CHEERS! – ¡SALUD! – YIAMAS
I have had a really good year at the keyboard and posting my blogs but I have also enjoyed reading other work just as much. Some catch the eye straight away, some can be found indirectly through others, some appear like shooting stars and disappear without a trace whilst some continue to get better and better.
I thought it would be nice to share with you my favourite blogs of 2013. Seven of my favourites reappear on the list from 2012 but there are three new ones which replace some that have sadly slipped away into blogging oblivion!
Don’t panic anyone – this is not an Awards Blog so it does not come with any requirement to display anything, reveal embarrassing facts or to pass it on to anyone else.
They are in no particular order except this one, which is my favourite. We have fallen out with each other a couple of times but I still keep going back for another spat and for more of this post about ex-pat life in Gibraltar:
http://roughseasinthemed.wordpress.com/
Author Richard Tulloch writes about his travels:
http://richardtulloch.wordpress.com/
Adrian shares his excellent pictures:
http://adrianharveyphotography.com/
I like this one even though there seemed to be fewer posts this year:
Great pictures here from Gunta in the USA, especially the surf and the sunsets:
http://gusgus64.wordpress.com/
A lovely recollections and memories blog:
Great posts about one of my favourite countries – Portugal – and a lot more besides, including a shared obsession with windows and doors:
http://restlessjo.wordpress.com/
and then a new one for 2013 – a gentle pot-pourri of good stories from an Englisman living the good life in Turkey:
http://unclespikes.wordpress.com/
Also new for this year more travel tales from:
and finally a blog from Canada with some excellent short stories:
http://letscutthecrap.wordpress.com/
Apologies if I didn’t include you in my top ten this year, it’s nothing personal and I still enjoy your posts – I will review the list at the around the same time next year!
One final thing – this is not really a blog so I can’t include it in my blogging top ten but I have to mention my friend Dai Woosnam who comments regularly on my posts and writes an excellent monthly on-line magazine full of articles, anecdotes and links called Daigressing – if you write to him at DaiW@gmx.com, then he will add you to the mailing list.
One final, final thing – if any of you in my top ten get ‘Freshly Pressed’ then you will be removed from it immediately!
KEEP POSTING…
Have Bag, Will Travel 
Wow! Thank you so very, very much for including me! I’m rather flattered. Had to laugh at your final, final thing! I rather suspect I don’t have to worry about being Freshly Pressed. It actually sounds a bit painful, really! I’ll have to check out some of the others on your list. Wishing you all the best for 2014.
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Reblogged this on ENGLISH LANGUAGE REVIEW .
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I can only echo Gunta’s thanks and comments re your kind mention (this time, of myself).
I just need to clarify things slightly, Andrew, in case your esteemed readers write to me to get on my mailing list, thinking I am a travel writer like you.
Generally speaking I am not, unless one considers the journey we all take BETWEEN OUR EARS as the most dazzling, dizzying journey there is!
And I note you call what I send out a “monthly article”.
I think you will agree that “article” is a word that suggests an immediate attack of sleep apnoea…! That said, I cannot find a word either, to remotely describe what it is I send out.
And so, that invites the question: why am I not a simple bog-standard blogger?
Well perhaps I do not want things archived because I occasionally accidentally libel people, and – more seriously perhaps – because I extensively use YouTube links. And these do not lend themselves to archiving, as often they are withdrawn for copyright infringement.
But anybody wanting to get on my worldwide list, feel free to write to me.
But note: Andrew gives you my default email address above. You might get lost there in amongst all the Viagra salesmen. So better write your first email (until I get you in my Hotmail safe senders list) to me at
DaiW@gmx.com
And thanks for your great blog list Andrew. I have only had time in the 90 minutes that have elapsed since getting it, to stop at the first listed. Wow! I can see why it is your favourite! And as I truly LOVE Gibraltar and have written to this effect on your blog before, I have bookmarked it. The writer has a bright light on in her upstairs library.
Kindest,
Dai.
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Be careful with Roughseas – she bites!
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In your top ten again this year, excellent, thank you Andrew!
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Honoured and dare I say, thanks muchly 🙂
Freshly Pressed, yeah right… never ‘met’ anyone who has got one either, lol. I think they are imaginary beasties.
As for the Englishman accolade, funny that, I tend to forget that part as a naturalised Türk, with a Turkish family, and haven’t been to the UK since 2005 and apart from a box of photos which will arrive tomorrow, have nothing left in the UK either… all seems a lifetime ago.
Thanks for your inspiring blogs; showing the rest of us how it should be done 😀
Best wishes for 2014
CLAN SPIKE…
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Thanks for the plug Andrew, and keep up the good blogging work yourself!
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My pleasure Richard – good blogging for 2014!
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Thanks for flagging up these blogs. Have followed and will take a peek later 🙂
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Wow, Andrew, I’m gobsmacked! Thanks for including my quiet little blog in your favourites. It’s an honour and a pleasure. As I read your list, I checked out the links and then…and then…there was a link to my page. You are a generous soul, Andrew, and I thank you. Happy New Year. 😎
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I love your short stories! Happy New Year to you and keep posting!
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Thank you, Andrew. You’ve made my day.
Happy New Year to you and your brood. 😎
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Cheers to you, Andrew, for an informative travel blog. I promise to visit the blogs you have highlighted here, when I get the chance. Happy new year to you.
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And also to you!
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What a useful post. I’m always on the look out for interesting blogs, and you have provided me with a gold mine. Plus you liking my blog led me back to yours. Thanks! Bring on 2014.
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I’m not yet sure if I can pull it off, but I may be doing a photo-blog of Riga come spring. The long tedious flight is what has put me off, but an offer of a free apartment (flat) is tough to resist. 🙂
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Wow Andew, thank you! It’s an honor to be included in this fascinating group of folks – many we know, and some new ones to check out. We always learn so much from your posts and truly enjoy your sense of humor. Wishing you a very Happy New Year. All the best, Terri & James
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