Keep following the Adventure Girl on her smashing brand spanking new site

Chaps and chappettes of adventure, if you haven’t already heard through Twitter, Facebook or yours truly, I have now struck out on my own and have launched my very own website to share even more tales of travel, adventure and discovery with you! Everything you’ve read up until now will still be on there, but please keep in touch with me on the new site… there’s loads to come and there are BIG plans for it next year so watch this space!

Time and tide and all that… get cracking and have a nosy:

 

www.theadventuregirlsguide.co.uk

 

Labyrinthitis – The (mis)Adventure Girl

Joy of joys! The room has finally stopped spinning and I can get back to sharing tales of travel and adventure with you. Sorry for the interval on the blog; I was suffering from Labyrinthitis following a diving trip to the Red Sea at the beginning of September. I know, it sounds like a medieval disease of torture doesn’t it? Well it sort of felt like it was – I spent weeks dizzy and spinning like a spinny thing on wheels because it’s a virus that affects your inner ear, the Labyrinth. There’s nothing you can do other than wait for the virus to clear and maybe take travel sickness drugs to combat the dizziness. At least it wasn’t DCI (Decompression Illness or ‘The Bends’), which is what I spent a few agonising hours fretting about following numerous calls to NHS Direct and hyperbaric chambers around the country.

So, now I’m not feeling and looking green and ready to take on the world again, it got me thinking about the injuries/illnesses of adventure sports and what would be enough to put you off. After weeks of feeling awful, a few people asked me if it would put me off diving. No way! But when is enough? What would stop you from getting stuck in to that exhilarating activity that you love? Or has it happened to you – have you now hung up your fins, skis, carabiners or parachute because of an unfortunate experience? Share your misadventures and how you coped with The Adventure Girl’s Guide.

Getting goodies for the writing gig

It’s starting to pay off. Writing for my blog and offering to write for other websites has taken me one step closer to achieving the dream and filling my coffers. Ok so I haven’t been paid anything yet, but I have received my first freebies for my travel scribblings. The Adventure Girl’s Guide’s regular readers might remember my Glamping tales, which was then picked up by camping and outdoors website, Campr. In return for using my experiences on their site, I was promised some camping goodies.

I think I was possibly more excited about what I’d receive in the post than getting some moolah. Maybe. Well I sat by the letterbox for a while, waiting for my outdoors treats to plop onto the doormat. My photojournalist coach, Brendan, even wrote a post about the perils of being a freelance writer and how it’s not so uncommon to get let down after being made promises.

I thought this would be just something I’d put down to experience and am expecting many more disappointments to come in the competitive market that is the travel journalism world. But here’s where I learned about the true power of social media. Experts, columnists and commentators talk about harnessing the power of social media endlessly – I see tweets about the subject every day. And lo and behold, after I shared Brendan’s link online about my latest hurdles in getting published, look who responded…

Hi Brendan James from Campr here. Just wanted to say Karli’s camping pack is going in the post on Monday! It did get forgotten and I’m really sorry about that. She wrote a great article and it deserves far more than a few camping bits. Happy to do anything we can to help her along the way!

I'm sorted if I ever get locked out the house now

Ah har! You have a little whine to the World Wide Web and you see results. And true to his word, the goodies arrived a couple of days later. Hopping with all the excitement of a child opening their stocking on Christmas morning (I still do that, no need to pretend I’m not a child really), I tore open my parcel to discover a survival sack, tent pegs, a disposable hand warmer and a multifunctional camping tool – a bit like a beginner’s Swiss Army knife. It was a great feeling to know that something I’d put effort in to write had been enjoyed and was being rewarded.

I’m getting nearer to receiving some cash for my articles – I wonder what I’ll do with it…

Lonely Planet progress and publishing plotting for Diver

If you’re familiar with my blog you’ll know that I’ve been making steps to getting published in travel, scuba diving and adventure related publications. My photojournalist coach, Brendan O’Brien, has been nudging me in directions that could help me get off the ground. Well, I took on some assignments from him, which you can read about on Brendan’s site.

My first steps with Lonely Planet were a couple of entries to their readers’ section, where the magazine gives punters a chance to get their tales and photographs in print. Not a bad way of getting noticed – they must get thousands of emails from people crashing straight in there and asking to be a freelance contributor. Well they’ll probably get one from me eventually, but this could be a way of getting my name in print faster. And hopefully they’ll remember my name for the future.

I sent in my pitch to review a hotel – if you inspire them enough, they’ll pay for you to stay in a hotel for up to £150 a night and send in your experiences for a one page spread. I also sent in my bid for featuring in their ‘Postcards’ section. This is a chance to send in an eye-catching photograph along with a few words to tell the tale behind it. Well… within just one day, I received an email back from an Editorial Assistant at Lonely Planet. Here’s what he said:

Dear Karli,

Thank you for getting in touch – it’s great to hear from you and to see your photograph from Bali. Everyone on my desk was very curious about these ***!

We are always looking for contributions from readers for our Postcards section so the art team will be sure to get in contact if we are able to use your photograph in an upcoming issue.

We will also let you know if we are able to send you to write a review of the ***.

In the meantime, why not join our Lonely Planet Magazine reader panel? It’s a great way of keeping in touch with us and telling us what features you’d like to see in the magazine. Simply log on to panel.bbcmagazines.com and fill in the short survey.

Sorry about censoring the details, but if it makes it to the magazine I want to keep my ideas a surprise! If I’m still expectantly checking my emails in six months, I think I can safely put them on here…

But the fact that I received an email back within a day, in fact at all, from Lonely Planet was huge encouragement. My coach said it was ‘nice going’ and I must have given them something to pique their interest.

I’m also really pleased that the back scratching is going both ways with Brendan. He emailed me to say thanks for getting him back in the game, so to speak:

Hi Karli,

Just wanted to thank you for providing the catalyst for getting back into running workshops and keeping my blog updated.

SPICE are keen to do a day long workshop sometime in the future. Out of the evening I was also approached by a chap from a photographic society to run a magazine photography workshop as well as a journalist who runs seminars on feature and news writing who wants to form a partnership with me.

Well that does make me smile. I’m really pleased Brendan’s career is getting a kick up the bum too. I just hope I can provide a spectacular finale to his coaching series on his site by actually getting published somewhere.

My next port of call to achieving this is DIVER magazine. It’s time for me to write up all my experiences with dry suits and submit them for the Deep Breath column, which is a space for readers to write about diving experiences, analysis, opinions and lessons to learn. Now that I’m getting my head down on preparing for my bid to be included in these well-respected pages, I dug up some interesting nuggets of information.

I’m a member of the Yorkshire Diver’s forum, as you may remember from my ‘Get wet or go dry?’ dilemma. Reading back through some of the comments at the time, I worked out that no other than the Technical Editor of DIVER magazine, John Bantin, had been contributing his pearls of wisdom too. In one of his posts he said he’d read my blog. I’ve only just realised that a senior member of the editorial team of DIVER has been reading my articles. It’s fantastic that I’m getting my blog read by people in the right places. But oh shame of shame, after he posted a picture of himself in a dry suit (telling me how good they can look if they’re your size), I replied with ‘FIT’. I told a 50-odd year old respected dive photojournalist and editor that he was fit. There goes my career…

But I’m burying that blunder and cracking on with getting my name in print. Ooh the cheek.

Donkey lawnmowers and fairytale villes – a mini escape to the Dordogne

I am blinded by beauty: the colours seem so much brighter here than at home. Yes the sun is beating down without even a fluff of stratus to mottle the gloriously blue sky, but I swear I’m not imagining it; everything just looks so alive and vivid. The hour’s drive from Limoges airport to our gîte was spent with my nose pressed against the window. The winding roads of the countryside in the Dordogne felt a bit like home actually, but just on a really, really good day. And without a pothole in sight! As we drove through the hamlet where we were staying I realised I had that blissfully happy grin I wear when I’m taking in somewhere both peaceful and exciting. Sarrazac is the definition of a hamlet; ‘was that it then?’ I seem to remember asking. I was happy. Just an hour and half’s flight from home but I had already switched off and felt my laptop hunch melting away.

Rustic charm: the renovated farmhouse

As we took a left down a lane lined with orchards, the gîte came into view. It was the kind of French home I imagined in novels.

View from the gîte

Secluded in its own land and exuding that rustic charm you drool at in ‘A place in the Sun’, I felt a world away from work, emails and the relentless pace of home. We were so lucky – I know friends who have hunted around for holiday homes for weeks on end to find this idyll we were about to enjoy for a few days. But we were visiting friends who had spent years renovating this stunning French property and we were most grateful guests indeed.

It felt like home. Probably because I wished it were my house! Just looking at it was a sigh of pleasure. It was a stunningly restored farmhouse; the windows still looked out behind the original wooden shutters at the lush landscape. Not to mention the pool! I’m still a little kid when it comes to swimming pools, splashy splashy.

‘Adventurising’

Of course, I can’t be horizontal for long, so after some unwinding it was time to get adventurising! I know, I know, that’s not a real word but the boy and I say it so much it feels like one now. So there.

The Dordogne makes for some picturesque cycling

There are some great cycling routes around the Dordogne and something to suit all abilities. It was over 30 degrees every day we were there so we didn’t plump for a hardcore mountain bike trail, as if! In that heat, a wee jaunt would do nicely. There are hardly any cars round here so it’s pretty safe to follow the roads through the countryside to take in the awesome view. We saw a deer bounding along in front of us if you don’t believe how undisturbed I say it was.

Unspoilt nature is dotted with the odd quaint home covered in gorgeous flowers and wisteria, blending perfectly into the countryside. I love biking on holiday – it’s a great way to explore your surroundings and lets you slow down enough to take it all in.

Canoeing in Brantôme

About half an hour away from Sarrazac is Brantôme. I’d read it was sometimes known as the Venice of the Dordogne, but I think that’s going a bit far. There is a river around the centre of the town, the river Dronne, so okay there was some water. Italian exaggerations aside, this place feels like you’ve stepped into a classy Disneyworld.

Benedictine abbey, built by Charlemagne in 769

It’s what fairytales are made of and within ten minutes of arriving we agreed we’d like to come back again. Wandering around the town has you gazing at the architecture, which is a mixture of medieval and renaissance.

Foie gras is just ordinary fayre here, but it won't be on my menu!

And this town must be a real find, because I couldn’t find a tat shop anywhere! Souvenirs were mainly tubs of foie gras – it’s sold in practically every shop.

A visit to Brantôme wouldn’t be complete without a tour of the town from a canoe. There are a few canoe hires around the circular part of the river: we went with ‘allo canoes’. Couldn’t complain about the value of this adventure at all – it was €10 for two of us in a two-man canoe.

Circling Brantôme from the water

It’s ideal for families and kids as it’s a fairly gentle paddle, but there are options to go on full day excursions with white water promised. If we do go again I’ll be giving that a go. As it was, we only had an afternoon there and had spent most of that enjoying the most delicious lunch I can remember in a long time. Au Fil de L’Eau is a gourmet bistro on the water’s edge. Under large parasols and looking out at the river, I feasted on mouth-wateringly succulent duck… and the tarte citron was enormous. It’s a wonder we didn’t sink the canoe.

The next chapter in the fairytale at Jumilhac-le-Grand

Hiring a car is a must for a holiday in rural France – if you want to see any of it beyond your lodgings that is. You can’t expect bustling centres in this neck of the woods, but that’s part of the escapist charm. Just ten minutes away from Sarrazac is Jumilhac-le-Grand, where you’ll find a fairytale Château.

Château de Jumilhac

You can see it poking out of the high trees as you drive into the village; it does make you go ahhh. It forms part of the Richard the Lionheart Route with other nearby castles (Nexon, Coussac-Bonneval and Chalus) if you fancy an historical roadtrip. We learned that it dates back to the 12^th century but we decided not to take a look inside because you couldn’t take photographs. Now what use is that for us blogging types!

The village is pretty quiet with around 1200 inhabitants. We saw about four people the whole time we were there, including the ice cream lady who sat on her front porch selling Twisters and Cornettos. Bless her, she had a sandwich-board advertising around 30 different ice lollies and ice creams, but her shop appeared to be just a single freezer in her front room.

Happily giving the locals business

Jumilhac is well worth a stop if you’re driving along the historic route or if you’re staying nearby. As well as the Château, there’s a pretty square with a fountain and some pleasant walks by the river.

Can you hear anything?

Nope, me neither. A holiday in the Dordogne is so peaceful, even just a few days there as we spent, will have you coming back home with a full tank of happiness in your heart and you’ll have topped up your energy levels. You can sometimes go a whole day without hearing a single car drive past. It’s just you, the sunshine, the birds and a refreshing glass of wine. I bet you’re wondering what the reference to donkeys in the headline is about at this point. Well, to make my point about the quiet, you won’t even hear the neighbours mowing the lawn. Apparently new-fangled technology has no place here: the donkeys you see in people’s gardens are hired to cut the grass! Honestly, that’s what our hosts told me…

Want to escape to the Dordogne?

I flew to Limoges, which is the nearest airport to where we were staying and to the places we visited. But flights from the UK are available to Bordeaux, Angoulême, Poitiers, La Rochelle and Bergerac if you fancy seeing other parts of the region. Take a look at the following airlines, which fly to some or all of the Dordogne’s airports:-

Flybe            www.flybe.com

RyanAir         www.ryanair.com

British Airways         www.ba.com

If your French is a bit rusty I’d recommend getting a French phrasebook before you go. I haven’t spoken the language since I was 15 in my GCSE exam so I knew I’d need to refresh myself of a few words and phrases. You’re spoken to in French there and they won’t resort to English unless they really have to. Plus it’s nice to show a bit of willing I think; they only cost a few quid and are pocket sized. I like Lonely Planet phrasebooks, but there are loads to choose from such as the Collins French phrasebook or if you’ve got an iPod, you can just download a phrasebook and learn on the go.

If you want to hire a car, find out the kind of places you can stay in or you just want more general tourist info, I found this site really useful:- http://www.northofthedordogne.com/

A trip to the Dordogne is the perfect adventure abroad if you’ve only got a few days of leave to spare. There’s no need to allow for jet lag, yet it feels a million miles away and will have you feeling refreshed in no time.

Opening the door to diving… anywhere

I did it, I did it, I did it!

Excuse the unbridled blowing of one’s trumpet but I just can’t hide my glee over the weekend of diving I’ve just had. I am now the proud owner of an Advanced Open Water qualification and a Dry Suit Speciality.

Surprisingly clear water, happy face!

It was a really hard slog at times but the sense of achievement makes all the lugging of dive gear, getting used to the dry suit and the challenges that it presents worthwhile. If you’ve been following my blog you’ll already know that I was a little worried about the weekend’s six dives in a dry suit after a not-so-great experience a month ago when I had a flooded suit. For non-divers, that’s bad news and can be dangerous – it can cause a sudden loss of buoyancy (you go down!)and rapid chilling, which could lead to hypothermia. Not good.

But I’m pleased to report I faced my dry suit demons and won. I found a lot of it’s down to confidence. Testing out the dry suit in the pool on Friday night was the turning point for me. It fitted, which was the main thing because I knew I wouldn’t get wet that weekend. But it was also down to great instructing.

Poaky's teaching methods are unique

Poaky at the dive school is the kind of instructor that can get you in trouble – I’ve nearly spat out my regulator on more than one occasion in giggles because of his underwater tomfoolery. But that same fun, comical approach makes you so relaxed, that you find your diving Zen again. I was hovering in the dry suit and swimming around didn’t feel too much different than a wetsuit. Get in… Now to the Open Water.

Capernwray Quarry

Weekends at Capernwray are not relaxing, but what did I expect? The early starts, long drives and the heavy equipment you need to haul around nearly made me cry out for the Hollyoaks omnibus and a duvet. But once I’d made that first trip to the water’s edge, after several pitying looks at my little bean frame with a 15litre tank on my back and 10KG of weight bruising my hips, I could relax. The kind water took all the weight and it was time to descend and crack on with nailing the skills.

We got through the first two dives (the Dry Suit Speciality part of the weekend) with a few interesting challenges. Why oh why did the air in my suit keep going to my feet? By the time we took a break before the third dive I was feeling a bit sick – I think from being upside down so much. I managed to do the skills, such as the fin pivot and hover, with no problems but every so often when I was just swimming along, wooooaaahhh, there I go again! Feet first and heading for the surface.

I was knackered. All the swimming down and tucking into a ball to roll out of the position and get the air back upwards so I could dump the air out of my shoulder valve was tiring and just plain ridiculous. I thought I was heading for Game Over, but I took a breather and went for my Navigation Dive, the last dive of the day, with determination.

Kitting Up

I thought I’d be no good at this dive; I wasn’t much of an orienteerer at school. But I loved it and felt empowered. Using a compass and natural references to navigate made me feel in control and I felt like I was becoming a better diver with every kick cycle.

The dive brief - Plan the Dive, Dive the Plan!

I began the next day full of beans despite the sleep deprivation and aching muscles from Saturday. I was really looking forward to the Deep, Wreck and Peak Performance Buoyancy dives. It was a great day, full of more learning curves and just good old-fashioned fun with the resident trout and sturgeon. By this point I was getting comfortable in the suit and adjusting to the extra air space. On our Deep dive our instructor for the day, Russell, showed us a tennis ball and a bottle of water 21 metres down. What do you think would happen to them?

Gold star – yes, they compressed. For a hard tennis ball to be folded in two just showed how much pressure is put on our bodies at depth; no wonder you feel like you’ve been an Alsatian’s chew toy after diving. You’re working really hard even when you think you’re just bimbling along.

It was on this dive that we all had our training for pea soup visibility. We swam into a silt cloud and you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. I grabbed hold of my buddy’s tank and we swam upwards slightly to clearer water. Good practice for keeping a cool head! We enjoyed a little jaunt around the quarry, saw a headless rabbit on the bottom – you don’t see that on tropical reefs – and made our safety stop before ascending.

The rest of the day took us around Capernwray’s attractions whilst practising our skills. There’s all sorts down there. A Cessna aircraft, a passenger jet plane, boats, a helicopter, even fairground horses that once lived at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. But even though they’re not exactly manta rays, stingrays or tropical fish, I loved looking at the trout. Belly down, looking up, we were circled by tens of trout, just swishing and flipping, hoping to be fed as they’ve come to expect from divers here. This is where I’m reminded why diving puts a huge grin on my face. Every diver has their own motivation for making their way into the underwater world, but for me I’ll never yawn at just watching marine life in their natural habitat.

And now I’ve learned how to dive anywhere – well worth the effort and perseverance. The world is my lobster Rodney! Flicking through my log book, I smile at the stamp’s motto that approves me as an Advanced Open Water diver: “I dived and survived”.

Scuba Diving AOW weekend – don’t leave me high and dry?

Since asking for people’s advice on whether I should ‘get wet or go dry’ this weekend in a fairly chilly quarry in the North of England I’ve been inundated with tips, hints, rants and have unwittingly found myself in the crossfire of opinionated divers.

I posed my dilemma on the ‘YD Scuba Community‘ forum to see what other divers thought and my my, they are a zealous bunch. It actually got me even more confused at one point because they’d all started arguing with each other about which exposure suit was better in which temperatures: quite a few threw in the possibility of a semi-dry suit. Well I don’t think I even have the option of hiring one of those, so that’s out.

One member, ‘scubabob’ thinks wet suits are the way to go. He said: “The dry suit issue is about where you want to dive when qualified.” But he’s a firm warm water diver and says he won’t go anywhere that requires more than a 5mm.

‘Nickb’ said: “If you have any intention of carrying on with UK diving, you’ll need to get into a drysuit ASAP.” This is just a flavour of the back and forths that made up the discussion and since, yes I do intend to dive around the UK, dry suit diving was becoming more appealing. It’s clearly a personal preference for many and there aren’t guidelines that everyone follows – some say they dive in the UK all year round in a wetsuit, but I fear I’m not so ‘ard.

It’s clearly something that divers enjoy getting hot and bothered about, because the forum thread has had over 800 views in just a few days. It ended up turning into a bit of a slanging match at times, but then there were some pearls of wisdom that helped push me in one direction. ‘Foxe’ said: “Don’t let your first bad experience with a drysuit put you off – people sometimes make a big deal out of how much harder it is to dive in a drysuit… But there are some advantages, like being able to move air around to adjust your position, not to mention coming out (in theory!) dry and clothed.”

And what really tipped it: “Some people only want to dive on holiday… but there is so much amazing diving here, I think you’ll be missing out if you don’t do it! You only have to read a few of the trip reports on here to realise the spectacular range of experience that UK diving offers.”

With the Advanced Open Water only a couple of days away I thought I’d pop to the dive shop to try on a dry suit that’s more my size.

Hot... or not? UK diving calls for more stitching

Apparently that’s a small size. NOT sexy, but as long as it keeps me warm and I can complete the whole weekend’s dives comfortably, then I don’t care if I look like a sack of spuds. I’m testing it in the pool tomorrow night, so wish me luck that it doesn’t leak. I hope to see you in a few days brandishing my spanking new AOW card…

Get wet or go dry?

It’s just a few days until I’m off to a quarry in Lancashire to get my Advanced Open Water Qualification in the bag. And because of the location it’ll be somewhat chilly (according to the Department of the Bleedin’ Obvious). You might remember from an earlier blog post that I’ve been to Capernwray quarry before, but I had an unlucky incident with an ill-fitting dry suit which meant I had to postpone my Advanced dives and give it another go with one that does fit. Well here’s hoping I don’t get drenched with ‘Baltic’ quarry water this time round.

But here’s my quandary folks. Alex from the dive school says that the water there has been warmer recently due to the freakishly warm weather we’ve been having. “It was 14 degrees last weekend Karli, we even had students in 5mm wetsuits!” he chirpily informed me. Well if it is warm enough to get wet that would put an end to dry suit disasters and I’d be able to just focus on the skills of the AOW qualification, such as navigation and the techniques you need to dive a wreck. But would that make me a ‘glory diver’? I’d only ever be a wetsuit diver in warmer waters and not be able to say I can brave the chilly waters of the UK and in doing so, pass up the opportunities to see basking sharks around the Isle of Man, say, or the curious seals that many divers enjoy interacting with around the Farnes Islands.

Do I give dry suits the ok?

My gut tells me to go for it and conquer dry suit diving. And hopefully that will open up doors to experience dive sites in locations I would otherwise miss out on. But given the option, what would you do? A few divers I’ve spoken to say they’ve binned dry suit diving and just stick to mild conditions. Is that the sissy way out or is it true that UK divers (or cold water divers) are a glutton for punishment? Words of wisdom from experienced divers are also gratefully received…

Getting my name in print in Lonely Planet

Anyone wanting to get published in travel magazines might be interested to follow my story to doing just this – to see just how achievable it can be. She says. You might remember previous posts about my photjournalist coach, Brendan, setting me tasks to get my name in print. Well here’s how I’m getting on with breaking into Lonely Planet magazine as featured on Brendiver’s World.

Seeing my stories in black and white in those shiny travel magazines seemed to be a long, long way off when I first decided I really wanted to give travel/adventure journalism a shot. But Brendan is showing me how to take baby steps to achieving this goal. To start with, he tasked me with finding opportunities that Lonely Planet is serving up to readers. And lo, in May’s edition of Lonely Planet the generous editors are asking readers for their contributions – could this be my way in? If they like the first snippet of what I can write, and then maybe the second, will they start to notice that I’m somebody they could trust to actually write up a feature piece for them?

Beavering away at the research

Well, I’m not getting ahead of myself. Let’s get back to those baby steps. On the first page the editor of Lonely Planet magazine himself, Peter Grunert, is asking for inspiration on where the most beautiful places on earth are from – yes – the readers! So right there, an opportunity and email address for me to write up my experiences of beautiful lands. I’ve already got a few ideas rolling around in my head, but you’ll have to wait and see what actually gets submitted for now.

Then flick a couple of pages and you find the ‘Share with us’ section. There’s the chance to review a hotel (and they’ll pay for a stay of up to £150) if you can convince them a particular hotel is worth checking out. They also offer readers the print space to talk about their memorable holidays – their first, best and worst. Now I generally always enjoy my travels, but the worst sprang to my mind in a flash. Hands down, it was a week in Prestatyn, Wales with the family when I was 10. The beds were flea-ridden and I came home covered in bites. You should only bear those kinds of scars if you’ve been somewhere exotic!

Then there’s the ‘Postcards’ section. This part of the magazine offers the chance to send in your pictures and the stories behind them. Excellent! The pictures featured don’t have to be necessarily taken with a really expensive camera from what I can see, but they all provide good angles to write a story from. The words sometimes tell you a different story from what you’d assume by just looking at the photograph on its own. Again, I think I’ve got a few cracking photographs from recent travels that could provide a springboard to tell a good story. But like the photos, it needs to be a snapshot. The accompanying stories can’t be more than 100 words from the entries I’ve read.

Delving further into the magazine leads me to another chance to get involved in this travel publication. The Lonely Planet team are giving readers a say in the first ever Lonely Planet awards. Following the online link takes me to where I can give my input on what’s the greatest wildlife encounter? What’s the greatest outdoor activity? The page reads: “These are the first travel awards to focus on the experiences that inspire us all to travel, from those you’ve had to those you dream of having.” I’d love to have my say and just by taking part I could win a trip to Thailand and Cambodia. I never win random online draws and competitions, but I like the idea that by getting involved, my name’s at least in the hat!

Going online gives you more chances to get involved in some way with Lonely Planet – there’s a competition to win more goodies by submitting your favourite travel photo. I’m finding that once you actually start looking, there are more ways than you think to get your toe in the travel magazine door.

The Adventure Girl gets noticed

It’s been a great first week for The Adventure Girl’s Guide – a huge thanks to everyone who’s reading and who’s subscribed. Since launching the blog to the world a week ago, the site’s had 500 hits and has attracted some fantastic followers on Twitter including ‘The Times Travel’ and leading luxury camping website ‘Go Glamping‘, who posted my article on their Twitter page.

The ‘Campr’ website has also got interested in what The Adventure Girl’s Guide has to offer and would like to run ‘Glamping it up in Yorkshire’ on their site. Here’s what James from Campr had to say: “If you would like to write anything else for Campr we’d love to feature your adventures! Anything Camping or outdoors related really.”

Result! So keep an eye out for that, I’ll let you know when more of my adventures get featured across the web. They’re sending me a camping essentials pack in the post to keep me stocked up for my next travels. It might not pay the rent, but that’s a good enough perk in my first week I reckon! York Yurts were really chuffed that I mentioned them and are going to feature my musings on their website – Sara the Yurt lady said she remembered us because of ‘the really romantic boyfriend’. Awww! You cringing yet Guy? The good start has also got a smiley face from my blogging coach, Brendan, who’s giving me tips on how to get published and break into the world of travel magazines.

Please keep checking out The Adventure Girl’s Guide and share your experiences too. Thanks for getting involved at the beginning of the journey; hope you still like what you read when the site gets thousands of followers (fingers crossed!). As ever, if you have anything you think would be great to try out and experience, post comments or message me. Always great to hear from you!

Happy travels!
Karli.