Before we say goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012, I wanted to take a quick look back and call out some of our greatest hits this year. It’s been a great year for the site where we’ve seen the growth of lots of new readers, traveled to some new countries and had quite a bit of press coverage. We even worked with the leading tour company in the world, G Adventures. Here are a few of the highlights.

Top 10 Blog Posts

Having my Poutine post as #1 really surprised me. I know that food posts are popular. But, for some reason this one seemed like an odd winner. I was glad to see that some of my photography posts in the new Suh-Weet Shots feature did so well. And, since I really loved Turkey, I was pleased to see 3 make the top 10. Less surprising was that 2 of my planning posts made the top 10. I was really happy to see my 30 Great Places posts do so well. I really enjoyed writing those. And, as a nod to our guest authors, it was great to see that the I Love Cape Town Series written by Craig of YTravelBlog do so well. I am really grateful to Craig, for contributing some great photo stories. I would be remiss in not acknowledging all our guest authors for their great contributions.

1. Poutine, Just a Fancy Way to Say ¨Canadian Nachos¨
2. Ephesus Library Entrance
3. Healing Waters of Pamukkale
4. 5 Most Important Things to Do Before You Quit
5. 30 Great Places to Chill on Your Career Break Part 1
6. Long-Term Travel Budget Planning Made Easy
7. The Grandeur of Ephesus
8. Is the Global Entry Program Worth It?
9. I Love Cape Town: Part 1, Beaches
10. 30 Great Places to Chill on Your Career Break Part 2

Ditch the Cubicle

I had the chance to work with G Adventures this year on a career break campaign in Canada called Ditch the Cubicle. When a reputable company comes to you and says, we want to run a career break campaign, conduct a survey about work-life balance and attitudes towards career breaks, go in front of the media to discuss the results, support it with video tips and advice…and go to India, there is only one answer the Career Break Travel Guy can give. I had such a great time working with G Adventures and the campaign was a complete success.

Reviews of the Video Series

We were able to get our video series in front of some of travel’s top bloggers. The feedback was great and gave us confidence going into 2012. We have some big plans for the series which is why we started our IndieGogo fundraising campaign to help us take it to the next level. There is more to come on our series in 2012, so stay tuned…literally. And, let me make a final plea here for donations to the cause keeping in mind we’ve got some great perks to giveaway to all our donors.

Media Attention

On Christmas Day last year, we received a small mention in the LA Times Travel blog written by Jen Leo. That mention was syndicated around the US. From there, we started getting mentions and quotes on a range of travel topics including travel safety, the Global Entry program and others. Of course, when I was in Canada, I got to talk about career breaks on TV, radio, print and online.

Meet Plan Go

I was so pleased in hosting Austin’s Meet Plan Go for a second year. We had a bigger turnout, even though this year people were asked to pay a small entrance fee to help us cover our costs. And, I am so happy for my friends Sherry and Michaela who run Meet Plan Go have success with their event overall. It’s great to see an event harness the interest that people have in career breaks in such a positive way that really helps people take steps towards their travel dreams. Don’t forget that I highly recommend the Meet Plan Go Basic Training Program for those looking for help in preparing for their career break.

Audience Growth

Thank you! Thank you for following the site, reading the content, commenting on the posts, subscribing to our newsletter, liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, sharing your great content picks on StumbleUpon, watching our videos on YouTube and/or subscribing to us on the Kindle (where you have made us the #1 rated travel blog). By every possible measure, our traffic is up, our audience numbers are up and interaction with our community is up (although I will admit I can do so much more). I look forward to engaging with you even more in 2012. Please know that the door is always open to your questions, concerns and suggestions. I love getting emails from the readers and I respond to every single email.

Thanks again for being a part of our growing community. I love hearing from you so please stay in touch and let us know how we can help you!

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Tags: career break advice, career break travel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 at 7:00 am and is filed under Home Page Show Updates, Jeff's blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.