Photo Friday: Fruits Glacés
Throughout April, we are celebrating food with everything from the weird to the wonderful from around the world. For this Photo Friday, we’re at the wonderful end of the scale…
Read MorePhoto Friday: The Artist
It’s another art-themed Photo Friday, and this time, it’s about being an artist. So often, I find that travel and creativity go hand in hand. Both artists and travellers experience the world in a similar way; they absorb everything around them, they notice the detail that others miss, they have a desire to capture a moment and express it in their own style.
Read MoreA guide to the Pyrénées-Orientales
Forget the tricolore, France’s southernmost département flies the striped red-and-yellow flag of Catalonia, a sign of its separate culture and turbulent history. The area was wrested back and forth between France and Spain in a centuries’-long tussle and though nowadays it has become fairly frenchified, the old language, Occitan – and even modern-day Catalan – still influences the strange, nasal ajbjfkkFDGDGDGjfkDJBSKFJKDJ French you hear in these parts.
Read MoreWinter in Languedoc-Roussillon
It was the start of November and Perpignan, my temporary hometown in the South of France, was still balmy and warm. Women, trying to copy the latest fashions from Paris, sweltered in their chic coats and chunky scarves – only the die-hard fashionistas kept them on for more than five minutes. We had a sneaking suspicion that the heating in our charming, if somewhat ramshackle, house might not be entirely functioning, but that didn’t matter. It was still summer weather, as far as we were concerned.
Read More7 Links: My Starry-Eyed Travels so far
It’s taken me a while to get round to writing my own 7 Links list, but after being nominated by MalloryOnTravel and stirred into action by the fabulous lists appearing on travel blogs everywhere, here it is. It’s a great idea dreamed up by Tripbase, one which has allowed me the great luxury of meandering through my archives, stopping nostalgically here and there and reflecting on my still young but evolving blog. I have nominated 5 further bloggers who I hope will enjoy writing their lists as much as I did! So without further ado, here are my 7 Links.
Most beautiful post
All the posts I’ve done about France fit into the ‘beautiful’ category, with all the breathtaking landscapes, incredible cuisine and historical gorgeousness that I’ve discovered there. However, it was the Dordogne Valley above all places that truly spoiled me with endless photo opportunities and a simply beautiful way of living. I only hope I managed to capture that beauty in this post!
Most popular post
Preparations of a Novice Backpacker
I discovered that people love it when I’m open and honest and they see a bit of the real me! Ironically, this was a post I dashed off in a frenzied state of booking and trying to organise things ahead of my trip. However, other travellers seemed to connect with the tone of panicked excitement. Despite writing more polished pieces before and since, this remains one of my most popular posts.
Most controversial post
Behind the Headlines: The Middle East
I am passionate about Human Rights issues and while I thought hard about whether to include more reportage-type pieces in my blog, in the end I decided that I couldn’t ignore current topics I felt strongly about. I am always careful about how I word such posts, especially as I do not claim to be an expert on them in any way, but I hope that they will generate some discussion. ’Behind the Headlines: The Middle East’ was a post which did just that. I’ve been lucky enough not to have had much negative feedback, but promoting healthy debate is not something I will shy away from.
Most helpful post
Planning the adventure of a lifetime
I write with the philosophy that the most help I can give people is by honestly describing my experiences so that they can make their own minds up. However, sometimes I consolidate information which has been useful to me and add links to other content I have used myself. I wrote this particular post because I had come across several things I found really helpful whilst planning a big trip and felt it would be churlish not to share them!
A post whose success surprised you
Making the most of a bad travel situation
The success of this surprised me because it is one of the only posts I did without any photos. Again, its popularity seemed to be because I was writing very frankly and with immediacy: I had just arrived in Peru after having some extreme travel delays and with no way to upload photos at that moment, I just wrote about what had happened and posted it. I should know by now that other travellers like reading about things like this because these imperfect experiences are common to us all. Getting a non-rose-tinted view of travel makes it more real.
A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
I know that most people come to my blog for the travel features and that I am entirely indulging myself when I write posts which try and get them to think about global issues. However, a post which I hoped (in my naive and non-cynical way) would be fresh and interesting didn’t take off as much as I would have liked. It wasn’t the lowest number of views by any means and usually, I’m not too worried if one particular post isn’t as popular as another. However, because this post had involved a charity and I wanted it to generate some exposure for them, I think I really felt the pressure for it to be amazing.
The post that you are most proud of
Perhaps it is just because it’s fresh in my mind, but ‘Discovering Huaraz’ makes me smile. For me, this post sums up what Starry-Eyed Travels is about: the sheer excitement of adventure, the sights, sounds and smells of a new place, experiencing things for the first time with wonder and starry eyes.
My 5 nominations
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