Category: Uncategorized

At first, I couldn’t quite grasp what the entire blog was about. From the title “Travel the Home Exchange Way” and the subtitle “For a vacation home away from home”, I really could not understand any of it. On one hand, I thought that it would have some tips on how to make a home more comfortable and on the other hand, I thought it would offer me some brochure-like information about this one exotic city to the next.

But then I thought, where did Home Exchange come from?

As I read on, I finally saw some light. It seems that the blog is for “sharing and discussing information related to home exchange holidays through posts, comments and links.” Articles were posted discussing the idea of home exchange and also some tips on the what and how and all those questions. Actually, almost half of the posts, maybe more, were questions probably sent by home exchangers (or soon-to-be ones). The questions were then answered very well.

Design-wise, well, I have to say that not a lot of effort was put into it. It’s neat and I have to say it’s not too bad to look at. It’s just a little bit too simple.

Bonus Feature: Home Base Holidays. I think that the two sites are somehow affiliated. Now, I haven’t really thought of Home Exchange but from the articales and entries that I have read, I am certainly interested in the idea of it. And I think that the blog itself is informative enough to hold the attention of someone who is even somewhat interested in Home Exchange.

This site is a great one to visit especially if the idea of swapping houses is not one that makes you turn in away in an unpleasant feeling. I recommend this blog to anyone interested in the idea. Of course, owning your home would be a plus.Travel the Home Exchange Way

I wasn’t sure what the word Bravus meant so I tried to look it up. Unfortunately no results for it, so I was left clueless as to what to expect in this blog.

The page loads up to a very simple design. Grey background, black text, two columns, and a big header in a dark red is all there is. No images, no fancy scripts, just the blog and the normal second column info. One thing I noticed is that there is a broken image right above the twr button, which got me thinking about my image. The author has hot linked my image, rather than download it, and upload it to his server. This is something that is generally frowned upon as it isn’t cool to steal someone else’s bandwidth. If I wanted, I could replace the image with a picture of a clown, or a monkey, or something worse and he would be non-the-wiser.

While reading the blog I have discovered that the author is a teacher in some sort of science – I am about 99% positive it is physics, but I could be wrong. There are quiet a few of these science posts as well as teaching and daily life. The blog itself doesn’t have much that doesn’t read as a “that’s already been done in a blog”.

Overall I felt this was just your average blog. You may like it, you may not. There is nothing preventing me from saying go visit this site, and there is nothing preventing me from saying don’t. This is one of those sites where you are either going to connect and enjoy it, or if you are like me and have read countless blogs, find it rather similar to a lot of other blogs out there.Bravus

Constant Trek is the name of the site. Trek towards where? The stars? Towards finding the meaning of life? There’s not much time for doubts, though, as there’s an introduction explaining the basics of the site’s purpose. So forget about space, Enterprise and Spock, forget philosophy, think of two adventurers in their way from London to Morocco. 10,500 miles through 16 countries and all of that on foot. (*exclamation marks all over*) They aim at nothing less.

Design wise, the blog, as well as the whole site, does not deserve an award, but the least we can say it is user friendly. All links work perfectly. The colors chosen remind of sand, which is meaningful considering the ultimate destination of the author, Paula, and her husband Gary. I’m not a frames fan, but it can hardly be considered a flaw. The column where the posts are published is quite narrow which gives the impression that the text goes on forever and you’ll never get to the end of it, which can be tiring if you’re looking for quick reading.

As a child, I read a journal written by Hans Staden, a German soldier. In his diary, he tells about his trip to Brazil way back in the 1500’s. As you can imagine, his impressions on the people and the land were very detailed and illustrated with beautiful sketches. Paula, the author, succeeds in providing as many information she can about the places she passes by. No sketches, but lots of beautiful pictures throughout the text that can be enlarged. If you don’t have a broad band connection, my guess is it would take forever to load the pictures. I only missed Paula’s personal considerations about the people and the places. It was all very informative, but I’d like to know more about what she thought and felt in those places. Of course that can be a cultural thing, since I’m Brazilian and she’s Australian.

What impressed me the most as I entered the site was the number of sections it contains. You can find anything from recipes — although there aren’t so many — to a book marker. Seems a little random? It’s not, believe me. All content is well linked and makes perfect sense. Reading about the preparation for the journey, the contents of their bags (they only carry 2 changes of clothes!, wow!) sets the context you need to get even more involved while reading the weblog.

If you are up to an adventurer’s description of the world and you’d like to know what kind of things to expect while walking all the way down to Africa, this is your blog. It brought me back these memories of a child reading a sailor’s journal and it is sure a weblog I’ll keep visiting.
Constant Trek

This blog is written by Paul, who lists his occupation as, Keeping alive. He doesn’t write where exactly he is from, only that he is “From Within The Earth,” which is also the name of his blog.

His tagline cryptically reads: “I went underground. And now I found a link back to the world. From within my own Kingdom, hidden far below the earth, in cellars unseen, I hide. And wait.”



Paul’s posts are poetically written and sometimes are, in fact, short poems. In a recent post, Paul discusses the recent Terri Schiavo debate and offers his opinion on society as a result. His words have a free flowing quality to them, as if he writes what comes to his mind, before being over analyzed. It’s this purity that kept me reading more, that and its dark side. Indeed there is a dark side to his posts, one that reveals a bit of pain and anger. Paul posts quite frequently, almost daily, and usually offers his take on the world and his adventures finding a friends’ lost boy, which verges on obsession.

The design is a typical boring blogger template and the side column lacks any extra blog features like a clock or a weather forecast thing, but there is a web counter and a few links.

Overall, Paul’s vagueness is intriguing and could easily attract more readers to want to discover and read more.From Within The Earth

“Looking out the window…” is the personal blog of Ashley, a young woman from Canada (who I am estimating to be 20ish) who is also a 2nd year Honors Sociology student at a University. Ashley posts regularly on the blog regarding happenings in her life and what’s going on around her (hence the title).

My ititial thoughts on this blog were “Yucky”, because I use the Firefox browser. When I switched to Internet Explorer, the blog looked fine. When I began to look at her site through my own window, I got a good sense of her life and what was going on in it.

I like the fact that Ashley has a lot of pictures on her blog. A blog can be just all text, but it’s always good to add photos with your posts to give the reader an extra idea of what you’re writing about.

Aside from the non-Firefox friendly layout, I like the colors and graphics. I think the huge strawberry in the bottom right of the page is an added touch. The blog itself has a very simple design, which is not too flashy, but gets the point across. The only thing I would do is invest a litte time in making sure that the design is compatible with popular browsers. Someone who visits the site will be more likely to stay and read more of your posts if the blog is easy to read and aesthetically pleasing.

I give you a “B” for effort. Definately an interesting read.Looking out the window…