Spotted a new article on travel blogs, here:
registration required
Why is it that journalists completely miss the point? - it's happened before -
A TRAVEL BLOG IS NOT A TRAVEL GUIDE.
Reviewing travel journals in the same way as one would review a guide book is just plain stupid. Yes, sometimes a journal has very useful, sometimes unique tips and secrets that can't be found anywhere else in the world, in print or on line. But most of the time it's about the blogger and their journal and their experiences.
But the great majority of bloggers are amateurs and, more often than not, training tells.
Yes it does tell, but someone writing a travel blog is not writing to entertain the masses, not paid to be a professional wordsmith - they are writing in the way they feel comfortable - and guess what, the way people communicate varies from place to place. So in a travelblog you will find slang and expressions that are more about where the blogger has come from than where they are.
The information found in a travelblog is much akin to chatting to a stranger in a bar, some are going to be full of it, others will be genuine travel gurus - in a travel blog the personality of the writer shines through, they will have different interests - that you may or may not share - and focus on these things.
If you're a travel novice, graduation is over and you're heading to Europe for the very first time, you won't have any trouble finding guidebook guidance to top spots and beaten-track hotels. But what's it really like to be in a foreign country? Is it, um, foreign? Page through sites like ... and TravelBlog.org for bits of girlfriend-to-girlfriend insight like this:
Yesterday I went to a yoga class. It's so fun to do this kind of stuff in another country, in another language. I went with a girl from Atlanta and we met 2 more American girls. It was fun talking about stuff that we miss and they reminded me about bagels. I didn't even realize that there are no bagels in Spain, can you believe it? It's funny, the stuff you end up missing. . .
-- TravelBlog
Where to find bagels in Spain? Why, it's but the search of a moment on Travel.yahoo.com to find the Bagel Shop in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, where sesame, poppyseed, plain and cinnamon raisin can be found. "The shop is always packed with American tourists, although it is slowly but surely winning over locals."
This insight isn't a request for bagels, it's about the chance meeting of people, finding that they have there country of citizenship in common and chatting about what they miss from home. What the journalist should have taken from the quote is that - when away from home for an extended period it's not just the big obvious things that you miss. I missed many little things as well, I missed chocolate when in the US - I found Hershies very dissappointing and told people, I'm sure I could have found a shop that sold European chocolate if I'd really wanted. It's that kind of insight that you won't get from travel guides, the small pangs of homesickness that you get over small items that you never thought would have ever effected you, that then leave as quickly as they came.
The travelblog quote was from
marina
The final verdict on travelblog's came in the form of a table. Here is how travelblog.org came out.
Travelblog www.travelblog.org
Best for those more interested in personal experiences than useful info.
Quick take stylish looking, free, no ads... readers can post comments... some of these inane blogs make us want to scream
I think the research consisted of looking at the front page once - the front page of travelblog is dynamic, changes every 10 mins, looking at the front page once is just a matter of luck - who last wrote and added a photo - might be a pro travel journalist or an 18 year old travel virgin worried about where to find Hershies in England - you never know. And that is the beauty of it - don't spoil it, keep it this way, organic, flowing a mixed bag of personalities, not a competition. When you find a blogger who you appreciate - read on and on - and follow the adventure live, when reading something inane, the back button is just a click away, no one forced you to read! If it gets you to the point of screaming - try demonstrating a small amount of self control, calmly click on a link to a different blogger - or investigate the highlights where some of the most inspiring adventures are shown.
Ps. There are ads - just discreetly placed - unlike just about all the other sites reviewed.
So to finish off - "In Blog we Trust?" - yeah, if you're a dumb ass - try a guide book, yep you know, paper, found in libraries and bookshops. In blogs we wander, like, dislike, scream, laugh out loud, find ourselves amazed at photos and scratch our heads wondering why they even bothered uploading it - and for each and everyone of us what catches our attention will be different - travelblog supplies a way to share the experiences, differences and all.
Reply to this