Guide to UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Hello everyone! It has been 2 years since I started this blog and while that may seem like a lot, time has flown. But 55,000 views and about 180 posts later, I thank each and every one of you readers for sticking around. There are a lot of things I wanted to do on here that I never got around to, and plenty more which I started and ditched because of the extreme time commitment.
One such thing I decided to finish for this anniversary post, so, I present to you, the “Travel Timeline.” Read more
Wow! It’s been a whole year since I first started this blog. I know I said this on the last update, but I will say it again, I NEVER thought I would continue doing a blog for this long. I would like to thank each and every one of you readers who have made this possible. Seriously, I am obsessed with you guys! The first thing I do every morning is see how many views I’ve gotten by 9Am… yes… I know I have a problem, but please don’t leave me! 🙁
Anyways, given how this is Travel World Heritage’s anniversary, and by extension, my own… I wanted to share a few things. After thinking about it for 2 weeks now, I came up with… nothing… absolutely nothing. I thought of “my favorite posts,” “ten things about TWH you didn’t know,” or “a recap of 2013” but instead, I will just ramble about 10 things concerning all of those.
While I didn’t get to go to the Philippines, I did cross out two HUGE things off my bucket list. I finally visited Komodo National Park and Machu Picchu and both were just as amazing as I imagined. I am sure either of those are in many people’s lists and much like me, you probably have said “some day” way too many times. 2013 was long enough wait for me and I encourage you to make 2014 your year.
I initially moved to Korea to try something different. I didn’t want to be like everyone else in the corporate world and jumped on an alternative. Korea turned out to be so cozy and the money so good, that I have been here for 4 years. Come March though, my goal of being debt free will be accomplished and again, I am willing to take a risk to try something new. If all goes well…
My visa has come in and I am all ready to go to New Zealand to start a working holiday! However, one last hurdle remains. Sidney will be coming with me, and I have my fingers crossed that she too will be able to get a working visa in May. If all else fails, we will go to Australia… which isn’t a bad consolation prize so I’m not too concerned! Expect more posts from Oceania in the next few months after some intensive travel… which reminds me…
After March 1st, I plan to be unemployed and pretty much just chilling and traveling for a little over six months. It starts with a small vacation in Japan next week (6 days). Here is the full plan:
Jan 30 – Feb 4 Japan
Mar 1 – Apr 23 USA
Apr 24 – May 16 Korea
May 17 – July 14 South East Asia ( Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and MAYBE Malaysia)
July 15 – Early 2015 New Zealand or Australia
Not bad eh?
You might have noticed that I am a bit obsessed with numbers. While TWH hasn’t gotten ridiculous amounts of views, I am still honored that some of you find it worth a look. I might not have put forth the best travel stories, the most amazing (cough:: altered) pictures, nor been to the most exotic places. Nevertheless, I try to be as accurate, informative, and come on, my pictures aren’t THAT bad!
Anyways… after 11 months:
Total Views: ~ 23,000
Unique Visitors: ~ 13,000
Most Searched Key Phrase: “I hate Koreans” (seriously people, what’s your deal!)
Most Popular Post: Five AMAZING places you are FORBIDDEN from Visiting (Although 1500 of those came from reddit alone. Thanks Reddit!) 2,200 views
Least Popular Post: Bayon is Watching You! (My attempt at ‘interesting’ titles failed miserably) 6 views [Why did I even bother?]
One section that I started a few months ago was “Make a Difference.” It was meant to showcase charities, companies or individuals who I thought were worthy of your business as it would go to a good cause. Since its inception, TWH has promoted:
i) Awamaki – Helping Native Rural Peruvian Villages
ii) Vitalise Charity – Helping People with Disabilities go on Vacation
and
iii) Barang Hang – An awesome Tuk-Tuk Driver in Siem Reap near Angkor, and an even cooler person once you get to know him.
If you have something you think should be featured on this blog along these lines, let me know!
Also,
I would also like to establish a more direct charitable work over the next few years, and hopefully, get other travelers to help me out. If you are interested in helping those in need, stay tuned.
While I’m not a huge book guy, most of my free time is spent reading articles, top 10 lists, and the like. Here are the 5 best things I read in 2013:
i) 40 Maps To Will Help You Make Sense of the World (#2 and #17 are shocking, but the best is #36)
ii) 101 Incredible Rock Formations Around the World (I’ve been to 2 lol)
iii) Palmerson: The Island At The End of the Earth (A traveler’s dream)
iv) Elon Musk’s Hyperloop (The future of travel)
and the best
v) Return to the rainforest: A son’s search for his Amazonian mother (Just an incredible and eye-opening story)
You might have noticed that the site looks different. It went from a free template provided by WordPress to the paid “Explorer” template. The transition wasn’t as smooth as I imagined, especially since I am not a programmer. I will work on fixing things as quickly as I can. One thing I do like a lot is that the main page is map based, and although it might not be a very popular feature, I will give it some time and see what happens.
Blogging has gotten a lot smoother since I got this new computer, the Lenovo Yoga 2. This beast of a machine features an i7 4th gen intel chip, 512 GB SSD, and a 3200×1800 screen resolution. I will write a review on it after I test it on the road, but in short, it is by far the most powerful computer I have ever owned.
If you have been there since the beginning, or taken some time to look at the archives, you would see that my first post was on Feb 13th, 2013. In short, using Feb 1 really makes the math easier and it’s nice not to have the anniversary right before Valentine’s Day.