I Remember My 1st TBU Experience…
It was September, warm sunny days in Barcelona. It was early in the morning and we were sitting waiting on the boarding room filled with lots of people and kids, also waiting for something new on the other side of a flight.
With no idea, big expectations and HUGE excitement, we were on our way to an unknown experience. My travel blogosphere was waiting for me…in Porto, Portugal.
What for? TBU! (Travel Bloggers Unite)
I had being following their site, totally aware of a schedule filled with awesomeness, activities, conferences, contacts and most of all, people sharing with me more than I could imagine.
“Flight 1835, please board on gate 31″ I heard out loud. Time to go!
After 1.20 hr we were over Porto, ready to arrive, into a hasty landing but safe in the end. Door opened and stairs ready, the sun and warm air were already waving at us from the outside. Oh boy…a good start already.
After a few metro stops, a couple of friendly helpful people and 2 transfer tickets we arrived into a charming cozy little city: PORTO, Portugal. Hello Porto! Great first impressions.
I was definitely there and it was definitely going to happen. I could read all over social media, Twitter, Facebook about all the attendees starting to gather in the same city. No faces known but all of them suspicious on the streets. I was feeling like a kid on a playground, ready to have permission to go play! Few hours passed by and this place was already making me feel things for it. Hmmm…wait wait…not so fast, be smart, be patient.
A couple of nights passed by and it was about time: TBU registration/start day.
Bloggers and more bloggers! Was that so? Yes it was, and I was already there. Sounds like fantasy but it was my very 1st time at a bloggers conference. Finally putting real faces to all those fellow bloggers in chats and Twitter, having real face-to-face conversations. Meeting them all, learning about their lives, about their travels, about their experiences. So much to share! I definitely felt like a fish in known waters!
Them it came a special night. A night where bloggers were reunited in order to expose and prize the efforts. Even if there wasn’t a prize won it was already a huge experience being there all together as a community. The Destinology Travel Bloggy Awards. I had some happy butterflies in my stomach…there was a possibility for me to win the Best Travel Writing Category! It was all new for me and yet there I was, sitting, wishing, enjoying it all despite the final result. I was already honored being nominated among so many awesome bloggers!
Travel Bloggy Awards excitement, nominated for Best Travel Writing category. Honored and satisfied even though prize went to the awesome Michael Sowden!
It all went beautifully, steady, nice, enjoyable, happy. It was really it. I remember great people, I met great persons. I had great times and learned more than I expected. I grew and my love for travel blogging grew even more, with ideas and plans for the future. With big expectations and possibilities. I was thinking already outside of the box and feeling extremely satisfied about it.
It went by fast…and slowly too. So many experiences besides the learning and the talks. It was beyond that for sure. I was and still am deeply thankful for being on this blogosphere, being part of it and growing with it. Being part of many people’s lives and them being in mine already forever.
Portugal, you were both naughty and smart since the very start…you got me so into you that I was already thinking about you constantly, avoiding the moment to leave and looking forward to come back to you! So let’s let it be.
Yes, I remember my very 1st TBU experience…it ended up a few days ago and it will be kept inside me for long, for more. Time will pass by and I hope to keep growing as I did there and far beyond that.
Do you remember your 1st experience about something you love deeply? I strongly believe we must keep those memories and feelings fresh, even with passing of time. Those will keep us alive and searching always for the same feeling. It will keep us young, happy and a whole.
Refresh your memories. Keep feeling alive!
Thank you to TBU, Visit Portugal and Porto Tourism Board-City Hall for making all this possible.
I’m British – we’re never “awesome”. The best we can manage is “adequate”. ;) But I thank you anyway.
Delighted to meet you both in Porto. And sad that it was so brief, as these things always are (annoyingly). It’s frustrating to hang out with people, realise you could chat for days, and then have to leap on a plane all too soon. I was hanging out with Uncornered Market and then Michael Turtle at Porto Airport on the Wednesday, and only we got maybe 10 or 15 minutes of hanging-out time before airplanes intruded (Dan & Audrey getting on theirs; me getting on mine). Conferences are exercises in frustration.
Here’s to next time. *raises a glass of tawny port*
Lol Mike! You should take an “awesome” this time ;) Nice meeting you and definitely looking forward to chat more in the future. I got a couple things I would like to ask for your advice as well. Cheers!
Great to hear about your experience and congratulations on being nominated for an award. I’m looking forward to attending my first travel blogging conference hopefully next year.
I definitely remember our first conference. Ali and I went to TBEX last year in Vancouver merely a week after our wedding. It was BIG, way bigger than TBU, and confusing and chaotic, but still fun. I tend to get less out of the sessions and way more out of just meeting awesome people. I am glad we got to meet at this one.
Thank you Andrew, my pleasure as well! Definitely investing time in meeting people personally is valuable time. I did the same thing in certains periods of time. And still so many other pals I couldn’t personally met. One good reason for attending the next conferences :)