Travel blogs

The blog Whitewater Rafting at the Source of the Nile in Uganda had me hooked immediately with the subject matter. That wasn’t all that hooked me though. The detailed style of writing, and its tone, also grabbed my attention. In the first paragraph the author jumps right into the action with an introduction to an already interesting character, Lee, simply because of an accent. The word choice of this paragraph makes for an action packed scene:  “Warned”, “deep breath”, “churned violently”, “sheer water ledge”, “clutched”, “hit”, “snapped”, “dropped”, “crashed”, and “asphyxiating alarm”.  Lee’s shouting added to the tension (“'GET DOON! HOLD OON!'", and “"Hard farwards!" Lee barked”).

I think the author’s choice to break this blog up into sections helped to keep my attention too.  I found myself paying attention to each individual scene he provided us more than I would have if the blog weren’t broken up this way. Each section illuminates a different part of the author’s experience. In “Riding the Source of the Nile” we begin the journey with a little back story and some information on the Nile. The next section “Cast & Crew” is where we are introduced to the 7 strangers he is taking this rafting trip with. He gives us little details like where they’re from, how they all know each other, and the function of a “two-member support crew”. His most detailed description is of Lee, their Scottish guide who “knew everything there was to know about whitewater rafting.” He could’ve just said “There were 7 other men on the trip with me who I did not know”, which of course would’ve made for a very uninteresting read.

In the section titled “Whitewater Rafting 101” we see again an example of the author’s attention to detail. He dedicates the whole section to Lee’s lesson of the crucifix position: “floating on your back, feet up and pointing downriver, arms splayed out at your side”. Then, in "Everyone Screams and Everyone Gets Wet", we learn what a class 5 rapid is (“The International Whitewater Rating System describes class five rapids as "extremely difficult; long violent rapids that must be scouted from shore; dangerous drops, unstable eddies, strong, irregular currents and hydraulics."). This explanation of rafting specific terms helps to open this blog up to a wider audience. I thought of this section as the attention-keeper with sentences like “We were going to hit four sets of class five rapids.”, and “But the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) is saved for last: a class five nightmare known as "The Bad Place"”.

The suspenseful tone is still present in “Flip as Often as Possible” as seen by the use of words such as: “intense”, “terrors”, “collides”, “rise” “swell”, “uneasily”, “bursting”, “onslaught”, “sensation”, “violent”, “smack”, “snapping”, “sucked and sped”, “gasping”, “incredible”, “elation”, and “flood”.

In the final section, “The Bad Place Awaits”, the author continues his use of detailed description. The event of going over the “the bad place” probably only lasted a few seconds, but the author chooses this section to be the longest. An example of a passage that makes me feel like I am there with him is: “My entrance into the water was like a belly flop off a high dive; my lifejacket cushioned the blow but didn't prevent the air from being knocked out of my lungs. Breathless, I took several hard tumbles before being sucked underwater and downstream. I tried my best to remain calm. I counted it out.”

With his word choice, form, and attention to detail this author makes us feel like we are there with him.

Reading the blog “Starbucks in Beijing” I notice how important the photos are. The pictures guide the author and help her tell her story. She points to her camera in the first sentence of the blog (“I haven’t been brave enough to haul my big-ass camera around”), a clue that photos are an important part of the blogging process for this author.  

            The first picture is of a Starbucks coffee cup on a checkerboard table, and the author provides it after she shares with us that Starbucks looks very similar in Beijing. Here she addresses the photo directly, which is another clue that photos are essential to this bloggers blogging: “everything down to the furniture seems like direct imports (doesn’t the checkerboard table below look familiar?).” These pictures are acting as this authors descriptive detail. In the next paragraph the text isn’t very descriptive, and I didn’t get a real sense the experience the author was sharing with us until I saw the photo. By the third paragraph I got her formula. I was a little confused by her jumping into “I’m not sure if this is standard”. “Not sure if what was standard?” I said to myself, but I was sure all would be cleared up with a photo. The author wasn’t entirely reliant on photos. I enjoyed the insight into blueberries being all the rage, corn and red beans being more part of the Asian palette because of their sweetness, and the American-like accent of the cashier. I wanted the author to share more of those details in words, and wished she’d stop relying on the photos. It’s not that I am against the use of photos; I actually usually gravitate to blogs with visuals. But, the photos in this blog felt more like a crutch rather than a tool to enrich her story.  

             This aspect of the blog stood out so much to me because I read it right after the white water rafting blog where the author used so much detail. I think the author of the Starbucks in Beijing blog isn’t making a mistake by using the photos as a guide for her story, but I was a little disappointed that she relied on the photos to get across details.  There is a happy medium that many bloggers reach where the words and visuals have a more harmonious relationship.