The Liebster Award

Posted by meczek on February 13, 2017 in Miscellaneous

Hip Hip Hooray ! Meczek Travel Blog received the Liebster Award !

What is the Liebster Award ? The Liebster Award is an international award by bloggers for bloggers. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued. It is about reaching out to other bloggers, creating an opportunity to be more involved in the community, discover new blogs and connect with them.

Meczek Travel Blog got nominated by Chris (www.wildkiwi.org).
Thank you for your nomination !
Chris is an adventure traveler who visited over 50 countries on 6 continents. He has gone from the icebergs of Antarctica to the sand dunes of the Sahara and crazy streets of Asia. He took part in 30 day expedition that crosses the Southern Ocean and spent 9 days in the Ross Sea with landings on the Antarctic continent. Check out his great blog for more !

Here are the 11 questions Chris had for me:

1. Describe what made you start travelling ?

This is really hard to tell… It must be in my blood. As a kid I spent a lot of time outdoor chasing hares and pheasants on the fields nearby my house or went fishing with my dad. When I grew up, I was constantly looking for new places, new experiences. I rarely come back to the same place twice. There is so much to see on this beautiful planet ! The quote by Saint Augustine gets to the point quite accurately. I would like to read as many pages as possible. I don’t want to collect “things” in my life, I just want to go outside and collect memories.

2. Describe the emotions that you feel in the first day of a new trip.

Relief and excitement !
Relief: Because finally after weeks or sometimes months of planning the moment has arrived when I close the door and hit the road. No more daydreaming and sleepless nights with visions of the unknown, no more staring at the computer screen. Now it is time for the REAL adventure.
Excitement: This is obvious ! New places waiting to be explored !

3. Show us the best photo you have ever taken on your travels.

I don’t really have my absolute #1 photo but I took a lot of great photos during my Solo Hike In The Lepontine Alps in 2016. The one I am showing here is taken from Cristallina Hut located at an altitude 2575m. I was the only human being in the hut and the sunset was fantastic!

4. What is the most interesting/scary/exciting experience you have ever had?

The most interesting: Marrakesh! When I visited Marrakesh for the first time I was so stunned by its beauty, colors, variety and culture that I had to go back again. Which I of course did! It is a crazy city. Jemaa el-Fnaa square and medina quarter is like a time travel journey.

The most scary: It was during our Family Canoe Trip in Finland. While paddling to Linnansaari National Park from Oravi the waves have suddenly become almost 1 meter high and we were really struggling to prevent the canoe from capsizing. It wouldn’t be so bad if we were alone but we had our 2 boys age 5 and 9 on board and we were far from the shore. Fortunately with the help of invisible forces and our muscles we managed to get safely to the dry land…

The most exciting: This would be again Solo Hike In The Lepontine Alps. It is the most exciting trip I have done so far. During 4 days I have seen only about 10 human beings, I slept alone in mountain huts (being the only person in a mountain hut at 2500m altitude is an incredible experience !), I hiked up in darkness under a sky full of stars accompanied by wild animals hidden in the forest with their green eyes reflecting the light of my headlamp. The whole trip was a REAL adventure !

5. What do you regret the most about travelling?

I regret that the majority of people who we see and meet during our travels cannot afford to go on vacations themself.
There is also one thing which making me upset. The travel industry should promote more the sustainable travel / eco travel and not luxury / posh travel style.

6. What’s the one thing you always have to do when travelling?

People: blend with the locals, chat with them, get to know them and their culture.
Food: Try local specialities in traditional restaurants owned by the locals. I never go chain restaurants where the same food is served regardless on which continents you are !
Activities: Snorkeling and hiking

7. Who is the most interesting person you have met on the road?

There hasn’t been anybody whom I would put as #1. I have met many interesting people. They were different nationalities, race and culture. I am glad that our paths have crossed and these encounters changed my life in one way or another.

8. Why did you start your travel blog?

I started my blog in order to keep track of my travels. My memory is not perfect (and it will probably not improve !) so I decided to keep a record of all the places I have visited with some useful links at the bottom of each post. Every time somebody ask me a question like: “Where did you stay in Rome ?” I would just tell him to have a look in my blog …

9. Who is your favorite blogger?

There are many inspiring blogs out there. I am following many bloggers and adventurers. Mainly these who write about outdoor adventures, hiking, paddling and camping in the wild.

10. What is your favorite travelling quote and tell us why??

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”
Why ? Because it explain in a very simple way why we should not waste our life sitting in front of the TV screen !

11. What would you say to someone who is hesitant about starting travelling?

I would scare them with a short vision of their future: One day you will be old and cancer or some other sophisticated, incurable bacteria will be eating you from inside. Assuming that your mind will still be functioning well, you will have plenty of time to think and re-visit your whole life which comes to an end. There will be many things you will regret, but one thing you will regret for sure: Not traveling enough. So make it happen NOW ! Tomorrow will be too late.

Now lets nominate some more travel bloggers for the Liebster Award.
My Nominations are:

mit-sack-und-packraft.de – Family adventure blog. Juliane and her family undertake incredible paddling and hiking trips with their kids. I am following their blog for a while and it was an inspiration for some of my travels with kids.

pamthevan.com – The Girl. The Dog. The Van. Marina converted an old, smelly van into a comfy moving home and hit the road to explore the world.

backpackadventures.org – Ellis is female solo backpacker. She took part in many volunteering projects in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Now she is travelling the world and supports local communities on her way. With her blog she hopes to inspire people to get over their fears, grab a backpack and go abroad no matter of their age or gender.

footloosetomcat.wordpress.com – Migz has always had itchy feet and has always loved to write. The most logical thing to do next was to start a travel blog.

irene-travelogue.com – Irene’s Travel Blog is one of the leading travel website in Singapore and has won multiple accolades through the years. The writer has a keen interest in sharing her travel experiences about the countries and cities that she travels to.

georgilovesworld.wordpress.com – Georgi after climbing Mt Kilimanjaro on her 18th birthday caught the travel bug and since then her goal is “to explore the best that this BEAUTIFUL planet has to offer us, ideally without bankrupting myself.”

travellingtip.com – Andreea is ex-flight attendant sharing her travelling experiences. She has visited 90 cities in 65 countries so far. For each visited country she provides 10 easy travel tips.

ellawho.com – Travel blog by Ella. Her favorite phrase comes from Kung-Fu Panda: “Yesterday is HISTORY, tomorrow is a MYSTERY, but today is a GIFT. That is why it is called PRESENT.”

kashifchicophotography.wordpress.com – Kashif is an amateur wildlife photographer from Zimbabwe. Every Pixel..A story!

And here are my 11 questions to the nominees!

1. What made you become a travel blogger ?
2. Which of your trips/travels would you repeat again without hesitation and which would you never do again ?
3. Sometimes during our travels we land in a secluded place where we feel very close to the mother earth. What was your best moment with mother earth ?
4. What destinations have most exceeded/failed your expectations ?
5. What is the best snorkeling spot you have been so far ?
6. Most exciting animal encounter during your travel ?
7. Have you ever been in real troubles or danger during your travels ?
8. Try to associate these 3 expressions with some of your travels/adventures: kindness, silence, happy people
9. Which travel books or movies would you buy someone to inspire him to travel ?
10. Name 3 destinations from your bucket list and explain why do you want to visit them.
11. What’s your next travel destination ? Why did you choose this particular one ?

RULES OF THE LIEBSTER AWARD

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT, write a blog post about the Liebster Award in which you:

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog. Try to include a little promotion for the person who nominated you. They will thank you for it and those who you nominate will also help you out as well.
2. Display the award on your blog — by including/displaying it in your post. The best way to do this is to save the image to your PC and then upload it to your blog post. There is plenty of Liebster Award pictures on the internet.
3. Answer the 10 questions about yourself that your nominating blogger chooses for you.
4. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award. These must be rather new bloggers. The definition of “new bloggers” is not really clear. I would suggest to nominate these with less than 3000 followers. I also strongly recommend to contact all bloggers which you have nominated and ask then if they accept the award. Be aware that not all bloggers want to play this game and some may refuse your nomination.
5. Create a list of questions for your nominated bloggers to answer.
6. Explain rules of The Liebster Award in your post.
7. Once you have written and published your post inform the people/blogs that you nominated that your post is finished so they can continue the chain and nominate next bloggers.
8. Very important ! Enjoy winning an award and pass this great feeling to your nominees!