To get the Travel Notes Blog off to a rolling start, I thought we'd take a look at some of the available travel blogs.

This blog post will eventually get archived but we'll be going back to it from time to time to add new finds and will review all travel blogs submitted to us, adding yours to the list if it hits the target.

Once this Travel Blogs post does get archived, we'll add a link to it from our main links (if it's required) to give all our readers easy access to it from the main page.

Finding Travel Blogs

I've been looking around a lot of blogs on Blogger today, just by clicking the Next Blog link. Sadly it's not an advisable way of finding good blogs about travel.

Some of the blogs reminded me of the early days at Geocities, when I would trawl through The Tropics to try and find interesting travel pages. There were some gems back then but also an enormous amount of dross. And so it is on Blogger.

The Google Blog Search is currently in Beta and is supposed to include all blogs, not only those published on Blogger. The search does more than search 'blogs' and returns anything with an RSS feed, although not everyone with an RSS feed actually pings an updating service.

What a 'community' site like Blogger really needs, is a directory of sorts with someone to sift through all the blogs and select the better ones; especially the blogs that are specialised on a particular theme - like travel.

Blogwise attempts to do this for blogging enthusiasts. Rather than use a typical directory format, where you can drill down to find what you're looking for, you will need to do a keyword search to get returned listings in that 'category'. It's also adviseable to click on more info for the listings you're interested in, as the initial description might be in English but the blog all in Croatian.

Travel Blog Directory:
This is the the 'travel section' on Blog Flux and seems to have great potential, although not every blog link returned here was really about travel, or indeed a blog.

On my cyber travels today I also found a lot of blogs that looked promising, yet seemed to have faded after the initial novelty had worn off on the blogger; or they didn't get visitors and receive comments on the postings, to help motivate them. It's also easy to run out of things to say or have the time to add to the millions of pointless words floating around in cyberspace.

If a blog is not going to have new posts, in the foreseable future, then maybe it's best we also look at blogs that have run a good course.

The blogs with large archives also make interesting reading, as you follow the 'journey' from the beginning, after it's been completed; like chapters in a book.

Archived Travel Blogs

Underaged RVers:
Celebrating their 2nd wedding anniversary on June 15th, 2004 Dan and Rachel Goddard sold their house and set off from Durango in their new home - 'an 8x11 aluminum can'. The plan was to spend a year (and $15,000) driving around North America in a Dodge Turbo Diesel 2500 Pickup, with a Lance 810 Light cab-over camper. The blog entries date from February 2004 - for background information on the couple, their preperations and aspirations for the trip - and ends on August 11th, 2005. The blog entries also contain large photographs taken during their RV adventure.

Updated Travel Blogs

HoboTraveler:
Follow Andy around the world.

Mediumjh:
On the go since February 2004, Vehere continues to post about his travels.

Road Weary:
Counting the air miles that business travel clocks up and the fear of baggage claim.

The Disney Blog:
I'm not a Disney fan but I know plenty of people are.

Tim Leffel's Cheapest Destinations:
Places where a fistful of dollars will pay for weeks of hotels, train rides, and meals.

Travels Tales From India:
by Mridula Dwivedi.

Trekker Globe:
Dan Perry is currently in South America and appreciates comments. He feels as if only friends and family are reading, so why not go and cheer him up.

Mainstream Travel Blogs

Gadling:
Part of Weblogs Inc.

Geeky Traveller:
Darren Barefoot's take on the places geeks go, the things they do when they get there, and the gadgets they play with along the way.

Hotel Chatter:
This is deluxe. Very nicely presented little hotel stories from Hotel Hell to Hotel Heaven and Celebrity Scoops.

National Parks Traveler:
Kurt Repanshek folows the goings on in America's National Parks. Not just Yellowstone and the Grand Teton, but a wide array of parks, ranging from Acadia along the rocky shores of Maine to Olympic on the Washington State peninsula.

The Daily Traveller:
The LA Times pushes out James Gilden's 'news to smooth the road well-traveled', with previous posts also sorted by category.

Wordhum:
Dedicated to exploring travel in all its facets: how it changes us, how it changes the way we see the world, and finally, how travel itself is changing the world.

Travel Blog Collections

TravelBlog:
Not really a blog, rather a collection of travel journals, diaries, stories and photos from people who have travelled to places all around the world and what to share it with whoever is interested.

BootsnAll and TravelPod are similar, with a nice variety of travelogues; most of them well written. Some of the writing is funny, some of it outstanding and some of it downright sad.

On the subject of of sad, 'Why I F*cking Hate Weblogs' claims to be originally written on September 22, 2002 by Donald Brook. Updated today, some of it really does hit the nail on the head, albeit with an overuse of a four letter word expanded into a seven letter word by adding ing on the end. Don't read it if you're easily offended.

Technorati: Travel Blogs