Liebster Award 2018 Nominee - Vagabond Journals

These Vagabonds were nominated for a Liebster Award 2018!

Whoops Whoops! What a way to start the weekend! We are very flattered and honoured to announce that we were nominated for a Liebster Award 2018 by Santwona Patnaik of Wander Bird. Thank you Wander Bird!

We are over the moon knowing that this could give us the needed exposure to help more travellers and South Africans follow their wanderlust on a budget. Good to know that someone somewhere is finding our blogs helpful.

But what is this Liebster Award you might be wondering?

The Liebster Awards is a peer-to-peer blog award, around since 2011. It is purely an internet-based award that celebrates new and upcoming blogs to grow their audience and get more exposure. The original requirements were for blogs with less than 2000 readers, but it has since been lowered to between 500 and 200 readers. It is based on a pay-it-forward system: get nominated, then pay it forward by nominating a further 5-10 new bloggers.

Liebster Award 2018 Rules

Once nominated, there are a few rules you need to follow to be considered for the Liebster Award 2018. Once you’ve accepted the nomination, post a Liebster Award blog on your website with the following information:

• Thank the blogger that nominated you. Link back to their blog.

• Display the Liebster Award 2018 logo on your website.

• List the Liebster Awards 2018 rules in your post.

• Pay it forward: A nominee must in turn nominate a further 5 – 10 new bloggers that they think have great content that you enjoy, admire or inspires you. Then leave a comment on their site or social media page that they have been nominated.

• Answer a set of questions given to you by the person who nominated you and provide a set of questions for the people of the blogs you have nominated. The most unique and creative questions win.

• Link the original Liebster Award 2018 post of the Global Aussie in your blog post, available here.

• Comment on the original Liebster Award 2018 blog post with the link to your own Liebster blog post.

Our answers to Wander Bird’s questions:

1. What inspired you to decide the name of your blog? Explain the significance of your blog name.

It took us a long time to come up with the right name for our blog. We had so many ideas that were already taken unfortunately. We liked the idea of vagabonds as we had no set plans, only our 2 backpacks, and no skills to take on the road to earn money and we thought we would just figure it out along the way. We wanted to document our journey in a way that wasn’t just “top 10 lists” but genuine experiences that people can relate to and inspire them to have adventures of their own, to make people think about their life and their decisions, and also share our own thoughts on our experiences - thus the journal.

2. When did you start travel blogging? Describe your journey so far.

We started in November 2017, when we left sunny South Africa to start our world travels. We’ve had so many great experiences and still have so many blog posts to write! Admittedly, we haven’t posted regularly, but always update our social media. We still have a long way to go in terms of growing our blog and gaining readers and followers.

3. Which is your most favourite place that you visited so far and why?

Iceland! Before we were officially the Vagabond Journals, we travelled to Iceland in 2015. We have some posts and photos from this trip on the blog. Iceland is pure magic! The peace and silence, the nature and landscapes - it is all so energising and breathtaking.

Further Reading: Must-see places in Iceland

4. Which is your most preferred social media platform to engage with fellow bloggers and why?

Facebook is our favourite social media platform, as it is easy to update family and friends, as well as fellow bloggers and travellers. We use Facebook groups a lot to share our posts and get followers, provide tips and information and discover other bloggers. We are also active on Instagram where we share our best photo's and engage with other bloggers and influencers. We have a Twitter and Pinterest account that we are starting to invest more time in now.

5. Which is the most vivid memory of all your journeys so far?

On our journey through South America for the last 9 months, we hiked the Villarrica Volcano in Chile. It is still an active volcano, which makes it more thrilling, but we both had very different experiences on this hike. Phoenix found it hard, but loved every second of it - the views and the challenge. He found it awe-inspiring. Dedré on the other hand, although eventually thrilled with the accomplishment and the beautiful views, found it extremely challenging and exhausting. You can read all about her uphill battle (literally!) in her post here.

6. What would you categorise yourself as - travel writer, blogger or influencer?

First travel blogger, but also a travel writer as we like to provide stories that people can relate to as well based on our personal experiences.

7. Describe your ideal outfit for a roadtrip. What would you prefer the most and why?

It would be dictated by the weather, but ideally a warm, sunny climate.

We are both super relaxed and prefer not to be weighed down by unnecessary clothing. So both of us would prefer our favourite shorts, a tank top or t-shirt and flip-flops with something to swim in close by in case we happen upon a beautiful secluded beach or river.

We both love summer and small beach towns so destinations that offer both would make our ideal roadtrip - besides the amazing roadtrip we did in Iceland in 2015.

8. What are the top 5 travel destinations on your bucket list and why?

• Morocco: From the beautiful colours to the spices and food, the bazaars, the culture and the mix of nature – desert, mountains and beach.

• Sri Lanka: we’ve been reading a lot about the beauty of Sri Lanka and would love to explore this country’s nature, beaches and culture.

• Namibia: Even though Namibia is a neighbour of South Africa, we’ve never explored it. But its definitely high on our bucket list - those sand dunes are something else, not to mention the wildlife and starry starry skies.

• Cuba: Salsa, old cars, the music and cigars. This just seems like a place we have to visit.

• The Caribbean: We really wanted to visit some islands with beautiful turquoise waters and white sandy beaches when we were in South America. Unfortunately it is so expensive for South Africans so we didn't go, but we will soon.

9. What would you prefer best – reading books or watching movies? Write about your favourite book/movie and mention why it’s your favourite.

This is a tough one. We both love movies (and movie marathons) but we also love reading. On the road it is easier to read a book however.

Po:

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer. It is a simple, easy to understand guide to self-awareness and so much more. It helps by providing the reader with a basis to analyse thoughts, emotions, our true self and the way we react to the world around us. This book casually takes the reader to deep levels of introspection which inevitably results in a feeling of liberation from limiting beliefs and thoughts. Personally, I found this extremely helpful and practical.

Dee:

So many books come to mind. My favourite is Paulo Coelho's, the Alchemist - he is such an excellent writer and the story really resonated with me on a spiritual level at the time that strengthened my connection to the universe.

I am still reading Homo Deus: a Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Harari. Yuval is a futurist and this book is a presentation on what he predicts about the future of the world and how it will change in the next couple of years based on humanity's mission to reverse and/or stop ageing, become more robotic and automated and what it means for us. It is excellent! It makes me think and keeps me up at night with questions... in good way.

10. ​What is your long-term goal for your blog?

We want to inspire people, especially South Africans, to follow their travel dreams by providing great resources and tips. Because our focus is on budget backpacking and adventure travel, we want more people to realise that travelling does not have to be expensive or difficult. We've met so many like-minded people through our travels, and we realised that very few South Africans really just take some time off or take a gap year to explore and travel, but it is such a necessary thing to grow and expand your mind. We haven't really monetised our blog as it was mainly a passion project, so we are in the process of doing this, but we would also like to work with some great adventure and eco-friendly brands in South Africa and internationally and consciously pursue it as a business so it can fully support our travelling lifestyle.

Our nominations:

As we are South Africans, we decided to keep it local and nominate South African bloggers to gain exposure in the big wide world of blogging. Even though we are in the travel blog niche, we decided to also nominate blogs within other niches that we strongly identify with or have a deep interest in.

• Roaming Fox - We recently discovered the Roaming Fox aka Alma van As. She tells stories and tales about their trips and adventures in Africa, South Africa and internationally with a bit of humour and lightheartedness that everyone can relate to. We also love and appreciate her fresh and different perspectives on many experiences and destinations that is so rare these days. She travels with open eyes.

• Travel My Blog - Fahmeeda from Travel My Blog was bitten by the travel bug 7 years ago after a trip to the UK and Europe. Like us, she wants to inspire others to pursue their travel dreams by providing great tips and reviews of places she has visited.

• Things2Explore - Jodilee and Michelle are two 20-something chartered accountants who use the blog to summarise what they learned and love about places they visited in the world. These two best friends have travelled together to 18 countries and provide great tips and info about the places they have been.

• Green at Heart - Green At Heart is a blog by Romy, Louise and Zoë, 3 environmentalists passionate about the conservation of the environment. On the blog they share their knowledge and tips, so consumers (us) can make wiser choices about the products we use that is better for ourselves and the environment. As both of us are also passionate and concerned about the state of the environment and the earth, we really enjoy this blog and the information they share to make it easier to change our everyday habits.

• Gadget Gal - We love Gadget Gal authored by Clare - a blog with gadget and technology news and reviews from a girl! The space of technology and gaming and gadgets is so male-dominated, we find this blog refreshing. As a woman, she can also write from a unique perspective not often seen in the tech community.

Our questions for nominees:

1. What was your motivation for starting a blog? What is the message you want to share with the world?

2. What song, quote or daily affirmation gets you in the mood to work and be awesome?

3. What is the best lesson you’ve learned recently?

4. What do you think is the key to success in your respective field/niche in a world where we are overloaded by information on a daily basis?

5. What would be the ultimate achievement for your blog and business?

6. With the state of the world and the environment at the moment, which one thing do you think we can do to make it better?

7. What is your favourite travel memory and why?

8. When was the last time you were truly happy and content? Explain briefly.

9. You have the opportunity to invent and create a brand new, unique and perfect (in your eyes) dessert. What would you put in it and what would you call it?

10. Choose one: mountains, sea, desert or forest?

We would like to say "Congratulations!" to all of the nominees for the Liebster Awards 2018 and Good Luck! We are looking forward to discover new blogs and learn more about the people behind them.

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