Hi there!
This post is all about my nomination for the Leibster Award. My regular trip post will go out on Thursday as usual, but I have to write a post as part of the nomination so here goes.
First, I’d like to thank my colleague Marya, from thebeautraveler.com for nominating me. Marya is a fellow travel blogger from Indonesia. She is a former flight attendant who took the great leap of leaving her 9-to-6 job to write about the things she loves, travel, beauty and romance. This past year she has slowly but surely been covering Asia. She has also been nominated for the award and in turn has nominated me. THANK YOU MARYA!
The Liebster Award
What is it?
As described on their 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.”
Their website includes the rules, which dictate the remainder of my post:
The Liebster Award Rules
Thank the person who nominated you, and put a link to their blog on your blog.
Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”.
Write a 150-300 word post about your favourite blog that is not your own. Explain why you like the blog, provide links.
Provide 10 random facts about yourself. (optional)
Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 200 followers.
List these rules in your post.
Create 11 questions for your nominees to answer.
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 or mine if you don’t have all the information so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it! Post a comment in the comments below so I can view your post and check out your blog. I personally visit each and everyone. I visited a few hundred last year!!
My Favourite Blog
This is the toughest part of this post for me because to be honest, I haven’t been following specific blogs for very long. I actually dived into the online world only about 3.5 months ago both as a reader and as a writer.
Say whaaat?!!
I mean, that I didn’t follow blogs till then. I mainly read the news and additional posts on an as needed basis.
That being said, ever since I got into this blogging business, there is one favourite travel blog that I read, mainly for inspiration. It’s called 'A Dangerous Business Travel Blog'. The blog is written by a young woman called Amanda who has a degree in journalism and therefore, has a varied and highly entertaining style of writing. She has been blogging for over five years now and has travelled the world so there are plenty of posts to choose from for inspiration.
The thing that really stood out to me in her blog as something to emulate was how to write in an organized and informative fashion with a clear focus on what creates value for the readers. Her travel posts consist of a pleasant mix of interesting facts, great photos and valuable information. In short, I hope I’ve learnt something from her.
Ten Random Facts
10. I was born in Israel, but grew up in Manhattan till I was 10 and then came back to Israel.
9. I still prefer reading in English to Hebrew.
8. My favourite writer of all times is Agatha Christie. I love her so much that I made a reading list of recommended authors based on one of her books.
7. I have two children, a boy aged 17 and a girl aged 12.
6. I let my kids choose the TV channel so that we can watch TV together. Therefore, I’ve always watched kids’ programs although over time our tastes have become more aligned.
5. My favourite music band of all times is ‘Queen’.
4. I love periodic films, with all the costumes and scenery.
3. I love to cook. I began collecting recipes at the age of five starting with my grandmothers.
2. My favourite food is yogurt.
1. I prefer dark chocolate to milk or white chocolate.
Responses to Marya, My Nominator’s Questions
1. Where are you from? Describe shortly about your hometown and tell me what you miss the most when you’re away from home.
Response: I live in Ramat-Gan, Israel. It’s about 20 min away from Tel-Aviv in good traffic and in general is centrally located so it is great for traveling internally. Thanks to its visionary first Mayor, Avraham Krinitzi who thought that every respectable city should have major facilities, it has a University (Bar-Ilan University), a hospital (Sheba Medical Center), a big park (Ramat-Gan National Park), a zoo (Safari Park), a business district (Israel Diamond Exchange) and a soccer stadium (Ramat-Gan Stadium).
Since I’m a local travel blogger, I don’t really get away for long periods, but when I do, I miss my bed.
2. What has inspired you to travel?
Response: I think it is a natural tendency. I like everything about it. I like planning my trips and executing them. I like the literary creativity of writing about them and find the challenge of maintaining a website and social marketing, which personally I struggle with, to be invigorating. I feel that I am expanding my knowledge every day.
3. Is there any place (that is not your hometown) that you have visited before, but you’re still longing to revisit it? If so, which place is it and why?
Response: I’ll always have a soft spot for NYC, where I grew up, my home away from home.
4. What is your biggest fear when you travel?
Response: My biggest fear is having my credit card swallowed just before I have to leave and getting stuck without money.
5. Have you found any hidden gem somewhere? What/where is it?
Response: Yes, I have and even close to home. It’s the Lachish Park in Ashdod. I’ve written a post about it here: https://www.israel-best-trips.com/single-post/2017/11/16/Who-Knew-that-Ashdod-was-a-City-of-Parks
6. What is your favorite mode of transportation to travel and why?
Response: That depends on the distance. If far, flying because it is most efficient. If nearby, driving because I love the feel behind the wheel.
7. Regardless the location and budget, tell me the best accommodation experience where you have stayed during your travel.
Response: The best accommodation experience that I had was in Switzerland in a B&B. I felt like Heidi, waking up to see the cows in pasture, breathing in the mountain air. The room was in a wooden homestead with a wooden rocking horse and it was so quaint that we ended up leaving the next B&B the following night in order to return for a second night.
8. If you could live elsewhere, where would you live? Why?
Response: I think I’d choose either Holland or northern Italy. I’d like to live somewhere in Europe where I can go on trips to other countries over the weekend. It seems awesome to be able to cross borders easily and they’re both in the middle of the continent, sort of. The Dutch speak English pretty well and have great yoghurt and Italy has all the majestic Renaissance art.
9. What is your most memorable trip that you’ve had?
Response: That would either be Greece or Hungary. In Greece we did a pretty incredible trip following the greek mythology stories. In Hungary, we just had an amazing time because I was surprised by some of the places that we saw. On the outskirts of Budapest there is a train run by children for children which was amazing. Then we found by chance this arts and crafts festival that enabled the children to try out weaving baskets, woodwork etc. and then we spent some time at Lake Balaton, which was just plain relaxing. Water sports during the day and amazing desserts on the boardwalk in the evening.
10. Name your favorite food that you’ve tried during your travel.
Response: I remember the Bourekas in Istanbul very fondly from before I had to switch to a gluten-free diet.
My Nominees
I am happy to nominate the following fellow travel and/or lifestyle bloggers:
4. Degustace
5. Lifestylemnl
6. Adanye
My Questions to the Nominees
Where are you from? Describe it.
What did you do before becoming a travel blogger?
What made you become a travel blogger?
Out of all the countries, you have visited, which one did you like the most and why?
What was the worst thing that happened to you during a trip and how did you handle it?
If you could take someone with you in your travels, who would it be?
What was the best museum you have ever been to?
What was the most adventurous activity that you have ever tried?
What are the best and worst foods that you tasted?
If you could donate money to a good cause, what would it be?
If you could live in another country, where would you live?
That's all folks! Good luck to everyone!
Best,
Talma