liebster award nomination!

liebster.jpeg

Thanks to Samantha at Samantha En Route for our very first Liebster award. As new bloggers, it's great to be nominated! Here are our answers to her questions:

1. Tell us about your blog. 

We started out, primarily as a travel photography website - the result of one rain-soaked and gin-fuelled evening in London. The logic being that if we loved to travel and take photos, why not try to make a life out of it?! Our focus is on trying to show that budget travel can be beautiful and maybe not as difficult as some would think. So, in addition to our favourite shots of people and places we discover, we also share ideas, tips and guides for making budget travel easier and more accessible. 

2. What's your biggest pet peeve when travelling?

Emily: Food or beer disappearing from the fridge. Especially when craving that late night

Andrew: Sometimes other travellers, sometimes myself for not being more adventurous and sometimes our generation's dependence on technology making home never seem that far away. 

3. Do you enjoy traveling solo?

Emily: I have travelled many times on my own, and whilst I love the flexibility it provides, certainly if travelling for more than a few months I prefer having a little travel buddy to keep me company.

Andrew: One of my biggest regrets is not having tested myself as much as I'd have like by travelling on my own, apart from a few trips here and there. There are so many things made easier by travelling as 

4. How do you save money for travels?

Emily: Work, work, work. Thankfully as a doctor, it is relatively easy to pick up locum shifts when I'm back in the UK but given that the saving was going on alongside a London-based lifestyle, at times there was some serious purse-string tightening!

Andrew: Packed-lunches, foregoing all splurges on things like clothes, seriously cutting down take-away coffee consumption and, generally, just trying to find a cheaper way of doing everything whilst working. 

5. What do you blog about when you're not traveling?

Alongdustyroads.com didn't exist until we set foot in Mexico 18 weeks ago, but Emily has previously had a healthy living blog. I think it's important to write about topics for which you have a passion.

6. Are you more like Andrew Zimmern or completely picky when it comes to new food?

Emily: I just had to google Andrew Zimmern.... As a pescetarian, thankfully I have a good excuse for avoiding a few off the more 'unique' delicacies on offer around the world. But, if it didn't once moo, baa, oink or woof, I'll give it a go.

Andrew: Prior to my gap-year in Vietnam when I was 18, I had an awful diet with far too few vegetables and far too many processed foods. Vietnam pushed me out of my comfort zone and I had to accept that one can't be so fussy; cat, dog, goat stomach, boiled squid and rotten shrimp sauce were all sampled. Now, when travelling, trying the street-food and specialities of each country is one of my favourite things to do.

7. Which country do you NOT care to visit and why?

Emily: Despite the amazing opportunities for photography, I have no desire to return to Morocco. As a female venturing out on my own, I have never felt so vulnerable or disrespected.

Andrew: I don't know why, but I've never had a great yearn to go to India. 

8. What's your funniest travel experience?

Emily: Hitching a ride from Nicaragua to Costa Rica in a pick-up truck with a bunch of stoned American surfers, one of whom repeatedly fell out of said pick-up. Then having to man-handle one through immigration, ensuring the sunglasses stayed firmly on to avoid arrest!

Andrew: Projectile vomiting off the back of a moped in the Vietnamese countryside at 7 a.m. after waking up in a room with two other men and only one bed, and a stonking hangover. 

9. Which past trip of yours would you redo?

Emily: Although there are always low points and things that you wish you had done differently, I wouldn't 'redo' any trip in it's entirety. Sure there's places I may like to go again, but every trip is individual and unique to time, people and experiences. Simply re-doing wouldn't guarantee a better adventure. 

Andrew: None. It's too easy to regret things you didn't do or dwell on things you may have missed out on. 

10. What's your favourite way to travel?

Emily: The way the locals do. Tourist shuttles and tours have their place but I want to feel part of a country, not merely an observer.

Andrew: Donkey. 


Now it's our turn to continue the nominating! The rules are as follows:

  • Thank the blogger who nominated you
  • Answer their questions
  • Nominate 10 other travel bloggers who have less than 600 followers
  • Ask them 10 questions of your own

Our questions

1. What's your go-to cheap hostel meal?

2. What's your luxury item?

3. What's your key piece of advice for anyone on the road?

4. If you could do it all again, where wouldn't you go?

5. How do your promote your travel blog?

6. Beach, city or jungle?

7. What's your favourite picture from your travels?

8. What do you miss most about home?

9. If money was no object, where would you go and what would you do?

10. What's your most embarrassing travel story?