Look who’s been nominated.

We have been nominated for a Liebster Award

We had a pleasant surprise whilst on a recent trip. A Hole in my Shoe was nominated for what we hope will be first of many travel blogger awards. We are truly honoured to be nominated by Simon & Gina from Our Global Adventure for the Liebster Award in this early stage, having only been blogging for 2 months. This is recognition by fellow travel bloggers to highlight new bloggers and by answering a few questions get to know each other a little better.

Our Global Adventure’s mantra is one families quest to travel the world. They are Simon & Gina and their two children Lucy (11) and Oscar (7) and they call Adelaide in Australia home. They decided that it was time their family had an adventure, suburban life and long hours had taken their toll, so they dusted off their backpacks and hit the open road. Their plans are loose, their ideas big and they hope to see as much of this wonderful planet as possible and they’ve invited us along for the ride!

The rules (should we choose to accept) are as follows…

• Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to his or her blog.
• Answer the 10 questions by the nominee before you.
• Nominate 10 of your favourite blogs and notify them of their nomination.
• Come up with 10 questions for your nominees to answer.

So thank you Simon & Gina, it is our pleasure to accept, here goes:

1. How long have you been blogging for?
   Only since last March of this year, this is why it is such a surprise and honour to be nominated for this award in the early stages with so little content. In January I was watching Today Tonight a current affairs show and saw a story on Travel with Bender, Erin and Josh, a Perth couple with two small children who in 2012 decided to travel with no definite plans. Erin writes the blog and Josh is a web designer who works along the way creating web pages to subsidise their travel. There mantra on their page “If we can do it, so can you”. So we are hoping this Liebster Award nomination will be the first of many and that in two years’ time we will have won some awards and nominations like our mentors the Benders.
2. Blogging often means sharing your life publicly, why do it?
   It saves writing postcards and is more environmentally friendly. No, seriously, travel is like knowledge, it should be shared with those who have a passion for it and not kept to yourselves. We love taking pictures and talking about our travels so when we got the inspiration in January from the Benders, thought why not… We are an open book and happy to share our stories and if we can inspire other people to travel then that makes it all worthwhile.
3. Do you have any other blogs, other than the one you’ve been nominated for? Give it a plug! (Include buttons to sites)
   No, just A Hole in my Shoe which started with our Facebook page in February and got 1000 likes within the first month. We have now also opened accounts with Twitter, Stumble Upon, Pinterest, Google + and Instagram so learning a whole lot more about social media.
4. Who else’s blog can’t you get enough of, and what keeps you going back?
   There are quite a few other bloggers I like to visit regularly apart from Benders. I like YTravel Blog, Travelista73, A Dangerous Business, Banker in the Sun and many others. It is great to read what everyone is doing, get inspiration for new travels and see the beautiful pictures. It is just like virtual travel when we visit their page.
5. What’s your most positive blogging experience?
   The day the blog went live was a very positive day, to be able to say “I am a travel blogger” and pass out business cards along our travels is a very nice feeling. Getting so many likes in short period of time on my Facebook page and all the wonderful feedback is not only humbling but a very positive feeling also.
6. Have you ever had a negative blogging experience?
   We have experienced nothing negative about our blogging to date but when and if we do it will be a learning curve. We seem to have a knack of turning a negative into a positive, so it won’t hold us back.
7. Which travel destination could you blog about all day everyday? Your favourite destination?
   It would have to Paris hands down. Such a beautiful city, we have only been there once in reality but virtual travel many, many times. I just loved staying in Montmartre and walking through the streets taking in every moment, a wonderful experience for every sense.
8. Travel, it takes time, organisation, money and often sacrifices, why not just stay home?
   I am a control freak who loves to organise and plan. Everyone’s dreams and goal are different. What motivates us most is being different, individuals with the ability to question things, think outside the square and we are happy to sacrifice and juggle our money to get what we want. We have the motivation, the desire to set our own goals and will work towards that goal until we achieve it. We have freedom of choice, freedom of speech and more opportunities than ever before to pursue our happiness in any way. To us that is to travel where and when we want and what we value most, our freedom to dream.
9. What’s your best travel tip?
   Travelling is one of the most exciting thing you can do and part of that is capturing the trip to share and relive the experience years later. To prevent disappointment should you lose your camera I suggest this. Take a piece of paper and write, “If you find this camera please contact me so we can arrange its return, or at least the memory card”, along with your name and contact details (email or mobile number). That way you may have a chance of getting the photos and memories back. And after our last trip the next important travel tip would be to pack the camera charger… but that is another story for the blog.
10. Where was you first trip to, would you go back?
    For both of us, and many from Perth, our first overseas trip was to Bali. Steve travelled back in the 80’s and for me it was mid 90’s and neither of us has been back since. We both loved our experiences and now we would love to share them together. We are planning to go back again in August so stay tuned to our blog to see what we think of the changes we’ll see.

Our Nominees for the Liebster Award are…

• Merili – I Travel I am
• Jared & Alisa – Living Outside Of The Box
• Candice – Desert to Jungle
• Giulio & Nat – Travel With Us
• Karla – Pink Carry On
• Jess – Ways of Wanderers
• Steph & Tony – Twenty Years Hence Travel Blog
• Jill – Gigi’s French Window
• Ashley – A Southern Gypsy
• Katarzyna – Hi Bye

Your Questions are…

1. What or who inspired you to travel?
2. Have you had any life changing moments whilst travelling?
3. What is your best lesson learnt whilst travelling?
4. Do you still base yourself in the country you were born in, or do you call somewhere else ‘home’ now?
5. What other languages do you speak or which language would you like to fluent in?
6. We know you love travel, but if you could time travel where and when would you go?
7. What is your worst travel experience?
8. Describe your blog in 3 words
9. What is the best cuisine you have had?
10. Who have been the friendliest people you have met in your travels?

UPDATE:  We have since received three separate nominations from Travelnotesandbeyond.com, Eat Well, Pack Light, Travel Often (Lubink.org) and I’m Out of the Office.com