The goal of Tripbase’s My 7 Links initiative is “to unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.”
The rules are pretty simple – a blogger is nominated to take part and then publishes their 7 links on their blog – one in each of 7 categories. The blogger then nominates 5 more bloggers to take part and on it goes…
Many thanks to Cailin O’Neal from Travel Yourself for nominating me – and without further ado, here are my 7 links:
My most beautiful post
Having the Time of My Life – this post is the most beautiful to me because of the wonderful memories it brought back as I was writing it. It made me really appreciate everything I have been able to experience while traveling so far.
My most popular post
A Guide to Completing Your Career Grand Slam (as a spectator) – this post was about one-third travel and two-thirds sports – my other great passion. I owe its popularity to the fact that SportsIllustrated.com tennis writer Jon Wertheim included a link to it in one of his posts during the Australian Open in January.
My most controversial post
Confessions of a Guidebook Junkie – I’ve avoided getting too controversial about anything in my first year of blogging – this post is about as close as I came to stirring up controversy – it seems people either love guidebooks or they hate ‘em.
My most helpful post
How to Save Money on European Train Travel – this is probably the most practical post I’ve written. I took a couple possible scenarios and compared the cost of buying individual tickets versus using a rail pass, as well as purchasing through Rail Europe versus national rail companies.
A post whose success surprised me
Lessons I’ve Learned From My Passport – I wrote this on a whim as I was getting ready to send my passport in for renewal and I really didn’t think it would garner much of a response. Instead, it has been my second-most read post.
A post I feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
Life is a Journey, Not a Destination – this was such a hard, very personal post for me to write, I guess I hoped deep down it might reach more people. It wasn’t about travel, but about my experience challenging myself and going way outside of my comfort zone – by performing improv comedy in front of 700 people.
The post that I am most proud of
Reflections on Egypt in a Time of Turmoil – I wrote this post about a week after the revolution started in Egypt in late January. Rather than simply sharing my reflections about a country I came to adore when I visited in 2008, I wove in quotes from my tour manager, who was in Switzerland at the time, posting frequent Facebook updates about what he was hearing from his friends and family in Cairo. I thought the result was quite moving and I was very proud to have it highlighted in several “best blogs of the week” round-ups. I still get chills when I re-read it.
If you missed any of these the first time around, I hope you’ll check them out!
And now, for my nominations:
Lisa from LLWorldTour
Kim from So Many Places
Nancy from Family on Bikes
Kristin from Take Your Big Trip
Torre from The Fearful Adventurer