Holiday blogging - Some reflections based on past experiences

Why Blog on Holiday?

As I mentioned in the first post of this year's blog I have been blogging about holidays since 2006 and I love the experience.

Haydn Blogging in the Glenesk Hotel, Edzell, Angus, Scotland 

Drew sometimes accuses me of spending more time titling and posting photos on Flickr and blogging than I do looking about me. But I hope I manage a balance of both 😊


I'll never forget the joy of finding a good web connection for photo uploads after three days of slow internet access in Ottawa last year. Drew took the photo below which shows my joy. 

Haydn's bliss after uploading three days worth of photos to Flickr, Starbucks, Ottawa

So the experience gives me real pleasure. In these days when I've been setting up this year's blog I've had a chance to reflect on why I get so much value out of the process.

Dialogue informs and improves reflection and engagement

A friend and former colleague of mine Dr Nick Potter often challenges me, in his erudite Facebook posts, to think of the use of language and literature in giving sense and meaning to the past and the present. Nick's PhD is in English Language and Literature/Letters, so he should has clearly thought a lot about this. In a far less erudite way I use the blog to capture the events of the day (or perhaps the day before given my habit of catch-up posting a day or two after the events) as a way of reinforcing my lived memory and of making sense of it by internal dialogue and the wider dialogue with those who choose to comment.  THIS IS A BIG HINT FOLKS, YOUR COMMENTS MAKE THESE BLOG POSTS EVEN RICHER THAN WOULD MY RANDOM WITTERINGS ALONE, thanks to those who have already commented. So please comment and become part of the dialogic process.  

Sharing increases the intensity of the experience

Perhaps in the world of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram it is clear how much sharing can increase the pleasure of the activity. A close friend, who is also a former colleague, Dr Robin Croft has spent many years looking at the way we use social media to create and make sense of the world around us as well as communicating about ourselves. 

Robin has been a commentator on these blogs (and my holiday photos) since the 2011 version and has often helped me frame and reframe my reflections. One of the best challenges was in the 2015 blog when Robin asked me to see if I could give all my post titles the titles of songs. It was an enjoyable time thinking of music. I wonder what this year's challenge will be??

Robin, like Nick, has also enabled me to reflect on my writing helping me ask who is my audience? Well, I realise it is the future me, but also anyone who wants to read the blog, so knowing someone else is reading challenges me to do more than simply describe what Drew and I are doing, but to share something of the emotional value and experience too. New readers will find I'm better at this when it comes to the food experience, than any other aspect.😜 I might suggest this is because I am a food lover, others that I am a greedy b****r!!

Others do it too

For a number of years it has been a pleasure to join in the journeys of another former colleague from the University of South Wales, Lloyd Williams, Lloyd and his daughter Carys, to a great job of capturing the alternative perspectives of an adult and a teenager on holiday. They are currently in Southern Europe so why not pop over and look at their excellent holiday storytelling.

Risks of sharing 

I've highlighted the positive above, but I'm a realist and recognise that in a social media world all is not rosy. There are many articles, like this one which reflect on the negative effect of Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. So I've wondered would I be sad if no one read the blog. Well, I'd miss the interaction, but as I'll be reading it again next year, and the year after, I think the personal value of stopping and reflecting will, for me, overwhelm the need for fame. Indeed if I was looking for that I'd have a single travel blog, not one a year, and make sure I filled it with holiday planning as it happened not just focus on the travel itself.

So, on the morning the holiday begins enough of the serious reflection and on with the final packing and enjoying the experience. I fervently hope you enjoy it too.