Canada’s Adventure Couple - The Planet D

Dave & Deb from Canada left the regular working world for a life of travel … have they done it? Are they doing it? Let’s find out

Content

From first impression the content on The Planet D looks fairly top notch however when you dig in a little that your start to get this uneasy feeling as if this is more a commercial blog than personal. Practically every post is labeled at the end with Disclosure statements “Some of the posts on The Planetd do make us money but we never sacrifice our integrity in exchange for a favourable review.” Which leads me to wonder “How much money?” “How?” and “Is everything just a running advertorial?”

Couple this with some dubious sponsored text link posts right from the start of this blog and as a blog critic I do wonder is this is about travel or making money from travel anyway you can? If it’s about making a business then I’d be trying to look more professional and so Marketing like.

However when there are posts about just Dave & Deb traveling it’s all fairly okay stuff. Albeit random. A travelogue this is not. More a Travel Magazine of sorts.

Site Design

It’s a dark website which I normally like but it’s struggling. There’s a lack of consistency with the basic colors. The second color is blue but they use too many variants. Going a little more dual color would help. Likewise with widgets, gadgets, info boxes and a whole lot more. There’ s simply too much going on making it all a little jumbled and confusing.

The Planet D – some work is needed

The Planet D could really benefit from the less is more approach.

Photography

There are some great photos on The Planet D, along with some random average shots. It seems to swing from one end of the spectrum to the next. Stangley there’s no photo gallery here. Just a category for photo posts. Which included guest posts. How about an actual Gallery?

Style of writing

Again there’s a mix of personal travel blog here and a hybrid magazine mixed with advertorials. This blend of writing let’s The Planet D down. Stick with one formula or the other. There’s very little emotion here aside from view points. It’s a couple traveling yet there’s little about the couple more about the destination.

Add in these sponsored posts and it’s like picking up an in-flight magazine when you’re waiting for take off and something better to read.

Continuity

One post I’m reading about a possible “sponsored” ski trip in Canada the next it’s  Photography then it’s off to China. Random. For a travel blog it’s about as random as it comes.

Conclusion

The Planet D comes across as a It  a commercial venture.  Yet it’s a travel blog about an adventurous Canadian Couple. The content is more like that of an in-flight magazine. These elements are not mixing well for informative public reading and enjoyment. If The Planet D want’s to go commercial then turn this blog into a blog style magazine and have less emphasis on being a blog.

 Wander for distraction, travel for fulfillment - The Aussie Nomad

Chris Richardson is an Australian nomad traveling the world and living in the UK. Let’s find more about the Aussie Nomad

Content

Since late 2009 Chris has been blogging about his preparations and his travels. Starting off Chris is firmly in the Travel Blogger boot camps with typical posts about preparation  what to expect . Most of Chris’ travels have been in Europe and the posts take on a fairly standard look at an Australian abroad.

Where The Aussie Nomad really takes off and becomes interesting is when Chris lands in the UK and starts blogging about settling into the life there. With content now focused on practical help that’s genuinely useful to others looking to settled in the UK I’d nearly want to rename the Aussie Nomad to the Aussie Expat Nomad Living in the UK.

Site Design

Big bright yellows and blacks give the Aussie Nomad a refreshingly feel to the design. Although it can look like danger sign in terms of color coordination, it works.

The Aussie Nomad or Aussie Expat?

What’s lacking on the Aussie nomad is a better way of showing readers the content that’s available on the site. Some of it’s done well, but the categories do tend to get a little lost. And there’s an emphasis on maps that really doesn’t seem to click well. If Chris can make it easier to browse the site, then he’ll really have done everyone a great favor.

Photography

Personal photography is how I’d put it best. Nothing super overwhelming, but everything has it’s purpose and suits the site very well.

Style of writing

Chris’ writes about the practical side of things quite well. His step to step approach is easy to follow. When he writes about himself things tend to stagnate. But when being practical Chris really does do everyone a great deal of good.

Continuity

The Aussie nomad has become an Expat so posts are now about living in the UK and occasional travels. This works well. Though again I would like to see some tweaks to the sites design to break things up a little more and make it easier for those looking for specific things to find them.

Conclusion

The Aussie Nomad is a great resource for anyone thinking of moving to the UK. Some of the practical tips are just spot on. In terms of travel the Aussie Nomad is so so. That’s not a bad thing. I’d like to see more about living in the UK as a foreigner from Chris. He’s good at it and I’m sure if he focuses on that alone he’ll really make a name for himself.

The travel blog of Christine Gilbert and family. A travelogue about a family traveling the world and making a living from it …

Content

This is very much a dedicated travelogue blog which is a refreshing read for a change. A mix of Christine (mainly) and husband Drew’s life as opposed to just travel. Indeed travel and the locations therein seem to take a backseat here next to family and business life. Going back in the site is a little hard due to a lack of working navigation and categories.

To get into Almost Fearless one has to take a liking to the family. Cute baby pictures and the spectrum of voyeurism works well here, though it is lacking an addictive appeal due to a wealth of giveaways and a rather bland shop and art section.

Site Design

Minimalism works very well here. Perhaps too much so. The site is immediately comfortable to look at, but lacks a structure to effectively use. Shop & Art contains what I can only presume are some of the families art and things for sale? While “Documentary” links straight to kickstarter page they got funding for.

Speaking of art the site is full of nice little custom images. Sadly the footer is awash with paid SEO text links right next to supporters and blogs they like, it’s not unobtrusive though.

Photography

I kept seeing photo of people with cameras here, but then no gallery? Seems strange for a site selling art. With a lot of emphasis on family life on the road it would be nice to see a gallery to go along with everything. There’s also a serious addiction to instagram like photos which drags the quality of reasonably good images down quite a bit.

Style of writing

The font is far too small for me. That said the writing itself is quite good. Again there’s the addictive element of a husband and wife’s relationship on the road. Reading snarky comments between the two is refreshing compared to the “life is wonderful” style posts. The stresses and strains and overcoming them posts hinge on real life wonderfully and is certainly the trademark to Almost Fearless.

There is a hard push on the families projects such as a documentary they are making. For a newcomer it’s a nice read. Better for longer term readers as I quickly grew a little bored of it.

Continuity

Being a travelogue continuity is very important. Almost Fearless does very well on this side of things offering up posts with a clear timeline. There’s little jumping around and it makes following this blog along very easy. I only wish there was a better infrastructure within the site to go back and read more easily.

Conclusion

I really liked the look and feel of Almost Fearless. The idea of following a nomadic family along as they take on projects to make life on the road work is enjoyable. The personal posts are where this site shines through. If you don’t like the family at first impression, then you’ll walk away. If you do like them then it’s a keeper.

 Around the World Travel Community for Indie Travel - BootsnAll

Since 1998 BootsnAll have been publishing content to help independent travelers. Let lets find out how this site is doing today …

Content

I remember BootsnAll back in the day. Filled with forums, user blogs and feature articles. I wondered if they would one day overtake the other big travel forum out there (thorntree). And then move on to dominate in other fields. The problem back then was that the site was hard to navigate. Today I was delighted to see the sites had a major upgrade.

The problem is I can’t find that same level of content. In the left hand side bar are regions. Being a planning site I would assume something like “Asia” would be filled with info and countries. Not so. Well, maybe so. It’s certainly hard to find though. There’s an opening paragraph with no mention of individual countries. Then there are a few small links indicating a map. Clicking on it shows a custom map. But that’s about it. Zooming is required and slowly info starts to appear. And, I do mean slowly. Krakows information equaled “Krak”. That was it.

Where has the content gone? Unfortunately the link to the forums is still there.

The whole site is now pushing RTW trips, hostel, booking and reservations. Clicking around and I really only can find the most basic of information on each page.

Site Design

It certainly looks like a marked improvement over the old “green” design. It looks modern and is relatively easy to navigate. Aside from the map section which is simply too slow, confusing and lacks any real information. For a casual browser the site is a nice quick read. Things are spaced out well.

The blog page is focusing on news and social media. It’s quite narrow and hard to read. I’d prefer to see original content on destinations here.

After that there are many many new sales type pages. Which isn’t bad in itself, it’s just that the content is lacking. And the sites design is different throughout the site. While switching templates is good. Sometimes it just doesn’t work well on BootsnAll.

Images

Big and bold they do the job. Attribution is given to photographers which is a good thing.

Style of writing

Basic facts that hinge on a sales pitch. Reading about Halong Bay and Everest Base Camp treks is an example. Just the very, very basic outlines. No real help at all. But a host of links linking to tour sales.

Helpful

If the forums / Community page worked a bit better from a search or integration stand point maybe so. Otherwise BootsnAll seems to have forgone their “independent traveler” notion and gone for “package tour sales” instead.

I really found some good content and help on the old version of BootsnAll a few years ago. Today I must write that is no longer the case. Hopefully if the forums will remain so something good can still be revealed. This is about the only thing that scores well for the site today.

 Independent Experience and Adventure - Art of Backpacking

If you’re looking for backpacking advice the internet is filled with sites offering it. Will the Art of Backpacking be any different? Let’s take a look …

Content

There’s quite a bit of blog content on Art of Backpacking, coming in the form of reviews, guest posts and sponsored posts. The site was started by Michael Tieso who backpacked back in 2008. What’s unclear is if he still is or not? Reading the about page suggests he is, but there’s no sign of a travelogue. So this one goes under the travel blogs category for sure.

The reviews are quite helpful and more importantly interesting. So much so I’d like them to be a little longer. Destinations are a mix of blog posts from different people and don’t really appeal as helpful. Likewise food & drink as there’s a strong crossover. Tips/Planning for example is where this format works very well and I found myself engaged in the motivation posts. Sadly there are some SEO related/sponsored posts that spoil some of the reading on here with short detached writing which let’s it down in the ratings.

Site Design

The site runs smoothly and the design is clear, spacious and easy to read. I don’t quite like the right hand side bar which has a gaudy app ad and a rainbow rating with high numbers for popular posts. Dare I write there are also a bevy of SEO text links hiding around there too.

All in all the design is quite good for a blog. What Art of Backpacking really needs is a better content management system to make it display more like a magazine perhaps than a blog. There are also quite a few unfinished pages. Perhaps it’s better not to put them up until they are finished.

Photography

Photography on Art of Backpacking is a mix of guest post photos and flickr posts. Some are attributed, others are not. There doesn’t seem to be a gallery which is a shame. I’d have liked to have seen a dedicated backpacking gallery.

Style of writing

Michael’s posts on travel technology and reviews are quite enjoyable and well written. Like all guest posts some of the writing is okay while the rest is fairly standard. I can’t help but mention the sponsored posts do lack in quality here.

Again I think dropping the travel blog idea and becoming a magazine style site would improve the style of writing if it can be broken into more defined sections.

Continuity

There’s little here as it’s a travel blog teetering on the edge of being a resource site. However content is continuous and travel related.

Conclusion

I liked Art of Backpacking. The design is nice for a travel blog. There’s just not enough to separate if from the mass of other travel blogs out there. In fact this is one of those occasions when looking like a blog is probably harming the site rather than doing it more good. Michael does seem active in keeping the site up to date so hopefully he’s aware of some of these issues.

A worldwide guide to travel by train or ferry…  www.seat61.com

One of the classic all time great travel websites for anyone wishing to travel by train anywhere in the world. How does this it  match up compared to the new up and coming sites out there? Let’s find out!

Content

The undisputed king of worldwide train travel. There is nothing that even comes close to the content that is available on The Man in Seat Sixty-One. From England across Europe into Asia, down through to Australia and over to the Americas everything you need to know about how to do it by train is there.

Timetables, routes, ticket info and border crossings are all listed out with meticulous detail.  Also included are ferries, boat crossings and much more than any independent trans-continental traveler could want.

Site Design

Functional is the most appropriate word here. It’s not a beautiful looking site for sure. It takes up the entire screen which is good and the information on it is positively encyclopedic. That said the formatting and layout does look as if something has broken on the site. Or at best it’s a DIY job.

The owner of The Man in Seat Sixty-One, Mark Smith, says the website is now his full-time job. I might suggest he spend just a little time on trying to get the site to look a little bit more uniform. A prime example is the front page where the left column runs on and on. The footer is cramped. Lots of little things that could be fixed and really make the site pop!

Images

Practical and interesting. There’s no super giant glossy photos on display here and I don’t think there should be. It’s a practical information resource website. The photographs perfectly show off the interior or exterior of train carriages where you’ll be eating/sleeping and that’s all I really want to know. A prime example of a travel website putting travel images to good use!

Style of writing

Practical. Everything is listed out for you. There’s no rambling on The Man from Seat Sixty-One. It’s straight to the point. Where do you want to travel to by train? Russia to China? Here’s how you do it.

There are lots of additional tips added and a news site. But in terms of practical guides of how to travel overland by train the Man from Seat Sixty-One nails it.

Helpful

The Man in Seat Sixty-One is one of the most helpful travel websites I’ve ever come across.

Simply put it’s a classic that very few have been able to replicate in any field. I simply couldn’t find a train route that I could think of that was missing. Certainly it’s more for longer distant train trips than your standard intercity links. With internal and external links you can easily book your train & ferry trips across any continent on Earth.

This is a website for people who want to enjoy the journey of travel. Highly recommended on all accounts. 

Documenting the experiences of world travelers, Jason Castellani and Aracely Santos Castellani as they travel around the world - 2 Backpackers

A travel blog about a couple that promotes inspiration through their travels … how does it match up? Let’s dive in and find out …

Content

There’s a lot of content on 2 Backpackers. It’s presented in typical “blog format”. This can be a good thing and a not so good thing. 2 Backpackers gets it right a lot of the time, but then let’s us down quite a bit too.

My primary disappointment is that it’s not a travel blog about Jason and Aracely. At least not any more. Every other post is by a guest blogger. I don’t understand this as it’s a travel blog about Jason and Aracely yet so much of the content is coming from random people. It’s laid out well, and the content is fine but there’s no personality there.

Likewise having places like Antarctica and the Middle East as destinations yet the only having one or two posts in their by guest bloggers is a huge disappointment when you are looking to read about a couple traveling.

Site Design

 My first impressions of 2 Backpackers was very good. The site is clean, crisp, uncluttered and runs very quickly. The color scheme is one of the best out there that uses a darker look. 

The footer is the only exception here as it’s badly formatted with a column of links. The blog does run very quickly though which is nice to experience.

Photography

The dark website makes the photography on 2 Backpackers pop up nicely. That said there’s little in the way of photo credits from all the guest posts. If it’s not a personal blog,  or has guest posts I’m of the opinion photo credits are needed.

There’s a lot of featured photo posts with little text to back them up. Some photos are coming through as off focus.

Worse yet are un-credited photo features from places neither have been to with SEO text links thrown in.

Style of writing

The guest posts are random and range from someone’s light-hearted experiences to their favorite places. Nothing ground breaking. Again the fact that 2 Backpackers is touted as being about two people it’s strange to read random posts from different parts of the world.

Outside of guest posts I’m not reading much in the way of heart or passion. Even in the older posts when the “2 Backpackers” were actually traveling it was more about the practical side of things than personal. Instead of developing this, today its seems this is totally lost.

Continuity

All over the place. It’s certainly not a travelogue anymore. It once was a couples travelogue. I don’t know what happened as the blog now seems to be on random guest post and photo post mode jumping from country to country.

Conclusion

I like reading couple travel blogs. It’s always nice to see and follow two people as they travel. Done well it’s great to read what one person is thinking at the same time as another. 2 Backpackers had this potential but today the site has become a generic travel blog. I’d simply turn it into a magazine themed site about backpacking in two’s or as a couple rather than continuing on as it is.

Legal Nomads – where culture, food and travel intersect – Legalnomads.com

A former corporate lawyer takes to the road for a new career in the field of photograph, travel and food writing. Sounds interesting? Let’s find out what Legal Nomads is all about …

Content

Legal Nomads is a solo female travel blog staring Jodi Ettenberg who’s a marshmallow enthusiast, volcano climber, cave spelunker and geek. It all reads with wonderfully quirkiness. And that’s the main feeling I got from Jodi’s content as well.

Legal Nomads takes travel content and turns it into quirky travel fun like no one else

Diving back into the archives of Legal Nomads reveals that Jodi’s quirkiness has always been there. Blog titles are  humorous, well thought out and original. That is not to say there’s nothing serious there. Jodi quite often writes about her own feelings on traveling as a solo woman and her feelings on topical subject matters. It’s all quite addictive is you like this style.

There is however a change in Legal Nomads from 2010 onwards that’s interesting to note. Travel takes more of back seat and Jodi moves forward as a “professional” travel blogger. The change is more than subtle in terms of content. It becomes more marketed towards a global audience rather than a personal one.

The content however remains strong which is important. The quirkiness is still there which is great. To an average reader it may not be noticeable. But as a personal “travel” blog it does herald a change. From random posts to razor-sharp targeted content I wonder where the next step will take Jodi.

Site Design

Legal Nomads is one of the best looking travel blogs I’ve come across. The homepage does look like a fancy legal brochure. That’s not a negative thing as it markets the blog with pure professionalism. Even Jodi’s photo that adorns the top of the sidebar looks like a purposefully scripted corporate resume photo.

Further down the sidebar we see some unique photos that turn into titled links when hovering over them. A nice touch.

One major flaw I did see around all this professionalism is the photo gallery. The main menu links to a Google picassa album. Not only did this throw me and make me wonder where I was for a while but I couldn’t help but wonder why? So in terms of ratings Legal Nomad’s original design lost some here. An in-house gallery would be a lot better, or at least one that held the same domain name.

Photography

Jodi’s about page notes she’s making a career as being a professional photographer. I expected to see some professional photographs on Legal Nomads but failed to find them. Yes, there are some very nice photos from Jodi in the past year or so. Dive back into the archives and they step back a notch. I asked another reviewer here on RevCrunch to take a look in case I was missing something and they mentioned there was a lot of “Photoshop” type work going on.

That said the photographs on Legal Nomads are used to their maximum ability with large good-looking thumbnails on the homepage and several photo essays. Are they to a professional standard? No. Do they look wonderful on a website? Yes.

Style of writing

Legal Nomad’s is a fun read. I really enjoyed reading Jodi’s past travels as solo female. It was simply a fun read. Again as I wrote earlier there is a change in her approach over the past couple of years. The quirkiness is still there, the personality is still there, but the raw writing is gone. Replaced with an air of professionalism that both gives and takes from the content as a reader.

There’s no more spider chasing or quick posts on Russian visas. Replaced instead by longer targeted posts with nay on a negative word. It’s a positive travel blog for sure.

Continuity

Is Legal Nomads a travelogue? Well, I think it’s fair to say it once was but no longer is. That’s not a bad thing. The travel blog has evolved into a possible career cornerstone for Jodi. I found it very difficult to work out where Jodi was in the last year or so. Random mentions of Thailand then it’s to Morocco and Italy. I detect sponsored trips here and they seem to have taken away the continuity of Legal Nomads.

Conclusion

I really like the original style of Legal Nomads. Jodi has a great quirky style that makes for a very light-hearted read that’s seriously lacking in other travel blogs. What worries me is that Legal Nomads seems to be changing from a corporate lawyers great escape into travel. To a corporate travel blog.

For now Legal Nomads presents an interesting blog. I for one am curious to see where Jodi ends up at the end of all this. If that’s not the idea of a travel blog, I don’t know what is. Jodi’s personality drives you to find out what happens to this corporate lawyer. Will she be a nomad? Corporate travel blog? Or will she take us on a new adventure in her life? It’s certainly a travel blog worth following to find out!

In 2010 Tom Bartel from Minneapolis U.S.A sold just about everything he owned to take on the globes streets and write about it on Andean Drift

Content

I like Tom’s site. He gives a good mix of his personal anecdotes, travel tips, photos and food (he likes spring rolls). These are the mainstays of travel blogs. Tom’s website is clearly a Travelogue as it follows him on his travels to various places.

I like Tom’s content style too. He’s kinda like a shy bashful rogue who isn’t afraid to write something between the lines. He’s also not shy to give himself a bit of a bashing too. Check out his post on a hardy massage in Chiang Mai. Made me laugh out loud a few times. I would like it if he could update his about page a little as it seems a little dated.

All in all I like Tom’s approach to writing about his travels.

Site Design

All around good clean website with one of the neatest sidebars in travel blog history.

The only thing that nagged me was that there was no home page link text. Can we have a home page link in the menu bar Tom eh? Pretty please?

Tom’s navigation gets me a little lost I’d like to see countries or categories make it to the top menu as a drop down by country and then topics. At the moment everything is listed on a sidebar, which is fine, but a little hard to follow.

Photography

Tom’s photos are like flipping through a photo album. So many travel blogs try to post the best of the best. Here’s it’s lightly refreshing to see Tom take everyday photos of people and places. Not everything has to be a work of art and this is a huge plus to Andean Drift.

Style of writing

Tom writes things as he see’s them. And, there’s a lot of writing in there. It’s the kind of travelogue that you need to follow because you’re interested in Tom and his wife’s traveling. If you do, then it’s well worth adding Andean Drift to your RSS reader as he know’s how to tell a tale or two.

Continuity

I’m only a little confused. Thrown by Tom’s about page. Did he stop traveling in 2012? Or did he stop and start? I don’t know. The main point here is that at the time of review he was traveling and the posts were always followed up well. No jumping around.

Conclusion

It was a pleasure to come across Andean Drift. Tom comes across as a nice jolly fellow with a big smile and love for traveling.

It’s also a pleasure to read a travelogue. If anything Andean Drift could be used as an example of the difference between Travel Blog and Travelogue. There are no guestposts here or any sponsored posts.

This travelogue is about Tom and his lovely wife traveling the world and writing about it for the love of simply doing so. Well worth checking out!

Malaysia Asia, a travel blog site by David Jr – malaysia-asia.my

A personal travel blog dedicated to Malaysia … and just about everywhere else in South East Asia. Let’s take a look and see what we can find out.

Content

The first thing that struck me about Malaysia Asia was it’s name being close to Malaysia tourisms ”Malaysia Truly Asia”. They are in no way related. However the content on Malaysia-Asia.my does quite often come off as trying to be official sounding. Or at best factually touristic.  On the other hand its owner David Jr says it’s a personal travel blog. The end result is we get a mash of content that reads like amateur journalism.

This doesn’t take away from the fact that there’s a lot of good, relative, interesting and factual information on this blog. There is. It’s just very hard to find due to being badly organised.

Giving us an impressive list of content about Malaysia would be nice. And on the surface Malaysia-Asia.my does just that. However most of it is made up of blog posts. There’s a strange half personal / half wants to be a offical factual site going on here. Some posts display images from others yet text content from David. At live events this simply reads badly. How can a personal travel blog acting like a report write about an event they’ve not been to. This basically dilutes the content.

Adding more water to the dilution are the sponsored trips. It all very much takes away from the sites overall focus – Malaysia.

Site Design

It looks like an average blog and acts like one. Unfortunately this is compounded by broken links galore. The top menu of hotels listing 5 star to backpacker simply doesn’t work. And the long stream of center content is seriously dated in style.

A site trying to cover as much geographic content as this is bound to struggle by sticking solely with a blog format.  I quite simply had a hard time finding or wanting to find my way around this site. Even though I wanted to know more about Malaysia as a tourist.

Photography

A country such as Malaysia is filled with photographic opportunities to show the world. Malaysia-Asia.my does not take advantage of this as well as it could. There is no visible gallery showing off Malaysia’s highlights and the in-content photographs are average. Guest photographers perk things up a little and it’s good to see attribution links.

Style of writing

I’ve reviewed quite a few travel blogs. Many have their owners personalities and many again are just content machines. This is again where Malaysia-asia.my could stand out but instead falters. The content is mainly factual and tries hard. Ultimately there’s a grain of prose missing within it. For a personal travel blog David Jr rarely talks about his own emotional feelings, abilities, failures, or successes.

As a blog it lacks in personality. As a factual travel website it lacks in objectivity and neutrality.

Continuity

As a travel blog continuity is virtually non-existent here. If Malaysia-Asia.my listed itself as a travel website and not a personal travel blog then it wouldn’t have to worry so much about this category. We would instead be rating it based on helpfulness or usefulness.

As a travel blog there’s little continuity other than some Malaysia content that reams off like a news ticker.

Conclusion

I find myself disappointed with Malaysia-asia.my when I wanted to be excited. The creative style and design of this travel blog ultimately lets it down. It’s lost between being a personal “travel blog” and a professional “travel website”. It’s trying to be both but failing itself and it’s readership in the process.

Judging by the sponsored trips, advertising and advertorials I imagine David wants this to be a profitable website. If this is the case I would ditch the personal travel blog motif and move into the realm of being a travel website with a blog. Stick to the facts and focus solely on Malaysia. Stop the veering off into the rest of South East Asia and where ever you can score a freebie trip.

Being in Malaysia David Jr has a great insight into all things Malaysia. And he’s nearly got the latest in tourism happenings down on his site which is great. But it lacks that slice of journalistic polish. Rather than go down that road I would look up some of the more popular local city guides and indeed online guides online and take a page from their style.

There is potential with Malaysia-Asia.my but it’s floundering in no mans land at the moment. If David can steer it towards being either a blog or a dedicated travel website there’s a lot of potential here.