Bloggers, Nominations and Awards

 

Hi Friends,

Travel Bliss has won an Award – The Liebster Award! Wow, this is so amazing. It feels wonderful to even think that somebody has been very sweet to nominate me in the first place. The Liebster award was created to recognize and/or discover new bloggers and welcome them to the blogging world. I am a newbie to the world of blogging and would like to thank Angelina Chow and Roger Wellington from Wet Nose Escapades  for nominating my blog for the Liebster Award. I feel motivated to continue blogging with all your love, help and support.

The rules for the Award are as follows:

• Thank the person who nominated you and post a link to their site on your blog.
• Display the award on your blog.
• Answer their ten questions about yourself.
• Nominate 5-10 other bloggers for the award and inform them via social media.
• Create your own set of questions for your nominees.
• Enjoy winning an award and pass this great feeling onto someone else!

My answers to Angelina Chow and Roger Wellington’s questions are as follows:

1. What is your favorite part about travelling, and why?

My favorite part about travelling is searching, exploring and going on the unexplored path and finding out my way/ things/places for myself.  This process of finding out the unknown in a completely new destination, gives me a thrill and a sense of fulfillment.  I am not fond of reaching a travel destination, with all details provided to me on a platter. I like to find out things for myself, like to not go on the beaten track. However, this does not mean that I am not open to other traveler’s suggestions, advice etc.  I am cautious and careful, at the same time; I like that bit of the unknown, the uncertainty that comes with travelling.

2. Where and when was your first international destination?

My first international destination was to Dubai in 2011. My best friend was living in Dubai at that time and she would often invite me to visit her and her family at their place in Dubai. So as soon as my passport was ready (with a lot of difficulties), I didn’t waste time and accepted her invitation.  It was a wonderful, learning experience, travelling all alone, taking a flight to Dubai.  It was also a correct choice, since it was my first solo international travel, Dubai being very close to India, gave me the confidence to later travel and explore farther countries.

3. What do you love about blogging the most?

I love the fact that through blogging, I am able to document my travels and readers can visit my blogging website and read it.  I always felt that I could write a book about my life, but never got down to doing it. Now, through blogging, with the right kind of marketing efforts, and through social media, I hope to reach out to my audience and share my travel stories with them.

4. What frustrates you about blogging the most?

Since I am very new to this concept of blogging and am very bad at Social Media networking, it is a long, slow process for me to understand the technicalities of blogging. It can be quite frustrating and daunting, if I want to blog about a certain topic, have the story in my mind, but get stuck with trying to edit my blog, doing the proof reading, seeing to the alignment of the text etc.

5. What have you found to be the most effective way of promoting your blog?

I am still very new at this and at a very early stage. Am still experimenting and trying to find out the most efficient way of promoting my blog, not reached that stage yet. For now, am promoting it by word of mouth and trying to swap links with other fellow bloggers on social media.

6. How do you usually find food when you travel?

Since I like to sample and taste the local cuisines of all the different countries, food has not been a problem for me. I ensure to stay in a B&B or a hotel, which has a breakfast included in the room rates, that way I have a very hefty breakfast.  I usually like to pick up some local, on the go meals while travelling. After all the travelling and exploring, I do feel hungry again for lunch, but stick to a very light dinner. Of course, after a certain point, I get fed up, and long to have some spicy, Indian food. Next time, would opt to rent an apartment, so that I can cook my own meals apart from having the local fare.

7. Are you a part-time or full-time traveler? If you’re part-time, are you looking to travel full-time?

I am a part-time traveler. I am a full time working woman and have recently started travelling to different countries every year. I aspire to travel full-time.  I know that this is workable, as I have read a lot on people who have done it.  I guess I am just waiting for that one extra push to turn this dream into a reality.

8. What do you miss the most when you’re travelling?

 I don’t miss anything.   I am just so content and happy when I am travelling. I guess this may be the case, because I am not a full time traveler yet.

9. You just checked into your hotel at your destination and its pouring rain outside.What would you do to spend the rest of your day?

I was in this situation with my friends recently on one of our trips. It was pouring cats & dogs outside; we were all wet and cold from the rain. As soon as we checked in, we dried up and sat by the lovely fireplace in the B&B’s lounge, drinking hot chocolate and started talking and sharing stories about our life with one another.  On a rainy day, I can easily spend a quiet lazy day at the hotel doing nothing, or just spend time chatting away with friends or curl up with a book and read all day and not miss a thing 🙂

10. What are your travel and blogging goals for 2017?

I hope to travel more and blog about my travels. I have taken the first step of starting my travel blogging website Travel Bliss in January 2017 and hope to keep it afloat.

Now to keep the ball rolling, it is time to announce the new Nominations for Liebster Award and the Nominees are:

1. The Globetrotter Cookbook :  Alexandra hosts The Globetrotter Cookbook where she shares mouth-watering vegetarian recipes and travel stories collected from her adventures abroad. Visit Alexandra’s blog, to find vegetarian recipes from around the world as well as travel tips and tales.

2. Always a Gringa :  Eemma Iseman is an American expat living in Mexico. Visit her blog where she shares honest stories about expat life, info on Mexican cultures, and travel tips.

3. Explore the Map :  Sam Cullen is a young Canadian girl living in the Okanagan. Visit her blog, which is focused on the many hikes in the Okanagan, as well as hikes/outdoor experiences from road trips (currently the west coast/interior of Canada and the USA). She provides advice on hikes and road trips – from what to expect on each hike to tips to make the hike/road trip better.

4. Poppin’ Smoke : In 2015 when Stephanie Montague’s husband retired from the US Army, Stephanie quit her job, and they took a year off to travel. They used a lot of military resources and benefits, such as free flights on military planes and the ability to stay on US military bases overseas. This blog is for retired and soon-to-be retired members of the US military community and much of her content is about how they can take advantage of their benefits to travel. Stephanie will also have a lot of content about “local style” travel, and her blog isn’t necessarily military-focused.

Congratulations to all of you and wish you all the very best in your travel blogging journey.

Now is the time that I have been waiting for. Please find below my ten questions for you to answer. I can’t wait to visit your blog and see your respective posts with your answers to my questions:

1. Who or what is your inspiration for starting your blogging website?
2. What is the one special thing, which drives you to travel, which motivates you to keep travelling?
3. What are the hardships you faced in setting up your blogging site and how you sought to resolve it?
4. What is the duration of your travel? How long do you travel in one stretch?
5. If you are a part-time traveler, how do you strike a balance between work and travel? If you are a full-time traveler, how do you manage to fund your travels?
6. In your opinion, which is the best countryside destination in the world?
7. How do you travel? Solo, or with a companion, or friends or with family?
8. Have you ever taken up a course / class like wine tasting, cheese making, photography, dance class etc. while on your long travels? If yes, share your experience with us about it.
9. Which has been your favorite travel destination till date?
10. If you could change one thing about the way you travel, what would it be and why?

Look out for my next blog, which will talk about a life of no regrets 🙂

Till then, keep travelling and keep sharing the stories.

Your Travelmate