Thanks to Islandmomma for nominating Buzz Trips to take part in the My 7 Links travel blogging initiative from Tripbase. I love the categories – nice and meaty – and they got the grey cells working overtime. It’s taken a few days to get round to doing this because a) we were travelling and b) I got completely caught up in reading other bloggers’ links (there’s some wonderful and diverse topics in there).
Buzz Trips is a new travel site for us but we’ve been writing and blogging for quite a few years so coming up with the entries wasn’t easy…but the most recent always seem fresher so most of the ones I’ve opted for are from the last couple of months. I’ve also included a couple from our individual blogs Real Tenerife and Living Beneath the Volcano as most of our personal blogs were on those before Buzz Trips was born.
Most Beautiful Post
The Flor de Temps flower festival completely lived up to expectations of a YouTube video I’d seen prior to arriving in Girona, Spain. Any festival themed around flowers is always going to be easy on the eyes but the Flor de Temps displays were also full of wonderfully abstract and humorous touches – I loved the washing line. Hopefully the photos in The Sweet & Colourful Temps de Flors Flower Festival in Girona captured the merest scent of the festival.
Most Popular Post
Put ‘naked’ in the title of a blog and you’re on to a winner in terms of views – but maybe not the sort of views you’re after. Andy learned this after writing Sun, Sea, Sand…and Naked Men about a coastal walk that took us unwittingly deep into the heart of ‘willie’ waving land. There’s been views on this post nearly every day for three years.
Most Controversial Post
When something hacks me off I have to write about it so Living Beneath the Volcano is peppered with grumpy posts. I came across a post on a forum where people were almost demonising anyone who suggested that holidaymakers should move from their hotel pools to explore local culture. Flabbergasted by this inverse snobbery I furiously typed On Holiday Snobs Seek Culture Whilst Ordinary Folk Seek the Beach. It will never be read by the oiks it was about but it gave me great satisfaction anyway.
Most Helpful Post
People might not realise it but Scotland’s Sinfully Sweet Secret, In Search of the Best Tablet in the Highlands is invaluable for anyone visiting Scotland as most people outside of the land of heather and lochs have never heard of tablet. Not only does this blog introduce you to this sinful sweet, its a lovingly researched guide to the best gear around. Let tablet into your world and you’ll thank me for it…even if your teeth won’t.
Most Surprising Post
An Off the Beaten Track Bar on Tenerife, Was it Worth More Than a Pause? was a piece of hastily written nonsense about a bar with an unusual name that we’d wanted to visit for a long time but hey ho it was chosen to be freshly pressed on WordPress, something I only realised when the views went through the roof.
Post That Didn’t Get The Attention It Deserved
Andy wrote a beautiful description of lunch at El Celler de Can Roca, the world’s 2nd best restaurant (oops, I’m not supposed to call it that). However, we’d been part of a blog trip to Costa Brava and 15 or so other bloggers wrote about the experience at pretty much the same time and the blog was a bit lost amongst the Celler de Can Roca saturation. Biased I may be, but I thought that her descriptions were so perfectly constructed that you could almost taste her words – and it has a brilliant title.
Post I’m Most Proud Of
This has to be Surviving Skydiving in Costa Brava because…well..until I was faced with the gaping hole on the side of the plane where a door should be, I didn’t know how I’d deal with jumping out of a plane. The truth is I was much calmer than I thought I’d be because -and I’m letting you into a secret here – I’d resigned myself to a messy, splatty death. This post also has essential tips for any male of the species planning to skydive for the first time.
And my travel blogger nominations are:
Viajandocondiego
Annie Bennett
Just Travelous
LiveShareTravel
I’ve read these before, of course, but I just reread Andy’s piece about Celler de Can Roca and totally understand your disappointment. It’s beautifully written, even without the photos it would make my mouth water, but they are the icing on a wonderful cake. I suppose that’s possibly one of the problems with press trips.