The Liebster Award. It sounds a little fancy at first. If you’re waiting for a trophy like the Oscar or Grammy now, I will have to let you down. It is another way to present my blog and me – the person behind the scenes of Unbridled. Silke by safetravels.de gave me the honor and nominated me – thank you again! She asked me 11 questions, and I am going to answer them today.
1. How did you get around to start with blogging?
If I look close I started a private blog, when I did my study abroad semester in Hawai’i. This one was only for friends and family to keep them informed about my adventures and daily life in paradise.
In a more professional manner, the idea of this blog came up in November last year. This time I wanted to share my experiences and adventures to become a digital nomad with everyone. In October I will move out of my room in Berlin, sell everything and live out of a backpack for my first longterm workation. I hope I can inspire my readers to another lifestyle and rethink the way of working in this modern society. It doesn’t always have to be the classic 9 to 5 job. It just takes a little more courage to try it.
2. Are you working on your blog alone or do you have a team?
Straight and short answer: yes.
Writing, website design, emails, newsletter, and social media – I do everything by myself.
Here and then I get some help, when I am facing difficult issues with coding and website design. As a becoming computer scientist my boyfriend knows about it more, so he helps me, if I need him.
3. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – how important is social media for you?
Sometimes I believe I am part of the elder generation, even if I am not quite old.
On social media, I am not as present as other blogger colleagues. I still have to learn a lot about this! I am using Instagram only for a couple of months now – same with Pinterest. I am still not getting along with Twitter, but I shall give it a try soon.
However, I am spending more time with social media as I am with writing.
Instagram is my favorite though – I am posting daily, because I love pictures!
4. Hard shell cases or travel bag?
For these choices: Hard shell case.
But usually I am traveling with my backpack – flexible and handy.
There is not such a risk of packing or buying too many things, because it doesn’t fit into the backpack. Above all you don’t want to carry too much on your shoulders – unless you look green and be known by the name Hulk.
A backpack helps me to focus on the important things. When I pack a suitcase, I always add 2 extra pairs of shoes and 10 extra T-shirts. In the end I don’t need them at all.
5. What is the most important thing in Hotels or Motels, which can’t be missing?
WIFI!!!
That’s the most important! Followed by a hot shower, a flushing toilet and cleanliness.
I cannot work, watch movies or contacts my loved ones without wifi.
So no wifi would be a huge no-go to me. For the rest: I am not really picky and don’t care about luxury. I am pretty relaxed and rather spend my money for diving, other activities or an ice-cold beer – optional a glass of white wine 😉
6. Is there a tradition or rite, with which your journeys always start or end?
Start: Packing my backpack?! No clue, if this counts. I don’t have any tradition or rite.
End: If I am going back to Germany – eating a Döner. Especially after long trips or study abroad semesters I am craving for this delicious food! It may not sound special or weird, but it’s the truth.
7. What person inspired you in your life the most?
My daddy.
I just noticed this a few weeks ago. His life showed me to not wait till the end of life to comply life goals. Sometimes it ends earlier as expected. This is why I live in the present and not in the future, nor past. I don’t postpone my goals into the high age or to “one day I will…” That’s the reason, why I start after graduation – not wasting more years to see the world.
8. What life goal have you achieved, which you thought you could never achieve?
It is literally awaiting me.
What I am planning to do, is something I thought, I never would be able to do. So now my fingers are crossed, that I will achieve this goal!
I am very excited, when I think about it! Soon my boyfriend will be graduated as well. Then we can finally start our new life together.
9. Has there been an unpleasant event in your life, which changed you positively?
Yes, there were many unpleasant events in my biography. The worst was in the age of 17, when my dad passed away.
Looking back, I have to admit that such hard moments in life just make you stronger. I became independent way earlier, I am setting myself goals and achieve them by working on them really hard. It also benefitted the bonding of my sisters and me. Such a tragic fate is never easy to overcome, but at least our lives continue. So we should make the best out of it and live to the fullest every second! Wela ka hao! (Hawaiian: Just do it now!)
10. If you were a Hollywood celebrity, who’d you be?
Puuuhh, what a question… I honestly don’t know. I am really really bad in gossip, celebs, names etc… I never got into it. I love watching movies, but I cannot name the characters. I can just say in which movie they have been played before.
Yeah, I could google to present a better answer, but wouldn’t this be cheating? So I skip this question and say: NEXT! 😉
11. What is on the top of your bucket list?
In a timely manner: US tour through plenty of National Parks. We just started it. A road trip across the country. So far we have been near Boston, in the Watkins Glen State Park, at the American side of the Niagara Falls, in Washington D.C., North Carolina, Smoky Mountains, Nashville, and now near Louisville. We’ve got 2 months. It’s like a teen dream of mine. After this trip I can check a lot of National Parks and states from my bucket list.
In an importance manner: it’s Papua New Guinea. This is on my list since my childhood. In primary school we’ve read a story about the tribes and the tree houses. Back then I decided that I wanted to visit this island.
Now I can announce my nominees for the the Liebster Award
Nuria by Where Is Nuria
Marsha by World Within Her
I came up with some questions, I hope will have fun with them:
- What motivation led you start with blogging?
- About what do you like to write the most? Is there something more special than traveling?
- What was your first travel trip in your life, you can remember?
- Where in the world did you lost your heart?
- What is your favorite activity, when you are traveling and why?
- What do you prefer: Short trips or long-term traveling?
- What ist he most important in your baggage? What would you never forget to pack?
- How would a perfect day in your daily life look like?
- Have you ever had a culture shock?
- How do you think about travel ethics: Would you do everything, which is offered at a certain place or do refuse some touristic offers (e.g. riding elephants)?
- And last but not least, the most important question: What makes you happy?
Rules to participate in 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:
- Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.
- Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.
- Nominate 3 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, which have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)
- Create a new list of 11 questions for the blogger to answer.
- List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:
- Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)
- You can find the logo for the Liebster Award here. Include it in your blog post.
