It’s know it’s hard to believe, but Grown-up Travel Guide reached the tender age of 1 on the 3rd of October 2012.

Image obtained from Flickr.com under Creative Commons (c) Richard Parmiter

It’s been a wild ride and a lot of fun getting the site off the ground and looking back we’ve come a long way (baby). To honour our first 12 months of existence we felt it only right to provide a few statistics and other information about our progress so far.

First ever post – The site was launched in all secrecy on 03/10/2011 with the publication of a photograph: https://grownuptravelguide.com/foodie-heaven-stockholm-sweden taken at a now-defunct restaurant outside the Grona Lund fairground in Stockholm. I had recorded my enjoyment of blood pudding and all the trimmings washed down with craft beer and this was the modest start of what became our daily photo section.

Total number of posts (including this one) – 582 split between photos, news summaries and feature articles

Most popular article – No contest here, this one is by far the most read, shared and commented upon – https://grownuptravelguide.com/only-in-norway-some-lessons-ive-learned-from-living-up-here

Number of unique visitors to the site since that first day – 85,682 (as at 11:24 today)

Visitors ranked by country – USA, UK, Norway, India, Germany

Facebook followers – 1667

Twitter followers – 1418

Number of countries visited since start – 9 (UK, Denmark, Germany, USA, El Salvador, France, Italy, Sweden, Portugal)

But we need you!

Image obtained from Flickr.com under Creative Commons (c)  Phil Bradley

Yes, we sure do. And not just to read the blog; we’d like to ask your help in forming the entire website by suggesting destinations and topics you’d like us to cover. The background for this is that next month we’ll be attending the World Travel Market in London from 5-8 November which is one of the biggest events in the travel calendar. With some 189 countries represented and a total of 4947 individual companies exhibiting at the ExCel in Docklands, deciding how to spend our time is going to be a major challenge.

That’s where you come in…

Since we plan to arrange meetings with representatives from the places we’d like to visit in 2013, it would be great to hear your suggestions for where you’d like us to go next year so that we can meet up with the right people at WTM. It doesn’t just have to be limited to destinations either; if there’s an activity, experience or adventure you’d like to see covered please let us know. Perhaps you have a burning desire to hear a first-hand account of trekking in Tibet, underwater dining in Dubai or a run-down of the best hidden spots in Honduras. As long as it fits our niche (there are plenty of other sites for backpacking and seeing the world as cheaply as possible) we promise to consider your idea carefully.

In order to avoid places and topics that we are already considering for 2013 we’ve helpfully included a list of the current ideas we have for next year. Not many of these are confirmed as yet and we always have a Plan B and a Plan C for each month of the year (i.e. three proposed trips per month of which one will end up being made). So have a look through the list and if your suggestion is not on it do add yours in the comments below, preferably with a brief summary of why you think it would be a good match for Grown-up Travel Guide.

Image obtained from Flickr.com under Creative Commons (c) Tim Fields

Potential travel destinations for 2013

• Norway – major coverage throughout the year, including Svalbard. Unusual places to stay, road trips, activity weekends
• Sweden – Stockholm, Gothenburg, Åre, coastal resorts. Unusual places to stay, road trips, activity weekends
• Denmark – Copenhagen, Bornholm, Skagen. Unusual places to stay, road trips, activity weekends
• Iceland
• Finland – Helsinki, Levi. Skiing, theme parks, unusual places to stay
• United Kingdom – London, Edinburgh, Brighton, Lake District. Unusual places to stay, road trips, activity weekends, James Bond
• USA – New York, Chicago, San Francisco. Family travel, film locations, unusual places to stay, road trips, activity weekends
• Dubai
• Maldives
• Seychelles
• Barbados
• Oman
• Jordan
• Kenya
• South Africa
• India

As you can see it’s quite an extensive list already, but as mentioned we do need alternatives for each trip in case we can’t arrange travel when we would like to.

In addition, if there are travel related products you would like to see us review do let us know here too. Here’s to an exciting 2013!