Liebster Blog Award

The purpose of the Liebster Award is to highlight the hard work of new and up and coming bloggers in a bid to shed light on their projects and introduce new readers to their blogs. Through a series of eleven questions each blogger reveals information about themselves that you might not find in the articles they post on their site.

We were nominated by the lovely Ben and Charli at Wanderlusters, and are excited to post our response and carry on the tradition of connecting new bloggers.  Here goes!

Eleven random facts about us

1. We met at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
2. Alissa also has a food blog all about cooking with beer
3. Dan was an original member of the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA Trampoline Dunk Team
4. Dan has an identical twin brother
5. Alissa played in a rec Australian Rules Football league in Minnesota (the knowledge of the game has come in handy already!)
6. We love music, but neither of us can sing or have played an instrument since middle school band.
7. Dan has ordered fried rice in every country we’ve been in, with no plans to stop.
8. Alissa once lost her wallet in Amsterdam (it was amazingly mailed to her home address in the US 2 months later)
9. Dan spent a summer as an intern for a minor league baseball team
10. Alissa has been swimming since before her first birthday and competing for over half her life.
11. We once stumbled upon a chance to buy Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana concert tickets and made over $2000 reselling them (into the travel fund, thank you Disney channel)

Our answers to Ben and Charli’s questions

If your budget was unlimited what would your itinerary include?
Dan: Every WWII battlefield and historical site I can see before I die.
Alissa: Festivals and holidays all over the world. The most exciting time to visit is usually the most expensive, so we don’t have any of these in the plans yet.

What’s the best piece of advice you could give us?
Dan: There is no such thing as passive income. Anything promising it is a scam. To make money in the real world or online, you need to work your butt off.
Alissa: This is probably obvious to other travelers, but do what you love. There’s no reason to do anything else – just start researching, learn from others, and make it happen.

Where do you call home?
The U.S. Midwest: Wisconsin and Minnesota

What (if anything) inspired your desire to travel?
Dan: I find the small cultural differences from country to country to be the most fascinating.
Alissa: I love trying new things, and traveling lets me do that every day.

What’s the one ‘unnecessary’ item you always pack?
Dan: I always print extra copies of itineraries, confirmation numbers, tickets, etc in case my technology fails. I rarely ever need to use them.
Alissa: I probably have too much in my medicine bag, but I can’t bring myself to take anything out, just in case

Who would you most like to invite to dinner?
Dan: Mark Cuban, see question two.
Alissa: Tiny Fey, I’ve always been a fan and I think she would be fun.

Which member of your family do you take after?
Dan: Both of my Grandmothers: I drink my coffee boiling hot, and my Pepsi ice cold.
Alissa: My parents – I can be laid back like my dad, but my mom instilled a sense of caution and preparedness that sometimes comes in handy.

Which is your preferred method of transport? Air, Land or Sea?
Air. Quicker the better (also Alissa gets sick in buses, and we’ve had some bad luck in boats)

What’s your worst habit?
We both have some sugar addictions – Dan’s is soda, Alissa’s is anything chocolate

Have you ever lost anything on your travels?
Dan: I have lost at least five Camelbak water bottles.
Alissa: So far only my hairbrush, which I surprisingly haven’t missed yet.

What do you aspire to achieve in your lifetime?
We want to be comfortably self-employed, so we can travel as much as we want.

Our nominations

We’d like to nominate the following bloggers for the Liebster Award:

• Cam and Carmel from Thrifty Trailblazers
• Kim and Brian from So Many Places
• Hannah and Lee from Further Bound
• Maddie and Paul from Two For The Road
• Duane and Kim from Wright2Travel
• Sheila and Mark from Married2Travel
• Anthony from You Bloody Tourist
• Deej from The World of Deej
• Monica from The Travel Hack
• Verner and Michelle from Filling in the Dots
• Erin and Brett from Our Tasty Travels

and we’d like to know:

1. What inspired your desire to travel? (Reused, but love this question)
2. What do you get tired of the most while traveling?
3. Favorite book or author?
4. How do you keep in touch with family and friends on the road?
5. What was the first concert you attended?
6. What was your favorite concert you’ve attended?
7. What is your favorite dessert from your travels?
8. What is your favorite reality TV show?
9. What is your dumbest travel moment?
10. What is your biggest pet peeve about other travelers from your home county?
11. Sushi or steak?

To take part nominated bloggers must:

• Link back to the blogger that nominated you.
• Write 11 random facts about yourself.
• Answer 11 questions from the blogger that nominated you.
• Nominate 11 other bloggers.
• Ask them 11 new questions.

We look forward to learning more about some of our favorite bloggers.

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