This big onus has set upon me. I have been nominated for the Liebster Award by the very kind Andrew, blogging at World Journeys. I take this opportunity to thank him for thinking I am worthy of this and am more than happy to take this ahead.

Here are my answers for World Journeys:

1/ What’s the country you most want to visit that you haven’t visited yet?

Undoubtedly, New Zealand.

2/ Why (do you want to visit it)?

For the picture perfect landscape. New Zealand seems like the ideal destination for any mountain-lover with the azure blue skies, white snow-clad mountains and meandering roads to nowhere. It is also a haven for adventure junkies. New Zealand seems to have everything it takes to be awesome!

3/ What is the most awkward situation you’ve found yourself in when travelling?

I travelled to hinterlands of Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, India last year and was slightly shocked to see the compost pit toilets. Of course, I have studied about it and respect the science behind it. I also knew that they would be present, but reality doesn’t hit me till it hits me! After my initial awkwardness, I had made peace with them and loved how self-sustaining the village is.

4/ What’s the one thing in your pack you never go travelling without, and why?

My Swiss army knife, primarily because it makes me feel safe and the number of utility functions.

5/ How has your blog changed since you began it?

I can be quite fickle-minded when it comes to my blog. Initially, it started off by being an online space to share my travelogues and experiences. The more I got involved, I saw a greater need to provide a few guides, such as places to eat, how to get there and similar practical information. I now try to write about those, though my travelogues (personal journeys section) comes more naturally to me.

Also, since I photograph extensively, I wanted to showcase the images I take while on the road. Hence, the theme has changed into something more visually appealing. Blogging seems to be an evolving process and I hope to develop it only for the better :)

6/ What’s the most satisfying thing about blogging?

Reaching out to people. As a solo traveller, it gets awfully tough not having someone to make memories with. Blogging works as a motivation to remember these experiences and sharing it with people across countries.

7/ What camera do you use and why would/why wouldn’t you recommend it?

I use a film camera (Nikon F80 with 50mm lens) and a Sony Cybershot. The former is for my personal expression of landscape photography and the latter feeds in photos for my blog and other write-ups. Both are excellent if you can manage the elaborate and expensive process of film photography and if you’re not shooting under low light conditions, as far as the Cybershot is concerned.

8/ What’s the most relaxing place you’ve visited?

The third deck or the highest level of the Eiffel Tower, Paris.

9/ What’s the most dangerous situation you’ve been in whilst travelling?

Driving on our way back from Kaza to Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India. The dangerous roads in this route were scary and it had been raining the whole day to make things worse. We crossed a few cars which had broken down and I kept wondering if ours was next. Luckily, we crossed the three treacherous waterfalls and finally made it to the safe Grampho towards Rohtang Pass.

10/ What’s your biggest travelling regret?

None yet.

Moving ahead, here are my 10 blog nominations. Now these are very popular blogs and followed widely, but each of them have inspired me at many levels and have great content.

Solo Traveler

Nomad Wallet

The Shooting Star

Desi Traveler

Northstalgia

I Dream of Itineraries

Audrey Bergner

Nupur Pradhan

The Working Traveller

Tracey Tullis

And these are the questions I’d like to ask them:

1/Where is your favourite place in the world? Why?

2/Is there a thing that you ritualistically bring home from your travels?

3/Which are your top 3 favourite travel bloggers?

4/If you were not travelling, where and what would you be doing?

5/What is your favourite memory from your travels?

6/What has been the most challenging experience yet?

7/Which is the one country you haven’t been to yet and would love to go to?

8/Pick one- mountains, forests, cities or beaches?

9/Which are your top 3 favourite destinations?

10/What does blogging mean to you?

Those are plenty of questions! I hope they don’t take much of your time :)

Thank you for stopping by and reading this. I would definitely recommend going through each of the blogs I have nominated. And thank you World Journeys once more, humbled.

Liebster rules:

-Share your gratitude and link back the blogger who has nominated you

-Answer their 10 questions

-Nominate 10 blogs

-Draft 10 questions of your own