Travel, New Year & Liebster

The timing was perfect. It was the last week of Christmas and I was in India for a brief holiday, to spend quality time with parents. And to reflect how I’d have to spend more time with the blog in 2015. Just reflect; I don’t make resolutions eh.

Immediately after, I get a wordpress notification from 3weeksandashoestring informing me that I’ve been nominated for the Liebster award! Check out her wonderful travel blog and look out for the post on ‘The Hungry Vegetarian’ if you are a vegetarian traveller!

Okay, so Leibster is not really the Oscars, but enough to make me thrilled and do a little dance. No, seriously. It is a nice little accolade to recognize promising blogs and those with less than 500 followers and works on a ‘pay it forward’ system. That’s enough motivation for a blog-rolling 2015.

As the Liebster rules go, every nominated blogger needs to answers a set of questions given by the blogger who’s nominated her / him – so here goes:

1. What do you enjoy most about blogging?

Even if I am blogging about country X that I have recently travelled to, I do some online research to ensure that any facts I include are correct and end up learning a lot more about the place. As a result, I’m building a mini country wikipedia in my brain.

2. What do you find to be the most difficult part of blogging?

I have this obsessive compulsion to not publish a post unless there are a few photos which in reality, takes much more effort than writing a post. And the occasional phase where I have a blog-block and nothing inspires.

3. What is the last place you traveled to?

Just back from India. Visited Coimbatore (in the South) and Bombay/Mumbai. The trip was for family & food 😉

4. What’s your favourite of the places you’ve been to?

Ah, difficult one. But the one that surprised me the most was Georgia. Being so accessible from Dubai, it is a country I’d want to visit a second time around.

5. Of the places you’ve been to, which would you say was the biggest ‘miss’?

None really. While I was disappointed with Dalhousie & Khajjiar in North India (the former in a state of repair and the latter with a needless reference to Switzerland), I have friends who have seen it during snowier times and raved about it.  So maybe my timing was wrong.

6. What is your least favorite part of travelling?

The return flight/train/bus back to base. No surprises there.

7. Backpack or wheeled suitcase?

Backpack; but with a back that is getting weaker with age, wheeled suitcase is taking priority.

8. Solo travel or travel with company?

Spouse travel! Because the husb allows me to dominate itinerary, planning & such (only on the travel front, if I may add), is not the most talkative person (which gives me adequate solo time) and yet is listening (or at least pretending to) when I jabber away. Can you see my halo?

9. What is your favourite among the blog posts you have written?

Confession time: I just wish a lot more readers would check my post on Spain & Andalusia. Because that post came straight from the heart.

Can I mention a second one, please? The one on Georgian food, which came straight from the stomach.

No more self-promotion now. Promise.

10. What is the last song you listened to?

Nothing Else Matters – Apocalyptica

11. What is the last book you read?

The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan. Read it for a perspective on the Israel-Palestine conflict and for a heart-warming true story that existed amidst it.

11 random facts about me:

1. I spent 7 months as a English-teaching assistant in Strasbourg, France. From the huge lot of 20-something Indian assistants that left for France, I was the only married 30-something.
2. Much as I love travelling, I hate packing! I can waste hours sitting aimlessly with an empty backpack or suitcase.
3. I can be quite cranky during the hours leading to a travel departure. I haven’t yet figured why but I’ll blame this on No.2 for now.
4. The more number of people visiting a particular country, the lesser my inclination to go there.
5. My 3rd year in Dubai will include my 3rd 10K run in this city later this month. A hat-trick, inshallah!
6. I don’t upload travel photo albums on Facebook.
7. Single child yet, in the words of a wise friend, ‘sorted’.
8. I have tasted chicken/meat and enjoyed it on 2 occasions. There are several occasions when I get depressed seeing a lone vegetarian option on a menu but that said, I don’t ever intend moving to the other side.
9. An Indian citizen working in an Arab country for the British Government.
10. Cold country over warm country. 7 months of Strasbourg and not once did I miss the Indian sun!
11. Night owl. That’s when all my blogs are written.

Blogs that I will nominate for this Award:

I think the below blogs are great and deserve recognition. I particularly envy bloggers whose pictures speak a thousand words and those with a lucid writing style.

Paper Boats

Salted Print

Afsha Khan

Stéphane at My French Heaven probably has too many followers to be nominated for a blog, nevertheless get inspired by checking out his website.

‘Liebster Award’ rules:

1.  Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.
2. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)
3. Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.
4. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.
5. Nominate 5 –11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have less than 500 followers.
6. Create a new list of questions for the bloggers to answer.
7. List these rules in your post. Once you have written and published it, you then have to:
8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!).

And here are my questions for my nominated fellow bloggers:

1. When did the travel bug bite you?
2. The most adventurous thing you have done or want to do?
3. What do you find to be the most difficult part of blogging?
4. What’s your favourite of the places you’ve been to?
5. Any country that you’d want to give a miss, and why?
6. What is your least favorite part of travelling?
7. Mountain or beach person?
8. Solo travel or travel with company?
9. What is your favourite among the blog posts you have written?
10. What is the last song you listened to and/or last book you read?
11. Best travel secret or tip?

Pay it forward!