This week’s Travel Tuesday feature should be less controversial, to say the least, since I am letting the blogger speak for herself. I started reading Camels & Chocolate a couple of years ago ans dince then my mom has become a reader and I’ve developed a blog friendship with Kristin. Turns out we have real life friends in common, too! Small world.
Behind the blog: Kristin Luna is a Tennessee native gone city girl journalista extraordinaire. It’s hard to sum her up without bringing up her envious job, her main squeeze SVV, and, of course, camels and chocolate.
What’s in a name?: “The short story: Even when I started my blog in 2007, there were already so many sites out there that had “backpacking” or “travel” in their names. I still can’t keep them all apart! I wanted my URL to be different, to be memorable. So I picked two seemingly random things that define me–camels are my favorite animals and, well, I try to sample as much chocolate as I can while traveling the globe!–and paired them together. Voila!
The more involved answer: A camel is the ultimate symbol of a nomad; chocolate is an emblem for indulgence–both of which sum up travel pretty perfectly, I’d say.”-KL
Why you should read: If the pictures don’t suck you in (the girl takes some damn good photos from her adventures around the world), then the tales of her life as a full-time journalist and marital bliss with her travel beau turned hubby SVV will. See? You never know what can happen.
“Because since I’m not just a travel blogger but a travel journalist by profession, I get to journey to far-flung destinations that your average person might not even know exists. And since I write so many (often mundane) “go there, eat this, stay here” pieces for my job, I try to veer away from that on my blog and make it predominantly travelogues and first-person narratives. Also, I have a ridiculously cute puppy.”-KL
What are your favorite posts?
“One of the more service-y posts I’ve written about how I got into this career, “So You Wanna Be a Travel Writer?” continues to be my most popular with the masses; I think this is because everyone thinks of travel writing as the “dream job” (it’s not, really–at the end of the day, it’s still a job–though it is fun for the most part!). But I prefer the ones with more of a wildlife or adventure angle, such as trekking with gorillas in Rwanda, climbing a mountain in Switzerland, or conquering my fear of sharks to swim and dive with them in the Bahamas. Sometimes I don’t feel like words adequately describe experiences, which is why the Photo Friday feature comes in handy when I’m trying to portray a people as I did with my Children of Rwanda series.”-KL
My personal faves are as follows:
- Photo Friday: Charleston, South Carolina– This one is obvious for me. Always excited to see my semi-hometown repped.
- Jump Up, Jump Up, Get Down– Quite possibly the most BA bungee jump ever. I am dying to try it.
- Going to the Chapel: The Preparations– I’m far from any kind of wedding planning, but I will for sure steal the idea of countries as table numbers!
It seems that you’re not caught up in all the SEO, page rank and advertising BS and just focusing on taking great pictures and writing interesting stories. That’s one of the things I admire the most about your blog. What other blogs do you read often? [I was just curious about this one, since you won’t find her on the “top travel blog” rankings.]
“Thank you! I personally don’t like reading the obviously SEO-driven blogs, so I keep my own about topics I’m passionate about–not what I know would drive more traffic. I’m not trying to be the Internet’s next big travel superstar; I just aim to share my own experiences through pictures and words.
Since photography is one of my big passions, I admire other travel blogs with a strong visual aesthetic. Three compelling sites with phenomenal photography that immediately come to mind are Jen Laceda’s Folie a Deux [a favorite of mine as well!], Akila and Patrick’s The Road Forks, and Mina and Alex’s Sending Postcards.”-KL
So there you have it! Hope you enjoyed another installment of Read This Blog. Happy Travel Tuesday.
Oh, I love Kristin's site as well! =) And now I know the story behind the name! Hooray!
Caroline, thanks for the kind words and the shoutout! Hope all went well in London!
I'm the mutual friend yay!!!!!!! :) :) :)