2011 in Review: The Good, the Bad and the Best Links of the Year

Posted on 29. Dec, 2011 by Steph in Links, Resources

Well, it’s the end of the year again. It’s been a pretty crazy year for me (maybe for you too?) and looking back I can hardly believe everything I got up to in the past 12 months.

Bangkok New Years

 I celebrated last New Year’s in Bangkok, drinking buckets and dancing on Koh San Road. The first three months of the year was spent exploring Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. I got to spend several months living in China (and managed to learn zero Chinese). I also got a chance to explore Hong Kong and Macau, and all of this was just the first 6 months of the year!

This summer, after attending TBEX in Vancouver, I was able to spend a couple of months at home and exploring the US. I also went on my first press trip to Mazatlan, Mexico. Then I rounded out the year with three months in Colombia and Ecuador and I’ll be celebrating this Saturday night with some other travel blogger friends on the beach in Montanita Ecuador.

Lebanese Food in Ecuador

So in summary: 11 countries, 8 of them new, 260 days abroad, 24 extra passport pages and a LOT of freaking blog entries. Not too shabby.

This has been the first year that I’ve made my living solely as a blogger. It’s been, well a lot of work, and a lot of uncertainty, but just when I get discouraged something happens to make it all worthwhile. In 2011 I’ve had higher traffic and made more money than ever before. I’ve been featured places like Yahoo news and been offered some neat press trips (which unfortunately I’ve mostly had to turn down because of my own inconvenient travel plans). I’ve made progress selling some freelance articles and even landed a chapter in a book!

It’s been good but there is definitely a LOT to do. I’m dedicating 2012 to my business, really focusing hard on growing the blog. Travel-wise I’m not really sure where 2012 will take me. I’ll be in South America until probably June: hitting up Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and maybe/hopefully Uruguay and Chile. I’d like to spend some time exploring the US and after that? Who knows. Just going to see where the wind takes me.

Hong Kong at night

Enough about me though. Since I’m sure a lot of you are stuck at work, killing time until you can go party your socks off New Years style, I got my butt off the beach long enough to put together a list of some of the best travel posts of 2011. These are culled from my monthly round-up posts  and are the pieces of writing that I thought really stood out this year:

Best Blog Posts of the Year

The Children of Cambodia- Alex in Wonderland- The adorable street children of Cambodia represent a really complex social problem. There’s no real right answer to how to deal with them, but Alex has some good tips.

A Brief Education: The Dark Side of the Elephant Tourism Industry- D Travels Round- A sad must read for anyone considering riding an elephant on their travels.

A Night At Costa Rica’s Famous Brothel- Brendan’s Adventures- I have a lot of mixed feelings about foreign tourists and local prostitutes. I really liked Brendan’s more neutral take while spending the night in a known prostitution hotel.

And You May Ask Yourself ‘How Did I get Here?’- Ephemera and Detritus-Traveling has really forced my to examine my own sense of privilege and consider the advantages I have from being born where I was, to who I was. I really like this exploration of that.

What Happens When Your Once in a Lifetime Adventure is Over?- The Fearful Adventurer- So you plan this great big trip and you have an amazing time and then you come home and… now what?

How Not to Die in a Plane Crash- The Awl- This article is just hilarious… unless you are afraid of flying I guess.

Finders, Weepers- Nerds Eye View- Written directly after the death of Osama Bin Laden. I think being a travel gives you a unique perspective of how this actually changes the world we live in (probably not much). I really dug Pam’s perspective on things.

Goodbye Southeast Asia- Lonely Girl Travels- I love this bittersweet almost-a-poem recounting of all the things that make SE Asia so unique.

Condiments and Table Spices Around the World- Legal Nomads- Jodi writes some awesome stuff. I really liked this reflection on food, travel and table salt.

 What was your favorite travel post this year?

Tags: housekeeping, lists