I stumbled upon the Euros Ate My Dollars blog and asked Brittany one the co-authors to talk to Europe a la Carte to tell us more about the blog.

1 What is the aim of your blog?

I guess the boring answer is that a blog was a way for our friends and family to keep up with us while at the same time keeping a journal of our trip. In the end, we put a lot more information on the site than we’d planned–we were inspired by all of the travelers/bloggers that had helped us out on our journey, and wanted to share what we’d learned with the travelers who might come after us. Okay, really, we’d just bought a new camera and wanted to use it. And there’s no way I couldn’t use the internet for eight months!

2 What prompted you to start your blog?

Our biggest inspiration for taking this trip was the blogs of other travelers. So when we decided to take a trip of our own, it just felt natural to share our experiences in the same way.

3 What has been the hardest aspect of having your own blog?

The hardest thing is probably being in situations where you REALLY want to post an entry, but are unable to for some frustrating reason. Like not finding internet access for less than $9/hour in Europe or looking everywhere for a WIFI signal and then realizing you’re in rural Cambodia.

4 What is the funniest thing that has happened to you running your blog?

Speaking of Cambodia, I think the funniest thing would be the time we randomly ran into two fellow travelers at Angkor Wat who we’d corresponded with months earlier. Because when you’re climbing a mountain in Cambodia, the last thing you expect to happen is for somebody to turn around and ask “hey…do you have a blog?” Check out the story here.

5 Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight?

Get cell phones! We used Skype. It’s a great program, but no internet = you can’t email OR call. Not a very comforting feeling.

My comments – Staying connected to the internet and at a reasonable cost is a major challenge when travelling. Skype is great for making free or cheap calls to other countries but I wonder if you would be able to get cell phone coverage in rural areas. I know in some parts of Scotland coverage is patchy.