I never thought that blogging would be so much fun. At the start, I doubted myself. Would I be able to write well? Could I provide great content? Beside best friends (who don’t own blogs), the duo from Indohoy were two of the first people who said just do it, you’ll never know if you don’t try. Remembering the journey of Discover Your Indonesia, I never imagined that I would get such a positive response.

Photo with indohoy

Gypsytoes, Twosocks, Indohoy and me. Photo by Indohoy

Though I know that I have just done a little thing, to receive comments / emails saying thank you about how my articles have help them feels fantastic. It is so priceless for me. Other great things about blogging for me are my new friends, some of whom just feel like good old friends, though some of them I have only ever met once (or never met them in real life).

my cubicle

My lovely cubicle 🙂

My first post on Discover Your Indonesia was on March 2013. It was the same month with my last day of my 9-5 job. When I decided to quit, after working for four years and ten months at a multinational company, some of my best friends asked me about what I was going to do and why I decided to stop working at the company. To be really honest, the answer for me at that time was to take a break and think again about my life. Yes, as simple as that. At that point of time, I felt like my job was taking over my life. I knew that my previous job was not something that I wanted to do for the next five years of my life. Now I am enjoying share stories, thoughts and pictures on my personal travel blog. I also have some other online projects and take commission doing some crafts by request.; bracelets, wallets, bags etc.

firsta indonesia

Today, Discover Your Indonesia, more or less a 10 months old travel blog, became one of the 10 finalists for the Indonesia Skyscanner Bloscars Travel Award 2014. I am so flattered to be recognized like this. If you want to see me smile (more), please click this link, click “Pilih” – which means vote – and enter your email. It will all take less than 10 seconds to make my 2014 travel dreams come true (you can check out one of my travel dreams here) . The voting period will be January 29 to February 23, 2014. You can vote for your favorite travel blogger (me? yes?) once per week (a total of 4 times). Your votes will have a 50% weighting and the other 50% is Skyscanner obligation. Please like Discover Your Indonesia Facebook page and I will remind you through the page to vote every week. 😀

I would love to hear your comment about my blog. Which post/article that you like the most, what I can do to improve this blog, etc. Last but not least, big congratulations to all the other finalists (in random order): Cumi Lebay, The LosTraveler, Tindak Tanduk Arsitek, Backpackstory, TripToTrip.Asia, Mixed Up Already, Fahmi Anhar, Debbzie and Backpacker Borneo. You are all great for different reasons and it is an honor for me to be together with you guys in the top 10. Cheers to us and good luck!

10 finalists
10 finalists for the Indonesia Skyscanner Bloscars Travel Award 2014. Photo from Skyscanner website.