LIEBSTER AWARD NOMINATION

Good news came in a couple of days ago - Abroad and Beyond has been nominated for the Liebster Award by Paula from Gone with the Wine! Gone with the Wine is a page run by a Finnish lady who moved to the US to study wine tourism and now lives in and blogs from the sunny California. Thank you, Paula, for recognising my website and for this exciting opportunity to tell you guys about the idea behind this award.

WHAT IS THE LIEBSTER AWARD?

The Liebster Award is an online award given by bloggers to other bloggers as a way to support each other, show a sign of appreciation to blogs that you enjoy, spread the world about your own page, and get discovered by others. If you are nominated for the award and you choose to accept it, you should follow the following set of rules:

1. Write a post accepting acknowledging your nomination and display the award on your blog (either in the post or as a widget).

2. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.

3. Answer the questions posed to you by the person who nominated you.

4. Nominate at least 5 blogs that deserve the award in your opinion, but have less than 1000 followers.

5. Create a set of questions for your nominees.

6. Don’t forget to inform those bloggers about their nomination and share said blog post with them.

ANSWERS TO PAULA'S QUESTIONS

- Why did you start a travel blog?

I figured if other people can blog, then so can I. Plus I had three trips coming up (London, Dublin, and my round-the-world tour), so the timing was perfect.

- Do you blog for fun or do you want to make something out of blogging?

At this point, I find blogging quite fulfilling as it is, but I aspire to have more things to offer to my readers as well as make a bigger impact on the community.

- What has been your favourite travel experience so far?

Iceland - my favourite place in the whole world.

- If you could go anywhere in the world right now, and budget was no issue, where would you go?

This is a difficult one, but I’d probably pick Japan. A trip to this country is equivalent to travelling to a different planet.

- What has been your biggest challenge as a traveller (or a travel blogger)? How have you overcome those challenges?

Since I primarily travel solo, at first it was challenging yet fun to see how I react to different new things, especially when you have nobody to share these experiences with. I’ve grown to be confident to throw myself in situations where I might feel awkward or uncomfortable. These days, i just embrace things as they are.

- Where do you see your blog in 5 years?

Hopefully still running.

- Name 3 places (or 3 things) that are on your travel bucket list.

I’ve written a bucket list of destinations before (read here), so my 3 experiences would be:

• Take the Trans-Siberian with a non-Russian friend so I can laugh at them when they get surprised by something

• Fly an airplane

• Trek a mountain

- Do you have any other passions besides travel (and blogging) that you devote your time to, and include to your blog?

I spend a lot of time reading, especially Russian and European classical literature, 20th century writers from the New World, and philosophy works. Besides that, I enjoy running, playing chess and poker, and you are likely to spot me solving sudoku puzzles. Oh, and I make a mean White Russian.

- Have you ever come close to stop blogging and if so, what made you continue?

Yes, I had a hiatus of about 8 months – life got in the way. I was going through a pretty rough patch and blogging was the last thing on my mind. But I believe it helped me re-evaluate why I was doing it in the first place and what my goal was. I resumed writing when I felt like doing it. At that point, I was confident I could blog on a regular basis and had enough ideas in mind to carry on. Now Abroad and Beyond looks better than ever!

- Where is your next destination?

Nothing certain as of now, but it would be nice to visit some Christmas markets in Germany next month - I’ve never been to one.

MY NOMINEES + QUESTIONS

My nominees are:

- Boots Not Roots is Danielle who recently moved to Dublin and now takes gorgeous pictures of her new home country and the surroundings.

- Call Me Nune is a lady originally from Armenia who grew up in Poland and then moved back to her motherland and opened a restaurant. Her blog is part travelogue, part cookbook.

- Another First World Traveller is Aram who once lived a privileged ‘first world’ life in London but is now travelling the world full-time.

- Wanders Will Never Cease is Maria, a British girl who's been to over 40 countries. She's even been to Greenland!

- Trekking With Bekky is a Canadian lady from Ontario who has been teaching English in Japan and Russia since 2010.

Here are my questions for you:

1. How did you start your blog?

2. What is your favourite subject/topic to write about? 3. If you were in a city and had to choose between a good meal and a bad hotel, or a bad meal and a good hotel - which would you prefer? 4. Do you prefer to travel solo or with someone else? 5. Is there anything you regret not doing due to fear? 6. What is one thing you really like about the city you come from?

7. Do you collect anything from your trips?

8. If you could move to any corner of the world right now, what would it be?

9. What do you have to compromise in order to keep travelling? 10. What’s the craziest thing you have done when traveling, where and why?

Happy travels! x

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