Answering Some Questions: the Outstanding Blogger Awards

I was nominated for the Outstanding Blogger Award and asked some interesting questions regarding the topics of blogging and travelling. Check the article if you’re curious about my answers!

The lovely Tanja of the blog “The Red Phone Box Travels” was so kind to nominate me for the Outstanding Blogger Award. As you can gather from the blog’s name, Tanja is very fond of London, but other than about the UK capital city, she also writes about other inspiring locations she has visited over the years and her wonderful country Croatia. Head over her blog to find out more about her!

But let’s answer Tanja’s questions for me!

Why did you start blogging?

Despite having loved to write basically since forever (for the joy of my father, even on the kitchen’s walls), I hadn’t written, nor let anyone read my stuff for many years. The first article I tried to put out in the world was (guess what) a travel log for the middle school’s gazette.

The director of the gazette was the School Principal himself (Italian gerontocracy at its finest) and I remember, while in 7^th grade, taking the courage in both hands and submitting my first ever article, which was focused on the Delta del Po Botanical Garden.

I would have never imagined the outcome: the Principal received the article, literally run into the classroom, interrupting the literature lesson (!), and started to read it in front of the entire class with the intent, I guess, of embarrassing me. Apparently it was not suitable, as it was “too emotional”.

He left with the promise I would have written a new standard article with “a list of things to do and practical info”, which I never kept (of course). It didn’t matter that my teacher and the class vocally dissented from the Principal’s opinion when he read my work in front of them: I never submitted an article to the gazette ever again, because a single negative comment weighted more than twenty positive ones.

Flash forward to many years later, when employed in a job where I was also supposed to manage the company’s blog and newsletter, I was never allowed to publish anything by the boss, who clearly had some control issues.

In the end I figured out that, in order to avoid any sort of censorship, I had to have a place on my own, where I could write what I wanted. That’s basically how the blog was born.

What souvenirs do you buy on your travels?

Back in the days I used to buy things like magnets and postcards (I also used to collect postcards), but nowadays I opt for things like local food or typical handmade stuff if there’s something that I particularly like. I’m not much into shopping to be honest, I’m quite frugal, but when I buy something I definitely opt for high quality stuff. I’m quite Italian in that sense: poco ma buono.

Name your top five cities that you’ve visited.

This is a super-hard question for me, as I’m not able to classify cities or destinations in general. They always say capital cities aren’t usually representative of their countries, yet, in this instance, I would probably pick them (Rome, London, Paris, Vienna etc.), as I’m basically a country girl very fond of trekking and nature, and capital cities definitely represent a change of scenery for me. I don’t lose my fondness of walking even there, though!

What’s the best dessert you’ve ever had on your travels?

Pastiera Napoletana has always been a favourite dessert of mine, but trying it in Naples has surely been an highlight.

Have you ever travelled somewhere by boat? (Ferries, cruise ships, river boats etc.)

I’m from Veneto, so every time us veneti have to go to our capital city, Venice, and move around, the local ferry called vaporetto is basically compulsory. Then, I once crossed Garda, the largest Italian lake, through a three hours-long boat ride and I can mention my Greek experience, when I had to get to secluded bays only reachable via sea. I travelled on board of small boats, captained by barefoot and tanned fishermen, who looked like characters from a novel.

Do you have a favourite travel movie/book?

I’m going to mention Chatwin and Walter Bonatti (a famous Italian mountaineer and explorer) as favourite writers of adventure travel books. Among movies I pick Into the Wild, surely more on focus that its literary version, and with a moving original soundtrack by Eddie Vedder.

What are you looking forward to when the lockdown/covid-19 restrictions in your country finish?

This whole COVID ordeal has been pretty traumatic and I’m not one of those claiming that she’s going to do everything as soon as the restrictions will be lifted. If we can manage to be honest with ourselves, we have to admit that many of us are not in a good place mentally and I think we will need time to readjust to the newfound freedom.

Having said that, I’ve found myself dreaming about going back to live music events. Music has been one of the few things that have kept me sane in this period and I have to say I do miss that incredible energy and atmosphere that the crowds at a concert are able to create. 

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That’s all with my answers! Thanking again Tanja, here you are the list of my nominations:

Manja Mexi Mexcessive

Karen of Calabria, The Other Italy

Lulu of Calabrisella Mia

Cristina of Un Po’ di Pepe

My questions:

• What made you start blogging?

• Which are your favourite articles in your blog so far?

• Travel buddies or solo-travelling?

• Favourite dishes you discovered during your travels.

• Destinations in Italy which are in your bucket list.

• Did travel make you reconsider some cultural aspects of your own country?

• Do you listen to podcasts and, if yes, which ones would you recommend?

Rules:

For those of you who are up for participating, here are the rules: provide a link to the creator’s original award post; answer the questions provided; create 7 unique questions; nominate up to 10 bloggers; ensure that they are aware of their nomination.

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Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts! Thanks for reading!

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