I’ll start with a huge thank you to fellow blogger Image Earth Travel for nominating me for a Sunshine Blogger Award, it’s a huge compliment and quite an honour. Thank you very much indeed!! 🔆💛

I must also offer an equally huge apology for only just getting around to properly accepting it. Honestly, it means a lot to get positive feedback from other bloggers, please skip over to the Image Earth Travel blog when you get a chance, her content is brilliant, so it’s all the more flattering that she nominated me for one of these awards.

What is the Sunshine Blogger Award? 🔆

“The Blogosphere community holds several awards that bloggers use to nominate a blog in appreciation for its creative, inspiring, or motivational content.”

“The award also helps other bloggers receive recognition and free exposure for their blogs.”

Award’s Rules 🌻

There are some basic rules to follow if you decide to participate:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you and link their blog so everyone can visit.
• Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you.
• Nominate 11 other bloggers and ask them 11 new questions.
• Notify the nominees by commenting on their blog post.
• List the rules and display the Award logo on your blog post.

Questions from Image Earth Travel to Cherryl’s Blog🌻

Question 1: Do WordPress WordAds displayed in a post annoy you?

Yes they do – and I’m not sure they’re even worth having – we’re all more suspicious about clicking on links so I’m not sure how useful they are these day to be honest.

Question 2: What’s your best travel experience?

My best travel experiences are usually the ones where I’m really tired afterwards because I’ve made the most of my time to explore and experience as much as possible, and the memories make it worth the tiredness afterwards, then I end up needing a ‘relaxing holiday’ to recover lol.

My time in Cuba was mainly early starts and long days on the road going from place to place and covering a lot of ground, across many contrasting regions of the island.

I loved the place – I’d never been anywhere like it, that ‘back in time’ feeling was surreal. The music, the buildings, the horses and carts, vintage cars, the colours, the history, the cobbled streets of Trinidad against the buzz of Havana…….

I’ve remained curious about Cuba, wanting to see more of it ever since I returned home (all being well, I’ll be back).

What’s your worst travel experience?

Gosh, let me think.

Probably Tunisia, because we went around a week after a terrorist attack and felt scared to venture too far from the hotel, so ended up not really exploring Tunisia at all. You can’t enjoy a holiday when you’re nervous and on edge.

A few days after returning to the UK, another terrorist attack took place on the very beach we had been staying on – along the same hotel strip – very scary and haunting, both before and after.

What types of blogs do you follow?

All sorts – whatever interests, grabs my curiosity, entertains me or resonates with something about me. I’m not one of those bloggers who only follow those in a certain niche, though I do follow a lot of travel bloggers by default. I follow food bloggers, book bloggers, lifestyle bloggers and more. Bloglovin is another great source for finding bloggers.

Do you prefer an itinerary with everything pre-booked or do you wing it when you travel?

I admire those who wing it, and I’m sure they get an exciting thrill and sense of freedom that’s enviable, but I need to have my accommodation booked before I start packing my suitcase. When I arrive at my destination I usually organise trips/excursions locally, but sometimes I’ve pre-booked an excursion online before flying – especially if I want to do the activity the day after I arrive.

I usually have a list of all the key things I want to do and see while I’m there, and sometime use a weekly planner to plot everything out.

I’ve swaped hotels on quite a few occasions (in mid stay ) or changed the number of days I’ve stayed in a certain region upon changing my mind about the place. Having accommodation booked beforehand makes me feel more secure, and frees me up to relax and enjoy!

What is the most dangerous situation that you encountered whilst travelling?

Apart from travelling to Tunisia in between two deadly terrorist attacks, nothing really springs to mind.

Well actually, driving in the night through pitch black unlit, deeply pot holed roads in Jamaica with a driver who drove without a seatbelt at what seemed like 80mph+ and checking their phone while they were at it – pretty terrifying and never to be repeated again I can assure you (because I know the driver, and they don’t speak to me anymore after I ‘had a go at them’ about it).

Do you listen to background music when writing or prefer complete silence?

I need and prefer silence, or a background sound, like rain, to block out any background noises around me (there’s lots of those soothing sounds on Youtube).

I also use a pair of noise cancelling headphones to help at times (they’re great on flights too).

What do you enjoy most about blogging?

The knowledge that someone found one of my posts useful, inspiring or enjoyed the photographs – then it wasn’t a waste of time.

Roughly how many hours each week to you dedicate to writing blog posts?

A lot – most evenings I spend at least a couple of hours, and I’m always coming up with new post ideas before finishing old ones – so I have hundreds of draft posts in WordPress waiting to be started or finished, or waiting to be completed after a corresponding trip, event or activity.

How often do you publish a post?

One per week on average, but there are some weeks where this does’t happen. I try to auto schedule a posts in advance if I know I’m going to really busy or away.

I also auto post on twitter and my facebook page to help myself out, otherwise it can all get too much when you have other full time commitments during the week.

How many posts would you like to see published each month from a favourite blog you’re following?

Four per month, one per week is fine – though I know sometimes it’s hard to keep pushing out new content. I’d rather get quality over quantity – and wouldn’t stop following a blogger if they went quiet for a while.

Weekends are usually when I get a chance to catch up with new posts. Sometimes I might go for a few weeks without looking at any blogs and then have a binge day to catch up – so bloggers, there’s no pressure!

My Nominees for a Sunshine Blogger Award are: (this was really hard) 🌻🔆

1. Alexis Chateau

2. Charliecountryboy’s Blog

3. Expedition Overlanding Nomadic Adventures

4. DiyWithJoy

5. From the Notebook

5. Iscriblr

7. Memoirs and Musings

8. Museum Mum

9. Ordinarily Extraordinary Mom

10. Salted Caramel

11. Silly Old Sod

My Questions to my to the 11 Nominees 🌻🔆

Question 1 What inspired you to start blogging?

Question 2 Have you inspired anyone you know to start a blog?

Question 3 What has been your biggest blogging learning curve this year?

Question 4 Where do you see your blog in five years time?

Question 5 Do you blog/write full time for a living – as a main profession – if so, what was the main turning point?

Question 6 Tell us your biggest pet peeve about bloggers?

Question 7 What is the biggest tip you would give to bloggers trying to become ‘more successful’ bloggers?

Question 8 Have you had any of your writing published by a magazine or newspaper etc editor – is so, please share a some links if you can, I’d love to read them?

Question 9 Do you have any experiences of solo travel?

Question 10 Describe your most memorable travel experience and reasons why?

Question 11 What has been your most disappointing travel experience and why?