I won a Liebster Award for my Travel Blog! Yippee!

 

I had only just recently learned of the Liebster Award and thought it would be years before I was nominated for one, if ever. I mean, who knows about me and my travel blog at this point? Hardly anyone, I thought. But, I was pleasantly surprised to be so quickly nominated/awarded one just a few weeks after finding out about it. How cool is that?! Jonathan Look of Life Part 2 was kind enough to nominate me and I was thrilled to accept!  Thank you so much, Jonathan! Honestly, I still don’t know very much about the Liebster Award, or if it is limited to only travel blogs. What I do know is that it should be awarded to newer blogs that don’t have many followers yet. The idea is that one blogger nominates another when he/she is nominated, and the chain continues. It spreads the love and helps good, new (travel) blogs be discovered amidst the masses of other bloggers out there. Vague or not, it is an honor to receive and I am happy to be able to nominate a handful of others in return. It’s legitimate, and community driven, and I like it! :)

The most recent rules passed along to me:

1. Post the award on your blog.

2. Thank the blogger who presented this award and link back to their blog.

3. Answer the questions the person who nominated you, wrote for you.

4. Nominate 5 bloggers up and coming travel bloggers who you feel deserve this award.

5. Answer the 10 questions posted by the presenter and ask your nominees 10 new questions.

6. Have fun and since there are no rules feel free to alter the ones I followed.

Questions and answers:

What makes you smile? My happiest moments are when I am taking pictures of a beautiful natural landscape, with no one else but a loved one around who can enjoy the peace with me.

What makes you shake your head in disbelief? When I am at home and have to drive myself around, bad drivers make me crazy. I won’t get into it, but I could probably start an entirely new blog  just on this subject!

What is the first thing you do when you get to a new place? Eat and sleep, so I am refreshed and adjusted to the new time zone. Then I’m ready to go!

Where do you find inspiration? If I let myself do it, I could browse travel photography on Pinterest all day long. It’s hard to look at travel photography sometimes, because it is so inspiring! If I discover a new place through photos, I immediately feel a longing to be there and simultaneously depressed that I can’t go right away. It’s actually kind of ridiculous. :)

Other than friends and family, what do you miss most from “home”? Lazy days where I can just veg out on the couch and watch movies. I’ve done that while traveling, but it’s not quite the same. When traveling, I feel that I’m wasting a precious day if I spend it being lazy.

What is your favorite quote? For this one I have to give three answers, because things kept popping into my head as I thought about this question. First, since I’m not a collector of quotes, my mind goes to more of a funny saying that an old friend introduced to me: “Wherever you go, there you are!” Cracks me up every time, and I have no idea of its origins. Second, a quote that I’ve always loved and related to, by Robert Frost: ” Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” And finally, since I have started noticing some quotes lately that really capture how I feel, I had to share the most recent one on my radar by an unknown author: “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”

Could you be happy if you had to stop traveling completely? No.

What fears did you have that you have now discovered were unfounded? I feared that if I traveled alone, I would stay alone and never be able to make friends. I did feel very alone at times, especially at first, but I met some friends. And then more friends. Everywhere I went, I was never alone for long and I always managed to find a new friend.

How has traveling changed you? It is the best addiction I could ever have. Causing me pain at times, when I don’t see a trip in my near future. Other times, giving me the greatest happiness. Only those who have traveled like me could understand the infliction. The wanderlust will always be with me.

What is the difference between being a tourist and a traveler? Ah! Here’s another perfect quote to answer you (maybe I should start collecting quotes!): “The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see” – Gilbert K. Chesterton. But I would add that a tourist seeks out the next quick vacation, often happy to head home towards the end. A traveler longs to continue seeing the world, making the most of every trip, and never quite happy to return home. At least, that is my opinion. 

My nominees listed in no particular order:

First, let me mention the unexpected benefit/pain of accepting this award, which is searching for and discovering new bloggers to nominate. I have noticed many great travel blogs since starting my own, but most of them are well known or they have already received the award. It is one thing to “connect” with bloggers, exchanging links via social media and trying to help each other out. But it is another thing to really start inspecting other new blogs. With newer bloggers, you can see a big difference between those who put their heart and soul into it (and have a knack for blogging), and those who do not. My biggest challenge was finding the good ones that haven’t already received this award (to my knowledge).

Stefania of The Italian Backpacker

Alli of The Vintage Postcard

Nina and Jempi of Travel Boulevard

Ron and Michele of Legging It

Catherine of The Go Fever

My Questions for the nominees:

If you had all the resources in the world, where would you travel to that you haven’t already been?

If you could give your younger self advice upon preparing for your first big trip, what would you say?

What aspect of traveling do you tend to struggle with the most?

How have you convinced your family and friends that travel is a way of life for you?

What is the most physically painful experience you’ve had while traveling?

What is the most thrilling thing you’ve experienced while traveling?

What was it that inspired you to take your very first big trip? A photo? A book? A friend’s story?

How do you fund your travel?

What makes your travel blog unique and who do you write it for?

Of family and friends that you’ve never traveled with, who would you love to take on a trip and who would you refuse to take?

 

There you have it! My duty done, and my prize is to accept this award! Thanks again for nominating me, Jonathan.

And to show you how excited I am to accept the award, here is a rare glimpse of this elusive photographer: