Celebrating The Travelista’s 1st Birthday!

Today is a very special day for  me as it’s The Travelista’s first birthday! Exactly one year ago on the 17th March 2013, I published my first ever post on The Travelista. At this point, it was your average start up WordPress blog with next to no traffic or following and my posts received very of little engagement. One year on from starting The Travelista, I have reached over 50,000 unique hits, 500 comments and 1958 followers. I’ve also been had some amazing experiences that have come purely though starting my blog. So here is a recap of my proudest moments and a thank you to my readers and to all the brands that have worked with me through The Travelista.

1. I was shortlisted for a Cosmo Blog Award 

Without a doubt, this has been the biggest acheivment of my first year of blogging. The Cosmo Blog Awards is a hugely prestigious accolade in the blogosphere and for my little blog to be recognised by the amazing publication that is Cosmopolitan quite simply blew my mind. At the time the blog was shortlisted, The Travelista was only 5 months old and was up against blogs that had been established for over 5 years. The blog was shortlisted from 43,000 blog nominations, and I made the final 6 in the Travel category.

2. I took on the World Duty Free Blogger Challenge 

It’s not every day you get an email asking if you’d be interested in a luxury-goods ‘super market sweep’ around World Duty Free with £250 to burn. But this is exactly what I did when I took on the World Duty Free Blogger Challenge. The idea was to pick up all of my Christmas gifts in one place with just an hour or so to spare. I took on the challenge and picked up some pretty awesome travel goodies along the way. Click on the link and check them out!

3. I jetted off for a Christmas weekend away in Paris

In December I was offered a weekend city break to a destination of my choice courtesy of World Duty Free. Having only visited as a teen, I chose the city of lights and love, Paris. With only a weekend to play with, I thought the short flight would buy me more time whilst I was over there. I spent a blissful weekend taking in the festive atmosphere of Paris and met up with my old french Pen Pal Emeline, who I hadn’t seen for 10 years!

4. I was taken on a helicopter ride over the skyscrapers of London

This experience was thanks to The London Helicopter, the first ever helicopter-charter company to welcome tourists and visitors, offering them an entirely new way to see the sights of London. As you can imagine, I jumped at the chance to experience this and spent an unforgettable 30 minutes above London’s stunning skyline, seeing all of the most famous sights. It was fascinating to be looking down on London. Click the link to read about my experience!

5. I’ve been treated to a Michelin Star champagne-filled lunch

Since moving to London, I’ve featured a few restaurant reviews on the blog. One of which was at Brasserie Chavot, after a lovely PR company invited me to go and experience their client’s food. I thought it may have been a quick ‘hi’ and a main course, but low and behold, I was treated to champagne, a DELICIOUS 3 course dinner and a meet and greet from Michelin Star chef Eric Chavot himself. I’m still dreaming of the cod, bacon and puy lentils dish I ordered and can’t wait to go back again! Read about my full dining experience in the link above.

6. I worked with LastMinute.com on their #BeSpontaneous campaign

LastMinute.com’s #BeSpontaneous competition was a huge campaign that took social media and the travel industry by storm. When they approached me to write an advice post about blogging to support their campaign, I was more than honored and took them up on the offer immediately. It was so great to be involved in such  high profile and intelligent social campaign and a great feeling to hear that travel giants LastMinute.com valued my advice.

With all these awesome experiences happening in just the first year of my blog being on the web, I am so excited to grow The Travelista further and to see where else in the world my travel blogging hobby can take me. Blogging is now a huge part of my life that has enriched my life socially, professionally and financially and I can’t imagine being without it. Here’s to the next year!

If you enjoyed this post (or just fancy wishing The Travelista a Happy 1st Birthday!) please leave a comment in the box below