My Liebster Award

Appreciation from followers and readers in form of comments and emails is what makes my day as a blogger. Every morning that I wake up to a word from my readers on my site makes this journey as a blogger worthwhile and this morning, getting a nomination from Arun from mytravelpedia has put me on a cloud 9. Thank you Arun for the Liebster Award, it is truly an honor to be recognised.  I had heard of these awards and was hoping that someday, I would be nominated for it. Now that I have, it truly feels awesome. For those who do not know what is the Liebster award, here is a quick brief-

Liebster Awards:

The Liebster awards is designed to discover and recognize new bloggers. It is an award that gets passed on from a blogger to another, to welcome him/ her and appreciate his/ her blog. A perfect motivation and encouragement for the bloggers.

The nominated blogger (me in this case) has to answer 10 questions shared by the blogger who nominated him/ her (Arun in this case) and link back the blog to theirs. The nominated blogger then, nominates 10 other bloggers and shares his/ her set of questions for them to take forward. A perfect pay-it-forward chain. So, here are my set of answers to Arun’s questions–

1) Do you have any place in mind which you feel is underrated when it comes to tourism?

Actually, there are plenty, especially in India. Here are my three picks – Hampi for one, I feel is completely under-rated, considering the wealth of history and treasures it has. Having been to Rome, I cannot but help compare Hampi to Rome. In Rome at every turn, you find some Roman history in form of ruins. It is the same in Hampi. I do feel we have not glamorized our heritage sites.

Another place that I felt was under-rated was Gokarna, especially when you compare it to its popular neighbour- Goa. While it does not have the festive atmosphere that Goa offers, it definitely, offers you enough and more that Goa does not. The serene beach, water sports, temples and history and much more.

And my last pick – Hyderabad .Though an IT city, Hyderabad is a great tourist destination with its history- forts, museums, palaces and its new-age amusement options like Snow city and Ramoji film city. Somehow, while we recognize Hyderabad as a popular city in India, it is never counted as a tourist city.

2) Hotels or Hostels?

Ah! You caught me there for am a little spoilt and Hotels/ Homestays would be my choice as compared to hostels. Hotels for the frills and the pampered feel. I love the breakfast spread and while I am on vacation, this meal and spread is the most important to start my day. The clean rest-rooms and the lovely bed waiting for me at the end of the day – Sigh!!!  For me, it is a luxury to get served as against the routine of my daily life. 🙂 

Homestays in popular hill towns like Chikmagalur are a great way of experiencing the culture and life in the coffee/ tea estates – not to mention the great local cuisine that comes along with the homestay.The rest of the frills remaining the same as hotels.

3) Your topmost essential travel item (excluding your passport)? 
My camera – currently the Canon EOS. An absolute must else my journey is just not complete.

4) What is your best advice in saving money while traveling?
Pre-plan with some good research, for you can figure the best deals through your research and save a lot of money. To give you an example – for places like Singapore, the best deals are online and if you have researched and planned your day in advance, you can get some amazing bundled deals for all the places you want to visit. The same deals are not available offline.

Another point that most of us miss considering is inter-city transport. It is best to do a little research to figure your way around your destination with public transport. It is quite light on the pockets – especially in cities like London, Paris, Singapore etc.

Bottom line is research the place you want to go to well before you book it.

5) What is one of the best travel lessons you’ve learnt so far?

Better safe than sorry. Take all the precautions that you need to take in an unknown place. Lock your valuables, take care of your papers and keep your cash safe.

6) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Why?

Any of the beaches – maybe Goa or Kovalam. Open a shack on the beach, work hard during the peak season and travel for the rest of the year 🙂

7) What was one of the most unusual/ unexpected travel experience you’ve encountered? 
Hmm – a tough one. I suppose my South Bank experience in London would qualify for one.

Unexpected as we planned to visit the museum and the London Eye but had to change the plan after reaching there. Unusual because the day and the experience that I had following the change of plans was out of the ordinary and a memorable one.

9) What’s your preferred mode of transportation while traveling?

No preferred mode as such. The only thing that I can say is I don’t like traveling by any mode that makes me sit through the night – whether a bus or a car. I prefer traveling by the day in these modes as the pleasant landscape of my journey makes up for the inability to sleep.  

10) What’s your next travel destination and why?

Planning a trip to the Golden triangle in India because the palaces are beckoning me 🙂 Stay tuned for the same.   That’s it from me on my answers. Hope you found them interesting. And if you think you need to check on some more, do drop in your questions in the comment box. Will be happy to take them on.   Now, my turn to tag some of my fellow bloggers and ask them my questions. The list is a random one and for those who I have missed, it ain’t because you were any less but because I could not nominate more 🙂   My nomination list goes –  1) Samiya @ Selims raasta
2) Vijay Kumar Sharma@Phototravelings.blogspot.in
3) Balaka Basu @Wanderful
4) Priti Zararia @Ilovetripping
5) Siddhartha Joshi @ Sid-TheWanderer
6) Jatin Adlakha @ Wandering Jatin 
7) Arun Prasadh @ Aruntravelpics
8) Abhimanyu Bishnu
9) Menorca C @ Europe Diaries 
10) Jess @ Jess is a wanderer    Here are my questions for my nominees – 1) What is the best part of traveling?
2) Is there something about traveling that you dislike?
3) Beaches or Hill stations?
4) What is that one place that you did not have enough of and why?
5) Share your one crazy moment / embarrassing moment when traveling
6) What are the key things that you keep in mind when picking a destination?
7) Your best travel companion? Why?
8) Any movie/ book that inspires your travel?
9) Tell us your one travel as a kid that has still stayed with you.
10) Which is your next destination and why?    Over to the nominees to pay the Liebster Award forward.