Our Liebster award nomination

For me, blogging is a passion; no actually, writing and photography are my passions – blogging is a platform where I can express my creativity in a safe and reasonably anonymous way. After years of having a very public presence in the corporate world, being able to retreat to the wings and nurture my introvert whilst connecting to my writing passion is a joy. For the first time ever I am doing work that is wholesome, nourishes me and works with my strengths without compromise. Thank goodness for blogging!

So when, earlier this year I was nominated for the Liebster Award, an award for bloggers, by bloggers, it was a huge honour. It was recognition that someone from my writing peer group loved what I was writing and valued it enough to put me forward for this award, in a world where there are so many fabulous writers.  I’m so grateful, thank you Karolina Patry for the nomination.

Getting to know The Motoroamers 

Part of the rules of the Award is to answer 11 questions that your nominator has put to you, so that you can tell your story and share a bit of yourself to the blogging world.

These were the questions posed by Karolina:

1. What do you like the most about travelling?

Travelling gives us a freedom and simplicity that has enriched our lives beyond recognition. Being released from the Matrix has allowed us to follow the beat of our own drum and be the people we were destined to be. We feel whole, happy and US for the first time in our lives and travel has and continues to be our greatest teacher. Oh if only this were a lesson in school…

2. How do you fund your travels?

We have created a financial base for our lifestyle on the road that includes rental property and income from a share portfolio. In addition to that we still work digitally, both as a Happiness Coach for me and an Investor for Myles. We are currently building our travel blog community that is growing organically and slowly beginning to cover some blogging expenses, although our writing is for love, first and foremost and money appears well down the list.

3. What is your favourite destination?

We avoid having favourites, as in truth all places have their own unique characters and personalities. And we feel that to commit to anyone as a favourite would be to undermine all others we have visited and connected with in a different way. That said we love Poland for its depth of soul, Slovakia and Slovenia for their beauty and Romania just stole our hearts. So I think it is fair to say that we love Eastern Europe and what it offers our cultural sponge.

4. What destination is on the top of your bucket list?

We don’t really have bucket list places, as our full time travels are taking us to the most amazing places. Although I would love to see Japan with the cherry blossom and Peru has always been a place that has called me since a teenager. Aside of those, Canada’s Rocky Mountains are a must do for us, so we have plenty to be going on with, whether with our camper or some other trusty steed.

5. What is your best travel story?

I think our journey to become full time travellers is the best story. How we chose to swap corporate stress for happiness and live life beyond our fears. The story about how we faced and overcame those fears and created a transformational, nomadic lifestyle that belies the ‘traditional masks’ we wore in our old lives. The remaining chapters of our tale are being written as we speak.

6. What is the worst place you have ever visited?

We have come to learn that at some point there are going to be places that we are disappointed in, that somehow don’t match our expectations or have, quite honestly scared the bejesus out of us. There haven’t been many  although just a few. Travel and discovery are not always a bed of roses, sometimes the thorns are there for a reason.

Southern Italy was hairy with their lack of respect for the road and crazy driving, Cinque Terre was a definite disappointment and Vienna didn’t live up to my expectations. They are not what I would call ‘worst’, although definitely are places that we have liked least.

7. What nationality are you?

We are British with European hearts!

8. What kind of blogger are you? What do you like to write about on your blog?

What an interesting question. I am a creative storyteller; I love to write and am passionate about sharing experiences through colourful stories. I love nothing more than creating an engaging tale of our adventures and the countries or regions we are fortunate enough to visit. For me blogging is all about the love for writing and if I can engage my reader in our footsteps, then what a joy and a bonus that is.

9. What cuisine is your favourite?

I love all food, and my expanding waistline is evidence of this. Although my favourite – now that’s hard… it has to be the simplicity of French food – bread, cheese and a nice wine or Spanish tapas. Now that really gets my taste buds soaring.

10. What is your favourite Social Media and why?

I love both Facebook because of our interactions and connections and Instagram because it’s a showcase for my photography.

11. Have you ever lived abroad?

I guess if you can call Isle of Man abroad from UK, then the answer is yes. We were privileged to live there for 18 years, so for all intents and purposes we were Manx residents. And today we can definitely class ourselves as living abroad, as we are full timing in our camper travelling, for now, across Europe. The rest of the world is waiting for us in the wings.

What great questions, thank you Karolina.

Pay it Forward

In return for my nomination, it falls to me, in my acceptance, to ‘Pay it Forward’. There are a lot of people who are sceptical about awards like this that have a chain letter feel to them. Although I think in today’s modern world driven by success, the Liebster actually isn’t about getting a badge. It is about how bloggers around the world support each other, encourage us to write and share our stories and promote each other in a vastly competitive arena. And in truth, there is no competition – only stories, learning and shared experiences.

This is why I decided to accept the nomination, because I loved the idea that I could pay it forward – that I could promote other bloggers in my genre who have the courage, like me to put words on paper for the world to scrutinise. It’s not easy to blog, especially, if like me you are a perfectionist. It takes time, patience, being in the right space and a whole heap of technicalities. So to every blogger, I honour you and what you do.

I am therefore delighted to nominate the following five very special bloggers for this award, in the true and ethical Pay it Forward philosophy.

• Kat over at Wandering Bird
• Carrie and Pat from Vino Hiking
• Joanne, Craig and the boys over at Our Bumble
• The Thorley family from Life in our Van
• Terry, Jen and Munch from Travel as they Grow

Our Questions for our Nominees

If our nominees decide to accept this award nomination, then they must create their own blog, like this one and answer the following questions that we have posed. So if you are ready guys, here are your 11 Questions;

1. What was the journey that brought you to travelling?
2. How has travel changed you and how does it enrich your life?
3. If Travel was a teacher at school, what would be included in their lessons?
4. If there was one piece of advice you could give travel dreamers, what would it be?
5. If you could give a gift to a newbie traveller, what would it be and why?
6. What type of place or places do you feel the greatest peace?
7. What have been your biggest challenges?
8. If you could choose three words that sum up what travel means to you, what would they be?
9. If your travels were represented by a jigsaw, what would this look like; the corners, the straight edges and the middle pieces?
10. What has been the most meaningful experience you have had?
11. What one memory stands out most to you from your travels that makes you smile?

The Liebster Award Rules

To keep this positive and encouraging system going, there need to be a few rules. There is a comprehensive blog from The Global Aussie that you can follow here who shares all the steps you need to follow should you be nominated, accept and reciprocate. Here is the essence of the steps to take:

• Create a blog like this, that acknowledges and links to your nominee (that’s me). In it share your passion for blogging.
• Then answer the questions I have given to you above.
• Look for your own 5-11 personal blog recommendations that you wish to nominate and include those in your blog as I have done with links to their websites.
• Create 11 unique and creative questions for your nominees to answer
• Go to The Global Aussie website where, should you decide to accept, you add your own Liebster Award blog directly to the commentary section at the bottom of the page which registers your nomination.
• Add a comment to my blog below, to say if you wish to accept the nomination.
• Then finally, drop an email to your nominees, and the person who nominated you, with a link to the blog you have written.

Entries end on 25th Dec 2018 and the winner will be picked on the 31st of December.

Thanks again to Karolina for your nomination and good fortune to us all come the end of December. For more information about our blogs and our adventures just check out our website.