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Yay, I got a Liebster Award!
First off, thank you Talma at Israel-Best Trips for nominating me! Check out her blog, it’s got a wealth of posts (including itineraries!) on traveling around Israel. It’s a fascinating country with tons of history and archeology that I’d love to see one day myself!
What is the Liebster Award?
As quoted from the website:
The Liebster Award 2017 is an award that exists only on the internet and is given to bloggers by other bloggers. The earliest case of the award goes as far back as 2011. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.
A little bit about me and my blog:
What Makes Me Passionate About Blogging
Ever since I was young I had always wanted to travel around the world. I was fascinated with wanting to see other places and experience other cultures, foods, meet different people. I had a children’s atlas that I would often pour over, wondering what each country was like. When I got older and finally had a few opportunities to travel I was so excited! I took a lot of pictures, and would come home and be disappointed that no one would care much. They just didn’t have the same enthusiasm for travel as I did. Eventually, I discovered travel blogs. People actually writing about and posting their photos on places they’ve been. I loved the idea, and after many years I finally decided to give it a go myself, and all I have to say is it’s been one of the best decisions for me! It allows me to express that creative side and love for travel with others, and actually make use out of all the thousands of travel photos I’ve taken! Now I can share them and give advice to other travelers, who I hope some of my articles will help and inspire 🙂
10 Random Facts about me:
1. I love hiking! It’s my favorite physical activity.
2. If I could be outdoors 90% of the time I would.
3. Pencil drawings along with digital paintings are my favorite art mediums to work in.
4. Indian Jones and the last Crusade was one of the first inspirations for travel I had
5. Xena & Hercules are a big second-and what made me first want to visit New Zealand!
6. Canada was the first foreign country I visited. If that counts, I’m from the US! Lol
7. Parrots are my favorite animals 🙂
8. I’ve owned chickens!
9. I’m a big camera and computer geek ;p
10. A big goal of mine is to be fluent in another language one day!
Responses to Questions from my nominator:
1. Where are you from?
I’m from Pennsylvania, USA. Grew up and lived here my whole life. It’s a beautiful area with low lying mountains, lots of forests, small towns and larger cities.
2. What did you do before becoming a travel blogger?
Well what I still do is graphic design for a living. I’ve been creating artwork on the computer for many years now. Ever since I was little I was drawing or doodling something, and also dreaming of visiting faraway places!
3. What made you become a travel blogger?
Even though I love doing art, I love traveling and taking pictures of places even more! It’s a creative outlet for me to be able to write and show photos of the places I’ve been with people who also love traveling or are looking to go somewhere and find out more info on a place.
4. Out of all the countries, you have visited, which one did you like the most and why?
Unfortunately I haven’t been to many countries as of yet. So this may sound silly, but I have to pick my own country. The US has such an incredible variety of landscapes, there’s always something to do and a new place to see and explore. You can find any kind of food, people from all around the world and their cultures…I really do love it here!
5. What was the worst thing that happened to you during a trip and how did you handle it?
Luckily I haven’t had anything really terrible happen. The worst was probably just long flight delays and lost luggage for a week. So more of an inconvenience. The airline put us up in a hotel for several hours until our rerouted flight was scheduled, and we had to go shopping at Walmart to buy clothes when we got to our destination(since our luggage was lost). Not exactly what you want to be doing on a vacation trip after being dead tired from no sleep lol, but it turned out ok in the end.
6. If you could take someone with you in your travels, who would it be?
Well that one’s easy! I’d always pick my loving husband first and foremost 🙂 We go mostly everywhere together. He’s a great traveling partner, patient, makes me laugh…we don’t get into fights or anything and he’s fine with doing the driving on our road trips!
7. What was the best museum you have ever been to?
I’m not a big museum person, but from the few I’ve been to I did enjoy the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It had a variety of art and ancient relics. I’d definitely go there again!
8. What was the most adventurous activity that you have ever tried?
Climbing a mountain being totally out of shape, lol! This was way back before I was into hiking, and what made me love it actually. I was in Romania, in the Carpathian Mountains and was not sure I wanted to do the trail to the top. It was marked as 3 to 4 hours, all uphill. I had never done anything like that before, but the people I was with wanted to go, and I felt silly to chicken out, so up we went! It took us many more than 4 hours, my lungs were not happy, but after tons of huffing and puffing we made it. The views along the way were so incredible, and I felt it as such a huge achievement that I accomplished it! Even though I was dead tired throughout from all the cardio, I totally loved it, and have been going hiking ever since!
9. What are the best food and worst foods that you have tasted?
Ok this one’s hard, I LOVE food, and have tasted all kinds of things I like. However one place that really stands out in my mind as having delicious food is Central Market in Lancaster, PA. It’s an indoor farmer’s market with all kinds of homemade goodies. There’s a lot of foreign foods too, so much variety! The day we went there we bought small portions from many different merchants, to get a good sampling. They were all great! My favorite was the Moroccan Baclava.
Worst…well… again it’s hard. I think it comes down to how things are prepared. Sometimes they’re just not cooked well, or have little to no seasonings. But there is actually one food that stands out in my mind that I tried and..yuck! In Romania they call it Piftie. It’s basically gelatin made from boiling animal bones and meat, with some added vegetables like carrots, parsley, garlic, and the meat itself. It’s left to cool and solidify into the gelatin. Blah…I couldn’t stomach it. To me “jello” is sweet! Yeah I guess that’s my American side showing lol. :p
10. If you could donate money to a good cause, what would it be?
I have a hard time picking out favorites, can you tell? 🙂 There are a lot of great organizations around the world and I donate to a variety when I can. Doctors Without Borders is a big one, Kiva is a great concept of helping people through loans, St. Jude’s children’s hospital. There are also smaller organizations through local churches that do a lot of good for their communities. I’ve donated to many in the past and will continue to donate to wherever my heart is drawn at the time.
11. If you could live in another country, where would you live?
I would absolutely want to visit and live in New Zealand-at least for a good while! I’m a big outdoors person and nature lover, so seeing those incredible landscapes in films and TV always made me want to visit. I think I’d find a good home there in a small town near the water and the amazing mountains.
My Nominees:
For the 2018 Liebster Award, I nominate the following Travel Bloggers:
Varsha’s Travel 360Â -Guides with lots of photos to many places all over Europe!
Savvy Dispatches – Posts her travels from around the world with features on beachcombing. I love picking up shells and rocks on the beach, it’s so much fun!
Travarela -Guides from around the world with some amazing photos!
Savvi Scouts – Advice on budgeting your travel finances and other travel guides!
Maps ‘N Bags -Travel Tips & Inspiration from places around the world!
What are the Rules?
The full list of Rules for the award can be found here(or click on the photo above): https://theglobalaussie.com/liebster-award-2018/
Questions for my nominees:
1. What made you inspired to travel? Where does your love for travel stem from?
2. Have you ever traveled solo? If so what was your first experience and were you nervous? If not, do you want to try it one day?
3. What was a place you traveled to that really touched your heart?
4. Do you collect anything while traveling?
5. Do you try to learn a bit of the local language wherever you travel to?
6. What’s been the craziest food you’ve tried on a trip?
7. Is there one place you’ve been to that you’ve gone to again, and would go again and again to see? Or do you prefer to always go to new places?
8. Does any country or place outside of your native home, feel like home to you?
9. What has been your greatest difficulty or frustration with travel blogging thus far?
10. What tip would you share with other travel bloggers starting out that you’ve learned?
11. What is the place highest on your list you want to travel to if money was no object-and what is the place lowest on your list that you don’t really care if you ever see or not?
Congrats and have fun!