So to be honest, when Kreete from Adventurous Trails said she would like to nominate me for the Liebster Award I said, “Thank you, thats great … but what is it?”.  I only started my blog 3 months ago and being the novice that I am, I really didn’t have a clue! Kreete kindly explained that the Liebster Award exists on the internet and is a way of recognising fellow bloggers for their efforts and achievements through blogging. The Liebster Award is of German origin, with the word Liebster having a number of meanings including  sweetest, kindest, nicest and beloved .

Now that I understand what the award is all about, I would like to thank Kreete from Adventurous Trails for nominating me. I am honoured that my efforts have been recognised, because to be quite honest, I have found blogging much harder and time consuming than I ever imagined! That being said, I am really enjoying it because I am writing about something I love and I am meeting new people who share my passion and enthusiasm for travel!

 

About Kreete from Adventurous Trails

Kreete is a 24 Estonian, who is currently living and working in Australia. Australia is just one of the places she has lived, having also spent time in Greece, London and Spain. Kreete is very much an outdoor girl, who enjoys hiking, camping, travelling and diving, with many of her posts based on these topics. She has a wonderful attitude to life and travelling, which I greatly admire and I always look forward to reading her latest blog entries on Adventurous Trails.

 

The Official Rules of the Liebster Award 2016

Onto the rules. The Liebster Award was started in 2011 and the rules back then were in a simpler format, with a nominated thanking the nominator and then nominating 5 more. However now in 2016, the award has been enhanced to allow us to learn more about our fellow bloggers.

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award and you choose to accept it: 

1. Display the award on your blog and write a post about  the award
2. Thank the person who nominated you and post a link to their blog.  Tell the reader a little about your nominator
3. Answer the 11 questions given to you by the blogger who nominated you
4. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award
5. Give the nominees 11 questions to answer on their blog
6. List these rules in your post
7. Notify the nominees of the Liebster Award and ask if they would be happy to accept? If so, send them a link to your post

Questions from Kreete

1. What is your most memorable travel experience so far?

This has to be flying over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter. I obviously knew the Grand Canyon was huge, but it was hard for me to comprehend its size until I saw it for myself.

My fear of heights and flying wasn’t going to stop me crossing this item off my bucket list!

To give you some perspective on this picture, the river in the bottom right corner is the Colorado River and it is a mile down!

As well as having had the most amazing experience of my life so far, I also beat my fear! Just goes to prove we should face our fears head on!

2. What’s on top of your bucket list?

Without a doubt, my top bucket list item is to see the Northern Lights. I am planning a trip to Iceland in 2017 when I really hope I will get to see them . Obviously its not guaranteed, but I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t be disappointed if they didn’t make an appearance! Wish me luck!

3. Do you plan your travels ahead or rather go with the flow?

I always plan ahead. I like to know where I am going, where I am staying and what I should be seeing and doing whilst I am there. I love to be organised, so I like to know everything there is to know before I leave and I spend hours researching on the internet before a trip. Obviously if something interesting crops up, I am happy to go with the flow, but I would hate to miss out on something amazing because I didn’t know it was there!

4. Have you ever experienced a travel mishap? What was it?

Fortunately (touch wood), I have not really had any big travelling mishaps. I have being bitten by a spider a couple of times which has then required treatment, but this has not put me off making the best of my trips and after a few days of pain, I have been as good as new. On the whole I have been very lucky.

5. What gets you excited about travelling?

Travelling IS exciting !!

The planning, the anticipation of the trip, the count down until you depart. Then of course when you arrive, the new experiences, the new places, the people you are going to meet! I can’t say its just one thing that gets my excited about travelling, because for me, it is the whole package!

6. How many countries have you been so far?

My travels so far have been concentrated around North America and Europe, where I have visited 19 countries. I have been reading so many fascinating adventures from fellow bloggers, that I can’t wait to go further a field. Since starting my blog I have become more driven to tackle my bucket list head on!

I have been looking for a good WordPress plugin to show which countries I have visited as a visual reprentation. I would love to hear from anyone who has found one!

7. Where is your next travel destination?

I have the next 3 destinations planned. My first trip is to Florida, where I have rented a villa and plan to chill as well as visit a number of state parks and take in some historic Floridian towns. I will be working on posts to sgow there is so much to see and do in Florida and it isn’t all about the Mouse!

 

Then I am planning Iceland to hopefully see the Northern Lights (as above) and Scotland to see the puffins! Both of which are bucket list items!

8. Favourite travel related books/movies?

This is a tough one…. but I think I will go with The Bucket List starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. I normally prefer very light hearted movies, but this one really struck me as very thought provoking. It is about two terminally ill men from very different backgrounds, who after initially disliking eachother find common ground and decide to go on a 3 month adventure to complete their  bucket list before the inevitable. The actors bring humour to their travels as well as teaching the watcher the life lesson that we should live life to the full.  The movie taught me to stop procrastinating and get on with my bucket list!

 

9. How do you balance work, blogging, travelling and everything in between?

That is a good question and I would say it is much harder than I expected. I originally started this blog for myself after I was looking at photos I had taken from a trip 4 years ago Canada and I found I was struggling to recall places and details about my trip. This was pretty scary and I didn’t want to lose my memories of these fantastic trips, so I decided to create this blog (or what I felt was more of a personal journal) to keep my memories alive.

I try to time manage myself so that I get a good balance between the blog, its social media support and the rest of my life, because I could literally spend ALL my time on this exciting new project. I think I have the balance pretty good, although I wish I did have more time travelling, but at the moment I have to work to afford the luxury of seeing the world!

10. If you could be any other blogger for a day, who would you be and why?

Without a doubt, Angie and Simon from FeetDoTravel – they are living the dream!

They have sold their life in the UK and have just arrived in Borneo to start a new adventure. They are very well travelled people who seem to have been everywhere! The posts they write are always interesting and informative and I can’t wait to read about their new adventure.

Angie also admins the Facebook group Feet Do Travel, who have been a tremendous support during my first few months of blogging. They are a great bunch of people, with wonderful and interesting blogs which I really enjoy reading. I would like to thank them all for their support, advise and kindness; it is with your help, I have been able to keep so driven and focussed.

11. Best advice for new bloggers?

My best advise would be, don’t go into blogging to make money. Some bloggers do make money, but they are rarely in the travel sector and it takes a lot of work and dedication to become a well established blogger before you receive any sort of monetary return. As a blogger you need to write because you enjoy it and because you have a passion for your choosen subject matter. This is necessary because the hours spent on your blog, as well as all the social media support, vastly eat into your social life time! Before you know it, you will be eating, breathing and living your blog!

My nominees for the Liebster Award

1. Spencer & Candace from 360 Honeymoon
2. Eva from Eva’s Footprints
3. Susan from McVagabonds
4. Annalise from Annalise’s Adventures
5. Oi Meira from Oi Meria
6. Maria from The Wanderer’s Chronicles

 

My questions for the nominees

 

I now hand the baton onto my nominees, who all have wonderful blogs. Thank you for reading about me and if you fancy a chat, feel free to contact me.