I am very pleased to announce that I have won my first blogging award. I would not normally bore you with articles about how wonderful the blog is! However, it is part of the terms and conditions of accepting the award that I write a small piece about it, as well as getting to nominate the next recipients. Hopefully you may discover some interesting new blogs, as well as learning a bit more about me, so read on!

I must, of course, start by thanking Matt Hulland from  http://www.thetravelblogs.com  for nominating me for the award. Matt runs a great blog about travel with his own content, as well as contributions from interesting travel blogs. He focuses on the more adventurous side of travel than me, and has an intriguing e-book called ‘How to clean your underwear in Africa’.

If you are not a blogger, you may well have never heard of a Liebster Award. The Liebster Award is something that is given to you by fellow bloggers. It is specifically aimed at new bloggers. Given that I have only been going for just over 3 months, I am very honoured to have been selected for the award so early on. I don’t have a trophy to put on the mantelpiece (unfortunately) but I get to display the Liebster award logo on my website.

My Liebster Award Questions

As part of my Liebster nomination I get to answer 11 questions that were given to me by Matt about my travels, followed by 11 random facts. Finally I get to nominate blogs myself for the award.

Where are you right now?

Currently at home in Hampshire, UK, after being to Paris and Berlin in the last 2 weeks.

Where are you going next?

Over the next year I have planned; Marbella, Alicante, Algarve, Tallin, Hawaii, Las Vegas, New Zealand, Vietnam, Toronto and Niagara on the lake. Plus a few more random trips no doubt, to review specific flights.

What ignited the fire inside of you that burns for travel?

My parents were always keen travellers, so I have been abroad from a young age. I think it was when I started going to more far flung places such as the Far East, that I really got the travel bug. One of the things I love most is going somewhere with a completely different culture and food. I love trying new things.

What is the funniest thing that you ever witnessed in an airport?

It is more of a general observation really. I always laugh at the lemming like way that people start queuing to get on the plane as soon as one person stands in the queue. I can never understand why people are so keen to get on, when they are going to sit on a plane for hours anyway!

What is the best food you have had outside of your own country?

That’s a tough one, as one of the things I love about travelling is sampling the local cuisine. If the question was for a country’s cooking in general, I would have to say Thailand. I love the amazing flavour explosions in Thai cuisine, along with a punch of chilli. If it was one particular dish, the most memorable would be the tempura tomato I ate in Kyoto. Roving Reporter and I went to an amazing little tempura restaurant with an old tempura master who cooked the most delicious and delicate tempura I have ever had. Tempura tomato sounded horrible, but it was the most beautiful thing I have eaten. So fresh and light, as well as packed with flavour. The setting in a traditional Japanese house, with a serene garden in the middle also added to the experience.

What is your favourite animal and why?

Being a dog lover I would have to say on a practical level, it’s dogs, because they all have such different personalities. I sometimes prefer dogs to people – they don’t answer back and they are always unendingly loyal! If I was being more exotic, it would have to be giraffes. They are the most impossible looking animals, but equally so beautiful. I was lucky enough to see them in the wild in Namibia, which was an unforgettable experience.

How long have you blogged?

Only 3 and half months. It has been a steep learning curve, as I knew nothing about blogging or building a website. I decided to give it a go by myself and spent many a frustrated hour trying to work out code. Even how to just centre a video on the screen took me days to work out! There is still so much to learn and it is certainly keeping me busy.

What camera do you use?

An iPhone 7. I had a look through recommendations for cameras for bloggers and someone said, “the best camera is the one you always have with you”. This made up my mind to go for an upgrade to the iPhone 7, even though my pictures on the iPhone 6 were still pretty good.

Beach, mountains or city?

That’s a tough one. Ideally my perfect holiday would have a bit of city and a bit of beach. Something like Bangkok, followed by a few nights on one of the islands would be perfect.

What is the furthest you have ever been from home?

New Zealand. You can’t get much further away than that from the UK. Although the place that felt the furthest from home was Japan. It is very strange being somewhere where you can’t even read the signs. It made it interesting trying to find restaurants!

Where do you see your blog in 12 months time?

Hopefully supplying me with a decent income! I would also like to develop my relationships with the key loyalty, airline and hotel companies so that I can get more exclusive content, giveaways and competitions.

11 Random facts for the Liebster Award

• I have recently had a kidney transplant
• I am a qualified air traffic controller
• My mother was born in France to a Swiss father and Irish mother.
• David Van Day from pop group Dollar once bought me a drink in a night club

• I have eaten lots of weird and wonderful things from locusts, silkworms and sea urchins to fried eel spines and eel livers. Some were a lot nice than others!
• I have been learning Japanese
• I have spent an afternoon in a hot tub with the England rugby team
• When I am not travelling, I look after people’s dogs
• Gordon Ramsay was sat in front of me in First Class on BA to Los Angeles
• I love going to McDonalds in Japan as they do an amazing prawn burger

Nominations for other blogs

My nominations go to:

Tom at https://techfortravel.co.uk/. Tom covers all the essential gadgets and technology for your travels, in this hi-tec blog.

https://londonairtravel.com/ where you’ll see regular news on developments affecting all travellers to and from London airports, whether you’re a frequent flyer of a first time visitor. They cover all the latest route and fleet news and airline product developments.

Eat, drink, stay Dubai which covers everything about staying in style but also saving money in Dubai. Essential in the times of the weak £pound!

Todd at http://www.visit50.com/, This is an inspirational blog by Todd, who set himself the task of visiting 50 states in the US and 50 countries by the time he was 50.

Adam at the https://londonescapist.co.uk. Adam is a photographer, so naturally his blog is chock-full of beautiful images to inspire your travels.

Questions to my nominees

• If you could only go on one more trip – where would it be?
• What is the most disastrous thing that has happened on a trip?
• How many countries have you visited?
• What made you start your blog?
• What annoys you most about fellow travellers?
• Where are you based and what is the best thing to do in your local area?
• What do you always take when you are travelling?
• What dishes from your travels have you tried to recreate at home?
• What surprised you most about blogging?
• Where do you plan to go in the next year?
• What’s your top travel tip for saving money?

Liebster Award rules

Once you accept a nomination, you are expected to complete the following steps:
* Thank and link to the blogger who nominated you.
* Create a post on your blog, displaying the Liebster Award logo.
* Answer the 11 questions assigned by the blogger who nominated you.
* Give 11 random facts about you.
* Provide rules/instructions for accepting the award.
* Nominate 5 new favourite bloggers for the Liebster Award.
* Come up with a list of 11 new questions for your nominees.
* Notify the nominees.
* Post your Liebster Award blog post link in the comments of your nominator’s Liebster Award Post