TRAVEL BLOG COMMUNITY

TWENTY-NINE weeks of Sharing travel stories around the world

Last weekend was the Grand Finale of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Don’t know what Eurovision is? WHAT?!? WHA???! WHAT?!?!? Ok. Neither did I. Until I moved to Europe. But I’m here to tell you that if you’ve never seen it – it’s a must do. At least once.

Countries from all over Europe (which somehow includes Australia and Israel) send their best act to compete in a three-round competition for the best song in Europe title. Most of the time, it has very little to do with the actual song and more to do with epic performances and some seriously dramatic staging, lighting and wait for it… fire shooting in circles around the acts. Pyrotechnics. Next level pyrotechnics.

It is over-the-top. It is kitsch. It is cliché. It is awesomesauce. There. I said it. I love Eurovision. Each year’s winner becomes the following year’s host. Last year Ukraine won and thus the whole world watched the stage set in Kiev. 26 countries made it to the finals to perform on the big stage. I will admit this is the first year we have really watched the show, as I am normally at a themed viewing party and am probably doing a little more chatting than following along. But this year the whole family got in on the experience. We watched, we critiqued, we giggled, we were impressed and we voted. Our favorites did not win, but we loved them anyway.

And since you may not have had the pleasure of experiencing the wonder of Eurovision – I want to share them you! They all offer something a little different on the amazingness scale – from Moldova’s new dance moves to Croatia’s multiple personality performance to Romania’s cure to everything wrong in the world right now. Yodel rap. Yes. Yodel rap. Feeling down? Yodel it. But in the end, I think it was Sweden who won my heart. Coordinated dance moves on treadmills while singing perfectly into the camera? I can’t go on. When they look this freaking beautiful.

In the end? Portugal won with a beautiful song and heartfelt backstory. Congratulations Portugal! Maybe a trip to Lisbon next year to watch it live would be in order! Who’s with me?

And while Eurovision took us all over, so did the Faraway Files community last week. We actually had posts about Ukraine AND Moldova! Double bonus. We were also taken to the territories of Puerto Rico and Guadeloupe – both in the beautiful Caribbean. These were my favorites from week 28.

FAVORITES WEEK #28

You may know Wilbur of Wilbur’s Travels, but he has an offshoot blog, equally as interesting called On Tracks all about rail travel. Last week Wilbur took Faraway Files to my new Eurovision favorites Ukraine and Moldova. A great post honestly sharing what to expect from train travel in Eastern Europe and some lovely Moldovan countryside and glimpses of Kiev.

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Our Faraway Files community expert on cutest German towns, Lorelei of California Globetrotter shows us the redonkulous charm of Idstein. An easy day-trip from Frankfurt to half-timbered town charm.

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Smidge at Love From Scotland showed us the charming and beautiful Scottish coast along the Angus Coastal Route. I want to try some of the local fish!

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Allison of Becoming a Traveling Family shared the lovely sites and scenery of Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory that sits south in the beautiful blue Caribbean waters. With a rich culture, sandy beaches and hikes through the rainforest – this little island ticks all the boxes.

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WANT TO JOIN IN?

We’d love you to join us in building this supportive and growing community who will inspire and share each other’s posts. All three hosts will try to read and comment on every post and we’ll share them on social media too. Each week we’ll choose our favorites and highlight them on our blogs and social media channels using #FarawayFiles.

HOW IT WORKS:

• Link up one travel-related post and add the Faraway Files badge onto the post or your blog (code below) or link back to the hosts.

• The link up will go live every Thursday at 8 am UK time (9 am, CET) until midnight on Friday. It will alternate between Untold Morsels, Suitcases and Sandcastles, and Oregon Girl around the World.

• Link ups work best if everyone shares so please comment on all three of the hosts’ posts and at least two others.

TWEET US YOUR POSTS

(@suitandsand, @UntoldMorsels, @oregongirlworld) using the hashtag #FarawayFiles and we’ll retweet to our followers.

SHARE TRAVEL IMAGES ON INSTAGRAM

Tag @FarawayFiles and #FarawayFiles – and we’ll repost our favorites.

WE’LL PIN YOUR LINKS

We are posting each week’s links on community Pinterest page – join in over there.

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

Find Faraway Files on Facebook. Like us. We’ll like your page. We’re friendly that way.

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