In short, utter crap.

There is too much of that around on the internet. People giving obvious advice and somehow thinking they are qualified to do it.

If people want to write about search engine optimising on websites then great – because that is technical and skilled stuff. But traveling isn’t hard.

My first proper trip dumped me in Hanoi as my first stop – five years ago. I floundered for maybe two days and then got the hang of it – people do.

Anyway, as I said on my blog – my top travel blog/vlog – http://www.hugeinasia.com. Fabulous. New ideas, funny and a seemingly genuine regard for the country they are in.

Okay …just for laughs I’ll take a stab at it and then look it up.

For me it means: a kind of avuncular grumpiness

Ha…just looked it up…

“a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person”

Ah well not entirely unreasonable.

You know the thing about traveling – it’s actually very easy. By a guide book and go. That’s it. It’s not hard to work out you need cotton clothes in hot countries or a sweater for up a mountain.

You can probably work out to keep you valuables safe.

A long time ago I worked for a newspaper and one of my jobs was to write horrible commercially driven editorial. For example the advertising department would sell a 16 page supplement on Christmas shopping and I had to write the articles to go with it.

It was a thankless task, all about advertising. The editorial was secondary. In pre-internet days I remember writing all

I’ve worked as a web designer/developer for almost ten years and I’ve seen the tides change to reflect your point that it seems to be all about ad dollars now. Of my several hundred daily reads (blogs, forums, etc.), maybe a handful *don’t* sell ad space.

Regarding lists and travel advice … I agree there is a certain level of arrogance from the well-traveled set. (Though I won’t point any fingers [cough]ThorntreeForums[cough]). But no one has all the answers. Because 99% of the time, there is no correct “answer” to how many pairs of jeans to take or whether or not you’ll get kidnapped and assaulted if you travel with your laptop.

As often as I search forums, etc. for answers, the reality is that everything depends. It depends on you, your habits, your likes, your personality, etc. The only way to find out what works is to just do it. One can only plan so much and leave the rest to chance.

Just to be clear – my original post here was also directed at me just as much as anyone. I certainly don’t have all the answers. I can only speak from my own experience. “People in glass houses …”, right?

P.S. I honestly meant “curmudgeonly” in my original post as a compliment.

I have been blogging for four years which is a lifetime in this media and it has changed a great deal.

When I first started the power of the blog was defined that it wasn’t commercial it was free – we could say what we like without upsetting advertisers.

I used to write great big long spiels about whatever I wanted to rant about that day. I remember having an argument with someone who said that research had shown…blah, blah, shorter posts blah blah

I didn’t get it? Who was I writing for but me? People read books don’t they? We don’t only ever read the snippets in celeb gossip magazines.

Anyway, now all I seem to read on blogs is how to make money. How to get more hits. How to optimise for search engines etc etc. Everybody links, nobody writes.

I have thousands of links on my RSS and I trawl through them several times a day.

Meanwhile I am probably not writing the best stuff because its out there…not on my laptop.

I do get tired of lists and advice columns. I have a real issue with people who tell me what I have to do or what I can’t do. I was reading a piece recently that told me I shouldn’t take more than 2 t-shirts with me when I travel and long trousers were better than shorts.

Well, not for me it isn’t. And what makes these people such experts as to be able to tell the world what to pack? It isn’t advice, it arrogance – albeit probably well meaning.

When I said, I missed long posts and heartfelt pieces. I meant me mostly. I hope I can do that in Granada, but I have a very different set up here to before. As wonderful as it is it is not as immediate as Hanoi.

As regards advice I like blogs with humility. I like bloggers who recognise how little they know in the grand scheme of things – not bloggers who think they know more than everyone else.

Okay. Enough. Just wanted people to realise that I wasn’t aiming it at anyone specifically – or at the very least, no one more than myself.

I agree with you about having different expectations for different kinds of blogs. Some are personal travel journals, some are how to/nuts and bolts, and some are a mix of the above.

It can be frustrating, though, when some blogs are so similar to each other that I can’t remember which one wrote a particular post. I like blogs that have a distinct identity, and I think that comes from your personality showing through your writing.

My comment above is my fear that people don’t leave room for lighter fare that is just for fun.

To be sure, I don’t think the majority of travel blogs are crap. The tedious travel writing examples above were found on two major publication websites (i.e. MSN and Guardian Unlimited) and not blogs. But I think the same rules for writing inspired, non-dumbed down prose apply.

Ian took the words right out of my mouth in pointing out the distinction between writing a magazine-style travel blog and writing a personal blog. I think readers have different expectations for each.

And you’re spot-on, Ian: I like my mag-style blogs (Gadling.com, Jaunted.com, BNT, et. al) to be updated more regularly with plenty of juicy travel industry news. While reading personal travel blogs that are updated daily can become a bit tedious.

I don’t claim to have any great writing skill, and the tagline of my blog is “a journey without a definite route, taken merely for pleasure”, but I worry people think that is a cop out.

Do I have a place in the blogosphere/travesphere? Is there a place for a light snack among the more meaty, serious
blogs?

And since it isn’t all about me…
“Do they open up enough about their experience in a way that really connects you to their writing? Or do you feel as if they’re holding back?”

I like that question because it describes perfectly why I sometimes finish reading a post wanting to interview the author, because there are too many unanswered questions.

You’ve given me a lot to think about!