Travel Bloggers Best Dozen Project

abseiling from 30 M tree in the jungle on Langkawi Island – Malaysia

Travel Bloggers Best Dozen Project

To kick off the new year I’ve come up with a fun project for all us travel bloggers,  a project that should be equally fun and beneficial for our readers and fans as well.

Most, if not all, bloggers have recently conscientiously reflected back on 2012: their best (and worst?) travel moments; all the travel stories, advice and tips they’ve written; all the photos they’ve created and published. How about a fun, structured way to share the best of our travels and advice from 2012?

So I’ve started this Travel Bloggers Best Dozen Project to do just that. It’s simply a post listing what each travel blogger believes to be his/her best posts of 2012 in 12 different categories.

I was partly inspired by last year’s 7 Links Project, which asked us bloggers to list our best posts in seven categories. That project gave me a new perspective on all the posts I’d written and a fun way to share what I deemed to be my best work to date.

This year, I thought, why not expand that project to twelve categories? One dozen is a nice even number. It was last year’s number. And  I used to be a baker, so I have a special fondness for one dozen. So one dozen it is!

view of financial district towers from Marina Bay Sands Sky Park Infinity Pool – Singapore

The Rules

The ‘rules’ are quite simple and straight forward:

1. Pick your best post in each of the 12 categories below. Link to each post and add a brief description or explanation, if you’d like, as to why it’s the best.

2. Nominate 5 more travel bloggers to participate by naming them and linking to their blog. (Let’s spread some love, support and great posts around)

3. Publish your Travel Bloggers Best Dozen post on your blog.

That’s it! Oh, yeah, have fun. :))

To get this project kicked off to a speedier start, I’ve bent my own rules a bit (ahem) by deciding to nominate a DOZEN bloggers. It fits with the theme, after all. Even then, I had a hard time narrowing down my selection to just 12 travel bloggers! So many great bloggers who I like and admire. How to choose?! In the end, I selected several bloggers who have helped me the most or been the most supportive, in various ways, since I started this blogging journey nearly two years ago, plus a few who’ve expressed great desire to join the project.  :)) Besides, I’m eager to check out what they think are their best posts of 2012!

plane at airport getting ready to travel

The 12 Categories

To get started, here are my best dozen:

1. Most popular: 10 Free Things to do at Singapore’s Changi Airport

The 18 posts in my series ’10 Free Things to do in …’ various cities and destinations around the world are consistently among my most viewed posts, with new readers coming in from search engines on a daily basis to find out what fun free activities to do in their target travel spots. Rather to my surprise, the long-standing, absolutely most popular post on LashWorlTour is 10 Free Things to do at Singapore’s Changi Airport. Go figure !

2. Most helpful travel tip: When to Book Your Hotel Ahead vs When to Just Show Up and Find a Room

The popularity of this post also surprises me. It’s among my Top 10 most-viewed posts, so it must be quite helpful travel advice. Personally, I ‘d think several of my other travel tips would be more useful, including the follow up to this post,  HOW to Show Up and Find a Room on Arrival.  But I’ll go with what readers seem to find most useful.

Chinese vegetarian food in Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia

3. A post that was surprisingly successful: Secret Places to Eat in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Last year I started to notice how popular travel articles about food are. No wonder so many travel bloggers write them, even dedicating entire blogs or books to eating around the world! People seem to ‘eat them up’. (sorry)

Still I was surprised that this post about unknown eating spots around KL quickly soared to my #3 most-viewed post of all time! After all, Kl is a bit of a niche market in the scope of the world… Maybe I should write more about food?

4. A post I thought was under-rated: Great Reasons to Love Super-Long Flights

I rarely meet another traveler who enjoys long flights. I continuously read and hear travelers complain about long plane  journeys, even veteran travel addicts. How can you love world travel but not love flights?

So I was rather surprised that more people didn’t check out my own perspectives on why long flights are actually wonderful, not horrible. I was  hoping to change people’s minds about this aspect of world travel…

5. Most controversial: Arrival in Cebu City, Philippines

Oh, boy. I just happened to not like Cebu City, Philippines, so I wrote my honest perspectives on this city. Somehow the post got passed around a forum, and boy oh boy were a bunch of Filipinos hopping mad! They called me nasty names, attacked my journalist integrity and so on. After I published some of their comments and pointed out  that their own words reflected on them, not me, a couple more mature and even-tempered comment-ers came along to ask them to chill out.

being served kopi luwak in Penang – Malaysia

6. Most amusing: Travel Accident- $23 Cup of  Coffee!

This is a post that was completely unplanned and spontaneously sprouted from an alarming and unexpected little adventure I had in Penang, Malaysia. Honestly, I think the ‘disaster’ was worth the fun story I got out of it.

7. The post I’m most proud of: Missing Rental Motorbike

I was pleased with the way I told this particular story… not to mention the final outcome.

8. Best travel story or travel perspective:  Detour to Ubud, Bali

I think this is one of my best-written stories of 2012 as well as offering perspectives on the potential rewards of flexible travel plans.

temple guardians at Kintamani – Bali

9. Best travel adventure: Sea Jacuzzi at Langkawi Island, Malaysia

To be honest, although the sea  jacuzzi was certainly fun, it wasn’t actually my very best adventure in 2012. That title would go to my Canopy Jungle Adventure (also on Langkawi) when I got to abseil  zip-line, and teeter across cables in the jungle. But this post is certainly a better written story of travel adventures.

10. Best cultural perspectives or insights: The Four Balinese Names

It’s hard to believe that all Balinese people have 1 of just 4 names. Their naming system is quite interesting and unique among cultures in the world. This post explains and explores how it all works.

11. Most beautiful: Cave Grotto Spa in Ubud, Bali

My visit to an amazing cave grotto spa was a beautiful experience for body, mind, emotions as well as visual stimulation.

12. Best photo or photo gallery: Eye Candy- Details

My photography skills improved immensely during 2012, due to several factors. As a huge huge fan of vibrant colors, my own favorite photo gallery is simply jam–packed with bright. Hope you enjoy it too. :)

lanterns at a Chinese temple in Malaysia

My Nominations

I nominate the following dozen travel bloggers, in no particular order, to help kick off this project. I hope you all enjoy participating! cheers, Lash

Shannon O’Donnell – A Little Adrift

Raymond Walsh – Man on the Lam

Jeremy Jones – Living the Dream

Alexandra Kovacova – Sexy, Crazy, Fun Traveler

Leigh McAdam – Hike, Bike, Travel

Keith Jenkins – Velvet Escape

Michael Tieso – Art of Backpacking

Erica and Shaun – Over Yonderlust

David Lee – Go Backpacking

Caz and Craig Makepeace – yTravelBlog

Chris Christensen- Amateur Traveler

Dani Blanchette – Going Nomadic

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MERRY CHRISTMAS 2011! NEWS: LashWorldTour Named One of ’28 Travel Blogs that Rock’ on All Colores MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012! – I’m Taking a Vacation! 9 Best Travel Perspectives and Stories in 2016 on LashWorldTour