I am grateful and flattered to announced that I was nominated for my first blog award! Sunshine Blogger Award nominations are given to bloggers who are creative, positive, and inspiring by other bloggers who appreciate their work.

Blogging has been something I’ve been going in and out of for at least a decade, but I finally took the time to re-focus my creative energy and zero in on a travel blogging a few months ago and it’s been really worthwhile on both a personal and social level. Other travelers – and bloggers in general – continue to inspire me and are a constant reminder that you don’t have to be a big time sponsored blogger for this to be fun and enjoyable. One of those bloggers is Madhurima from The Other Side Forever whom I graciously thank for nominating me. Her blog offers wonderful travel insight and galleries – particularly on her adventures in Asia.

As customary with the Sunshine Blogger Award, the person who nominated me has given me questions to answer. Here are Madhurima’s 11 questions for me:

1. What inspired you to start blogging?

As noted earlier, this has been a hobby of mine since high school. I’ve always enjoyed writing and creating – and actually wanted to be a YA author when I was in elementary school – so this seemed like a great creative outlet for me.

2. What was the biggest challenge you encountered when you started blogging?

I would have to say consistency and and maintaining a drive to keep writing. I think this has a lot to do with vision and goal development. When I first started blogging, I actually wrote a lot about fashion (e.g. best dressed lists and fashion blogger highlights) and then would sprinkle my blog with travel stories. My blog was really all over the place, which is actually kind of funny because it was formerly called Scattered Artistry (a name I chose to reflect my interest in various art forms). Now that I have a goal for myself, which is to share travel tips and stories, it’s been much easier to create consistent content.

3. What are some of your other interests except blogging?

I have always been passionate about anything in the creative realm. I enjoy dance (hip hop in particular), attending music shows, musicals and plays, stand-up comedy, film/TV, sketching, and staying active by hiking and going to gym classes. And while I am no chef, I am very into food. I try to go to a new restaurant once a week.

4. What is the one thing in life you are really grateful for?

I know I should probably say my friends and family, which I am absolutely grateful for, but the first thing that popped into my head is the opportunity to travel and move. I know not everyone can afford to do so, which is why I am really thankful for being able to travel from a young age and move countries after university.

5. What are 3 things you can’t travel without?

This is going to be incredibly uninteresting, but my list is comprised of 3 very practical things: My glasses (or contacts), allergy pills, and my wallet.

6. If you had no monetary and visa constraints, which country would you like to try living in?

Realistically, I think I’d really like living in Switzerland. Geneva consistently tops the ‘most livable cities’ lists and I am a big fan of their work-life balance. I visited once as a teen and found it really pleasant (except having to pay $12 for a Happy Meal at McDonald’s…). Living there would also provide easy access to a plethora of European cities to do weekends trip to.

7. What is your dream travel destination?

I don’t have what I would call a dream travel destination, but I feel like I talk about Japan at least every other week.

8. Have you ever taken a spontaneous trip? If yes, what did you learn rom it?

It’s definitely hard to take a spontaneous trip when you work full-time, but just recently I went to Monterey Bay and booked our hotel just hours before we left!

9. Name on custom/tradition that really caught your interest.

Drinking lewak coffee in Bali! Known as the most expensive coffee in the world, it is made from  the dung of the Asian palm civet (an animal native to Asia)! I tried it and it was surprisingly not horrible.

10. Among the destinations you have visited, what is that one place you could keep going back to?

Probably Bali! There was still so much for us to see there after our 9 days and I could eat that affordable Indonesian food everyday without getting bored. While busy, it was a really relaxing place for us.

11. If you had to eat one cuisine of the rest of your life, what would it be?

Hands down, Japanese food.

The Sunshine Blogger Award requires each nominee to nominate another 11 bloggers we think are fitting for the award. The bloggers I am nominating are each creatives and adventurers who I look up to and whom I think are creating really valuable content. It was actually difficult to narrow down to 11!

My Sunshine Blogger Award nominations:

1. Kelly from The Awkward Tourist
2. Claudia from The Blonde Around
3. Suzie from The Wandering Linguist
4. Priyanka from Nerdy Adventuress
5. Hayli & Kyle from Til Death do We Travel
6. Helene from Helene Choo
7. Melanie from The Wandering Darlings
8. Lauren & Lexi from Stories of a Passport
9. Carlotta from Lust for the Sublime
10. Sveva from Svadore
11. Ivona from Ivona Harcar Travels

11 Questions for my Sunshine Blogger Award nominees:

1. What was the first place you ever traveled to outside of your home country?
2. Who did you travel with on your first trip (if anyone)?
3. What is the best meal you’ve ever had on a trip?
4. What destination was the most different from what you expected on your travels?
5. What is the craziest or most entertaining story you’ve experienced on your travels?
6. What was the city or country where you experienced the most culture shock?
7. Do you have any travel stories you considered a real life “nightmare”? If so, what happened?
8. Do you enjoy traveling most by yourself or with others? If it’s with others, who are your favorite travel companions?
9. What is your favorite continent to travel to?
10. What is your favorite type of accommodation (e.g. Airbnb, couch surfing, hotel, hostel, camping)?
11. What is your favorite thing about blogging?

Are there any questions you have for other travelers? Let me know in the comments!

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