To celebrate the New Year of 2020, I traveled to Cyprus by boat, courtesy of my private cruise line. I docked at Paphos, a popular attraction for aspiring tourists. Paphos is really a wonderful city. It’s famous for being the supposed birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite. The country is also known as the playground of the Gods. I stopped at a popular cafe along the way for lunch. It’s called Coffee Island. I went to the espresso bar and had a blast creating my own coffee. Would recommend it to everyone reading this blog post. A local even told me: “Coffee Island is the tourist attraction in Cyprus.” Cyprus has an area of 9,251 square km. Nicosia is its capital and largest city. I absolutely want to come back someday. Well, my flight leaves at 9:30, so I better run. Stay tuned for more posts.

Churches, abbeys, and bridges, oh my! Luxembourg is a place chock-full of architecture and construction. It is home to historic bastions and modern buildings. Look around- you’ll view multiple eras in one small country. When I came here in fall of 2019, I noticed that the historical buildings were remarkably ingenious. They harmoniously blend in with the surrounding modernized buildings.

The Luxembourg landscape has obtained a number of incredible designs in recent years. Nobody has seen anything like this before. Its borders are Belgium to the north and west, Germany to the east, and France to the south. It’s quite a small country, but it’s packed with interesting facts and details about the landscape and culture. Here, the national language is Luxembourgish, while the surrounding sub-languages are French and German. Unique architecture and designs help Luxembourg to stand out from the rest of Europe.

A final word to you, dear reader, as I journey to my next fantastic country. I hope you enjoyed this post. Stay tuned for more and follow my blog. Thanks!

I just landed in Ireland about a day ago, but I instantly fell in love with the scenery as soon as I stepped off the plane. It is honestly the most amazing thing I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot. The lushness, the greenness, it is totally disarming and completely overwhelming. The locals here are quite used to it, so they don’t stop and stare at the beautifully cultivated fields like I do. I was also impressed with the amount of monuments and/or attractions to visit. It is truly named the Emerald Isle. The population here is about 4,859,511. I had to convert all my money to euros before coming, as it is the only type of currency they allow. This morning, I ate at an extremely high-end restaurant. The food was interesting, not at all what I’m used to, but hey, you gotta try new things, right? Anyways, they served me soda bread, shellfish, and black-and-white pudding. Different, but delicious! I think my favorite part of the trip so far is the food. Amazing! I have to go home tomorrow unfortunately, but I will definitely come back!

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.