Liebster Award: i.e. More facts about me than you ever wanted to know…

Have you been absolutely dying to know more about your favorite blogger?! (…don’t answer that!)

Of course you have, and you’re in luck! I’ve been nominated for the Liebster Award by both Ashley of My Wanderlusty Life and Katy of Wandering with Wine which means I’ve been assigned some up-close-and-personal kind of questions to answer and share with my readers!

First of all, I would like to point out how incredibly cool it is that I was nominated for this award by two of my very favorite bloggers! Ashley is honest-to-goodness THE funniest blogger I follow, and Katy’s blog is all about combining her two biggest passions: travel and wine. Obviously, I’m alllll about any blog that has “wine” right there in the title!

Here’s how the award works: when you’re nominated for the award, you must answer 11 questions provided by the blogger who nominated you. You’ll also have to come up with 11 questions of your own, and nominate five bloggers who will in turn answer your questions.

Since I was nominated by two different bloggers, I decided to answer 6 questions from each (AKA I decided to steal Ashley’s solution to this problem since I had literally no idea how to go about answering all 22 of the questions I was assigned).

First, my questions from Ashley at My Wanderlusty Life:

I’m a SUPER laid back person, so it takes kind of a lot for something to really get under my skin. But one thing I can’t stand is when travelers look down on other travelers. I don’t care if Person A spent 6 weeks living with a hill tribe in Africa and Person B spent a long weekend in London–to me, they’re both travelers. Equals. Plain and simple.

There are all different kinds of travelers, and I don’t think it’s fair to say that some are better or worse than others. It doesn’t matter where you go, what kind of accommodation you stay in, what kind of restaurants you eat at, or what activities you choose to partake in.

If you’re out seeing new places in the world, you’re a traveler. (And, to be blunt, you’re a tourist too. Sorry, it’s not that dirty of a word.)

I feel like the people who do look down on other travelers are the ones who feel like they have something to prove–like they always need to one-up other people. They’re probably the same people who are shitty co-workers and overly-aggressive drivers back home. If you’re one of these people, I have a few words for you: Step off dude, you’re not that cool.

Okay, whew. Rant over. Back to being nice.

My first trip abroad was a week in France with my dad and my younger sister. It was the summer before I entered the 8th grade, so I was essentially in the midst of the most awkward years of my life.

Therefore, I will not be sharing ANY photos of myself from this trip (trust me friends, you should be thanking me for sparing your eyes…I had green braces…GREEN) but I will say that it absolutely was the trip that sparked my eternal wanderlust, and I still think of this trip often! Not to mention, it’s one of my favorite family memories with my dad and my sister.

Great question! I actually have a very long list…who knew blogging could be so much work?! Number One: transfer my site from WordPress.com to WordPress.org and find a good hosting site. Along with that comes Number Two: New blog design! I definitely intend to do both of these one day, although at the moment I’m still happy with what I’ve got going on during these early stages of blogging.

And Number Three: Really get the hang of using social media to promote my blog. I think I’m doing pretty well already and I see that a lot of traffic to my blog comes from my social media platforms, but I do feel like I could be doing more (especially with Twitter–I just can’t seem to get into it).

Do people have favorite airports?! Do people like airports?!

Seriously, I love the convenience and speed of flying, but airports are basically equivalent to hell. The crowds, the lines, the delays, the over-inflated prices…*shudder*

But okay, if I had to pick one I’d have to say Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea. Last time I was there was during a 3.5 hour layover after a 13 hour flight…a flight that I didn’t get a wink of sleep on.

I was delirious from exhaustion, so I bought some mint chocolate chip ice cream and was wandering the airport with my overstuffed backpack when I came across some trippy cultural show with guys in suits playing violins and women in traditional Korean dresses twirling around. There were also posters of Psy (Gangnam Style guy) everywhere. What’s not to like about that?

Hmm–this is a hard one! There are a lot of time periods in the past that would actually be really scary to me. Like, Medieval times sound kind of cool and romantic until I remember that I’d probably have my legs cut off or something if I was seen wearing shorts.

That said, I’m going to have to go with a time period from the future–let’s go with 3015. One thousand years…that should be enough time for sexism, racism, religious extremism and the like to have come to a complete end, right? Either that or our planet will be an uninhabitable ball of fire by then…either way, I bet Chipotle will be doing home deliveries by that time, so I’ll take my chances!

One of the things that I think is most crucial to building a following and attracting a loyal audience is always staying true to yourself and keeping your readers in mind (okay, I know this sounds like two tips but I swear they go together!)

There are an abundance of blogs (and all other forms of written media) out in the world today, so I think it’s really important to stick to what you’re good to. Take travel blogging, as an example.

There are some bloggers who really excel at inspiring their readers by capturing the charm and magic of a place, and their writing is dripping with colorful adjectives and metaphors. Some bloggers, on the other hand, are all about the “how-to’s” and the itineraries–they assume their readers already want to go to the place they’re writing about, they just need to know how. Then other bloggers are great storytellers and have their readers laughing along and hanging on to every word as they recap their adventures.

In an ideal world, we’d all be awesome at all of the above–but, the reality is that’s probably not true.

Similarly, you need to keep your niche audience in mind. Who do you write for? As with writing styles, we can’t expect our travel styles to align with everyone; there are hardcore budget travelers, long-term travelers, holiday travelers, luxury travelers (a girl can dream, right?), families, expats and more.

So, to sum it up: when you find your style and niche, master it. Or, in the words of philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nicholas M. Butler, “An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less.” 

Now, my questions from Katy at Wandering with Wine:

This is a good question! I decided to start blogging about my travels primarily as a way to keep track of them myself!

When I was younger I kept very detailed journals about my day-to-day life (seriously, I wrote at least a few times a week, and during some periods of my life I wrote every day). There were a number of reasons for this, but one of the reasons was because I wanted to capture written snapshots of what my life was like at various moments in time; what I was thinking, feeling, hoping and dreaming about, and so on.

These days I find writing in an actual journal tedious (yet another symptom of too much technology I guess!) so I wanted another way to preserve my most special memories and experiences. Plus, I wanted to share my stories with people like me who are passionate about traveling and seeing the world.

This may not be an answer that everyone will agree with, but I’m going to go with car. I’m all about road trips, and love the freedom and flexibility that comes with a car. You never have to worry about delays or tight schedules–it’s all up to you!

Plus, if you see an unplanned stop that appeals to you, no worries–you have the complete freedom to stop wherever your heart desires. I love having a car when traveling abroad, because it makes me feel like I have the whole country at my fingertips, and can go absolutely anywhere I want.

It’s such a fun feeling and a great way to explore off the beaten path!

I don’t go on many day tours, so I was stumped for a minute before I realized that there is one SUPER obvious answer: Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I’ve written pretty extensively about the park in the past, so I won’t go into details right here and now, but here’s the link for anyone who’s interested: Animal Tourism in Thailand: Elephants, Tigers, and Monkeys, Oh My!

This is actually a really difficult question for me, as I don’t have a ranked bucket list like many travel bloggers do. However, I do have a few places that I’ve been obsessing about more than usual lately, so I’ll go with those:

Laos: I don’t know why, but I just feel like I NEED to go here. I have this almost psychic feeling that Laos is the place for me, and that the two of us will be basically inseparable once I visit. I picture myself spending my days lounging on riverside hammocks and watching epic sunsets over lush landscapes from a balcony with a Beer Lao in my hand…day after day after day. And yes, that’s really about all I plan to do there. Sounds like heaven, right?

Germany: Ah, yes, Deutschland! The land of my people. I actually have a trip to Germany planned for this July (7 week countdown!) and I am so super excited to go. I’ve always felt very connected to my German heritage, although I’ve never had a taste for German food…I’m hoping this trip will give me the push I need to change that! Also, I’m super excited to see some gorgeous mountains and cute little Bavarian towns.

Romania: Random choice? Maybe, but it’s definitely up there for me! I think I subconsciously decided I needed to go to the Transylvania region of Romania a long, long time ago when I decided I wanted to see creepy castles and vampire colonies, but from what I’ve learned about the country since then, it sounds like I’ll be disappointed if I go in with those expectations. Seems like all the area has to offer these days is rolling green hills, lost-in-time little villages, gorgeous castles and churches, and the friendliest people of all time. Darn.

This isn’t a super exotic answer, but my favorite restaurant is right here in my hometown of Houston! Actually, it’s right below my apartment complex…and I go there every Saturday! CoCo’s Crepes is honestly one of the truest loves of my life (sorry Derek)–their wifi password is “Nutella” for Pete’s sake!

Every Saturday morning I order a Nutella/banana/strawberry/chocolate sauce crepe with an iced coffee from CoCo’s–seriously, this place is one of the reasons I’ve still got roots in the city (…kind of joking, kind of not).

Okay, so there are so many blogs out there that I love and follow loyally, but there’s one in particular that I’ve been reading and gaining inspiration from for years, and that’s A Dangerous Business. First of all, the title comes from a J.R.R. Tolkien quote, which I think is super cute and creative, and it definitely appeals to me as a closet Lord of the Rings Fan.

Also, Amanda has a really great and admirable philosophy on travel; she tried out the full-time digital nomad thing and decided it wasn’t for her, so now she’s built herself a lifestyle where she can make a steady income and have a stable lifestyle, while still fulfilling all of her travel needs. Plus, she goes to some really cool places and she does a great job of building a relationship with her readers. Check her out!

And now, my Nominees for the Liebster Award are…

1. Stephanie at Quarter Life Epiphany
2. Lori (aka Lolo) at California Globetrotter
3. Kailey at The Blonde Travelista
4. Caroline at The Belle Abroad
5. Julia at Explores More

It’s your turn! My questions for these bloggers:

1. If you could only travel on ONE continent ever again, which would you pick?
2. Have you ever traveled to a country or city that you expected to love, but didn’t?
3. Have you ever traveled to a country or city that you weren’t that enthusiastic about visiting, but you ended up loving?
4. Do you prefer to plan your travels in advance, or go with the flow?
5. What’s your favorite accommodation you’ve ever stayed in?
6. Who is your favorite person to travel with?
7. If you HAD to pick: cities, beaches, or mountains?
8. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
9. What’s your best packing tip?
10. What do you think is the most difficult aspect of travel blogging?
11. What’s your favorite blog post you’ve ever written?

And that’s a wrap! Thanks again to Ashley & Katy for including me in this little shindig. I love having the opportunity to spread the word about my favorite bloggers…and okay, the opportunity for a little narcissistic fact-sharing about myself. I’m only human, people!

If you’ve made it this far–thanks for reading!! I can’t wait to see the answers my blogger nominees have for my questions–please let me know when you’ve posted your answers, so we can all follow up!