in Asia is that when you go home, you’re in your mum’s spare room or your friend’s house, and you’ve got this intense week,” she says. “Now we’ve got this place that’s a short flight away from London and Cork and Dublin.”

Barry Woods, who’s 38, makes her dwelling partly by serving to travellers with bespoke itineraries. She additionally hosts excursions for ladies travellers through her journey firm @stephmylifetours. “It’s the best thing I’ve done,” she says. “I host women’s group trips for a week or two to cool places six or eight times a year. They’re so fun.”

“It’s mainly solo female travellers, predominately Irish, who might not have kids and want to travel, but their friends aren’t in the position to do it. I focus on places where women might not want to travel on their own: India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mongolia, Japan. Friendships have been made, it’s a cool thing.”

Even although she loves her life-style, there are occasions when she longs to be again in Cork. Her father and her stepfather died very shut collectively, within the autumn of 2022. She was grateful to have the ability to go dwelling for 4 months, however dwelling overseas afterwards was robust. “My mum was grieving and I was away and it was hard to support the family. That was something that you don’t think about when you’re leaving. That was a wake-up call for us. Now we come home more, and prioritise our parents more.”

For folks considering of following in her footsteps, Barry Woods says it’s vital to deal with the enjoyment of travelling slightly chasing developments.

“The bubble of TikToks and trending places is going away,” she says. “People are looking more towards authentic travel experiences. Don’t try to be viral immediately. Show people why you love to travel. Don’t put yourself under pressure to go anywhere or do anything you don’t want to do. Just focus on your passion for travel – and get a good camera.”

‘It’s an effective way to see the nation and have a variety of enjoyable’

Brinsley McNamara

Brinsley McNamara began the Weird Ireland Instagram account in January 2024, and shortly noticed curiosity in his web page soar. “By March it had 200,000 followers,” the 33-year-old, a NUIG Geography and Philosophy graduate, says.

Intended as a multimedia challenge with a “pithy and comedic angle” to showcase quirky spots of historic curiosity across the nation, Weird Ireland at present has 353,000 followers on the @bizarre.eire Instagram account and 107,000 on TikTookay. McNamara – whose identify is a pseudonym – beforehand had an account known as Weird Westmeath, so he knew what related effectively with followers. For Weird Ireland: “I uploaded a video every day for six weeks. I had been planning on doing it for months before I did it, so I had a worked-out plan.”

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It wasn’t lengthy earlier than he was approached by Hachette Ireland to carry out a e-book, which arrived on cabinets in late 2024. “They were looking at the virality, and I guess the thing that was most impactful was I had a strong brand: Weird Ireland is a good name.” McNamara has had sponsorships with Fáilte Ireland, LADBible, The Heritage Council and GoCar, in addition to delivering podcasts and branching out into reside occasions: he’s getting ready for a present on the Sugar Club in Dublin on April twenty seventh.

McNamara lives in his dad and mom’ dwelling in Mullingar and retains his targets humble, noting that, as with broadcasters, influencers embody a broad church. “It’s going to be very different if you’re just saying a few words about the weather on Midlands 103, or if you’re Pat Kenny,” he says. “I live at home so I don’t spend a whole lot of money and I don’t make a whole lot either. People assume you make a lot more money than you do.”

What Weird Ireland has given him is great experiences along with his buddies, partly as a result of he doesn’t drive, so somebody has to ferry him round. “They’re all involved,” he says. “They’ll message me and say, ‘Brinsley, is there anything you’re wanting to do this weekend?’ Some of the guys are always keen for an adventure.” They get pleasure from going someplace with a objective. “Last year for St Patrick’s Day, we went to Dingle because they have a 6am parade there, so we got footage for that. It’s a great way to see the country and have a lot of fun.” He has a broad following, with a big portion of his followers stemming from Britain and the US.

He advises aspiring journey influencers to work on technique. “Analyse people doing the same thing. See what competitors are doing and not doing and carve out a niche within that. Study your area and differentiate yourself.”

The vital factor, he provides, is to make work that feels personally rewarding. “Getting a million views on Instagram or TikTok is a nice thing. I haven’t had one since April 2025. It is a proud feeling. But as long as I’m proud of the video – whether it’s informative or amusing – then I’m happy.”

‘I’ve stated no to any restaurant or pub who ever provided me cash’

Cassie Stokes

Food and journey influencer Cassie Stokes is likely one of the best-known social media personalities within the nation, with 332,000 followers on Instagram, as @cassiestokes, and 132,000 on TikTookay, the place her relaxed, candid strategy has attracted hundreds of thousands of views. Stokes’s ease on digital camera stems partly from her background: she’s a former Virgin Media tv presenter, again when it was TV3, and she or he additionally labored within the hospitality trade in Canada, in Irish pub PJ O’Brien’s in Toronto’s monetary district.

“It’s where I learned everything about hospitality, which crossed over with my presenting,” she says.

Originally from Dundrum in Dublin, she now travels from place to position, exploring pubs and eating places across the nation and typically overseas, highlighting quirky outdated pubs, nice slices of pizza, and the most effective creamy pints, whether or not she pops up in Newry or New York. Wearing her signature uniform of a Barbour jacket and sun shades, Stokes interviews folks about their favorite spots, and it’s been a success. “I love talking to people,” she says. “I was just like, maybe I’ll try this and see how it goes.”

Earlier this 12 months, TikTookay put collectively a Discover checklist of their high 50 creators to observe globally, and Stokes made the reduce. “I was in the top 10 foodies to watch in the whole world. It was incredible.”

She has an agent, Matchstick, and a publishing deal: her e-book, Best of Ireland, shall be printed by DK Books in October. “That pulls together all the videos I’ve done over the last few years into one book.”

Stokes will get paid via manufacturers, together with Aldi and An Post: she makes movies for them which is separate to her natural content material. “We don’t get paid through TikTok or Instagram. I try to keep my channel really busy so even if there are ads, it’s not overrun with ads.”

What scale of revenue ought to a content material creator count on? “I can pay my rent, which is great,” she says. “You hear of people making a very nice amount from being a content creator, but it really depends whether you’re inside or outside of Ireland.” She doesn’t settle for cost from pubs or eating places (or free meals or drinks) – she makes this clear in her web page profile. “I would have said no to any restaurant or pub who has ever offered me money. When I break it down, I actually lose money when I go to these places. I work with a camera person when I go and film. So I actually spend money.”

Sometimes folks’s perceptions of her work hassle her. “What has been hard over the last while is everyone thinking people get paid to go to places and just say, ‘This is good’. It’s fine if people get paid, but there are other people who don’t and I’m one of them, and I work really hard to find great places and share places that I enjoy.”

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She hopes to get again into TV sooner or later. “I’d love to work on an Irish travel show or a show about Irish people in different parts of the world.” She recommends that individuals wanting her job ought to consider in themselves before everything.

“Be yourself, don’t try and be like anyone else,” she says. “Post the videos even though they could seem embarrassing or ridiculous. Post them. Once you’re talking about what you love, and doing what you enjoy, it’ll work. Enjoy change because it will lead to great things.”

‘It’s not as luxurious as everybody imagines’

Niamh Flynn

Niamh Flynn is a 28-year-old journey influencer from Kildare, who has 83,000 followers on her Instagram @niamhxtravels, the place she posts movies and pictures about mountaineering and journey in Ireland and overseas. When Flynn started posting on Instagram in 2020, regardless of early qualms about happening the influencer highway – “I was mortified I’d give my friends the ick, they’d be embarrassed for me” – she cherished taking pictures, modifying montages and exploring new locations.

After one Central America journey, she spent two months pulling highlights right into a video for family and friends. “Once I got the feedback from people that they liked it, I was like, ‘Do you know what, I can do this’.”

A knowledge analyst by commerce, Flynn took a mathematical strategy to content material creation within the early days. “I had a spreadsheet with the types of content I wanted to post, and then the videos in that category that did well. I had that broken down into: ‘What style of video was it? Was it talking to the camera? Was it quick clips?’ I had 100 videos listed and that gave me a methodology.”

When her following started to develop within the early 2020s, she accepted some #gifted resort stays: “It was a great opportunity to travel and showcase different pieces of Ireland.” Like most influencers, she’s change into reluctant, noting that, per the 2025 Revenue handbook, she should pay tax on #gifted stays. “I have to pay for the tax on the hotel, any meals, any activities.” She provides: “I’ve met French influencers who will go on a press trip. They’ll say, ‘I’ll come and shoot this hotel. But can you put me up in a hostel just to keep my costs down?’ It’s not as luxurious as everyone imagines.”

She typically feels strain to keep up an internet facade. “I remember being mugged in Ecuador, I lost my drone, my camera, my laptop.” Flynn didn’t make an enormous deal about it on-line. “I was like, ‘This is fine’,” she says. She didn’t really feel she had the fitting to complain when her followers anticipated a rose-tinted journey. “For a lot of people this is their dream job.” She has additionally handled on-line trolls. “A guy was harassing me, saying, ‘You have daddy’s money and he’s paid for you to go off travelling.’ I wish. I work full time as a data analyst.”

Flynn negotiates her personal collaborations as a result of she doesn’t have an agent. On one journey to Catalonia, she recollects, a bunch of influencers informed one another the reality about what they have been getting paid. “Somebody had got two grand more than I’d got, which is a good chunk of money.”

Having spent lengthy durations overseas, and now again renting in Dublin for the previous 12 months, Flynn has fashioned an organization, Irish Travel Gang, together with her accomplice Seamus, an accountant. They create bespoke group journeys, which she plans to usually host. “January was our first trip,” she says. “We did Mexico, and we have Japan, Tanzania and Sri Lanka towards the summer. People book, and from when they land into the country until they leave, we’ll look after them. Everything is organised. You travel with a group.”

Although she doesn’t suppose her profession as an influencer will quickly discover favour together with her financial institution supervisor – “I don’t think it’s an option to leave my job and get a mortgage” – Flynn would advocate her lifestyle, so long as folks perceive what they’re stepping into.

“I would be discouraging people from doing it if they think they’ll get rich, but if they want to do it because they love it, then why not?”

Where are influencers’ favorite spots?

For a magical eating expertise, head to the Homestead Cottage simply exterior of Doolin in Co Clare – my favorite restaurant on the island. Deeply rooted and quietly particular – with a Michelin star to its identify – it leans into simplicity, seasonality, and an actual sense of place, letting the substances and the encompassing panorama communicate for themselves. – Éadaoin Fitzmaurice

For a metropolis pub, my favorite needs to be Grogan’s. Sitting inside listening to regulars chat, a couple of pints being poured, the scent of toasties being toasted, the sound of a knife getting mustard out of a jar to placed on stated toastie. If I may bottle up Dublin in a sound it could be right here. For an outdated world pub expertise, attempt The Thatch within the village of Cloneen in Tipperary. The entrance door is like one thing from medieval occasions. It’s over 300 years outdated and you’re feeling that while you stroll in. For a pub with a view, it needs to be The Bulman in Kinsale. When the solar is out, there shall be folks swimming, boats pulling up exterior, bowls of mussels being loved out entrance, pints in every single place. You really feel such as you’re on a film set, it’s so good. – Cassie Stokes

My hometown of Mullingar in Co Westmeath has probably the greatest bakeries within the nation, 2210 Patisserie, a few of the finest espresso, at Old News, and a free museum with the primary written point out of the abominable snowman contained in the Greville Arms Hotel, plus a shrine to Niall Horan. Ten minutes exterior the city there’s probably the greatest examples you’ll ever see of a Sheela Na Gig on the Old Taghmon Church in Crookedwood, and Uisneach, one of many sacred hills of Ireland, is 20 minutes out the highway. – Brinsley McNamara

The wildlife within the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador is unimaginable. We have been swimming with sharks, sea lions, penguins and so many turtles that we stopped even pointing them out. The panorama was additionally breathtaking with volcanoes and delightful sea views. We sailed with an organization known as Enchanted Expeditions and may’t advocate them sufficient, the meals was nice they usually had a lodge on one of many islands which was an ideal little oasis. – Niamh Flynn

There’s a little bit island in Thailand known as Koh Mak which is my favorite place on earth. When we go there it seems like going again in time, again when folks travelled with out smartphone and with a Lonely Planet information to get round. There are not any excessive rise accommodations, no seaside golf equipment, no busy vacationer strip – and no Starbucks. Instead there are vast, stunning, empty seashores, a terrific native Thai group and vacationers who’ve been coming there for years. The first time we went they didn’t have a paved highway, and avenue lights have been added only some years in the past. Our first journey here’s what impressed us to give up our jobs and journey, so it’ll all the time be a particular place for us. – Stephanie Barry Woods