Happy Birthday, Blog!

Well, it’s been one year since I started this blog. That’s right, April 4th, 2010 I made my first post right here, which I think 6 people viewed… over three days. Over the year I’ve managed to survive 17 countries or so, visiting around 60 cities and (trying) to learn Korean, Thai, Khmer, Polish and now… Russian. As a result of those travels, I’ve been fortunate to meet and talk with many people all over the world.

I’ve managed just over one post per week, or about 67 (including this one). Readership continues to grow at a breath-taking pace and is almost equal to global daily Google searches. If you like what you read, remember to share it with your friends and family (using the “Share” button below) or maybe even the people you don’t like, since there are probably more of them. You can even use this short email:

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Heeeyyy dude! I remember us talking about teaching English abroad and found this website. This guy has taught English and travelled the world. Thought you might like it.

www.stevensirski.wordpress.com

See ya!
(YOUR NAME)

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Don’t forget to personalize it with your name or else it’ll just look like spam.

Anyway, your favourite posts included Taipei? Fucking Eh!, the tale about my life on the farm in The Thanksgiving Day Chicken, and my Third Impressions of Poland. The Coffee and Coffee Shops in Asia post garnered quit a bit of attention from search engines, so too the second part of my report on Polish Vodka, and Winnipeg Music.

I appreciate you taking the time to read comment on The Thanksgiving Day Chicken, Winnipeg Music, and parts one and two of  Reminiscences of a Winnipeg Musician. My First Impressions of Poland, however, sparked many conversations while travelling through Poland. Thank you for the comments both online and in person.

Although I started the blog with the intention of making a documentary about my southeast Asian travels, I changed direction and focused more on writing, leaving the video and photos often unattended. All is not lost, however, as you can view a portion of my photos on Flickr and some videos on Vimeo. I’m slowly adding more.

There was a time I thought I could make a useful travel website, you know, somewhere you could look up what to do, what to see, etc., but there are other people who do it better than I ever could, among them Art of Backpacking, Road Junky, World Nomads and Frommer’s while the travel guides Lonely Planet (particularly the “shoestring budget” books) and Let’s Go remain your best offline sources. And if you need somewhere to stay, Hostel World is a good choice. As for airfare, I use tripadvisor.com and cheapoair.com. I don’t pretend to be a travel website, but I have travelled quite a bit.

In any event, my travels are (hopefully) far from over. There is still time for me to be of some service to you and your travel plans. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at stevensirski [at] gmail [dot] com, or you can look me up on Facebook, though I’m wary of adding people I don’t know. A good conversation is appropriate, but a night or two out drinking is a minimum before I can commit to a Facebook relationship.

Thanks for reading. I’ve enjoyed writing. 🙂

Steve