Our nomination to the Liebster Award

Our nomination to the Liebster Award

We recently got nominated for the Liebster Award by “le blog du pigeon voyageur“. Thanks for thinking of us!

It’s an exciting moment, very emotional… and so unexpected. We would like to thank our families and friends who supported us and… euh… but wait, what is the Liebster Award ?
In a nutshell, it’s a chain that gets transmitted from blogger to blogger and that helps discover new emerging blogs.

The principle is quite simple:

Introduce yourself in 11 points
Answer to the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you
Pick 11 blogs
Ask them 11 questions

Let’s start: get to know us in 11 points:

We lived in Australia for 5 years before leaving it in 2012. We recently came back. Yes!
The blog was born after our departure from Australia, that’s why there aren’t any posts about that beautiful country yet. Even though it’s one of the countries we know best. Stay tuned!
We started the blog to give regular news to our families when we did our round the world trip. It then evolved to inspire (we hope) and advise travel lovers.
We visited 30ish countries, but the blog only shows 18 for the moment.
Our favorite mean of transportation is the campervan!
After 13 months of travel, Karim couldn’t “touch” the camera anymore… photography overdose is a real thing.
Our friends and family think we’ll never settle somewhere for good. Well… it’s true that we stayed rarely in one place for long but we too can settle… for a while… for a few months (days?).
We try not to speak about travel and our trips as we don’t want to be known as “the annoying couple that only talks about travelling and their travel experiences”. It’s not always easy as it’s a big part of our lives. Some people talk about their hobbies, their kids… for us it’s travel.
I, Rafika, always get stung by bugs during our trips. And Karim finds that funny when I look like Elephant Woman. Over the years, it became the norm. If I don’t get bitten it means there’s a problem! Here’s a couple of examples: at Banos, in Ecuador and Tayrona, in Colombia.. and I’ll skip my pics from Costa Rica and Australia (better keep some for later hey!)
We always want to slow travel but somehow end up adding more places to visit… and end up running at some point. I’m sure we’re not the only ones though 🙂
On the road, people often think we’re South American… until we’re in South America and start speaking Spanish haha

The 11 questions asked by “le blog du pigeon voyageur“:

When did you start your blog ?
It’s been 3 years but we stopped blogging for a while. We realised we were always giving tips and advices to people we met, and who asked, during our travels, and started blogging again in the hope that we could help others.
How long have you had the travel bug for?
Since always. Rafika’s father said that she spoke about going to Australia since she was a child. And our travel bug really started in 2007, when we travelled in Australia and New Zealand.
How many posts do you write per month?
Not as much as we’d like to at the moment! We would like to write 3 or 4 posts per month but it’s not realistic as we like to write very detailed posts, which is time consuming. We’re gonna go back to writing 1 or 2 very detailed posts per month.
What is your dream destination?
The Bhutan… but I can’t stop at one destination so I’ll add Tanzania (I’ll stop but there’s a lot of other places we want to discover, let’s chat about that at an other time 🙂 )
Where could you settle for good?
Great timing, as we just settled in Australia. We don’t know if it’s definitive but it’s for the long term. Otherwise we were thinking about going to Montreal as we have a lot of good friends there. I have to admit that the cold winters motivated us to put Australia first.
How long do you spend on your blog every week ?
A few hours. With our new place, jobs, life it’s hard to spend more but we’re working on it.
Have you partnered with brands or tourism offices ?
No
What’s your best travel partner?
You mean, except my other half 🙂 ? I’d say our camera: to bring back some souvenirs.
What country would you advise me to visit in 2016?
It’s hard to choose. I don’t know where you’ve already been so I have to give you a few options (once more, I give you more info than you asked for haha): The Philippines, Cuba, Colombia, Patagonia (ok that’s not a country but I highly recommend to visit that region at least once in your life) and of course Australia.
A travel book you find essential?
The Lonely Planet. Even if our points of view often diverge and even if we don’t always agree with their descriptions, it’s always been very useful. The best thing would be to have “Le Routard” (a french travel guide) as well for the cultural side (and a list of all the French bakeries)… but 2 travel books per country isn’t great neither from a budget, nor from a weight POV.
A tip, based on your experience?
The best tip we could give is “always ask the locals”. If you want to discover a country, understand the culture, know places to avoid… speak to the locals. You won’t only learn great things about the country or the people but you’ll also have a more enjoyable trip as well.

Keep in mind that you should always ask a few different people. If the information diverge, which happens a lot believe me, disregard it.

The 11 blogs we nominate:

The nominee’s 11 questions:

Why do you blog ?
What is your best travel moment?
I also have to ask, what is your worst?
What are your travel plans for 2016?
Did you meet someone who made an impact on you during your travels?
What is your favorite travel destination? not easy, I know
If you could choose to live in a different country, which one would you choose and why?
Something you always have with you when you travel (other than your camera or travel guide)?
A travel tip you’d like to share?
The craziest thing you’d like to do, linked to travel?
A travel blog that inspires you?

We’re looking forward to reading all of your answers!

A bientôt. 🙂

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