About Us

About Travel the South

Travel the South is a collaboration of travel writers, tourism boards, and local businesses in the Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

Our travel writers, called Destination Experts, showcase all that there is to do in the South. Whether you are looking for the best food, activities for the whole family, or where to stay while on vacation, they can help.

Not sure what city you want to visit? Check out our featured destinations within each state on the Tourism Board page. These Tourism Boards can also assist in planning your trip. And, their social channels are full of great vacation inspiration.

Explore our website to see all that this beautiful region has to offer and enjoy learning about the ABC’s of The South: Adventures, Beaches, and Culinary.

Work With Travel the South

Interested in working with Travel the South?

We can arrange FAM trips to your destination for our Destination Experts, freelance articles, influencer campaigns, social media promotions, advertising, photography services, social media consultations, and more.

Email us to discuss a partnership!

Southern Travelers Explore Conference

The Southern Travelers Explore conference is a spin off of Travel the South, hosted by Melody Pittman and Taylor Hardy.

The #STE travel conference brings bloggers, journalists, influencers, CVBs/DMOs, and brands from across the country together for a weekend of educational sessions, small group discussions, and a marketplace, while enjoying some of what the host city has to offer.

Melody and Taylor firmly believe there is room for everyone in the travel space to excel, and aim to educate themselves and their #STE Family on how we can better work together. The #STE Conference is laid back, relaxed, and aims to make everyone feel welcome and appreciated. 

The Southern Travelers Explore Conference has been held in Thomasville, Georgia (#STEThomasville 2020), Tupelo, Mississippi (#STETupelo 2021), Huntsville, Alabama (#STEHuntsville 2022), and Irving, Texas (#STEIrving 2023). It has expanded to include small scale retreats, the first taking place in Johnson City, Tennessee (#STEJohnsonCity 2021).

The next Southern Travelers Explore Conference will take place February 23-25, 2024 in Gulf Shores, Alabama, at The Lodge at Gulf State Park. As a long-time #STE attendee and sponsor, we’re very excited to take our conference back to Alabama and showcase their beautiful #STEAlabamaBeaches.

#STEIrving Recap

The entire city of Irving welcomed the Southern Travelers Explore Conference with open arms for the most incredible weekend. The adorable Texican Court was the perfect setting for #STEIrving, as we discussed adding YouTube to our portfolios, TikTok and Reels, repurposing content, cashing in beyond writing, and affiliate marketing.

A few highlights from #STEIrving include customizing our very own Stetson hats, adding personalized locks to Irving’s Love Lock Bridge, and surprise gondola cruises on Lake Carolyn (all of which were gifts from Visit Irving!), an unofficial afternoon of bonus Educational Sessions, and having professional headshots taken by Veronicajune Photography (a gift from Melody and Taylor).

Visit Irving is a longtime tourism board friend, and had attended and sponsored two previous Southern Travelers Explore Conferences. We were thrilled for the opportunity to showcase their spectacular city, and work with a team that has supported our #STE endeavor since the start.

#STEIrving

#STEHuntsville Recap

The 3rd #STE Conference took attendees from 21 different states to Huntsville, Alabama–also known as “The Rocket City”. Our host hotel and meeting venue was the brand new 106 Jefferson hotel. 106 J and their staff worked overtime to wow our guests, even sending specially created food and beverage presentations to their rooms each evening. Over the weekend, we learned about CVB/blogger relations, how CVBs vet writers, and working with brands.

Highlights from #STEHuntsville include our opening event taking place at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (with tours led by Emeritus Docents under the Saturn V rocket), brunch at 106 Jefferson’s Baker & Able rooftop bar, and the Dine Around Event at Huntsville’s very cool Campus 805 and Stovehouse venues. 

Huntsville is another long time tourism board friend and previous Southern Travelers Explore Conference attendee. As a CVB that really “gets” tourism, Huntsville was a fantastic partner and really helped take our conference to the next level.

southern-travelers-explore-huntsville-conference

Posts From #STEHuntsville:

#STEJohnsonCity Recap

With a similar format and focus on one-skill set programming, the first Southern Travelers Explore Retreat took place at the AAA Four Diamond Carnegie Hotel & Spa in Johnson City, Tennessee. Over the weekend, attendees took part in eight photography sessions working to better capture destinations through photos.

#STEJohnsonCity highlights include an incredibly fun opening event at the brand new Tennessee Hills Brewstillery, local tour to Jonesborough (Tennessee’s oldest town), and visiting the popular Windsor Speakeasy.

johnson-city-tennessee

#STETupelo Recap

The 2nd Southern Travelers Explore Conference took place in Tupelo, Mississippi the weekend after the historic 2021 winter storm that crippled the entire state. Since many businesses and restaurants closed their doors due to ice and not being able to receive deliveries, our attendees did not have the opportunity to explore Tupelo. However, they rolled with the punches. We enjoyed meaningful discussions while learning about video, Pinterest, SEO optimization, and tax prep for bloggers, both in-person and over Zoom.

The biggest highlight of #STETupleo was showing our attendees that we are wholeheartedly in this business for them. Our group became a #STE Family that year, and we were so grateful to have the majority of them return to our #STE Conference the following year. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And that’s exactly what we did!

Posts From #STETupelo:

#STEThomasville Recap

Southern Travelers Explore had the most perfect inaugural conference in Thomasville, Georgia (two weeks before the world shut down due to Covid). Melody picked Thomasville as our first host city because she thinks it is the quintessential Southern town–and luckily Bonnie with the Thomasville Visitors Center agreed!

South Eden Plantation played host to our group of 25 and we learned about podcasting, ways to make money as a blogger, email marketing, and how to stand out from the crowd. Patrica Schultz, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller 1,000 Places to See Before you Die and Melody’s biggest travel inspiration, was our keynote speaker. 

Highlights of the weekend include dining in Showboat Theater (where the first viewing of Gone with the Wind took place), a Taste of Thomasville Food Tour, and taking a picture under The Big Oak (one of the largest Southern Live Oak trees east of the Mississippi).

southern-travelers-explore-thomasville

Disclosure Policy

Our posts may contain Amazon affiliate links. If you click through them, we may earn a fee on any purchases you make, which helps cover our travel expenses. We appreciate your support!

Privacy Policy 2/23/2020

Our posts may contain affiliate links. If you click through them, we may earn a fee on any purchases you make, which helps cover our travel expenses. We appreciate your support!

Travel the South Bloggers (https://www.travelthesouthbloggers.com) is governed by the following privacy policy.

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you what personally identifiable information we may collect and how it may be used. This statement only applies to this Website.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOW IS IT USED?

Information You Voluntarily Submit to the Website: We may collect personal information from you such as your name or email address. For example, you may voluntarily submit information to the Website by leaving a comment, subscribing to a newsletter, or submitting a contact form. In addition, you are able to create a user profile, which allows you to create a username and password. We will store the username, but your password will not be visible in our records.

Information We Collect from Others: We may receive information about you from other sources.  You may link your Facebook, Instagram, and/or Google accounts to your user profile.  If you choose to link your Facebook, Instagram, and/or Google accounts to your user profile, we will receive your name, email address and profile picture associated with that account.  The Website utilizes the Facebook commenting system, so if you choose to comment on a Website post, your profile picture will appear.

Automatically-Collected Information: We automatically collect certain information about you and the device with which you access the Website. For example, when you use the Website, we will log your IP address, operating system type, browser type, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times when you accessed the Website. We may also collect information about actions you take when using the Website, such as links clicked.

Cookies: We may log information using cookies, which are small data files stored on your browser by the Website. We may use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your browser until deleted, to provide you with a more personalized experience on the Website.

HOW YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE USED

We may use the information collected in the following ways:

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THIRD-PARTY USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may share your information with third parties when you explicitly authorize us to share your information.

Additionally, the Website may use third-party service providers to service various aspects of the Website. Each third-party service provider’s use of your personal information is dictated by their respective privacy policies.

The Website currently uses the following third-party service providers:

Google Analytics – this service tracks Website usage and provides information such as referring websites and user actions on the Website. Google Analytics may capture your IP address, but no other personal information is captured by Google Analytics.

Mail Chimp – this service is used for delivery of email updates and newsletters. We store your name and email address for purposes of delivering such communications.  Please refer to Mail Chimp’s privacy policy for further information.

At this time, your personal information is not shared with any other third-party applications. This list may be amended from time to time in the Website’s sole discretion.

Except when required by law, we will not sell, distribute, or reveal your email addresses or other personal information without your consent; however, we may disclose or transfer personal information collected through the Website to third parties who acquire all or a portion of our business, which may be the result of a merger, consolidation, or purchase of all or a portion of our assets, or in connection with any bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding brought by or against us.

ANONYMOUS DATA

From time to time, we may use anonymous data, which does not identify you alone, or when combined with data from other parties. This type of anonymous data may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. Examples of this anonymous data may include analytics or information collected from cookies.

PUBLICLY VISIBLE INFORMATION

If you create a user profile on the Website or leave a comment, certain information may be publicly visible.  To create a user profile, you must choose a username and password and input your email address for profile confirmation.  Your email address will never be available publicly.  At your option, you may also add an avatar, a profile description, and a link to your website.

You may also choose to link your Facebook, Instagram, and Google Account.

Users may see your username, avatar, profile description and website information.

COOKIES

The Website uses cookies to store visitors’ preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, ensure that visitors are not repeatedly sent the same banner ads, customize Website content based on visitors’ browser type or other information that the visitor sends. Cookies may also be used by third-party services, such as Google Analytics, as described herein.

Users may, at any time, prevent the setting of cookies, by the Website, by using a corresponding setting of your internet browser and may thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies may be deleted at any time via an Internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all popular Internet browsers. However, if users deactivate the setting of cookies in your Internet browser, not all functions of our Website may be entirely usable.

ADVERTISING

Display Ads

We may use third-party advertising companies to serve content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use cookies, as noted above.

Retargeting Ads

From time to time, the Website may engage in remarketing efforts with third-party companies, such as Google, Facebook, or Instagram, in order to market the Website. These companies use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to the Website.

Affiliate Program Participation

The Website may engage in affiliate marketing, which is done by embedding tracking links into the Website. If you click on a link to an affiliate partnership, a cookie will be placed on your browser to track any sales for purposes of commissions.

Travel the South Bloggers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.com. As part of this Amazon Associates program, the Website will post customized links, provided by Amazon, to track the referrals to their website. This program utilizes cookies to track visits for the purposes of assigning commission on these sales.

NEWSLETTERS

On the Website, you may subscribe to our newsletter, which may be used for advertising purposes. All newsletters sent may contain tracking pixels. The pixel is embedded in emails and allows an analysis of the success of online marketing campaigns. Because of these tracking pixels, we may see if and when you open an email and which links within the email you click. Also, this allows the Website to adapt the content of future newsletters to the interests of the user. This behavior will not be passed on to third parties.

RIGHTS RELATED TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Opt-out – You may opt-out of future email communications by following the unsubscribe links in our emails. You may also notify us at travelthesouthbloggers@gmail.com to be removed from our mailing list.

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Forget – In certain situations, you may request that we erase or forget your personal data. To do so, please submit a request to travelthesouthbloggers@gmail.com.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes or to complete transactions, or when required by law.

SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

At no time should you submit sensitive personal information to our website. This includes your social security number, information regarding race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health information, criminal background, or trade union memberships. If you elect to submit such information to us, it will be subject to this Privacy Policy.

CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

The Website does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16. If a parent or guardian believes that the Website has personally identifiable information of a child under the age of 16 in its database, please contact us immediately and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

CONTACT INFORMATION

At any time, please contact us at travelthesouthbloggers@gmail.com for questions related to this Privacy Policy.

Welcome to Travel the South!

Travel the South is run by Melody Pittman and Taylor Hardy. With the help of some fantastic travel writers, they help you plan your travels to the Southern states.

Explore some of the amazing things you can see and do in this unique part of the country!

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Affiliate Disclosure

Our posts may contain Amazon affiliate links. If you click through them, we may earn a fee on any purchases you make, which helps cover our travel expenses. We appreciate your support!