Well I have a slightly different post today as I have been nominated for the Liebster Award (woo)! Thanks Chelsea from The Obsessive Adventurer – make sure you check out her page for some amazing photos from Japan.
The Liebster Award is a recognition award for relatively new travel bloggers that helps their viewers to get to know them better and allows them to get their name out there a bit more. Ultimately, you nominate a few travel blogs who you feel should receive more recognition and a larger following. I think this is a pretty neat award because it’s from one travel blogger to another; I can’t wait to share more about me and get to know more about you!
How the Liebster Award works
- You should answer the 11 questions you have been given in your nomination.
- Nominate and write about another 5 to 11 blogs you enjoy.
- Pick 11 new questions for your nominees.
So here is a little about me
1) Have you ever been to a destination that hasn’t lived up to your expectations?
Hanoi in Vietnam. Everyone I spoke to loved Hanoi and it couldn’t be recommended enough. Personally I had already fallen in love with Ho Chi Minh, so I was expecting to love Hanoi even more. For a myriad of reasons it just didn’t appeal to me. It felt like the whole place was geared towards pleasing the tourist crowd. I much preferred its Southern counterpart, which was full of energy, activity and light.
2) Have you ever visited anywhere that has totally taken you by surprise?
Singapore! I didn’t have high expectations, I thought it would be sterile and lack the personality that I had found in the rest of Asia. I have never been so wrong. Singapore has a very different attitude compared to its South East Asian neighbours, but that was just one of the interesting aspects of it. I was totally surprised by how fun, relaxed and beautiful the island country is. Put it on your list of places to go!
3) What is your ultimate dream travel destination?
Antarctica! It has become my Holy Grail of travel. One day I will go there – but I want to make sure I do it properly when I do. Having grown up watching David Attenborough it is very important to me that when I do eventually make it there I have as minimal impact on the environment as possible.
4) What is your favourite kind of souvenir to buy from a holiday?
I am not one for souvenirs to be honest. However, I have been collecting a rather amazing oil painting collection from my trips. I like finding local artists (not the touristy ones that just recreate famous paintings) and seeing what they are doing. One of my favourites is a piece from Croatia… cost me a pretty penny and was hard to get home, but it is unlike anything I have seen before and every time I look at it I am reminded of the crystal clear waters and island hopping.
5) How much do you prepare before you go on holiday in terms of the itinerary?
Oh I am a big planner. I love to research and read my Lonely Planet. I look for free walking tours and cooking classes, work out what attractions I MUST see, and which ones I could give a miss. Working out how much time I have for what I want. But I generally don’t book anything in advance as I have learnt from experience that what you discover when you are there can quickly change an itinerary!
6) Where do you recommend people check out on their next trip?
I am very much in love with Portugal at the moment and can’t recommend it enough. If I could teleport myself to anywhere it would be Porto sitting on the banks of the river eating olives.
7) Where has your best meal been?
Gosh, there have been so many. I don’t know if I can pick just one. There are some that stick out in my mind and have lasted as time fades, such as a vegetable pasta in a small village in Tuscany. Or gorging on a three course meal with wine in another village in the South of France for only $14 Euros. Just recently, on a recommendation, I ate at Ho Lee Fook in Hong Kong – some of the best dumplings I have ever had, and the roast goose was so mouth-watering that I wanted to lick the plate.
8) What factors make you decide on your next holiday destination?
I have a list of places in my head that I am slowly trying to tick off… I guess you would call it a bucket list. I try to get to one of those on each trip. So the other factors would be price and time. If I have a lot of time, then I will go further afield, but being Australian, if I only have a week I will maybe do something in Aus or Asia. I also like to catch up with some of my friends who all seem to be living so far away from me, if I can find an excuse to meet them somewhere or visit them, then I will.
9) What are your aspirations for your blog?
Eventually I would love to have a cook book or app for backpackers who are heading off on adventures and want easy to cook recipes at their finger tips. Being a backpacker myself I know how hard it is to come up with something healthy in a hostel kitchen, if I can help others eat well then that would be great. And of course I would like to get it to a place where it is bringing in enough income for me to travel permanently again.
10) Where was your first ever holiday?
My first holiday that I paid for by myself was to Europe when I was 18. It was a life changing experience. But my first EVER holiday I imagine was to the South Coast in Australia to Batemans bay. If you are travelling to Aus and want somewhere off the beaten track to go, I can’t recommend the South Coast enough – but for some reason no backpackers ever head that way.
11) What’s next for you?
Well, I just got back from Hong Kong (like 12 hours ago) and I am already planning my next adventure. I have a couple of local trips planned to see some more of Australia, and then I am hoping to do an island escape later in the year, and then back to Europe for a while.
Here are the awesome bloggers that I am nominating for the Liebster Award – check em out
Brittany from Brittany Thiessen – Travel, Adventure, Food.
I first started reading Brittany’s blog after I saw some of her amazing pictures of Mexico, I love the point of view that she captures with her images, it’s almost like being caught in Alice’s wonderland.
Jess from Found Astray.
I love how raw and personal Jess’s blog is. Every post feels like I am having a conversation with her. I also love her fitness combined with travel posts – a great inspiration for keeping healthy on the road
Siddharth & and Shruit from a blog of the same name.
This couple of only just launched their blog and are starting out, but so far I am a big fan of how they are combining their love of travel with some of their more “nerdy” pursuits. A fun blog.
Charlie from Charlie on Travel.
Charlie and her partner focus on finding ways to travel as slowly as possible. I love their lifestyle and it is definitely something I want to emulate, so more often than not I find myself crawling through her posts looking for inspiration on how I too can transition to a nomad lifestyle.
Lucy from On the Luce.
I have been following Lucy for a while as her pictures always catch my eye. I also love the destinations she writes about as so often they are places I would have never thought of going or looking up… that is until I read her posts and then they almost always end up on my list.
Here are my 11 questions for my Liebster Award nominees
- Lets start by getting really personal, tell us about an embarrassing moment you have had when travelling? (We all have one)
- Which country cooks up your favourite type of food?
- What is the ethos behind your blog, and where did it come from?
- What is the first thing you do when you arrive at a new destination?
- If you could travel with ANYONE (celebrities, deceased persons included) who would it be? And why?
- Do you have any tips for finding inspiration for blog posts when you have writers block?
- Do you prefer to drive, walk, cycle or other – when out sightseeing? And why?
- Have you read any great books recently to fuel someones wanderlust and inspiration?
- What is the weirdest food item you have ever eaten while travelling?
- For an outdoor adventure, do you prefer to travel to mountain, beach, rainforest, desert or countryside locations? And why?
- Finally, who would win in a battle between a great white shark and a saltwater crocodile (the water is deep enough for both to manoeuvre easily)