[QA] Liebster Award

Hi everyone! It’s been a long time since my last post on here, since I’ve focused more on my Facebook page for sharing my adventures.

The reason for today’s post is because I was lucky enough to receive the Liebster Award, by An from Caffeine Berry. Be sure to check out her blog and follow her adventures as an expat! Thanks so much for the nomination! 🙂

The Liebster Award was created to help new bloggers connect with each other, and spread awareness about bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

Here are the questions I have been asked to answer…

Where are you from?

• I am originally from the Hampton Roads area in Virginia.

When was the first time you got on an airplane, and to where?

• My first time on an airplane was to San Diego, California. My sisters, mom, and I were visiting my father, who was doing a contracting job there. I was around 13 years old.

What is your LEAST favorite dish you have tried abroad, and why?

• Definitely Hongeo, or fermented stingray, in South Korea. The smell is so incredibly powerful, and just awful.  When I ate it, my tongue felt weirdly numb. It’s something I have no desire to try again, but it was a fun experience with lots of Soju (Korean rice liquor). Natto, or Japanese fermented soybeans, comes in a VERY close second. I was given a small serving by a guesthouse owner, and I barely managed to get it down, and only did so because I wanted to be respectful to my host.

Fermented stingray Source

Natto Source

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

• Anywhere and everywhere? Haha. At the moment, if I had to choose, I would like to live in Kampot, Cambodia. Cambodia has a very special place in my heart, and Kampot is a small, but lovely, river town with a great laid-back vibe.

Salt farm in Kampot, Cambodia.

What are your 3 must-have items you take with you traveling?

• A neck pillow
• Headphones
• A smart phone so that I can easily take pictures, or listen to music/audiobooks

What is your favorite form of travel and why?

• I like taking a bus or slow train. It’s not as fast as a plane, but I like taking my time when I am traveling, and it gives me time to just sit and look out the window at the passing scenery.

Train station in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

What languages do you speak, and if you can’t speak more than one, which language do you wish you could speak?

• I know enough Korean and, almost enough, Khmer for travel purposes. I would like to learn at least the basics of French, Italian, and Japanese.

What inspired your blog’s name?

• I love travel so I thought it would be fun to combine traveling with my last name, which is King. And that is how Travelingking was born. 🙂

If you could have anyone in the world as your travel companion, who would it be?

• I’d probably choose my youngest sister, because she is one of the few people I’ve ever traveled with, and exploring Southern California together was a blast. I’d also like the chance to travel with more of my family in the future!

My sister and I at the San Diego Safari park.

Would you prefer to stay at an All-Inclusive resort, or a hostel, and why?

• Probably a hostel, just because I feel like resorts have a limited or exclusive feeling to them, which doesn’t seem inviting. I’ve never actually stayed at a resort, so I could be wrong! I have stayed in hostels, and I know that it is an easy and comfortable way to meet other travelers. I’ve met some of the coolest and interesting people in hostels.

In what city did you have the best coffee ever?

• It’s a really weird tie between Rome, Italy and Seoul, South Korea. I had an amazing cappuccino with a girl I met in Rome, and in Seoul I was lucky enough to find Afro coffee shop, where the barista serves, what is probably, the best iced long black I’ve yet to try.

Cappuccinos and pastries in Rome!

Ice coffee at Afro coffee shop in Seoul, South Korea Source

And now, introducing my nominees!

1. Madison from Three’s a Crowd: Tales of a Girl, Her Dog, and Her Car
2. Cydney from Woman with Wanderlust
3. Katie from Hummingbird Away
4. Kim from the kim times
5. Hannah from Fresh Off The Plane
6. Shalinee from Life, Love & Travel
7. Vanessa from Girls Drink Stout
8. Ciara from CIARA COHEN-ENNIS
9. Sarah from Saritas Travel Moments
10. Ariam from Homecoming91
11. Molly from Living the Chai Life

Instructions for Nominees:

• Create a blog post on your site, answering the questions that I’ve provided below.
• In your post, be sure to link back to the blog who nominated you (aka myself, Meghan of Travelingking, with a thank you and shout out).
• After completing the questions, add a section for your nominees. Select, list and link 11 other bloggers with under 200 followers. Provide these instructions. Finally, create 11 questions for them to answer.
• Notify your nominees and provide a link to your post so that they know what to do.
• Once you’re done, come back here and comment with the link to your post so I can check out your answers.

Questions for nominees (and visitors!)

1. Where are you from?
2. What was it that first motivated you to travel?
3. What is your best travel memory?
4. What festival would you like to visit the most?
5. What has been your scariest travel experience?
6. Where is your favorite travel destination?
7. What’s the strangest food you’ve ever eaten abroad?
8. Do you prefer traveling solo or with company?
9. If you could only travel in one country, which would it be and why?
10. How long have you been blogging?
11. What inspires you?