I recently was nominated for the Liebster Award by The Passport Pair, a sweet couple of travelers that shares their tips and experiences on their blog.
What is the Liebster Award?
The Liebster Award is made by travel bloggers for travell bloggers and is a great opportunity to be more involved in the community, discover new blogs and connect with them.
Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.
If you have been nominated for the award and you choose to accept it, you should write a blog post about the Liebster Award following these rules:
- Thank the person who nominated you and post a link to their site on your blog.
- Display the award on your blog.
- Answer their 10 questions about yourself.
- Nominate 5-10 other bloggers for the award and inform them via social media (the nominees have to have less than 3000 followers).
- Create your own set of questions for your nominees.
- Enjoy winning an award and pass this great feeling onto someone else!
Questions & Answers
The Passport Pairs asked me some questions, and here are my response:
How would you describe your traveling style? (Ex: budget friendly or make no compromises)
For sure I’m a budget friendly traveler: I’m always, always looking for cheap flights, no matter the destination or the period. I like to say that is not me choosing the travel, but is the travel to choose me. This i show it works for me: I look for cheap flights and I decide my destination depending on that.
I’m also a “planner” travel: my trip starts many days before flying. I like to be prepared to my destination doing reseachs, reading other blogs, searching for places where to eat tipical meal… Nevertheless, I always leave a free space for something adventurous, unexpected and exciting in my travels 🙂
What is your long term plan with travel blogging?
Actually, I have no long term plan with my blog. Honestly, I didn’t have neither at the beginning. When I decided to start CLARA on the road, I just mixed my two big passions – to write and to travel – and my main goal was to share my experiences with other people. Today, after 2 years blogging, nothing changed: I continue blogging for myself first, happy to share my work with my lovely readers. 😀
What are some places you would like visit but can’t due to current political situations?
Definitely Turkey. I have actually already been in Turkey, but it’s so big! It is a Country that fascinates me a lot: there are many places very different from each other, awesome natural areas, small rural villages, and people… Turkish people are amazing!
What destination that you have visited surprised you the most and why?
Before going there, I didn’t expect Seville was such a beautiful city! I expected an hot, noisy Spanish city, with some open squares and a main shopping street. I was so wrong! I found a peaceful, typical and quite not so big city, very artistic (Plaza de Espana is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen), very welcoming, with a lovely old town and amazing modern areas. I visited for sure more than 50 cities, but if I must choose a place where to live, Seville is on the top of my list!
What advice would you give those that are afraid to travel internationally?
How can you be afraid of travel? Come on! The world is so big, you have no idea of what you are missing! Just give it a chance, forgive for a moment your fear, book a flight and enjoy yout travel… You will thank me! 🙂
What hobbies do you have outside of traveling?
I love books, reading and writing about them. I love movies and tv shows, to go to the cinema wth my boyfriend and to enjoy a relaxing night with a movie on the couch. I love to take my camera and go to explore my city: I live in Rome since 8 years and it continues to surprise me every day! 😀
How do you balance life on the road while staying healthy and fit?
That’s a good question! 😀 In the everyday life I’m not a junk food addicted, so when I travel I pay the same attention to eat healty that I do in my “quite” life. I do not do sport while traveling, but I like to have the control on what I eat. This is, for instance, the reason why I prefer to stay in apartments –shared ones as well- instead hotels: because I have a kitchen and I can cook whatever I want. In this way, I can also enjoy a dinner or two in a tasty tipical restaurant. 🙂
What is your defining travel moment that set you down this path of travel?
It was not a moment. I actually meditated a lot on this, it was part of my maturation process. I surely have a travel moment that changed my poit of view and pushed me to travel more and more: it was Turkey –Cappadocia to be exact- to convert me in a traveler.
Urban or rural travel? Why?
Until now, I’ve been an urban traveler. I love to explore cities, catching locals’ moments, photographing corners, enjoying street arts. But – I know it – I will pass to the rural side soon. In my opinion a rural travel is more challenging, and you need to be prepared. I’m working on that… 🙂
Do you have any meal suggestions that you wouldn’t find on TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet, Yelp, etc?
Just avoid turistic restaurants: they are expensive and usually don’t use original receips! A pizza in Italy should be soft but not spongy, and it shouldn’t cost more that 7 Euros. Don’t buy Paella in the Barcelona’s Rambla, that’s not real Paella! The best fish and chips in London are not in the city centre, but in the suburbs fast foods.
TripAdvisor is a good source, but if you have the opportunity to talk with locals, it’s so much better!
My Liebster Award Nominees
I love his journalistic approach to travel blogging, giving his readers an unique point of view. I appreciate also his good quality writing.
His blog is organised as a diary where, day by day, you can read his adventures, itineraries and tips.
It’s a lifestyle blog that includes many travel tips. I love the unique graphic style, very simple but very impressing!
Sam and Kirsten Take on the World
They are a couple with a very sweet story. They both quit their job for traveling the world together, and in the blog they share their experience giving tips and suggestions to travel on a budget.
The blog is focused on Switzerland and offers interesting contents and very nice photos.
Questions for my Nominees
- Out of all the countries you have visited, which one did you like the most?
- What is your favourite travel hack/tip?
- Which objects you cannot leave at home while traveling?
- What changed in your way to travel since you started your travel blog?
- What are your fears traveling? And how do you overcome them?
- Which is the best way to travel? Alone, with your partner, in a large group of friends, with your family…?
- Why is your blog called … ?
- Why did you decided to start a blog? It was a travel-inspired decision?
- How do you find inspiration and get new ideas for your blog?
- Do you have a future or long term plan with your blog?
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