Thank you for your interest in working with Sand In My Suitcase…
We’re Janice and George Mucalov, once practicing lawyers, now award-winning travel writers and blog publishers.
Passionate travelers, we started as travel journalists writing for leading print magazines and newspapers like USA Today, Islands, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, South China Morning Post, Vancouver Sun, TravelAge West and AAA Carolinas GO.
In 2012, we launched our luxury adventure travel blog.
Today, as the Internet shapes the way we consume media, Sand In My Suitcase is a top-ranked source of travel content that informs and inspires.
(We also publish Cabo Visitor, a niche travel blog on Los Cabos, Mexico.)
High-traffic travel blog
We know the power of the written word, and we craft our posts with care. We spend time on the quality of writing and the photography.
Posts (most 2,500+ words) are well-researched, detailed and SEO-optimized to attract the maximum reader traffic.
Most readers initially find our high-traffic blog via organic searches on Google. This means they find us because Sand In My Suitcase both answers their travel questions and fuels their dreams.
We like to think, however, that readers return as much for the beauty of our travel stories as for the practical content we provide. We have more than 4,150 loyal subscribers who read our regular email newsletters – and who book trips based on our recommendations and articles.
Our readers
Sand In My Suitcase appeals to affluent, well-traveled and intellectually curious travel lovers.
We write for readers who like to spice up their luxury trips with a little adventurous fun – and who enjoy a good travel tale.
80% of readers are from the U.S. and Canada.
About Sand In My Suitcase
Our posts focus on bespoke tours and soft adventure, cultural explorations (hello Athens!), good food (paired with the finest wines, naturally), hotel reviews and cruise articles.
We have a special love for Hawaii, Mexico, Europe and our home province in Canada, British Columbia.
But we’ve written about everything from wandering the spice-laden streets of Zanzibar’s Stone Town to savoring champagne and caviar on Seabourn Cruises and the famous art you must see at the Met Museum in NYC.
We also take many of the photos that illustrate our posts. Readers often comment that the photos are beautiful (and we’re always delighted when magazines publish our travel photos).
Top-ranking luxury travel blog
Dozens of posts rank in the top 5 positions on Google searches! For example:
Mexico resorts with private pools
Unique places to visit in Greece
Most beautiful gardens in the world
Planning a trip to St. Maarten
We offer a unique skill set to hoteliers, destinations, cruise lines and other brands interested in reaching an engaged target audience of luxury adventure travel enthusiasts.
Successful hotel collaborations
In 2023, recommendations from Sand In My Suitcase led to more than 1,600 hotel nights being booked on Booking.com alone – at an average spend of $1,550 USD per stay.
Thousands of luxury hotel nights booked!
Bookings stem from our reviews of luxury hotels in destinations around the world like:
Mallorca – Where to Stay in Mallorca
Hawaii – 11 Top Resorts in Kauai
Bora Bora – Beautiful Overwater Bungalows in Bora Bora
Dubai – Transit Hotel in Dubai Airport (Brilliant For a Layover)
Istanbul – Hip and Historic Boutique Hotels in Istanbul
Readers use our blog to make their travel decisions
We have some very real influence. Some examples?
- The Mexico holiday-goers who ask us which Pueblo Bonito resort in Cabo to book.
- The frequent fliers keen to know whether they should fly on EVA Air. (This post has an average rank of #3 on Google searches for “Eva Air review” and “Eva Air Economy review”.)
- Cruise travelers interested in booking a luxury Seabourn cruise after reading our Seabourn Odyssey review.
- Couples visiting Bora Bora who ask which of the overwater bungalow resorts in Bora Bora is best for them.
Read the comments on these posts, and you’ll get an idea.
“Best travel blog” and other honors
Sand In My Suitcase won “1st Place” for Best Travel Blog in the 2017 Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), Canadian chapter awards.
We also won a Finalist award for “Best Travel Column/Blog” in the 2018 Travel Media Association of Canada awards.
Oh, and we have to mention that our site took home the Silver award for “Best Travel Blog” in the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) 2015 annual competition.
Shameless self-promotion
See all our travel writing and blogging awards.
Social media reach
People use social media to escape and dream of distant destinations, but when they’re ready to travel, they turn to websites like ours for detailed in-depth guides. Our posts have lasting impact. We keep them updated and they stay relevant for years, unlike the short-lived nature of social media content.
That said, we promote our posts and travels on social media.
We have 40,000+ social media fans.
(We’re choosy about who we follow, so we don’t follow everyone back.)
Pinterest
SandInSuitcase
21,600+
Facebook
SandInMySuitcase
3,150+
Facebook
Janice.Mucalov
4,500+
Instagram
sandinmysuitcase
3,660+
X (Twitter)
@SandInSuitcase
7,400+
Flipboard
sandinmysuitcase
Almost 400
Travel writing ethics
We’re both members of the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC).
Janice is also a member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA).
We never agree to write positive stories in exchange for a hosted travel experience.
See our Editorial and Disclosure Policy for more details.
Get in touch
If you’d like more information or wish to work with us, let’s talk! Newsletter sponsorships? Supported media trip? Contact us.
About the authors
Luxury travel journalists and SATW, NATJA and TMAC “Best Travel Blog” award winners, Janice and George Mucalov are the publishers of Sand In My Suitcase. Between them, they’ve traveled to all 7 continents. See About.
Find destination guides, global food-and-wine stories, luxury hotel reviews, articles on cultural explorations and soft adventure trips, cruise reviews, insanely useful travel tips and more!
Rachel
Tuesday 15th of March 2016
Hello Janice and George I am in the process of launching a luxurious 3 bedroomed medieval townhouse in the Liguria region of Italy and I am looking for an experienced travel blogger to write me a review/blog etc in return for 3 free nights accommodation. I am particularly interested in working with people who have an established blog, engaged audience and social media presence! The preferred dates of travel would be end of June/July although this is flexible. If you are interested and likely to be available at that time I would love to hear from you. Best Wishes Rachel
Janice and George
Wednesday 16th of March 2016
We'll respond to you privately. Thanks for reaching out to us :-).
Anahita Guha
Monday 30th of November 2015
Hi Janice and George,
We'd like to connect with you for a PR travel opportunity. Can you please email me about where you guys are based out of and will you be interested in pursuing such an opp?
Thanks, Anahita
Janice and George
Monday 30th of November 2015
We're based out of Vancouver, Canada - you can email us via our contact page :-).