This is SO exciting! I woke up on Tuesday, 8/15/17 to find out my blog, T and A in the US of A, has received its first award, the Blogger Recognition Award! Thank you to Marlo and Kristof from Along Came an Elephant for nominating me! They are a Belgian couple travelling the world, writing about their experiences, and helping other travelers along the way!

Being part of many different travel blogger groups has allowed me to meet and learn from so many talented bloggers! I’m learning new things every day, and it is all thanks to these awesome people!

What is the Blogger Recognition Award?

The Blogger Recognition Award is given to bloggers by bloggers who appreciate the hard work, dedication and vast amount of hours we all put into each and every post, as well as keeping the website current and updated.

Thanks again to Along Came an Elephant for the nomination!

The Blogger Recognition Award Rules:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog
• Write a post to show your award
• Give a brief story of how your blog started
• Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers
• Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to
• Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide the link to the post you created

Story of how our blog started:

In September of 2016, my husband and I decided to sell and pack up all of our belongings to set out on a year-long travel adventure around the United States, in search of our new home. Many people encouraged me to write a blog about Tiago (T) and April’s (A) adventures throughout the US of A, which is how T and A in the US of A was born! At first, the blog stood as more of a journal to document our travels, but as time went on, it pretty much became a full time job! Since starting the blog, I have written about locations we have visited, given reviews on museums and restaurants, things to do, and other advice for travelers. I hope our travels and my blog have inspired other people to travel more, see the world and LIVE some more!

Read: The Female Vagabond’s Guide for Staying Fit on the Road.

Two pieces of advice to give to new bloggers:

1. Network, network, network! When I first started telling people about our travels and my blog, they naturally asked what my site was. After getting tired of writing my website on napkins at bars, I finally invested a small amount of money and made networking cards to hand out! Whether it is in person, on social media, or e-mail, you always have to put yourself out there. It can get very time consuming to do this, but this is how you get the snowball rolling for getting readers! One of my favorite ways to get my blog out there are to write Yelp reviews for places we have visited, and invite people to follow our travels at my site at the end. I have actually met some new people this way! I also like to give my Airbnb hosts a thank you card with my business card in it to follow along. The MOST effective way to learn more about blogging and share your work, is through the various Facebook groups that exist! I have learned an overwhelming amount of info from these pages! How did it take me so long to join?! I have been able to start incorporating link swaps and other collaborations through these groups, which have been so helpful.
2. Don’t be shy! – Put yourself out there! Whether you are looking to learn, collaborate, or pitch for a gig or business opportunity, don’t be shy! While putting yourself out there, you will get many no replies, no thank yous and potentially strange replies, but you also risk getting lots of people saying YES! Celebrate every win! This is not easy work, but put yourself out there, don’t be too hard on yourself, and ask for help often! Being shy never got anyone anywhere!

My Nominees:

My favorite part about being nominated, is the fact that I get to share the love with 15 other bloggers. Many of the blogs I have nominated are of some of the wonderful ladies I have had the pleasure of virtually working with through the Female Travel Bloggers Group or who have reached out to me professionally. Not only do they have fantastic blogs, but they have been super supportive and positively contribute to the group. We have all started from somewhere. We have taken the long or short road to learning what the heck we are doing. In the process we have built some pretty awesome blogs that continue to grow! Here are my nominations for the Blogger Recognition Award!

1. Rhiannon with Rhiannon Travels
2. Rachel with Backcountry Petite
3. Kelly Girl with the Passport
4. Lia with Practical Wanderlust
5. Vanessa with Wanders Miles
6. Suvarna with Roaming Our Earth
7. Kalyan with Travtasy
8. Mary Lexi with Lexie Anime Travel
9. Amelie with The Roving Puffin
10. Christine with Planes Trains and Champagne
11. Meg with Meander with Meg
12. Alyssa with The Jaren Wanders
13. T.E. with Trail Headers
14. Dany with Travelling Dany
15. Amanda with The Travelling Blizzards

Congratulations to everyone nominated! Be sure to spread the love by following the instructions and nominating some other awesome bloggers!