I have been interested in travel and foreign cultures since the very first time I watched the children's television show Madeleine when I was six years old, and after finally having had a taste for travelling last semester I am more passionate than ever.
Before leaving for England I began to research every avenue of living abroad- food, culture, fashion, differences in laws.. I turned to both professional and personal sources of information, but I found online blogs to be the most helpful (and enjoyable). I loved that I could gain so much insight from a few well written paragraphs and select photographs. Also, there was never a lack of travel blogs to choose from. There are so many travel blogs out there, but finding the ones that are tuned into your own personal preferences can take a while. A few of my favorite I have run across are The Vintage Postcard, Atlas Obscura, and Eat Your World. The first is written by a twenty-something year old woman named Alli who has an educational background and personality similar to mine. She incorporates her passion for travel with her sense of humor and history in creative writing. Alli's blog consists of six tabs: About Me, Destinations, Adventure & Adrenaline, Art & Culture, Food & Wine, and Travel Writing. Each section includes blog entries related to the tab it is organized under, and each blog entry is informative and interesting. Her blog is aesthetically pleasing and very easy to navigate.
The second blog, Atlas Obscura, is much more professional, but just as intriguing. The layout is not as user-friendly and requires a log in for much of the content, and the background is not very attractive to the eye. Despite this, I love the content on the blog. It is packed full of "hidden" wonders such as animal shaped buildings, Watson Lake sign post forest, and Bannerman's Castle (which is actually in NY) that make my inner adventurer clap its hands in excitement.
The third blog focuses more on cuisine than on places or experiences, but it is really great for discovering what is considered a local dish. The site incorporates both user-submitted posts as well as their own. It is also super easy to use- you just click on the country you are interested in and browse the submissions.
These three blogs helped me plan my trip, keep my passion for discovering new places and experiencing new things growing, and influenced certain decisions (what to try, places to check out, etc). I would love to be able to create a resource that could do something similar to my own readers, so hopefully this course will assist me in doing so :)
Until next time!
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