The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (2nd Half: 2018) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
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Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 2nd half (July — December) of 2018 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs.
However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs.
Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarters. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
If you are a travel blogger who would like to be considered for inclusion in the 2019 1st half list, please e-mail me a screenshot of your Google Analytics page reflecting your site’s traffic including the number of unique visitors (click on “Audience” then “Overview”) from January 1 — June 30 to: Matt@TheExpeditioner.com.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/ 
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (2nd Half: 2018) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (2nd Quarter: 2018) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 2nd quarter (April — June) of 2018 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs.
However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs.
Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (2nd Quarter: 2018) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (1st Quarter: 2018) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 1st quarter (January — March) of 2018 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs.
However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs.
Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (1st Quarter: 2018) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (4th Quarter: 2017) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 4th quarter (October — December) of 2017 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs.
However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs.
Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (4th Quarter: 2017) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (3rd Quarter: 2017) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 3rd quarter (July — September) of 2017 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs.
However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs.
Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (3rd Quarter: 2017) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (2nd Quarter: 2017) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 2nd quarter (April — June) of 2017 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs.
However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs.
Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (2nd Quarter: 2017) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (1st Quarter: 2017) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 1st quarter (January — March) of 2017 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs.
However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs.
Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (1st Quarter: 2017) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (4th Quarter: 2016) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 4th quarter (October — December) of 2016 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs. However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs. Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (4th Quarter: 2016) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post How Many Americans Have A Passport? appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
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How many Americans have a passport? This was a question a British friend had asked me a few years ago, probably based upon the assumption that much of the world has about Americans, which is that the majority of Americans do not have passports. I had no idea what the answer was, so I decided to do a little research, and the answer is somewhat surprising.
The quick answer is that yes, the majority of Americans do not have a passport. The percentage of Americans who have a valid passport, according to the most recent statistics as tabulated by the State Department, is about 46%. This number excludes passport cards, which are identification cards that only allow sea and overland entry to the U.S. from Canada, Mexico and certain parts of the Caribbean, but not the rest of the world.
To get this number I took the number of outstanding valid passports in circulation as estimated by the State Department — the number is 138,675,021 — and divided that by the total U.S. population according to the Census Bureau, which as of December, 2016, was 325,103,000 (minus the approximately 11.1 million people who are undocumented residents and 13.3 million legal permanent residents that live in the U.S. but cannot obtain passports or have valid passports issued from other countries).
For those keeping score, the fact that 46% of Americans have a passport means that a little less than half the population can’t fly to Canada, let alone travel to any other country in the world.
Has This Number Been Going Up or Down Year-Over-Year?
As reflected in the graphic above courtesy of the U.S. Department of State, 2016 showed a pretty healthy increase in the number of passports issued from 2015, and an overall trend upwards since the 10-year low of 2011. However, given the increase in population year-over-year, the percentage hasn’t actually gone up from 46% over the past few years.
Which States Have the Highest Percentage of Passports?
Here comes the fun part. I decided to take this data and see which U.S. states have the highest and lowest percentage of their population with valid passports. As can be viewed in the top graphic, those states with the lowest percentages are clustered in the South, Midwest, Upper Midwest, and the Great Plains States. Perhaps not surprisingly, those states with the highest percentages tended to be on the border of Canada and Mexico, along both coasts, and those states with higher urban populations.
Mississippi was the lowest, with just 17%, followed by West Virginia (19%), Alabama (22%), Arkansas (22%) and Kentucky (23%). The state with the highest percentage was New Jersey with 62%, followed by New York (59%), Massachusetts (58%), and Alaska, Connecticut and Delaware (all were at 55%).
I decided to then compare my state-by-state calculations with the results of the recent 2016 presidential elections. As can be seen above, there is a striking correlation between the states that voted for Trump in 2016 and those states with the lowest number of passport holders. Those states that voted for Clinton had the highest percentage of passport holders (Alaska is a notable exception — a state which is historically conservative, but not surprisingly has a high percentage of passport ownership given its remote location).
In fact, the top 19 states with the highest percentage of passport holders (states where at least 44% of the population has passports) were all states that voted for Clinton (Alaska was the sole exception). Alternatively, the bottom 11 states in terms of passport ownership all went for Trump.
Of the bottom half of states with the lowest percentage of passport holders, only 1 of those states went for Clinton (New Mexico). Of the top 25 states, only 6 voted for Trump (24%).
Below is a sortable list of all 50 states and the percentage of each state’s population that has a valid passport.
| STATE | PERCENT |
|---|---|
| ALABAMA | 22% |
| ALASKA | 55% |
| ARIZONA | 40% |
| ARKANSAS | 22% |
| CALIFORNIA | 52% |
| COLORADO | 48% |
| CONNECTICUT | 55% |
| DELAWARE | 55% |
| FLORIDA | 45% |
| GEORGIA | 34% |
| HAWAII | 47% |
| IDAHO | 35% |
| ILLINOIS | 47% |
| INDIANA | 29% |
| IOWA | 34% |
| KANSAS | 34% |
| KENTUCKY | 23% |
| LOUISIANA | 25% |
| MAINE | 44% |
| MARYLAND | 50% |
| MASSACHUSETTS | 58% |
| MICHIGAN | 36% |
| MINNESOTA | 48% |
| MISSISSIPPI | 17% |
| MISSOURI | 31% |
| MONTANA | 39% |
| NEBRASKA | 34% |
| NEVADA | 40% |
| NEW HAMPSHIRE | 52% |
| NEW JERSEY | 62% |
| NEW MEXICO | 32% |
| NEW YORK | 59% |
| NORTH CAROLINA | 30% |
| NORTH DAKOTA | 39% |
| OHIO | 32% |
| OKLAHOMA | 28% |
| OREGON | 41% |
| PENNSYLVANIA | 40% |
| RHODE ISLAND | 49% |
| SOUTH CAROLINA | 40% |
| SOUTH DAKOTA | 32% |
| TENNESSEE | 26% |
| TEXAS | 40% |
| UTAH | 42% |
| VERMONT | 49% |
| VIRGINIA | 44% |
| WASHINGTON | 49% |
| WEST VIRGINIA | 19% |
| WISCONSIN | 38% |
| WYOMING | 36% |
Why?
I’m probably the last person in the world to defend anyone who doesn’t have a passport, which by this very fact, completely precludes them from even the opportunity to travel outside the United States. However, rather than attempting to list out the reasons I think this is obviously not a good thing, I thought I’d propose a few reasons why this may be the case.
Money
One factor discouraging foreign travel is quite simply that it’s cost-prohibitive for the average American, many of whom are still reeling from the Great Recession. When factoring in the costs of traveling abroad from the U.S. (which tends to be much higher than other parts of the world given its location), even the cheapest international trip is simply beyond the means for the average American, especially given the lingering effects of the Great Recession and years of wage stagflation for the majority of the country.
Culture
No doubt Americans just don’t have the history and drive that, say, the British have for international travel. In the 2009 edition of The Best American Travel Writing, noted travel writer Simon Winchester had this to say on the subject:
There was essentially no empire (the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and a scattering of Pacific islands excepted), and hence little by way of imperial legacy. The country is formidably isolated by thousands of miles of ocean from almost anywhere truly foreign, and getting abroad is very much more costly. Americans seldom went to seek their fortunes overseas, as British so often did . . . [and there] is little tradition of American exploration (aside from exploration-as-entertainment put on for the benefit of a number of some rather dubious but fashionable clubs and societies).
Further, there is a lack of tradition of Americans traveling abroad given America’s size and therefore lack of need to travel to other countries to experience relatively different geographic and cultural differences.
Then factor in America’s relatively low number of paid vacation days granted by their employers, and you can quickly begin to see the many reasons many Americans simply don’t see the need to obtain a passport.
Maybe It’s Not That Bad
It’s also worth pointing out that although this number isn’t great (and certainly is far below the percentage found in countries in other parts of the world such as in Europe), at least Americans aren’t as bad in this respect compared to, say, the Chinese, where only about 5% of the population has a passport.
Finally, Americans that do have valid passports actually travel a lot. The United States ranks third in terms of the number of departures to countries other than their own (behind Hong Kong and Germany) with 68.3 million trips abroad. A good number, unless you compare that to the numbers from countries with far less populations that rank above or near the U.S. in this statistic (Germany, the U.K., Poland, Canada, Italy and France are right behind the U.S.).
How to Get a Passport
To find out how to get the process going if you don’t have a passport, all you need to do to start is to visit the official U.S. Passports and International Travel web site for the U.S. Department of State by clicking here.
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Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post How Many Americans Have A Passport? appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (3rd Quarter: 2016) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
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Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 3rd quarter (July — September) of 2016 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs. However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs. Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (3rd Quarter: 2016) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (2nd Quarter: 2016) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 2nd quarter (April — June) of 2016 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs. However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs. Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
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Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (2nd Quarter: 2016) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post Here’s How To Win A Surf Trip To The Maldives appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>If an all-expense paid surf trip to the Maldives with two pros sounds like your ideal next foray into the world, then you will definitely want to check out surfers Shane Dorian and Jamie O’Brien’s new Omaze campaign, which is offering one lucky winner and their guest the trip of a lifetime for as little as a $10 donation.
By making a $10 donation on Shane and Jamie’s Omaze campaign page, you’ll be entered for the chance to win an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: a week of surfing in the Maldives with two pros. As seen in the above video, you’ll learn to board transfer from Jamie, pick up surf tips from Shane and relax at the Four Seasons resort in one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
Your $10 donation supports an amazing organization close to Shane and Jamie’s hearts, More Than Sport, which provides kids in Hawaii (where Shane and Jamie both grew up) with athletic and educational opportunities.
To get involved, visit Omaze.com/surf before the contest ends on July 24 to make your donation.
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Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post Here’s How To Win A Surf Trip To The Maldives appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (1st Quarter: 2016) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 1st quarter (January — March) of 2016 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs. However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs. Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (1st Quarter: 2016) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (4th Quarter: 2015) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 4th quarter (October — December) of 2015 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs. However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs. Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (4th Quarter: 2015) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (3rd Quarter: 2015) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 3rd quarter (July — September) of 2015 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs. However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs. Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (3rd Quarter: 2015) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post On The Road With “David Bowie Is” appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
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Multi-dimensional artist/mega pop star, with a career spanning 50-plus years, David Bowie continues to ch . . . ch . . . change. This latest version, without Bowie in the driver’s seat, is the traveling exhibition created by London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. David Bowie Is brings together music, writings, objects, videos and costumes from Bowie’s massive personal archive. After sold-out shows in London, Berlin, Toronto, Sao Paolo, Chicago, and Paris, the exhibition is heading next to Melbourne. And I will be there — again.
Call me weird, but I’ve been following the David Bowie Is exhibition to each city. Having seen it many times now, I anticipate each new location, each new venue and each new experience. Not quite a rock concert, but close enough. A middle-aged wanna-be groupie following an aging mega pop star who no longer performs . . . in a museum exhibition. Am I reliving my rock and roll years, or is it just an excuse to see the world? Ch-ch-Changes. Oh, look out you rock ‘n rollers!
I first discovered Bowie during the Station to Station and Thin White Duke era. Live music was so important back then. I’d drop everything, including missing family trips and skipping school, just to catch his concerts when I could. Bowie was “out there,” but I loved the drama and the creative forces behind his music, his performances and his look. Bowie’s songs became the soundtrack of my life at that point — “turn to face the strange” streaming into my head in any stressful hiccup. I even made a Bowie “altar” in my dorm room, having grabbed the film poster of The Man Who Fell to Earth from the theater where I worked.
Then life happened. Marriage, kids, home in the ‘burbs and steady work. I barely kept up with music, let alone Bowie’s, which became buried in the background, only coming out occasionally sublimely. “Oh you Pretty Things. Don’t you know you’re driving your Mamas and Papas Insane,” I’d find myself singing. Raising kids filled those years, and it went by in a flash.
Created by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the title, David Bowie Is, seems at first so open-ended. Is what? But then after seeing the exhibit, and seeing all areas that Bowie has touched as an artist, it makes sense. Bowie is a pop star, an artist, a writer, an actor and a performer. He is anything he sets his mind to in the creative world, even adding playwright, with a new play opening in New York later this year. On top of that, his appeal is worldwide, ageless, multicultural, multi-dimensional, and he still sells out shows, albeit this time, at museums.
The David Bowie Is traveling exhibit is a full-spectrum experience, with interlinking galleries, displaying the performer’s costumes, album artwork, writings, memorabilia and handwritten lyrics, along with film and videos from his personal archives. Each visitor receives an individual “proximity” headset, which switches to specific Bowie songs as you move around the exhibit. Cruising through the galleries, you relive Bowie as Major Tom, the Thin White Duke, Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane to name a few.
Entering the exhibition, headphones on loud, instantly the sensation and beat of the music creates another world, with the song “Golden Years,” starting it off. “Don’t let me hear, life’s taking you nowhere,” Bowie sings in my headphones. “Nothing’s going to touch you in these golden years.”
Live music was important back then, much more than it is now in the post-MTV era. The David Bowie Is exhibition nails this in the “showroom” at the end of the exhibition, recreating the experience of a concert. Entering the room, you immediately become immersed in an incredible video concert performance.
No longer needing the headphones as music blasts from the surround sound speakers, you sit on the lounges and seats in the center, or circle around the room to watch Bowie concert footage on the floor-to-ceiling video panels on all four walls, while towering speakers blast out the accompanying audio. No matter if you’ve never heard the radio hit “The Jean Genie” or heard it too many times to count, the rare 1973 live version here from London’s Top of the Pops is absolutely mesmerizing, and is reason to sit down and take it all in.
At the Berlin David Bowie Is exhibit, the video performance room included footage from his iconic 1987 Berlin concert. His Berlin Trilogy albums were recorded here in the shadow of the Berlin Wall: Low, Lodger and the magnificent Heroes. In the concert footage, Bowie sings, “We can be heroes, just for one day,” and the cameras pan to the audience, standing and chanting along, soldiers, teenagers, adults, many with tears in their eyes. Watching this video performance, I then looked around the room of the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum in modern-day Berlin, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and visitors there were singing along, some also with tears in their eyes. A performance within a performance. Incredible.
I took my sons to this Berlin exhibition and though they weren’t Bowie fans at the time, they came out impressed with how much he’s influenced even in the music they listen to today. “He’s so cool,” my youngest son exclaimed. To my generation, he was smart and he was hip. He introduced us to books, literature and to other musicians and performers. It wasn’t just about the music at that time, it was the album artwork, the photographs, the clothes and the performance. And yes — he was cool.
Victoria Brouckes, co-curator of the David Bowie Is exhibition said in a recent interview that while the show remains primarily the same at each stop, each venue has the ability to add material specific to Bowie in that city and country, and that is what keeps me coming back.
In Berlin, David Bowie Is was serious, emblematic, steeped with history of Bowie and national history and pride combined, coming together in a “Berlin Room.” Chicago’s David Bowie Is was typically American over-the-top, with an all-star opening night gala, a few visitors in Ziggy Stardust outfits and the Mayor of Chicago pronouncing David Bowie Day. The Paris David Bowie Is, at the new Philharmonie de Paris on the city outskirts was designed by famed architect Jean Nouvel — an astonishing, undulating, metal roofed mass of a building. It was here the one millionth visitor came and was presented with a David Bowie inscribed David Bowie Is book.
So now it’s on to Melbourne, and then to Amsterdam. Opening at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (July 16 — November 1), I’m anticipating the Australian David Bowie Is will have film footage of Bowie’s first stadium tour in Australia in 1978, as well as displays and videos from two of his most famous videos, both shot in Australia: “Let’s Dance” and “China Girl,” displaying images of the plight of the indigenous Australians. Like a concert: the same songs, but each show completely different. And I can’t wait.
All I know is that I will be in Melbourne shortly. “Where are we now? The moment you know.You know, you know . . .”
Kitzi Tanner is a California native, and when not chasing Bowie around the world, she finds excitement in adventures more locally. By day she’s a consultant with startup techs, and by night she’s a fledgling writer, hoping one day to segue into a full-time adventurer.
The post On The Road With “David Bowie Is” appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (2nd Quarter: 2015) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 2nd quarter (April — June) of 2015 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs. However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs. Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
If you are a travel blogger who would like to be considered for inclusion in the 2015 3rd quarter list, please e-mail me a screenshot of your Google Analytics page reflecting your site’s overall traffic from July 1 — September 30 to: Matt@TheExpeditioner.com.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (2nd Quarter: 2015) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 10 Fastest Wi-Fi Speeds In Airports Around The World appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>Here is a list of the top 10 fastest Wi-Fi speeds (as calculated by Mbps download speed) in airports around the world.
The list, compiled by Rottenwifi.com, was constructed by testing 130 airports in 53 countries around the world.
Their testing found that Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), in Bangkok, Thailand, provides the fastest average public Wi-Fi download speed worldwide at 41.45 Mbps, with Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA) in Tennessee, coming in at second with 30.98 Mbps.
Rounding out the top five were Dublin, Vilnius and Helsinki airports.
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Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 10 Fastest Wi-Fi Speeds In Airports Around The World appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post Anthony Bourdain On The Future Of Food Travel Journalism appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>Tom Hatton, friend of the site, got to recently meet the Anthony Bourdain on the red carpet at the Paley Center here in New York for the Parts Unknown Season 5 premiere.
Tom was kind enough to solicit a question from me, which he posed to Chef Bourdain. The question: What is the future of food travel journalism?
To hear Anthony’s response to this and his thoughts on sustainable and organic food, watch Tom’s interview above.
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Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post Anthony Bourdain On The Future Of Food Travel Journalism appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (1st Quarter: 2015) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 1st quarter (January — March) of 2015 ranked by visitor traffic.
There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs. However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links and even subjective design criteria.
My intention was to create the most objective and accurate list of the most popular travel blogs. Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of visitors a travel blog receives. To read more about how this list was put together, please read below.
I reached out to a large sampling of travel bloggers and asked that they provide me with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that I wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Of course, due to this method of collecting data, only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, I agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it’s the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. As everyone knows, Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but just because a site does well with Google doesn’t mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers are great, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into site readers.
Quite simply, unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
I understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors doesn’t mean it’s the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
My intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional travel blogs. I simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited blogs. Just as the movie weekend box office results are reported every week, I simply wanted to create an unbiased, objective list of the most visited travel blogs for research purposes.
Finally, I hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for travelers and readers around the world looking to explore the vibrant and eclectic travel blogging community, and expose them to some great travel blogs that they otherwise may not be reading.
*
Click Here to Read the Complete Past Lists of The Top 50 Travel Blogs
/
Matt Stabile is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Expeditioner. The Expeditioner began in 2008 and is headquartered in New York City. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos or contact him at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.
The post The Top 50 Travel Blogs (1st Quarter: 2015) appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.
]]>