We entered the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, April 2014 at the 11^th hour. In all honesty we had not heard of it but on reading a fellow travellers discussion about this, we/I thought …why not?

First off, I stuffed up the entry form and with less than 24 hours to registration completion, I was not sure that we were even in. This is in no way a reflection of the entry form process but quite honestly an honest appraisal of my own limitations. These also include not knowing my left from my right, inability to convert times from one zone to another and east, west, north, south – well what are you people talking about. Point for goodness sake – I get that.

Then I needed a theme. I was intent on staying true to our site as a source of information and amusing stories for travellers, and in my own quirky style I selected A weird and Zany world. Yes, I thought it was clever too.

I started to formulate my ideas before I was confirmed as a participant and had quite a few done fairly quickly. The joys of being a quick writer became apparent. I did start to unravel however when I got to “W” as one country does not really want to be touted as a tourist destination and the other is so strife ridden I didn’t ethically think that I could do it. So I strayed.

Another issue I had not realized was that no country starts with “X” but actually, I am really happy with this tongue in cheek post. “Y” presented me with similar issues as did “W” and I piked out and did not do a country.

I did however get off to a bloody good start with “A” and you will see why I have written this sentence this way. I liked some posts more than others while others liked some posts more than me.

Overall though, I was pretty pleased with what we did. I think that all of the entries that I read did a good job actually.

I made some mistakes for future reference. I did not realize that there was an AtoZ twitter chat, which would have been awesome to engage with more people outside of my genre. Read my previous comments where I probably forgot to write I also have a failure to follow instructions, and that is in life in general and not just this competition.

I have read of some of the other people in this challenge getting really sick but who kept going, others who have had to attend to family matters but kept going. For us while we were doing this we have been involved in a full on battle with our local Council who are trying to privatise our village park. Yes, we have kept going and yes we are still trying to get reason to prevail but the amount of research needed to prove points is quite staggering.

I think that this A to Z challenge was actually a good and a grounding part of the process.

I will definitely be doing it again next year. I thoroughly enjoyed it, met some new friends but not as many as I could have, realized that I could multi task (come on, I am a woman I have always multitasked that is the way it is) and that discipline is a good thing.

So to the organisers and participants I say, great job, top idea and see you next year.

The after party is a recap of our A-Z posts. We hope you enjoy what we have put up to show weird and zany things about (mostly) countries in our world.

 A is for Australia, a b***** foul mouthed nation

 

 

 

 

 B is for Belgium – you rebel you

 

 

 

 

 C is for Cambodian Cuisine

 

 

 

 

 D is for Denmark – the Happiest People in the World

 

 

 

 

  E is for Egypt – who always have death covered

 

 

 

 

F is for Fiji – How to drink Kava

 

 

 

 

 G is for Germany – they have a way with words

 

 

 

 

H is for Hungary – why education pays off

 

 

 

 

 I is for Italy – the art of drinking coffee in Italy

 

 

 

 

 J is for Japan – some unusual facts

 

 

 

 

 K is for Kazakhstan – Hot Spot: Borat and Prince Harry should know

 

 

 

 

 L is for Liechtenstein – Those Legends

 

 

 

 

 M for Mongolia – the Tsaatan. Is it ethical to visit?

 

 

 

 

 N is for Netherlands – the hair gel capital

 

 

 

 

 O is for Oman – the roundabout sultans of swing

 

 

 

 

 

P – Portugal and the mighty cod

 

 

 

 

 Q is for Qatar – a personal letter to you

 

 

 

 

 R is for Russia – learn to pace yourself in January

 

 

 

 

 S is for Switzerland – they do so have a sense of humour

 

 

 

 

 T is for Turkey – Goreme in the Cappadocia’s

 

 

 

 

 U is for USA – how to obey the laws

 

 

 

 

 V is for Vanuatu – 10 compelling reasons to visit

 

 

 

 

 W is for Where is? A competition to win ….

 

 

 

 

 X is for Xanadu – my case for it to be a country!

 

 

 

 

 Y is for Young, NSW – Cherry Capital of Australia

 

 

 

 

 Z is for Zambia – “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”