‘ Tween here and there has been nominated twice for the Liebster Award by the lovely Cliodhna of Your Next Big Trip and by the incredible Alex from The Mindful Mermaid. This is the first “Award” for my blog just launched a few months ago (in June). It celebrates new blogs that are working hard to get things up and running. It is really exciting to be recognized by the blogging community. It makes you all giddy. It makes you feel like you are doing things right. So I thank again to Cliodhna who is a primary school teacher from Waterford for this nominating and to Alex also known as her alter ego “The mindful Mermaid” who is a writer & an environmental advocate. Do not hesitate to check out their blog: Your Next Big Trip and The Mindful Mermaid.
Liester Award
Honestly, I had no idea what that meant. The first thing to pop in my head was: Oh my Good ! I have to buy a dress, shoes, get my hair done, get my nails done, and write a speech ! Wait, what is that? Well, it isn’t an Oscar (I’m not an actor), it isn’t a Grammy (I’m not a singer), it is a Liebster… I have visited a bunch of blogs and found that it is a way of promoting and recognized fellow bloggers on the internet. The Liebster Award is an award given by bloggers to other bloggers and is designed to help new bloggers connect with each other. How cool is that ! I’m just glad I don’t have to walk across a stage and give a speech. I’d turn all red in the face and start rambling about nonsense J. Before we jump in, here’s a refresher of the Liebster Award Rules:
- Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.
- Display the award on your blog
- Answer the eleven questions posed to you by your nominator.
- Provide 11 random facts about yourself. (This rule is optional)
- Nominate 5 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 200 followers.
- Ask them eleven questions to keep the love going 🙂
Okay, got it! Here it goes… I have to share 11 random/fun facts about myself (oh boy !).
- 11 facts you don’t know about me:
1- It has only been a few months since I created a blog about travelling and I am already an addict !
2- It started in 1997 with my first ever big trip to Indonesia and since then, as was singing Serge Lama, “je suis malade, complètement malade” – I am ill, totally ill 🙂
3- I enjoy Mother Nature, more the country side over the city, the landscape to take your breath away rather than the skyscraper. Just to give you an idea of what I mean, here are some of these incredible places to add to your bucket list.
Incredible places to visit
4- Just like the Little Thumb I collect stones that I bring back home from each place I visited. It is MANDATORY ! Once at home I grind them and store them in a test tube. Each tube is as colourful as that part of Earth it comes from.
5- I am a real chocolate addict. I eat some chocolate every day, always finding some while travelling, and hiding a bit here and there in the suitcase or my back pack !
6- I enjoy cooking and trying local specialities while traveling such as the flash fried, crispy cactus strips with rattlesnake sausage in Sedona (USA – Arizona), and of course the Warthog Sammosas with aoli dressing , the Crocodile Sashimi with wasabi sweet soy dressing J and the Springbok Fillet grilled in Swellendam (South Africa)
7- Writing helps escaping the daily routine, so I am writing at any time on my notebook or laptop, anywhere I am.
8- Never without my books ! I love reading and I can’t travel without bringing a couple of them ! I have switched to e-book, more convenient when traveling a few years ago 🙂
9- I like travelling the world, seeing things with my own eyes, experiences on my own skin… I try to remain supremely ludic (from Latin Ludere, to play) – hence my pseudo C-Ludik which is also the url of the site – and childlike in my travelling approach and open my eyes to things we didn’t think possible. Travelling leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller. Through my stories, I hope to inspire adults of all ages to be adventurous and to enrich their lives by captivating the power of travel and cultural exploration… I am convinced that we are lifelong learners and we can reach our full potential through continuous exploration the world and its many cultures… and always keep in mind the ludic touch.
10- My must have accessory: my camera. I can’t stop taking pictures! I must have been Japanese in another life :-).
Photographer…
11- My favorite quote from Gustave Nadaud then picked up by the French singer Georges Brassens: “Rester c’est exister mais voyager c’est vivre” (To stay is to exist but to travel is to live).
- The 22 questions form Your Next Big Trip & The Mindful Mermaid 🙂
1- How did you come up with your blog name ?
‘ Tween here and there has been created to share my trip, travels, adventures. I enjoy exploring and discovering other cultures while travelling, listening to music, eating wherever it is, here or on the other side of the world, there ‘là-bas’. It’s a reference to the song « Over there » from the French singer Jean-Jacques Goldman who has been a real driver … Over there, everything is new and wild / Free continent without fences / Here our dreams are narrow / That’s why I will go over there.
2- Why did you set up your blog ? What inspired you to start blogging ? What’s the ultimate goal of your blog ?
I started blogging because I wanted to share my travels and experience with other people with the same passion. When I could do it, I was enthusiastic sharing notes and pictures with relatives and friends. Some of them, thinking I am a bit of a geek encouraged me to go further and share it all on the web. Good thing I also like infographic and websites development… Through my blog, I hope to inspire people to be adventurous and to enrich their lives by captivating the power of travel and cultural exploration…
3- Where in the world do you always find you mind wandering (could be a place or a memory of a place) ?
I don’t really have a happy place, but I have my own go-to list of happy things which I bring to mind when I need a pick-me-up or a smile. A few of the things on my list are of course incredible travel memories !
4- What do you do in your daily life to live more mindfully/sustainably ?
I am in constant awe of the beauty of life… I have always had a deep desire to travel and experience life in all corners of the world. I feel drawn to nature and I am happiest when I am living simply and in alignment with her. I take daily walks and I spend time in nature because it is one of the most powerful ways of giving yourself a mental reboot and reinstating a sense of ease and wonder. I also remember not to take myself so seriously, try to have a good laugh especially at my own expense !
5- What do you do apart from blogging ?
I dream a lot ! In reality I have a food technologist background and I work for a global food company allowing me to attend workshop and training everywhere in the world and keep on travelling even at work !
6- Where do you live now and what’s the best thing about it ?
I am a lucky one, living in France close to the Switzerland border, between lakes and mountains. It is easy to get away for a weekend in remote rural areas, or to breathe fresh air on top of a mountain, or to jump in a plane from Geneva airport to visit Europe.
Leman Lake
7- If you could eat any food for the rest of your life, what would it be ?
A tough question, but it really made me think about which foods would provide the nutritional needs for the rest of my life ? The only food that provides all the nutrients that humans need is human milk ! If technically adults could survive on human milk, the sticking point would be finding a woman who is willing to provide enough of it 🙂 !
8- Nutella or peanut butter ?
Without hesitation I choose the creamy chocolate-and-hazelnut spread even if Peanut Butter seems a ‘healthier’ alternative to Nutella. If you play the funny game of nutritional comparison, Peanut Butter is lower in sugar, higher in protein and often lower in your unhealthy fats…
9- What are the three things you cannot live without ?
Chocolate, books (including my passport) and my camera of course !
10- Where was the last place you travelled to?
Last October I was in Lake District in the US right on time to enjoy autumn colors. Looking forwards to sharing that adventure with you !
Cuyahoga Valley – Brecksville Station
11- If I handed you an open plane ticket, where would you go ?
New Zealand with a stopover in Sydney but my bucket list is quite long !
12- If you were a mermaid, where would you live in the world and why ?
As Ariel, I wish I live in the kingdom of Atlantica ! In this world, visitors are given magical forms to survive and adapt… this is pretty cool.
13- How do you get a feel for the local culture of a place you are visiting ?
I get a feel for the local culture by listening to their music, eating local, reading their history… when feasible I like having a travel local guide, one of those telling real and passionate stories and anecdotes of that place.
14- What is the first thing you do when you arrive somewhere new ?
As bizarre as that can sound, the first thing I do is to take off my watch like I wanted to put the time on hold and enjoy the present moment as much as I can.
15- How do you travel? Are you a planner/spontaneous ?
As Buddha said, the middle way is the right way and the middle way for traveling is to simply plan your general route and fill in the blanks along the way. There are some destinations where you really need to plan in advance because everything could be booked out in a certain area at a certain time of year due to festivals or events… If you have a short amount of time and/or are trying to fit a few destinations in that time, if you don’t do any planning beforehand you may end up wasting precious time figuring out what you should be doing. But I also like spending more time in one place which allows you to get a better feel for the rhythm of life. It enables you to visit at a more relaxed pace, see more than just the highlights :-). Few people travel forever, so there is always a finish line that looms large. It’s a race against the clock…
16- Do you prefer long periods in one place or to see as many places as possible in one go ?
I agree with the idea of “a bit of both”, because it really depends on so many factors – where you’re going, how much time you have for your trip, if you’re going on your own, with your partner, with friends or relatives etc. However, long periods in one place give you the opportunity to have ample time to explore each stop. Staying with locals and getting involved, it often leads you to far greater sights and experiences than the widely recognized ones at home…
17- Tell us one place you would move to in a heartbeat, and one place you will be happy to never see again ! What’s your favorites adventures you’ve ever been on?
It is difficult to answer as I had lots of favorite places! I always live in the moment each trip I make! I didn’t have any bad experience so far, of well even if I had there were some good moments. If I had to choose only one place, then obviously it will be the 5 weeks’ road trip in Western Australia and Northern Territory. More than 12 000 km hiking, breathtaking landscapes, amazing sceneries… An extraordinary adventure I recommend to you !
Australia
18- What’s one experience that shaped your life thus far ?
Somebody said “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer”. I have never felt so great joy, love and adventure than while travelling to Madagascar. Mora mora is the first Malagasy expression that you learn to use. It is the equivalent of the Italian “Chi va piano, va sano e va lontano“. Mora mora is a state of mind, a certain languor, a way of life. Upon arrival in Madagascar, forget your stress, learn to wait, get neither excited not worry about wasting time, but you never really waste time. Madagascar is undeniably one of those destinations where you can say “I don’t make a trip; the trip makes you”.
Madagascar
19- If your life is your message to the world, what’s yours ?
The whole world is full of so many amazing places to see, great people to meet, delicious food to eat etc. so see it by yourself at least once !
Now, enough about me: let’s discover the winners (drumrolls)…
- Congratulations to the 5 nominees !
Faces of travel: Adrian is born in Malta and at a young age he started flying to various villages, cities and countries around Europe. His personal blog ‘Faces of Travel’ refers to the different faces that travelling fuses together: people from different background, cultures, amalgamating together to create a unique, but functional, atmosphere.
Our Sweet Adventures: Traveling the World with a Sweet Tooth with Christina & Adam. In addition to exploring new places they started to explore new restaurants, bakeries and chocolate shops to eat some of the best food and desserts to gain inspiration 🙂
Pages of my passeport: The best stories are found between the pages of a passport ! Elisabeth has visited 16 countries on 4 continents and help you make travel possible for yourself.
Doll voyage: NANA has an incredible philosophy of life: Live life ! Laugh often ! Love much ! She’s living in Kuala Lumpur and she’s just just a simple doll with dreams to explore the wonderful world. I fully agree with her when she says « Travel is all about immersing and exploring new cultures, food & nature »
The Travel Desire: Mire and Jela are passionate about photography, food, beer tasting J , good movies, painting and drawing. Their stories motivate you for some good things in life !
- My questions for the next nominated bloggers :
1- What’s the favorite country you have visited and why ?
2- Which country do you regret to have been to and why ?
3- You can bring only one book, which one will that be ?
4- What was your best cuisine / dish eaten overseas ?
5- Pro or cons to travel alone ?
6- What is the main thing you always miss when travelling ?
7- What are (at least) the 3 things you like while travelling ?
8- According to you, which qualities make you fall in love for a blog ?
9- Your blogging experience in just 3 words ?
10- How did you come up with your blog name ?
11- Teleportation is the new way to travel. Where will you go right away ?
