“Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.”
Yvonne Woon
It has been over a year since I started this blog, and since then I have managed to fortunately get quite a bit done. I started this blog, created quite a bit of content, purchased a domain, created social media sites for my site such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. After looking through the stats for my site, I have had 1000’s of people from all over the world access my site. I have got to know various people from around the world and now have new contacts for the next time I visit those places. I have definitely learnt a lot from everything and can proudly say that starting this blog was one of the best decisions I have made. I have also been working on a book project which is in the pipeline and hopefully something I would like to get published in the forthcoming years. I also intend to improve my photography skills in order to publish my very own photo guide book; something I hope to capture and begin when I travel to Jerusalem in August 2020.
I have fortunately travelled to six countries this year which includes Macedonia, Greece, Albania, Turkey, Canada and America. I have travelled to a number cities such as Fethiye, Istanbul, Ohrid, Florina, Pogradec, Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, Niagara and Buffalo. A lot of what I experienced has been uploaded onto the blog and I have also taken time to write about travel tips related to these places.
One of my biggest accomplishments this year has been getting published as a travel writer. Since the websites inception in November 2018, I have been attempting to get published and so I contacted various platforms online. As well as rejection, I was told that my articles are not in line what their websites were advertising. Some platforms did not even email back. However, in Ramadhan 2019, I contacted British Muslim Magazine and since then I have managed to successfully write many articles for their print magazine and their website. What’s more, this was all commissioned. Go check out my articles on their website by clicking here.
Except this all became even more exciting when I was contacted by them earlier in December 2019. I received a text one day from the magazine asking if I was free in the first week of February and if I was interested in a press trip to Singapore! Of course my answer was yes! What a great ending to the year I thought. The plan is to go on several press trips in 2020 for British Muslim Magazine and write as much as I can for them and my own website.
Looking forward, I hope to travel a lot more in 2020. I have no idea what the future holds, however, planning is key to becoming successful and progressing. I want to take the opportunity to not only study, but write more, read more and possibly study a course on travel writing and journalism. I want to get myself a new camera and start taking more photos. There’s a lot to learn and I think I may need to build contacts over the course of the year. So far, I have Singapore and Indonesia planned for February, China and Malaysia planned for May/June and Jerusalem planned for August. There is a also a high possibility that we will also be touching African soil with a trip to South Africa and hopefully ending the year with a trip to Cairo.
What’s your plan next year? How has this year been so far?
Trust me when I say, ‘Reflecting and reviewing, contributes towards progression’.
Muslims Go Travel 