Finding the Blog Niche

In doing my research on how to grow and develop your blog, I've read great deal about finding your specific niche and answering the question "why should people care about what you have to say". Having this question presented to me has gotten me to think about it and I think I have the beginning of the answer.

First of all, when thinking about the niche I wanted to place myself into, at first it was a little difficult to choose because travel is such a broad subject. You could write about history-based travel, rating and recommending museums and historical sites. You could write about natural wonders and where to find them and how to get there. You could write about ecotourism and where to find the best sites for ecologically conscious get-aways. You could write about any specific travel topic. So, when reading up on this, I followed the advice that so many bloggers post and looked at myself and what I love.

I'm a rock climber, a hiker, backpacker, and a general lover of the outdoors. So, at first, I thought it would be a good direction to go. More and more people seem to be getting outdoors and that seems like a good niche to contribute to. I also love history and historical-based travel, but living in Arizona, USA makes it rather difficult to be exposed to very much history considering the state is just about to turn 100 years old... not much history here besides native americans and cowboys. I also love the idea of budget traveling: making every cent get you the best value possible. Finding ways to see the world without breaking the bank is a good idea and, especially in today's fragile economy, it's a good thing to share with everyone.

So, I narrowed it down to those three ideas. The decision is still yet to be made...

The second topic is "Why should anyone care about what I have to say?" This can seem like a depressing question to some people, but when you think about it, the very goal of social media and social networking is to get people to care and follow what you have to say. So this question is a rather important one. And I believe I have an answer:

I am a lover of travel. I love seeing new things and revisiting past experiences. My ultimate life-style is that of a "professional" traveler with a tiny apartment in some city to act as a storage facility and base camp. If I could spend 11 months out of the year traveling the world, I would do it. I am passionate about travel and I am passionate about sharing my experiences. Regarding my niche that I will choose, whichever direction I end up going, it will be filled with passion and excitement and I believe that people look for that. I hope I can help someone make the most out of a future trip or vacation and that hope, paired with my passion for the topic will fuel this blog and the things I write about. Passionate writers are interesting, and that's why people should care about what I have to say: because I am a fellow, passionate traveler with nothing more than the desire to share experiences so that other travelers can make the most out of theirs.

Thank you, keep reading, and happy travels!

Travel: A New World Necessity

I feel like I don't have to be the one to break the news to anyone that we live in a time where the ends of the Earth are accessible to almost everyone. If you look back at the last one hundred years, with the development of the automobile, the airplane, and high speed trains, we have transformed travel completely. If you look back five hundred years, a trip that took more than three months then, can now be made in a matter of hours. The world has gotten smaller. We can cross oceans and entire continents in the time it took someone to ride their horse from one town to the next. And with this new scale of mobility, I feel like a desire to see and experience as much as possible within the short lifetime that we live should be fueled by our natural curiosity about the unknown.

Unfortunately, I am faced, daily, with people who have not left their own country, feel like they have no way to leave their country, and when it comes down to it, have no desire to ever venture out into a world where not everyone speaks english.

We need to broaden our horizons. Sure, countries like the United States are so vast, that they encompass a huge variety of landscapes and terrains. You could see a great deal in this country alone. But you can't witness original Japanese culture at the mall. You can't hear the Australian accent and witness the Great Barrier Reef on TV quite as effectively as you can in person. You can't see towns that are more than 1500 years old in New York or California or anywhere in between. The reality is that there is exponentially more to see outside of your own country and allowing yourself to be confined to the borders of that country is to deny the role we are all beginning to take on as citizens of the world. It is our responsibility to witness and, most importantly, respect alternate cultures in the world.

You are now free to move about the world.

Puerto Peñasco/Rocky Point, Mexico

Alas, only a pair of days after this blog is started and the traveling begins! I am headed on a short, weekend trip to Puerto Peñasco, Mexico (Rocky Point) tomorrow and will be documenting the trip for my new, unheard-of blog. Hopefully, some of you find some of the information I bring back with me interesting. Being a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, USA, Rocky Point is a fairly familiar place to me, and as I am a citizen of Mexico and speak spanish fluently, my experience is always rather unique :-)

Just a quick run-through of what I already know about Rocky Point:

History

Rocky point started as a fishing camp ground in the first half of the 1800s and remained so until the 1920s, when an American came in, built a hotel/casino, drilled a well and started flying Americans in to drink and gamble. It did well as a place to escape the Prohibition and apparently Al Capone was a regular. The Americans and the locals started having disagreements, and it got bad enough to where the man who opened the hotel, burnt it down, and destroyed the well. Rocky Point did not grow, in a tourism perspective, until the early 1990s, when condos, hotels, beach houses and restaurants started sprouting up. Now, cruise lines are ready to make Rocky Point a home port, a new highway has been recently built to shorten the drive from California, and there's roughly seventy restaurants, over forty hotels and motels, and over a dozen RV parks, making tourism Rocky Point's second largest industry after fishing.

What to do

There's a lot to do in Rocky Point if you don't want to spend your time relaxing on the beach.

Fishing and Boating

You can rent or charter boats or jet skis for cruising or fishing. You can take sunset cruises starting at around $20 per person. You can bring your own boat but make sure you get a permit for boating and a separate permit for fishing. You can get the boating permit in San Diego, California at the "Oficina de Pesca (619) 233-4324 or mail your request to:

Oficina de Pesca

2550 5th Ave, Suite 15

San Diego, CA 92103

If you're fishing from the shore, you don't need a permit, but if it's out of a boat make sure you have one. You can get those in Rocky Point or at the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix, Arizona.

Other water activities include jet skiing, cruising, parasailing, sea kayaking, snorkeling, and scuba diving.

Here's a link to a good boat rental, dinner/lunch cruising, fishing and parasailing source.

Here's a link to a kayaking rentals and sales source.

Here's a link to Sun N' Fun, a snorkeling and scuba diving source.

Golf

Golf is also growing as an activity in Puerto Peñasco. The most popular course is "The Links at Las Palomas." Visit their website to get more information about their course, as I am not much of a golfer myself ;-)

Off Roading

On the inland side, Rocky Point is a dune mecca. This makes it ideal for ATVs (Quads), Sand Rails, and dirt bikes. You can rent these but make sure you're safe! Wear a helmet, ride during the day, don't drink and drive, and either don't do stunts, or keep the stunts within your skill level! Also, stay off the streets and the beaches. There are rental shacks all over the town and sometimes there's temporary rental stations set up on the side of the road on the way to the hotels and condos. Bring your driver's license and be prepared to sign a rental agreement, do some bartering and pay somewhere between $15 to $50 dollars an hour, depending on the vehicle you get. BE SAFE!

Night life

There's a lot of bars and clubs in Rocky Point so the nightlife is great. Manny's is pretty popular but there's enough places to spend a good amount of time at. Ask at your hotel or any other tourism source in the town and they're sure to point you in a number of directions. Just make sure you're safe, and don't do anything regrettable. Remember, you're in another country, where the laws aren't always as forgiving as the ones, say, in the United States. The general rule would be: Don't do anything in mexican bars and clubs that you wouldn't do in american bars and clubs.

There's a lot more to do in the little town of Puerto Peñasco, but this should keep you busy for a good while. Just remember, be safe, be responsible, but have fun. Make sure you bring your passport too, since you now need it to re-enter the United States, and if you're driving there, get Mexican car insurance. You can get that pretty much in any town that is within 50 miles inside the USA/Mexico border. There's usually signs everywhere advertising it.

Oh and, by the way, tell me about your trip when you get back!

Visit these websites for more specific Rocky Point information and news!

PuertoPeñasco.com

Puerto Peñasco Post

Puerto Peñasco Blogspot

Welcome! Coming Soon!

Welcome to my new blog! This blog is, as the title says, about travel. As you may or may not already know, we live in a world filled with rich culture, beautiful sights, interesting people and an infinite number of life-changing experiences to be had, all of which are becoming more and more accessible to everyone. This blog is dedicated to sharing experiences, encouraging safe and exciting travels, and helping you make those trips more and more cost effective!

So whether you have questions about where to go, what to bring, how to get there or what to do when you get there, let me know and I'll share my experiences, the experiences of others, or I'll search to the ends of the Earth to find your answers and make your trip as memorable as possible!

Happy traveling!