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Jim Abroad
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When I read the title "Jim Abroad" I knew exactly what this blog was going to be. It was going to be about Jim and his travels outside of the US. Why he was traveling, and where he was traveling to, I had no clue, but I knew this was one of those blogs about his traveling.
When I got to the page, I knew I was right in my assumption of what the blog was going to be about. The design of the site has a "poloroid" picture of a building in Spain and the logo Jim Abroad has a plane in it. Outside of the header the site is using a two column layout with the left column being used for navigation. I was pleasently surprised that he has kept his side bar to a minimum to allow his posts to shine.
The posts are lengthy recaps of what/where he is. Jim is traveling all over most of Europe though he is staying mostly in Spain. Some stories will make you laugh, others will leave you wanting more and some I could have done with out. As I was reading the blog I was wanting to know why he was traveling. There was a bit on the navigation about his first trip ever, but nothing about why he was traveling. Then I found the about Jim and all was made well.
This blog took a little bit to get into, but once I did I couldn't stop reading it. To clarify I have been to this blog about 5 times in the past week and it wasn't until about the 3rd time that the site really clicked with me. I suggest randomly reading the posts as it doesn't really matter which order you catch up on them in. This is a good travel site and I look forward to see where Jim goes next.
This site was reviewed on 2006-03-13 by Brent.
They felt this site belonged in the Travel category.
Brent felt that Jim Abroad deserved a rating of 3.75.
Traveler ? Check. Blog? Check. Flickr? Check. Rambling posts about the joys and the trials of traveling around the world? Check. Blogging while traveling has is the contemporary equivalent of the old dog-eared travel diary but without the same romantic appeal. Much like a regular personal blog, but with the added bonus of something to actually talk about.
Jim admits in his profile that he is looking to chronicle his journey in Spain and attempt to rise above the travel cliches by reviewing culture, day to day travel, conversation and interactions and anecdotes. Unfortunately these are all part of the cliche! Thankfully though, Jim is a very thorough author and succeeds all this in very lengthy posts that are not very regular. What he lacks in regularity is made up for in verbosity however.
He has ventured further than Spain though, and this travel addicted blogger exceeds even his own scope, easy to do in Europe with so many shared borders. The posts are good and probably very informative for family and friends back home, however in this case, less is more. In the latest post at the time of reading for example, I enjoy reading about Liverpool's quirks, the music and even the endless drinking sessions along the way. I start to lose interest when he starts talking about what was on television while he had breakfast.
Generally though, the writing is good and the site design is a wonderfully simple wordpress template that is not overcrowded or self indulgent like a lot of blogs are, its not terribly original but its easy to view and navigate and the fonts are great. Jims photos aren't professional, but thats the beauty of digital photography these days, and his shots give us a great unbiased look into the cultures he has visited, venues he has frequented, and drunken escapades he has facilitated.
A decent travel blog that unsuccessfully tries to avoid the cliches, and in doing so has created a blog marginally better than most of your average travelogues. Not too bad.
This site was reviewed on 2006-03-13 by dylan.
They felt this site belonged in the Travel category.
dylan felt that Jim Abroad deserved a rating of 2.
2 reviewers gave Jim Abroad an average rating of 2.8750
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