Travelers and their “Firsts”

It has taken me a few more days to put this together due to some late submissions and my increased work load in my day job. I couldn’t accommodate more submissions though because I have set a deadline. I hope you enjoy whatever I have compiled in this blog carnival for blogcarnival.com.

What does it feel to experience your first snow? Or travel to a new place on your own? Or walk the streets of an unfamiliar place? Or speak a foreign language?

When we travel, we often see, feel, or do things we don’t normally do in our usual routine. It may seem intimidating at first, but later on, when you get the hang of it, you learn to embrace the experience. I have enjoyed reading the articles submitted to the blog carnival I posted, especially of places that I haven’t set foot yet.

International Woman wrote about “visiting Semuc Champey in Guatemala for the first time with my 6-year-old son. Showing him this wonder, hiking with him and then taking a swim is what travel is all about.” She described their family adventure in this exotic place, enjoying the enticing pool of water, particularly the river flowing underground in a natural limestone bridge.

You might get excited to pack your back and head to Austin, Texas with Cisko Picks’ submission. “The people are unbelievably friendly, the outdoors are awesome and there is always something going on when it comes to entertainment,” he shared.

“When initially arriving in Austin the plan was to only stay for a week or two. After my second week, I realized that I had fallen in love with the city, its people, the beautiful landscape and the great food. I ended up staying for almost 3 months!” By his article, you might not help but also fall in love with the place.

Tipskey – Unlock Practicality, on the other hand, shared Korean words with pronunciation and English translation, which could prove useful for travelers who plan to visit Korea.

Byteful Travel also shared another list of 10, which is the Top 10 Sublime Sights at the International Rose Test Garden in Portland. Those who read his blog will be enticed to visit this place. And if you have plans going there, take a tip from Byteful Travel, “If you visit Portland during the warmer months, you’d be a giant homunculus if you didn’t consider visiting the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park. Portland isn’t called the “City of Roses” for nothing! Not only is this amazing experience free of charge; but it’s easy to access via Portland’s light rail, and it takes less than an afternoon to explore.”

Women traveling solo is no longer uncommon, yet, it still seem peculiar. “It’s me, Zhu. I’m a laowài, a foreigner, a white woman, an object of curiosity. An oddity in the streets of Hong Kong” was how Zhu began her article From Laowai to Canadian.

“My quest seemed pretty easy to me. I wanted to see the world and find a new home. Could have been anywhere on earth – I just wanted to belong somewhere…During the next three years, I was a traveler. I was a lambda backpacker in Australia and New Zealand, a Latina in Central and South America, immersed in sounds, colors, accents and the road, the omnipresent road we were following, miles of concrete, sand or gravel,” she wrote.

Nicole Elena Robertson shared in her blog her solo travel to London. “Being on my own in big cities like this feels so lonely to me,” she wrote. She wandered London’s streets on her own and took photos of the city, capturing the night lights, which she posted on her site. “I think the photos ended up reflecting the feeling of being alone and out of place in a busy, urban environment,” she added. True enough, when I visited her submission, the photos tugged at my heart as if London, too, was craving for some company.

Emma, of Gohemian Travellers, is embarking on a solo first-time trip around the world next March. But in her blog carnival submission, she wrote about her amazing winter in Chicago. “To be part of Chicago history like that, was an incredible experience. And I truly believe that a Chicago winter is worth experiencing,” Emma wrote.

We both share our passion for travel and travel books. Like her, I hope to fill my bookshelf with Lonely Planet books (I hope to write my own Lonely Planet guidebook, too. Our Lonely Planet bloggers e-book is a good start.)

I admire her courage to travel by herself. I can almost relate to her when she remarked, “Some places I guess would be a bit taken a back by the whole asking for a ‘table for one’ which is weird really, my attitude is I’m payin, so don’t judge me for being a singleton!”

While winter seem lonesome, Quiet Wanderings also enjoyed this season, especially her first snow in various places. In her article, “I saw snow for the first time in 2001 in Vancouver. I awoke one morning to find a much whiter world than the night before and the tiny feathery flakes were still falling…10 years, and literally mountains of snow later, the novelty still hasn’t worn off. I still get just as excited as I did that first day.”

So when she felt snow in Prague, she found herself glad to be in this place in the middle of winter despite unsolicited advice given to her to visit the city on a summer.

It was an interesting blog carnival and found myself reading and rereading their submissions. I, too, hope to experience my first snow or visit the places they’ve shared. And for those planning their first trips to the Philippines, I assure you that my country has so many things in store for you.