The Liebster Award – for Us!!!

Yippeeeeeee… Ticking the Bucketlist has been nominated for the Liebster Award! We have been nominated by Ben and Jazzy, the bloggers of Road Affair. Thank you guys!!!

That’s us… Ankur and I!

This is the first public acknowledgement that the blog has received and Ankur and I are truly delighted!

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What is the Liebster Award?

The Liebster Award nomination is given to bloggers by other bloggers who have less than 200 followers (used to be 1,000 followers erstwhile). As of date, Ticking the Bucketlist has 113 followers on Facebook. The nominations help the newbies, like us, in getting discovered in the vast blogshpere of the virtual world. Every budding blogger deserves to get the award at least once, agree?

Liebster Award Rules:

And of course, with a great award, comes great responsibilities, i.e the Liebster Award Rules:

• Acknowledge the blog who nominated you and display the award.
• Answer eleven questions that the blogger gives you
• Give eleven random facts about yourself
• Nominate (five – eleven) blogs that you think are deserving of the award (with less than 200 followers; used to be 1000 originally)
• Let the blogger know you have nominated them
• Give them eleven questions to answer

Road Affair’s questions for us:

What is your favourite country? Why?

Ankur’s favourite country is Greece. The blue waters, stunning beaches – black, white, red….sandy, rocky, pebbled….are ever so inviting. There is so much to explore – every island is different, waiting to be discovered.

Santorini, Greece

My favourite country is Turkey. I love the place for the warm people, rich culture, exciting history and oh….yum yum yum food, with plenty of variety even for us vegetarians!

Would you rather vacation at the beach or in the Mountains?

We have trekked the Himalayas. Ankur has visited Ladkah and Leh and has travelled on the highest motorable on Earth. I have scaled over 5000 meters of altitude in the Himalayan range. I think we have been ‘high’ on mountains earlier in our life.

Sairee Beach in Koh Tao, Thailand

As of now, it is only the blue and green waters of the sea that call us. Our favourite beaches are those on the atolls of Maldives. In terms of value for money, our favourite beach destination would be any island in Thailand.

Have you ever hitchhiked? If not, why not?

We haven’t hitch-hiked ever till date. We have never been able to get the comfort to do so. Maybe it is not the way to travel in India, where we were born and brought up and we have not been able to get our comfort around it till date.

What is your learned profession? Why did you decide to quit and become a travel blogger instead?

Ankur and I both are finance professionals, holding MBA degrees. We are still stuck to our 9 am to 5pm jobs – blogging takes up our time from 5pm to 9 am…and weekends! We have still not been able to quit everything and set out on a round the world trip, but hopefully it will happen sometime.

We intend to retire in a quite beach location where I can run a B&B and Ankur can continue investing to make some money. Not to forget, I want to have six dogs too!

In what country are you currently and how do you like it there?

We are currently in India. It’s home to us…and home is always ‘Sweet Home’. It’s a billion of us – we are a crazy, loud and coulourful lot! We are also very warm and emotional. Ankur and I like being at home, with family as much as anyone else would.

Ganesh Festival in Mumbai, India

How did your friends and family react when you told them about your plans to travel?

Ankur and I have both been away from our families for over 10 years, since we joined college. We have lived and worked abroad as well. Our families have always been supportive of our travel plans. They are worried only about the cash outflow on account of travel and that the outflow should not be greater than the inflow!

What inspired you to travel?

Ankur: My travel inspiration is nature.

Sonia: My travel inspiration is culture and food…vegetarian food!

Baklava in Istanbul, Turkey

What quote (doesn’t have to be travel related) do you live by?

Life is too short… live every moment!

What is on top of your bucketlist? Why isn’t it checked off yet?

Ankur: Adventure tourism in New Zealand. Travelling to New Zealand is a expensive affairs. Hopefully, we will get there soon.

Sonia: It’s a tie between diving the blue hole in Belize and swimming with the seals in Galapagos. Both these destinations are in a ‘land far far away’… lots of time and money to be invested to get here. Also, I was waiting to get the SCUBA certification before planning a trip to these places.

How long do you plan on traveling?

As and when we can… we don’t miss a long weekend either! India is a large country with so much to be explored! The spontaneous trips happen within in India while the planned ones allow us to travel across borders

Weekend break at Alleppey in Kerala, India

Eleven Random Facts About Us

• We are vegetarians, by choice.
• Ankur loves numbers and is a maths wiz. I love language and writing.
• We both are Virgos. However, we are opposites – Ankur is a cleanliness freak and I can close my eyes to the chaos that surrounds me.
• Ankur has a fascination for glowing screens – touch screen phones, tablets, laptops, TVs. He is bitten by the ‘Tech Bug’.
• I hate reading the newspaper.
• I live to eat while Ankur eats to live.
• All our vacations are divided into two parts: Sonia’s part – loads of activities with every minute planned; Ankur’s part – Lounge by the beach with loads of cocktails with the little umbrella…slurp slurp!
• Ankur wants to attend the Carnival in Brazil. I want us to learn the Samba before we get there.
• Ankur wants to learn to pilot a glider. I want to publish a cookbook.
• I am scared of heights. I will never do a bungee jump! Ankur wants to do his maiden bungee jump soon.
• Ankur learnt swimming after he turned 30. I am a water baby – swimming, snorkelling and diving, all are my sports.

Our Nominations

Some of our nominees have more than 200 followers (at least on Facebook) because it is very difficult to find blogs that have less and weren’t nominated by someone else. Though these bloggers have more than 200 followers, we noticed that they have yet to be nominated for the Liebster Award. Here is our attempt in acknowledging fellow bloggers!

• Go Chase the Sun
• Wife with Baggage
• Tricia Mitchell
• I Dream of Itineraries
• My Rainbow Travel

Eleven Questions to Answer

If you decide to accept the award, kindly abide by the rules detailed above. Here are our eleven questions for you:

• Are you a full time travel blogger or does another profession take up part of your time?
• What is weirdest food that you have eaten and where?
• How do you prefer to stay – luxury hotels, budget hotels, B&B, hostels or camps?
• If there is one place that you could rush to now, what would that be?
• Have you attended any local festivals while travelling? If so, which one and where?
• Which has been your most memorable trip?
• When travelling, what is it that makes you uneasy?
• How many countries have you been to? How many more do you intend to touch in the next five years?
• Roadtrip? Sailing? Rail trip? What do you prefer?
• Mountains or deep blue seas – what’s your choice?
• What has been your worst travel experience ever?

Is there anything more that you would like to share? Go on… share your travel stories with the world!

Let the travellers’ tribe grow!