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Blogs are a strange thing. We write them, but we never know who out there actually reads our words.
And that’s fine, mostly. I take a lot of personal joy in writing my travel blog, for it allows me to reflect, consolidate, and make sense of my experiences. Also, I know that I will love re-reading my stories when I’m old and gray and slightly more sedentary.
But it’s also great to know that others are enjoying my words, my stories, my insights. I take pleasure in reading the occasional comment I receive on a blog entry. It reassures me that I’m not simply throwing my words emptily out into cyber-space.
I’d love to have MORE reader participation, though. I’d love for this blog to be more interactive than it is. I’d love for YOU to write on my blog, too!
And so, I invite you to leave a comment anywhere on my blog – it doesn’t have to be on this entry, which admittedly isn’t the most interesting one I’ve ever written. In exactly one week (which incidentally happens to be my 30th birthday!), I will collect all the new comments and chose one at random. I will send the author of the winning comment a card made from a local African artist in the mail!
What should you write about in your comment? Why not write about something that interested you in one of my stories, or a question you have about my travels? Or you can tell a story or experience that relates to something I’ve written about. Your comment doesn’t even have to be positive – you can write about something you disliked, something you disagreed with in my blog. Anything goes, really. My ultimate goal is simply to make this blog feel like less of a one-way conversation. I know my readers are out there, but you’re a very silent group! 🙂
The other purpose of this comment competition is to show some of my family members HOW to leave a comment on my blog. There seems to be some confusion on the matter. Below is thus a step-by-step guide on how to leave a comment.
1. Scroll to the BOTTOM of the story you wish to comment upon.
2. If there are already comments for this story, you will see them at the end. Below that will be a box in which you can “ENTER YOUR COMMENT”.
3. Choose your identity. Anonymous is fine, as long as you sign your name inside the comment box. If you have a Google account, you can choose that identity, but you will be asked to sign in.
4. Click the “PUBLISH” button and you’re done!
Looking forward to hearing from you all soon!
Freya Gnerre - Reading your blog has helped my through my hum drum days of cleaning out all the collected items of my deceased husband. I so look forward to my freedom to travel and make my own adventures – only a bit tamer than yours due to my old age! I do have a trip planned to Jordan and Israel in October which I can’t wait to do. One of the items on my bucket list. And, I have plenty more planned for the future. Hopefully, your Aunt Louise and I will do some together. In the meantime, I’m truly enjoying your pictures and dialogue – and collecting them all for the future. My big question is…where do you keep all your clothes? You always have something different on. I do want to win the prize! Love, Auntie Freya
Brittany Caumette - Dear Freya,
Thank you for reading my blog. I am glad it is helping to reorient your brain elsewhere through this trying time. I cannot wait for you to get to Jordan and Israel! We won’t be too far off, making our way through Ethiopia and Sudan by that point, and hopefully taking a boat into Saudi Arabia before journeying through Oman, Iran, and Turkey! I’ll keep writing in the meantime.
Your name is going in the hat! 🙂
Clayton Roche - Oh you want to hear what I have to say? Well, then, you asked for it. As a fellow vagabond, I appreciate what you do. I like that we met at college, before the vagabonding began. I meet travelers from all over the world, but you’re from home. I remember you explaining, maybe on the sidewalk outside Durand, that you wanted to hang out with lions in nature (I’m paraphrasing) because that’s the only thing that truly holds your interest. This was years before I would catch on, at the time it sounded like a dream far out of my reach (“But how do you pay for it?” and “What about you career” etc.)
I’m always pleased when I visit your blog, which I do sporadically. I just read your article about your African home on wheels. I had to go live through a few years of grueling work and homestayer life before I would slough off that anxiety for so-called security. Three years ago, my work life reached a climax of insufferability and I escaped to a farm in Hawai’i. What was meant to be a temporary break from my job turned into a year on the islands and I haven’t worked for someone else, or paid a US rent, since.
I have only lived a few months with the level of freedom and mobility that you have manifested, when I lived on the beaches in Hawai’i. Now I live in Thailand, but I lament my conservative travel style. But if the past is any indication, it will only be a few more years before I’m brave enough to live like you are now. Please, carry on & keep clearing the trail ahead for me! 🙂
Brittany Caumette - Clayton, I’m so glad that you’re out there traveling and living abroad and experiencing the world that I am fortunate enough to see every day! It’s pretty cool that you were able to take the big leap, which gets harder with each passing year. I wish you would keep a blog – I have no idea where exactly you’re living, what you’re doing, what your future travel/life/work plans are! You know that I’m always available if you have questions or ideas you want to run past.
Until then, thanks for reading and participating in my blog!
Brittany Caumette - I’m commenting on my own blog entry to encourage you to do so as well! But don’t worry, I won’t enter myself in the Comment Competition – I don’t have a fixed address at which to send myself an African card, anyway!