Receiving 2 awards in one month – Liebster and Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award!

Nothing like receiving two awards in the span of one month to reward yourself for all the ‘hard work’ travel blogging 🙂 I have been nominated for the Liebster Award by Ami Bhat from Thrilling Travels  and the Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award by Sam and Steve from Journo and the Joker.

I connected with Ami Bhat recently as I LOVED reading her posts on India, a destination very dear to my heart, one of the first places I backpacked for a month with (boyfriend then, husband now) Ashique and that trip pretty much sealed the deal that we were meant to travel together in the long haul!

I also discovered Journo and Joker quite recently and what really caught my attention on their blog is their slow travel through Cambodia, working with the local community along the way, sharing their life and travel experiences.That’s the kind of travel I really enjoy and am happily doing that in New Zealand for 6 months now.

The Liebster Award is actually designed for new bloggers, I read somewhere that it is for people with less than 200 followers and awarded to people within their first year of travel blogging. I have been blogging for one year and a half and happy to say have a lot more than 200 followers. But hey, a gift is a gift and I will happily accept the award 🙂

The Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award recognises the contribution of women bloggers around the world and I am quite honoured to be nominated for this award. I can truly say I have met some wonderful women in my virtual world of travel blogging and some have really supported me along this journey.

For both awards the nominated blogger has to answer 10 questions shared by the blogger who nominated him/ her and link back the blog to theirs. The nominated blogger then, nominates 10 other bloggers and shares his/ her set of questions for them to take forward.

To keep my post within a readable time limit, I have combined their questions (ones that are similar) and answered some with pictures because an image is sometimes more powerful than a 1000 words.

1) What is the best part of traveling?

Experiencing, creating memories, having adventures, seeing how beautiful the world is, meeting wonderful people EVERYWHERE! In the last one year we travelled to 13 countries and 5 continents, several of which we fell in love with  and want to go back to again. Besides enjoying the travelling itself, being able to spend so much time with the family as we travel has been an added bonus.

2) Is there something about traveling that you dislike?   /2. What is one lesson you have learnt from travel?

The heavy carbon footprint it can have, especially when we fly. We have learnt to minimize this by doing lot of local travels, flying as little as possible. When we lived in Europe, focused on road trip. Now in Oceania, only travelling in NZ first for a year before heading to Australia. The trips to USA and Bangladesh couldn’t be helped, family comes first! But overall wevtry to tread lightly at home and when we travel. Ashique plans to only do overland travel once he turns 50. I am half convinced.

3) Beaches or Hill stations?

This next image should say it all 🙂 I am all water, lover of blue, oceans, all things marine…and this year living by the beach in New Zealand has hit my bucketlist of living by the sea. BUT I love hill stations, mountains and forests too and plan to explore more of that when we travel in Asia next year.

4) What is that one place that you did not have enough of and why?

Morocco and Croatia! LOVED both countries and 4 days in each not enough to cover anything! Plan to be back for sure. Been to Italy several times but can never have enough of it. Excited about heading back there in 2 months.

5) Share your one crazy moment / embarrassing moment when traveling/ 5. What is the weirdest thing you have eaten?

When we were in Italy, I had taken a crash course in Italian and felt confident speaking the language and ordering strawberry ice cream. The waitress looked at me in a funny way and said they don’t have clam flavoured ice cream – I had said vongole instead of fragole! I think the ‘wierdest’ thing I have tried are snails.

6) What are the key things that you keep in mind when picking a destination?

We usually base ourselves around national parks and places known for outdoors and nature. We also try to go nearby so as to not fly. We do love historic places, castles, museums and places known for good food.

7) Your best travel companion? Why?

8) Any movie/ book that inspires your travel?

Too many! Out of Africa, Gorillas in the Mist,  Y Tu Mamá También and Wild are a few that popped into my head.

9) Tell us your one travel as a kid that has still stayed with you/ 1. What is your most memorable travel experience or destination?

Travelling all over India with my parents, can’t wait to do it with my kids next year! Too many memorable experiences – last years 3 week road trip through Europe was epic 🙂

10) Which is your next destination and why? 10. What are the top three places on your bucket list?

Going skiing for the first time this weekend at Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand. In 2 weeks, campervan trip around South Island. Within the next one year, some really exciting plans – we have 7 weeks road tripping from Melbourne to Cairns, followed by 5 days in Bali followed by our next continent travels – living in Bangladesh and travelling all over southeast Asia! Top 3 on bucketlist – Namibia, Costa Rica and Iran.

3. Why did you start blogging about travel? 7. How do you juggle your time to manage travel, blogging and other commitments?

See post here on why we started 🙂 In a nutshell it was to document our overland journey from England to Bangladesh. Life had other plans for us. Multitasking is my middle name – juggling PhD, travel blogging, travelling and all else, in my crazy, inefficient but enjoyable way!

4. What is your best packing tip? 

I am a terrible packer. Don’t know how I manage it for all the travelling we do. I guess I am just good at multitasking, that works for me, wouldn’t recommend my tips to others.

5. Which blog post that you have written is your favourite?

Without a doubt, it would have to be Travel Theme – Strong , my most popular post to date

8. What is your favourite chill-out activity when you are not travelling? 

Running, yoga, reading, dancing with the kids, drinking wine with Ashique and discussing life and more crazy travel plans 🙂

9. What advice do you have for new bloggers?

Oh so much! If I knew all that I know now a year on after travel blogging. See my post here on 1st bloggiversary, on what I would have done different. No big regrets though, as long as I am still enjoy blogging about our travels, I will continue to do so. Just wish could clone myself to do all that I want to do in life 🙂

My nominations are for both awards, mostly for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers, because these female bloggers are awesome, likeminded, helpful and supportive, and they have great travel blogs that will inspire wanderlust and adventure for sure!

The World on my necklace

Five Adventurers

Casual Traveler

The Satori Saga

Lady of the Zoos

Travel Notes and Beyond 

Adventures Around Asia

A Life full of Serendipity 

From Shores to Skyline

Trip Wellness

My Questions:

1. What’s the most off the beaten path destination you have travelled to?
2. Has travels changed your perspective in any way?
3. Do you think as travel bloggers, we should be raising awareness in ethical travel?
4. What are the top 3 on your travel bucketlist?
5. What are you most passionate about (besides travelling!)
6. What new language would you learn if you had the opportunity (and time) to do so?
7. Do you find the travel bloggers community welcoming?
8. What recommendations do you have for new bloggers?
9. Name one of the craziest adventure or experience you had during travels
10. Favourite cuisine/culture/country!

Now to pack for our first skiing holiday with Mt Ruapehu and head off in a few hours 🙂

<div align="center"><a href="http://selimfamily.com" title="The Selim Family Raasta"><img src="http://www.travelnotesandbeyond.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/wekpost1-e1432530947416.jpg" alt="The Selim Family Raasta" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Linked to #Wkendtravelinspiration #MondayEscapes Mosaic Monday and  Our World Tuesday