It’s been a week of catch up around the website. I’ve been tinkering with some settings, building a facebook fan page and strategizing where to take this blog in 2010. I can’t wait for everything to fall in place, but it will take some time. While the period to talk about New Year’s Resolutions with a hint of timeliness has passed, this is really my first chance since January 1st that I’ve had the time to blog. A well-deserved vacation was needed.
But it’s back to work and here’s what’s in store for 2010. My resolutions, in no particular order are…
- Earn my first advertising dollar from this site. (You can accelerate this goal immediately by donating. Click on the link on the left. Web hosting isn’t free ya know!)
- Increase my readership by 100%
- Continue to build my fan base and regular readership following
- Land a paid promotional travel gig
Participating in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition was a fantastic way to end 2009, but it also means that I have to set even higher goals this year. There’s no doubt about it, it set the bar high. So what do you think of my resolutions? Are they achievable? Sound exciting? Comment below.
Immediate travel plans for early 2009 include a tour of Canada, Erie Pennsylvania and maybe one more trip to a location TBD. Plus there’s the big trip for the year that I’ll reveal in the near future.
Over the course of the next few months I’ll share some of my original posts from my participation in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition – in case you missed them. I’ll always let you know with a note in the header. It’s only appropriate that the first post I share is a thank you to all of you readers for making my participation in the competition possible in the first place.
Thank You.
***This post was originally published in December 2009 as part of the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition.
Well Explorers,
It’s that time.
Today is the last official day of the competition, and the last opportunity we have to blog. For nearly 5 months we’ve worked to bring you along with us on our quest to travel to Pattaya, Thailand. We hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we’ve enjoyed sharing it with you. Today’s our longest post yet. Given that today is the final day, we’ve got a lot to say. We hope you stick with us.
Thank You
We could never have done this without your enduring support. Your votes, promotional efforts and comments on our blog and facebook have meant the world to us. We’d especially like to acknowledge all of these individuals who made our trip possible.
First and foremost, our friends and family: Ben’s mom, dad, brother and his girlfriend Samantha and Brian’s mom, dad, sister and nieces, our friends here in Orlando: Eddie, Erin, Daniel, Wes, Maggi, Rebecca, Melissa, Rosa, Amanda, Steve, Candy and everyone else on Facebook. There are so many of you who have helped spread the word we’ve lost track.
Throughout the semi-finals and finals we had an enormous amount of support from twitter followers, many who started as strangers and became friends: @feelgoodz @goodtugo @bulkmail4u @jeffnoelmidlife @robotspaceship @smithbrad @Valapakip @kriengkrai @RSJustice @traveldudes @thegaytraveler @Pattaya_mail @alangkarnTHAI @brianknits @douglaskarr @BobThailand @meilooTest @Crash905 @hotelprguy @VisitThailand1 @kevinrbutters@shanannon @Pattaya_News@HappyHomeStager @TaaiPhanit @planeurope2
We also need to thank everyone who worked behind the scenes to make this competition (and our trip) possible. The Tourism Authority of Thailand and it’s partner Born Distinction. Chang Beer, Mekhong Whiskey, Bangkok Airways, Thai Airways, HotelThailand.com, Met 107 FM, Mix 88.5 FM, asiawebdirect.com, Weekend Magazine, the President Palace Hotel Bangkok, the Ocean Marina Yacht Club, Dusit D2, PTT Plc, Bupa Health Insurance, Pattaya Memorial Hospital, Grand Pearl Cruise, Easy Corner Pub & Restaurant, Kum Punn Pub, Rimpa Lapin, The Avenue, Advanced Info Service Plc., Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Tiffany’s Show and the Thai Alangkarn Theater
Congratulations
To Aubrey and Parker, we’d like to extend our congratulations on amassing the most votes and becoming true, Ultimate Thailand Explorers. We had so much fun with you in Thailand and look forward to our next adventure together. And to Michael and Jenny, Curtis and Mark and Mathieu and Emilia, congratulations on a job well done. Each of you have brought your unique style and brand that has taught us so much about travel and blogging. We’ve enjoyed learning from you and more importantly, are fortunate that our paths have crossed. Let’s hope they do again.
Press Coverage
We’d also like to thank everyone in the new and traditional media worlds for sharing the news about Pattaya and our adventure. Our biggest mentions are listed below, but we know there were countless other bloggers out there who helped publish our releases and promote our efforts:
Sawadee Pattaya TV
Numbers
We calculated all our data and wanted to share it with you since it was more than we could have possibly imagined!
4,107 – Number of photos we took while in Thailand
708 – Number of Twitter Followers
591 – Number of Facebook Friends
253 – Number of Facebook Fans
104 – Number of Facebook Groups or Pages that we’ve uploaded at least 1 Blog Post or Promotional Message to
56 – Number of YouTube Videos Uploaded
55 - Number of Posts on this blog Written
42 – Number of Gigabytes of Raw Video downloaded
1.28 – Number of Gigabytes of Final, Edited, Published Videos
9 – Number of Promotional T-shirts we each came home with
4,878 – Total Number of votes we received during the entire competition; All submitted by YOU!
Keep in Touch
We can’t say it enough, we’ve enjoyed meeting you. We’ll keep all our competition-related social media accounts active. If you plan on traveling to Pattaya, or have just returned, please drop us a line. We’d love to help you plan your trip and would love to hear how it was. While our competition-sponsored trip to Thailand is over, we are avid travelers. Ben writes regularly (at least he’ll return to writing regularly) on his personal blog, adventureswithben.com. If you’ve enjoyed our adventures here, you might enjoy following them there.
One More Question
Now that you’ve seen everything we’ve done. We’d like to ask you one more question. What was your favorite post from Pattaya? Add your comments below. What made you laugh? What made you cringe? What made you want to travel to Thailand?
Thank you for a lifetime of memories. We’ll leave you with our Amazing Thailand, Amazing Value Video, which truly captures our week and the time we spent sharing it with all of you.
We’ll see you out there!
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Nice to have you back.