Blogorama

Voice Critique

It seems pretty easy to establish a voice when writing a blog, particularly if you're writing about your travels. Creating a voice that doesn't alienate potential readers is another thing entirely. After all, what is blogging but a means to interact with others and acquire a readership? In this post, I'll be looking at a fellow blogger's posts drawn from her blog as a person torn between her native home, and the one she adopted whilst traveling. I stumbled across Lisa E.'s Homesick Wanderlust whilst hunting for travel blogs that hadn't been abandoned or relegated to self promotional topics, and after a few posts I was hooked (okay, I admit, I liked it as soon as I learned that she's an Anglophile and yearns to return to the UK...a bit of that kindred spirit thing, if you catch my drift).

What I really like about Lisa E.'s Homesick Wanderlust, is that she writes with a confident, yet easygoing tone. I feel like I could see myself getting wrapped up in a conversation with her about all of the things I miss about Europe after reading a few of her posts. With this blog (she has another devoted to her personal every day life), I feel Lisa E.'s passion for the UK as she blends her wistful anecdotes with recountings of other travels and tips. The title of her blog alone conjures the desire to be in two places at once. Ever since I've returned from Ireland, I feel like I'm torn. Half of me wants to be in Galway, and that part never really missed Los Angeles at all. The other half is slowly reacclimating to being at home, and is eager to dig into the heart of this town and really explore it for all its worth. I wonder if it's possible to feel homesick for a place you've only resided in temporarily, which makes me re-evaluate my definition of "home." As for wanderlust, I do think that traveling is addictive. I can't say I appreciate the actual "traveling" part of it, but the feeling of being in a completely different environment (even the ones that seem similar), and exploring the unknown is such an overwhelmingly liberating feeling. It's almost like a high, if that analogy isn't too radical to state. I think it's one that can be universally understood.

One of her more recent posts, dedicated to things she daydreams when nostalgically thinking of London, grabbed my attention. Her descriptions of images, and sounds that pervade the city were so clear that I found myself nodding along in agreement while I was reading. Her recollections of the Underground, or "Tube" as it's fondly referred to, had me thinking of the sounds those two words summon in my own mind. I could visualize the passageways and multitudes of people, jostling to catch their trains.

The soft beep of the Oyster Card reader followed by the forceful clunk of the turnstile doors.

Another post, a slightly older one lists signs that you're turning into an anglophile, or simply recognizing that you have been one. It's a lighthearted list of things, from thoughts on British names:

You no longer think names like Hermione and Rufus are just cruel pranks British parents played on their helpless children.

to well known British shows (like Top Gear, which is absolutely addictive even if you know zilch about cars):

While watching Jeremy Clarkson’s hysterical review of the Ford F150 pickup truck on “Top Gear”, you don’t even realize it has been modified as a right-side driver until he points it out.

to musings on conversions (of money, measurements, etc.):

You find yourself calculating pound to dollar, working out GMT/BST or converting Celsius to Fahrenheit without even really thinking about it.

As with her Daydreams post, I found myself nodding in agreement to more than half of the list that Lisa put together, even chuckling when she mentioned Top Gear and British names. Even if I didn't spend a lot of time in England, her enthusiasm for the country and its culture translate so well. She's incredibly straightforward, and I like that her writing is devoid of any extraneous embellishment. Her admissions to hunting for bargains on flights or accommodations make the blog feel relatable, and as a new reader, I feel inclined to continue reading because it doesn't feel like she's preaching about her knowledge as a traveler. No reader wants to feel as if they're getting a lecture each time they check a blog for updates, and the fact that Lisa manages to relay information about airline deals, or accommodation tips as if it were advice passed down from a well traveled buddy makes her blog more appealing to read.

Profile Blog

This week I'm profiling a fellow travel blog by a blogger who has clearly logged more miles than I have. The blog I'm looking at is called Hobo Traveler , and it's written by a man named Andy Graham, who has lived as a homeless traveler for more than ten years. It doesn't seem like he has a clearly defined occupation by trade, aside from his blog, and he defines a hobo as a person who travels in order to work. I suppose he could be termed a professional traveler, having covered around 79 countries or more. Andy posts daily-multiple times daily, less often when his access to the internet is limited. I'm not sure how to determine how popular Andy's blog is, but he has been recognized as a top travel blog by Forbes, About.com, and BudgetTravel.com. The comments on his posts vary by the topic of the entry, and I suspect a large number of readers simply don't comment at all.

It's difficult to narrow down which posts are the most interesting from Andy's archive, it's extensive and he posts consistently. However, a couple of Andy's posts that caught my interest. One addressed the issue of airlines charging fees for baggage, which is a topic I could relate to, having been frustrated with the concept of being charged for my luggage. It's something I've taken for granted because US airlines allow two items of baggage at a set weight for free. The other post I found interesting had to do with tipping in other countries, specifically developing ones. My roommates and I had our own issues with whether or not tipping was acceptable while in Europe, and it seemed like we could never agree on it. Andy's perspective on tipping seems logical, and certainly raised a discussion in the comments section of this specific entry.

Like my blog, Andy's focuses on traveling, and interspersed with his current goings on, he utilizes anecdotes from his trips to pass on tips to readers. Unlike mine, however, he actually travels from one country to another and posts about it. Andy Graham has undertaken his blog as a profession, living off of the revenue generated by the ads on his site, and using his profits to continue traveling and writing about his ventures. The detail exhibited in his entries vary from post to post, sometimes accompanied by photographs of the places he's currently in, and sometimes devoid of them. He covers his topics in as much detail as they allow, never shirking important details in any of his "tip" posts. I don't think his blog has a targeted audience aside from anyone who feels the thrill of traveling from one place to another and truly enjoying the experience. He constantly marks the difference from his own blog and vacation blogs that masquerade as travel blogs, only to become dead once the owners' vacation is over.

After looking through Andy's blog, I'm inspired to take advantage of the immediate adventures to be had in my own town because I won't be able to travel too far. The simplicity and straightforward delivery of Andy's blog has made me think about how I'm going to present topics in my own blog, I like the utter lack of pretense that he offers through his entries, and I hope I can find my own way to present that to readers. In the most obvious sense, I won't be going on intercontinental trips while writing this blog (for the near future, anyhow) and I won't try to hand out tips about traveling, since I haven't had too much experience with the most efficient methods of it. However, I will draw from my own trips and through anecdotes and articles I'll try to sort out issues that I had to confront when exploring Europe during my study abroad.

Hi!

I’m an English major with a newfound love for traveling. I’ve just returned from a semester abroad in Ireland, enlightened and more conscious of the world beyond Los Angeles County. I’ve lived a relatively sheltered life in spite of the multicultural upbringing I was exposed to, and only realized how many misconceptions I had about other cultures when I ventured to various countries and interacted with people. I never thought I would want to travel beyond the familiar, much less waste half a day trying to get from one place to another. But my opinion of this all changed when I actually did spend half a day running to catch a bus, a train, a plane to get to whatever destination. There’s a thrill that comes with traveling, a euphoric sense of the unknown, and even the things you think are familiar to an extent, really aren’t. It was a revelation to be in a country that also spoke English but was vastly different from what I knew. While in Europe I learned that travel isn’t exclusively limited to people with an expendable bank account, and that college truly is the best time to take advantage of living outside of the United States for an extended length of time. I’ve also come to realize that travel doesn’t have to mean hopping on a plane and flying half way around the world to experience something culturally satisfying.

As a college student, with a limited budget to devote to jet setting, I want to explore alternative methods of experiencing other countries that aren’t restricted to study abroad programs. I’ve come to learn that luxurious accommodations are pretty much useless if you’re going to be on the run exploring a city, and that backpacking isn’t as sketchy as I had originally assumed it to be. I’m new to traveling, and won’t attest to knowing the tricks of packing efficiently (still working on it), or traveling in the same manner. I have however, done a little bit of research about other travel blogs, and I’m intrigued by the number of trips people take that actually have a purpose that reaches beyond simply sightseeing.

I’ve found one by two brothers who are attempting to walk the world to return home as part of a peace project, and a now defunct one from four Englishmen who traveled from their home country to Australia through a number of means, excluding airplanes (unfortunately,this link no longer works at all). One of the most interesting blogs I’ve come across in looking up other travel blogs is one by a man who’s a self proclaimed homeless traveler. A man named Andy has been traveling from country to country for ten years, never remaining in one country for longer than a month. The one common element I’ve found in all of their blogs is the sheer love of experiencing the unknown, interacting with local cultures, and appreciating the diversity within our world. It sounds hokey, but the best moments while traveling come from immersing oneself in a culture.

While it’s usually expected that a travel blog would cover various expeditions to other countries, I’m tied to my hometown for this semester. Not to say that I can’t take advantage of that, as there are parts of Los Angeles I haven’t visited, and I’m a native! With this blog, I hope to explore more wallet friendly options of travel, the latest (or near to) updates with regards to airlines, accommodations, and everything else related to it. I hope to intersperse entries with posts of my own explorations of this city I live in, with a new insight into the things that makes Los Angeles one of those destinations that people desire to visit. The central aspect of travel that makes it universally enjoyable is that anyone can be a part of it, all it requires is an open mind and a bit of know how. I’ve got a few stamps on my passport, and I’m itching for more!