The Journey Of Creating a Travel Blog

So I noticed that there are many travel blogs out there.  Not only are they are a great source of information and a great read, they also help pay for the blogger to travel more around the world.  Wouldn't that be great to travel the world, telling everyone your stories and getting paid to do it?

This has turned into a diary more than a real travel blog, like the really good top bloggers have.  So I think I'm to do some real research and get another blog set up, whilst keeping this as a kind of journal of how I'm going.

I've just looked at some amazing blogs.  They look pretty.  They look very pretty indeed.  The first thing that struck me was the menu "destination", I'm not sure this is something that blogger.com can offer, so perhaps I need to look at other bloggin options.

The other thing I noticed was some of the amazing pictures.  I need to be adding more full screen sized pictures.  More pictures, more pictures, more pictures.

There we go - there's a picture from my recent trip to Amalfi coast.  Which oddly enough I haven't yet blogged about.  I feel I'm already behind and I should be talking about previous trips.  Maybe I should start with now and when I have time work backwards.

What would I say about my recent trip.  It was a tour, so maybe I can't talk about all the restaurant options in a location, as we just went with the recommended.  However talking about a tour is probably unique to the normal travel bloggers, as they do very independent trips.  I don't do as many of those for a few reasons, mostly because I like the idea of "guaranteed companions".  When I went to Thailand by myself the thing I learnt most was I got lonely when spending a lot of time by myself.  Don't get me wrong I met people, and made friends.  Just not as many as I normally do.  Having been to Kenya alone, and I didn't spend much time alone and that time alone I cherished and enjoyed.

It's a strange balance.

Anyway I'm moving off topic here... I should create a new travel blog.  The solo traveller who does guided tours and give the other side of the story from truly independent travel.  My next trip will be either with Exodus or G adventures when I can make my mind up which trip I will do.  That will be good to compare against the 3 Intrepid trips I've done.

OK theme of blog decided.  Next find a platform to do my blogging and then I'll tell my story of sailing around Amalfi coast.

How to Find a Cheaper Holiday

This is a question I've asked the internet many times.  Although I'm yet to find a real answer to my question.  So of course budget is the main concern when travelling.  Cheap flights and cheap accommodation are much easier to find today than they have ever been.  With the help of sites like booking.com, airbnb.co.uk and skyscanner.com.  Of course if you dig a little deeper you can sometimes find cheaper options to these sites.  Did you know they don't show all flights and all hotels?

Not many sites can keep up to date with all the flights in the world, but I've found http://flightmapper.net/ helpful, and then I've been able to go direct to the airline's website.  Another way of tracking down a cheaper flight is to look at your arrival and departure airports, as they sometimes list the destinations and airlines they go to.

Tripadvisor.com is a great site, and probably most people's goto site to check out how good a hotel is going to be.  Although of late they seem to just highlight those where they can sell you a room.  By changing some settings you should be able to see all hotels.  I was able to find a great guest house when I went to Puerto Rico, which at the time was not available through booking.com (http://www.dreamcatcherpr.com/) and I booked direct.  Sometimes (although not always) you might find the price is cheaper on booking.com anyway.

Time is also a crucial factor, I've read that hotels are at their best price around 6-4 weeks before, and flights can vary by airline.  Booking early does not necessarily mean a good price, neither does booking last minute.  Most flights shoot up in price a week or so before hand, and hotels may sell out.  Timing is everything.  There is an app on android called hopper that help you identify when flights are going to be at their best price.

Although one thing people over look is the package holiday.  Booking separately is cheaper isn't it?  Would you believe not always?  Last year, I ran away to Madeira for a break and a week in the sun, I found the hotel I wanted to stay in, and after some research I found that booking through thomson.co.uk actually made the trip quite a lot cheaper.

It's just worth doing your research and checking things out.  Personally I love spending time looking for holidays and making travel plans.

Another thing is to simply just ask.  Yes ask for a discount.  If you phone up and book somewhere, ask the question "if I book now, what discount can you give me?".  Or "I saw you were running a promotion, does that still apply?"  They may say no, but sometimes they will offer you something.

Occassionally people fall lucky and get an amazing deal.  That is just luck of being in the right place at the right time.  Also, don't feel that you're not as good at finding a deal as your friends because some people lie about how much a holiday cost.  They don't want to brag about how much they are spending on a holiday, so they just play down the cost.

For a more indepth look at how to find a cheaper holiday see these blogs:

• How to Find Cheap Flights – 19 Tips and Best Websites
• The Best Time to Book a Holiday
• How to Find a Cheap Flight
• The Best Ways to Book Cheaper Hotel Rates.html

Bragging

What does it mean to travel the world today?

Are we just crossing countries off a list and whoever has been to the most countries has won?  Sometimes that's how it feels.  Recently I read that place dropping is worse than name dropping.  I'm starting to think that whoever said that might have a valid point.

On a plane home after visiting the Amalfi Coast, Italy (there I go again with the place dropping) I was talking to a couple about where they'd been and where I had.  I almost found myself in a competition as it didn't feel like sharing knowledge, more about how had been to the most places in the States.  After them mentioning they'd been to New York, Chicago and LA, they seemed almost smug with themselves.  "Have you done route 66?", I enquired.  You can see already I've gone into competitor mode.  They told me they'd been on route 66 in Chicago and again in LA.  I said "Oh you'd love it", trying my hardest to get out of the one upmanship loop.  But as they seemed to think they'd "done route 66",  I then somehow seemed the need to set them straight, and tell them all about my experience there.

I had an amazing time sailing around the Amalfi Coast, although it was never on my todo list and I don't feel like it was a destination to cross off my list.  This trip became more about the people I met than the things I saw.   Yet as soon as I came home all the photos were quickly posted on facebook, so all my friends could see what an amazing holiday I had.  Did I really need to do that?  Do I really need to brag about where I've been?  I'm considering putting my photos on flickr in future, so as not to rub people's noses in the fact I'm luckily enough to be able travel and then close friends who are interested enough can still see them.

Any of my friends know to steer any conversation away from Kenya.  I adored that holiday, so much so that I think it may be impossible to ever have a trip better than that one.  And because of that I can talk about my experience at length, and that never feels like I'm bragging, I'm just telling a story of an amazing moment in my life.

Recently I noticed on facebook that a friend of mine had done a trip on the trans siberian railway, which is a trip I had been hoping to do this year but had to postpone.  I had mixed emotions about seeing the pictures.  I want to visit somewhere that none of my friends had, and mongolia was a great candidate for that.  Is that to help me gain more "travel points"?  Partly, but I think it's more I just want to experience somewhere that I have no preconception of.  

I'd like to get out of this competition and just go where I want to go.  I love finding new things out about the world.  I enjoy experiencing a new culture and a different outlook from my own.  I adore finding more out about me.

So for my next trip, I'm going to somewhere that I've longed to go for so long, but will seem so dull to so many.  I'm not going to mention it on facebook, and no pictures will be posted.  We'll see if I stick to that....