{"id":528,"date":"2012-03-16T06:47:36","date_gmt":"2012-03-16T06:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=528"},"modified":"2012-10-14T20:15:17","modified_gmt":"2012-10-14T20:15:17","slug":"highlighted-article-what-blogging-steals-from-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/highlighted-article-what-blogging-steals-from-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlighted article: What blogging steals from travel"},"content":{"rendered":"

After checking out the article on the Matador website, it made me wonder a bit about traveling and our traveling routines (and habits).<\/p>\n

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Are we traveling just to take pictures, the \u201cbest pictures ever\u201d? One friend told me one time, \u201cI don\u2019t take pictures when I travel. I would rather enjoy the moment instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are we traveling just to take a \u201ccool\u201d photo that I am going to post on Facebook to \u201cshow-off\u201d all my friends?<\/p>\n

And like the author of the Matador article, is he just traveling to write a blog entry?<\/p>\n

What are the rules of traveling then?\u00a0 What are the things you \u201cmust do\u201d and what are the things you are doing that are not on that list and that possibly take away from the things on that list?<\/p>\n

Some people say that one \u201cmust do\u201d on the list is to eat the local food.\u00a0 Others say that you \u201cmust\u201d interact with the locals as much as you can (see the video highlight of Rick Steves on our blog).\u00a0 I have friends who are over 40 and still make it a point to stay at hostels so that they can \u201crough\u201d it and thus being more \u201cin tune\u201d to the host country more and being able to interact with the other travelers there that also want to be more \u201cin tune.\u201d\u00a0 That is a \u201cmust do\u201d for them.<\/p>\n

Some people just travel to see and be on the beach.\u00a0 Relaxing every day at the hotel possibly at an all inclusive resort.\u00a0 Are those people getting out of traveling like they \u201cshould\u201d or are their separate trips abroad that are just for relaxing and \u201cgetting away\u201d?<\/p>\n

And then there is the Amazing Race show.\u00a0 Who doesn\u2019t like the Amazing Race show?\u00a0 It is like all our dreams coming true (with regards to traveling and exploring the world).\u00a0 But time and time again I meet people who say that sure these teams are traveling the world, but they aren\u2019t really interacting with the host country people and culture at all.\u00a0 The teams are not in the cities long enough to really see what the culture is all about.\u00a0 They are not able to be \u201cpresent\u201d to fully take in where they are and what they are experiencing.\u00a0 I am not for sure I agree.\u00a0 I really feel like there is definitely something the teams are getting out of their traveling.\u00a0 It may not be the same experience as if you are traveling somewhere for 3 weeks and having a home stay at a local family\u2019s house, but sure it is another form a traveling that could possibly be just as rewarding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower. I wasn\u2019t too impressed.\u201d\u00a0 If you are working at an international school in Europe, you might have said to your other international school teacher friends, \u201cAfter traveling to many cities in Europe, they are all starting to look the same.\u201d\u00a0 Some times traveling naturally gets to this point.\u00a0 Not that you stay at this point and never go back, but I think when you travel as much as international school teachers do, it is bound to happen at some point.\u00a0 Because when you travel too much, sometimes the \u201croutines\u201d that you experience when traveling have a similar feeling to each other.\u00a0 Check into the hotel.\u00a0 Go into the famous church there.\u00a0 Look at the Eiffel Tower.\u00a0 Eat out at restaurants every night.\u00a0 Go to the Starbucks!\u00a0 It just might just start all appearing to be the same trip.<\/p>\n

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I used to have a blog.\u00a0 It was about all my trips.\u00a0 I started it originally about my experiences living abroad after moving to my first international school, but my interest in it soon waned as I found myself being less and less \u201cexcited\u201d about my day to day experiences living in the host country.\u00a0 The blog turned into a travel blog basically as I ended up posting entries about my travels. I remember thinking\u2026well I have to edit all my photos.\u00a0 And then after editing, I have to write insightful things about those photos and publish them (the best ones) on my blog.\u00a0 My friends and family actually really liked my blog.\u00a0 They loved reading my entries and looking at my photos.\u00a0 My aunt even printed out all the blog entries that were on the blog and put them into an album.\u00a0 She gave the album of my blog entries to my mother as a present!<\/p>\n

BUT\u2026.I had to stop.\u00a0 I really started to dread it.\u00a0 Did I take it out on my traveling and stop enjoying my trips to the fullest?\u00a0 Probably not that much, but it might have affected my travels.\u00a0 I can\u2019t image actually writing the blog every day of your trip (like how the Matador author might be doing) and then having the pressure to write insightful entries and publish an entry each day for a blog.\u00a0 For sure that might take away a bit from his traveling experience and being \u201cpresent\u201d on his trip.<\/p>\n

I think that every one travels for their own reasons.\u00a0 Somebody\u2019s reasons for traveling might not be exactly the same as the next person\u2019s reasons.\u00a0 Most people in the \u201creal world\u201d aren\u2019t actually able to travel as much as we do (international school educators) and surely we shouldn\u2019t take that fact for granted.\u00a0 Maybe a good idea is to make one or two traveling goals before you embark on your trip.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m going to try and interact more with the host country people.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI am going to travel more of the local cuisine when I choose which restaurants that I eat at.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After checking out the article on the Matador website, it made me wonder a bit about traveling and our traveling routines (and habits). Are we traveling just to take pictures, the \u201cbest pictures ever\u201d? One friend told me one time, \u201cI don\u2019t take pictures when I travel. I would rather enjoy the moment instead.\u201d Are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[929,52,40,42,1053,29,1054,186,1055,287,288,1056],"class_list":["post-528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-highlighted-articles","tag-amazing-race","tag-blog","tag-culture-shock","tag-expat-life","tag-experiences-living-abroad","tag-international-school","tag-international-school-education","tag-international-school-teacher","tag-travel-blog","tag-traveling","tag-traveling-abroad","tag-why-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-8w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":127,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/survey-results-are-in-how-many-countries-have-you-traveled-to-so-far-this-year-in-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":528,"position":0},"title":"Survey results are in \u2013 How many countries have you traveled to so far this year? (in 2011)","author":"ISCommunity","date":"January 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The survey results are in, and it seems as if most visitors and members of International School Community have been to 1-3 countries in 2011.\u00a0 We were thinking that people would have traveled to more countries as a typical international school teacher travels many times throughout the year, especially during\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Surveys"","block_context":{"text":"Surveys","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/surveys\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/screen-shot-2011-12-31-at-10-47-30-am.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1338,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/survey-results-are-in-where-are-you-spending-your-extra-money-while-teaching-abroad\/","url_meta":{"origin":528,"position":1},"title":"Survey results are in: Where are you spending your ‘extra’ money while teaching abroad?","author":"ISCommunity","date":"September 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0survey results\u00a0are in, and it seems as if most visitors and members of\u00a0International School Community\u00a0who voted are spending their 'Extra' money on traveling, clothes and food. I guess it comes as no surprise that international school teachers are traveling a lot. \u00a0If we have the time and means to do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Surveys"","block_context":{"text":"Surveys","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/surveys\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/09\/screen-shot-2012-09-15-at-1-47-10-pm.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6426,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/life-of-an-international-teacher-the-dream-to-traveling-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":528,"position":2},"title":"Fulfilling the Dream to Travel the World","author":"ISCommunity","date":"June 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Most people can probably relate to the fact that you don't get to travel the world very much when you are a teacher in your home country (and definitely before you start your career in teaching). For me personally, I had only been able to travel to 10 different countries\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Highlighted Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Highlighted Articles","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/highlighted-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/airport-731196_640.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/airport-731196_640.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/airport-731196_640.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3351,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/new-survey-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":528,"position":3},"title":"New Survey: Where are you traveling during the summer break?","author":"ISCommunity","date":"May 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A new survey has arrived! Topic:\u00a0\u00a0Where are you traveling during the summer break? It's what every teacher is (un) patiently waiting for right now...the summer break! \u00a0So many weeks, so many places to visit! If you are lucky and are working somewhere that allows you a lot of money for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Surveys"","block_context":{"text":"Surveys","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/surveys\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Screen-Shot-2014-05-14-at-10.14.49-PM.png?fit=553%2C470&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Screen-Shot-2014-05-14-at-10.14.49-PM.png?fit=553%2C470&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Screen-Shot-2014-05-14-at-10.14.49-PM.png?fit=553%2C470&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":220,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/new-survey-how-many-countries-have-you-traveled-to-so-far-this-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":528,"position":4},"title":"New survey: How many countries have you traveled to so far this year?","author":"ISCommunity","date":"November 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A new survey has arrived!\u00a0 Topic:\u00a0 How many countries have you traveled to so far this year? \u00a0 Do you find yourself traveling to more than five new countries each year? 10 new countries? If you are an international school teacher that answer just might just be yes. \u00a0One international\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Surveys"","block_context":{"text":"Surveys","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/surveys\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/img_6389.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/img_6389.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1 1x, https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/img_6389.jpg?w=525&h=300&crop=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":430,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/the-amazing-race-of-international-school-teaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":528,"position":5},"title":"\u201cThe Amazing Race\u201d of International School Teaching","author":"ISCommunity","date":"May 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cIf only my life could be like The Amazing Race!\u201d I say that to myself all the time. 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