My 7 Links: Price of Travel
A couple months ago, Tripbase launched a little blogging challenge called My 7 Links, and it’s really taken off. I normally don’t get too much into self promotion so I never officially requested that another blogger ‘nominate’ me to be part of this.
At this point, it seems to have worked as a pyramid scheme would in that other bloggers have pretty much run out of blogs to nominate, so I’ve decided to just jump in on my own without observing the baton-passing part of this.
Also, I think it’s an interesting exercise that not only shows some (hopefully) worthwhile content on a travel site, but also what the writer thinks about the content themselves. So here we go, my 7 links.
Your most beautiful post
Going by visual aesthetics alone, this one is an easy pick. And unfortunately, it’s pretty well hidden because the main point of the post (and its title) is about something else. For a few years now I’ve been experimenting with High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography, and many of the best shots I’ve ever done were at the amazing Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia. Please have a look, and scroll down a bit to see the HDR photos.
Your most popular post
By a slim margin, my most popular post has recently passed what will be listed below as a post whose success surprised me. This one gets triple-digit views every day, and I’m not sure where everyone is coming from.
Your most controversial post
This site is mostly about economics and world travel, so things don’t usually get controversial around here. Still, there was a little buzz when I wrote about the world’s cheapest alcohol, which is found in Laos, and can be had for under US$1 for a full-size bottle of 45% spirits.
Your most helpful post
This one isn’t so obvious because unlike most traditional travel blogs, this site is meant to be a travel resource, so pretty much every post is meant to be helpful. Having to choose just one, I’ll go with my post about tips for finding 1-star hotel rooms. Very few of these cheaper hotels can be found online and in traditional ways, but there are tons of them out there if you know where to look.
A post whose success surprised you
This one is pretty easy. In early November of 2010, I put together a list of what a 3-kilometer taxi ride would cost in 72 big cities around the world. I thought it was interesting, but I had no idea who else might think so. It’s received tens of thousands of views, and was only recently passed by the European Backpacker Index as the highest traffic article on the site.
World taxi prices: The cost of a 3-kilometer ride in 72 global cities
A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
Every site is going to have plenty to choose from in this category. Many articles take the better part of a day or two to put together, so it’s disappointing when some of your favorites only receive a few hundred views instead of a few thousand or more. Here’s one I thought was interesting, but so far it hasn’t really done well.
The post that you are most proud of
Assuming I’m meant to pick a different one for each category, or maybe even if that’s not a rule, I’m going with the World Backpacker Index list, which lists 107 global cities by price. There isn’t much other information on the post, unlike the individual region versions, but still I think it’s interesting to see how all these cities stack up by price, using a fixed set of budget-travel expenses for each. Once you glance at it you’ll realize that the best values are all found in Asia and Latin America.