I haven’t been as active here as I was hoping to be starting this blog, I want to share content of words too long to share in an Instagram caption, share thoughts, emotions, tips and tricks, travel, pilot life and a mix of everything, photos that don´t make my social media feed, random thoughts, when something upsets me or when something makes me laugh.
You all know that English is not my first language, but this is a blog so this will be how words come out from me, it won’t be grammatically correct and there will most likely be misspellings here and there, but for me, that´s what blog life is all about, it´s not a novel, its not going to be sold hard copy in the bookstore, it´s thoughts, it´s everyday life thoughts.
So today I felt like sharing something that I don’t want to be misunderstood. I just came back home after an epic trip to Barcelona with my @gopro family that we did for the new, my favorite so far (you all know that was my previous favorite was the Hero 4 black) but that one has competition now, welcome GoPro Hero 7 and freakn lord how much I love this camera! Some of my new favorite features are Hypersmooth for insane smooth videos, Timewarp (like a Hyperlapse video but will take you a minute to make instead on two hours ;)) 60fps in 4k, better microphones (imagine vlogging without having a huge microphone making you look really stupid running around with) anyways, this blog post is not a Hero 7 review (although if you’re interested I can write one, leave a comment on @pilotmaria if you like me to) This blog post is about being a pilot but also a social media influencer. ´Influencer´a word that I still can´t get used to, influencer, aren’t we all influencing someone’s life daily, you don’t need to have a huge following for that.
All travels I get to do is thanks to amazing collaborations that I get to do through my social media platforms. Pilot life is hard work, the company that I fly for we don’t even do layovers, we get 25 minutes on the ground at our destination where we set up everything for our return flight and if we’re fast enough manage to snap a selfie out through the window. Don’t get me wrong, some pilots do get an amazing layover in the Bahamas or romantic Paris, but generally these layovers are something between 10-36 hours, 10 is the minimum rest when ´out from home base´and 36 a generous adapt to time zone layover, only to get back home and adapt to ´home zone´ again. I know this might sounds negative and that is not my intention at all, I love my pilot life and that is what I want to do until I am 65 years old (maximum age for a commercial pilot) but somehow, a couple of years ago, three to be exact, I started my Instagram page @pilotmaria I changed name from mhp787 (as I was now flying the 737) to @pilotmaria, I learned by watching other Instagram pages to use hashtags and tag other accounts in my posts to get exposure, and in what felt like rocket speed my account increased to my today half a million followers, I never, NEVER thought I would have 500.000 amazing members in my little Instagram community, and I am so grateful to each and every one of you! Soooo Thankful!
You have no idea the opportunities thanks to all of you that I’ve been given, it is thanks to you that brands such as @gopro @breitling @lovcosmetic @waldorfastoria to mention just a few have noticed me, and I get to see the world traveling around with together with them. Even if I’m a pilot, I could never afford to travel this way, I don’t get free airline tickets, I don´t travel for free because I’m a pilot. So with that said, what I am trying to stay (but I got lost with my keyboard and typed far more than I intended to do) It is thanks to collaborations like this that my Instagram looks like it does, that’s how I can show all these amazing destinations and adventures. These trips I do in my free time when I am not flying, and I am very fortunate with my pilot schedule, but that is another story and also something that I had to work hard for.
I am writing this post because I don’t want anyone to invest between Euro 60-120.000 on a pilot training and think that you will be doing exactly what I am doing. Of course, if your intention is to travel the world and not really interested in flying an airplane, you can do that, I love my social media life but that took a lot, A LOT of hard work, I have probably put more time into that then I did my pilot training, it did not come easy, but like everything in life, if you are truly passionate about something, go for it, your biggest obstacle is always yourself saying that you can´t do it, prove yourself wrong.
Much Love
Maria
Below are some pictures from my 2018 travels
(This post contains non paid links)
Hi can you tell me about european flight academy of lufthansa. Is it good to choose or not? I am confused. I have seen their websites completely so just need your suggestion. suggestion and I am Indian so guide me about cplgroundclasses.com too, Are they Good?
Maria, thank you very much for this post! I think it’s very important that you are honest about the reality of a pilot life and social media. I am glad you are taking every advantage of your Instagram account, as you deserve all of these beautiful things and adventures!
I am glad that profile like yours and this blog exists. As an aspiring pilot, you were my first source of information about the reality of training and flying. I would love to say: a big thank you!!
Maria, thank you very much for this post! I think it’s very important that you are honest about the reality of a pilot life and social media. I am glad you are taking every advantage of your Instagram account, as you deserve all of these beautiful things and adventures!
I am glad that profile like yours and this blog exists. As an aspiring pilot, you were my first source of information about the reality of training and flying. I would love to say: a big thank you!!