Blog question once again HELP!

I started with Blogspot 8 years ago, and have no issues with it. It seems very simple to use.

I have used Wordpress for years and have had few problems. Their support is excellent. Take the tutorial and use an easy template.

If your goal is to preserve memories for your old age, are you sure a blog is what you want? As you've discovered, even free blog sites can eventually be closed and, if that happens, you could lose all those precious photos and trip reports. Paid blogs will need to be renewed annually and those costs will add up over the years. The primary purpose of a blog is to share your experiences with others and not to preserve those experiences for decades to come.

Have you considered online scrapbooking? I've never done that but believe your scrapbook can be printed to PDF and you could keep that digital file indefinitely. Or you could have a hardcopy printed.

If you go with a blog, you can try printing each entry to PDF and saving them to a computer file just in case the blog site closes. Just be sure to back-up the file so you don't lose it in a computer crash.

Thank you each for the food for thought. I will do the tutorial and try again, as well as explore scrapbooking and Robert’s suggestion. I’ve read both of your blogs in the past, by the way. Thank you. More suggestions are welcome.

Bets,

I'm using TravelArk, which is the default replacement for Travelpod, and was started by a former Travelpod Blogger. This was an easy choice, as my previous Blog was ported over to the new site automatically. The best part is that I didn't lose any of my former work. The TravelArk website is still somewhat of a "work in progress", but it operates much the same as Travelpod did. I find that the new site is somewhat "brighter" and photos look much better. I used it for the first time this year and it was a bit awkward at first, but once I get used to it I think it will work well.

Here's the home page if you're interested - http://v2.travelark.org/

Ken, I had trouble saving the entries on Travel Ark so was hoping to find something in a more finished state that is as easy as Travel Pod. I'll try all of these suggestions again.

Bets,

I don't remember any particular problems saving anything on TravelArk. The main issue at this point is switching between entry and editing of the Blog entries, but that will probably get better once I become comfortable using the site.

Hi Bets - One perspective: I use Google's Blogspot and after the trip I create digital scrapbooks and calendars with Shutterfly (online scrapbook site). I do refer back to my daily blog posts made during the trip to create the scrapbooks, and I cut and paste some of what I wrote. I just checked my blog, and I can still view my first blog post from 2009. I am a senior citizen now and find Blogspot very easy to use. I have had to use Wordpress for a work related responsibility and do not find it nearly as straight forward. I try to blog daily during our trips, mostly as a reminder of what we did and what we saw. I do share a link to each post with a few friends. I am not on Facebook, which I understand is designed for sharing with friends. I blog mostly to save memories of my adventures. I travel with an iPad and have found that the updated iPad app "Blog Touch Pro" to be working very well to post entries from the road.

I don't have a travel blog, but use both Wordpress (.com, the free version) and Blogger ("blogspot") for personal blogs, and just launched a Wordpress (.org) blog for my employer.

They are all pretty good, but for basic blogging I do not see why anyone would want anything more than Blogger, unless it is a case of you already knowing WordPress an not wanting to bother to learn another platform. Blogger is on Google's servers so it has tremendous uptime, is free, and (unlike the free Wordpress) does not show ads unless you put them there.

I am not familiar with blogging platforms aimed at travellers and those might offer some advantages wortth considering.

I've used Blogger in the past and found it pretty easy to navigate. However, in the past I used an app called Blogsy that let me work offline to add photos, text, etc. That way I could work while traveling from place to place, and when I got to a hotel all I needed to do was to click a button and my post traveled by wi fi to Blogger. Blogsy no longer seems to exist. Has anyone used anything comparable that they like?

One of my couchsurfers used an app called journi - I downloaded it and can follow along with the rest of their Canada trip. I haven't tried it myself - I may with this years holiday just to see how it works. I really do miss that you could use TravelPod offline - not sure if you can with journi or not.

After losing travelpod, I tried TravelArk but just couldn't get into it. So I'm using one called Traveller's Point, and I copied all my TP entries over. I don't find it great for photos tho, so I haven't uploaded many...and they don't have an app to the best of my knowledge.

When we went on holiday last year, I just made notes everyday on my Notes app, then used that after getting home to do up our travel. I honestly just do it for myself anyways (I can't imagine anyone looks at it) - so I can go back and look at what we did on what day, or where we may have eaten, any issues that arose (funny or not so funny).

Quick edit - I just tried journi with my wifi off and it seems to work still...but not 100% sure on that. Also, the last few years, I've gotten into doing up a photobook for each holiday - I was going to physically scrapbook but never got very far. This way, I can do the photos and do blurbs for each day of what we did, etc. And they take up so much less room than having 200 photos printed and put in an album, or never looking at the photos because they are all on the computer. We let family and friends look at the books, and even some couchsurfers who have expressed interest in looking at them. Journi will do photobooks up...I use Photobook Canada- there is always a groupon for them, I like the quality, and once you send them to print, they arrive within week-10 days. You can do hardcover, softcover, layflat, landscape, portrait, square, various sizes - and even if you didn't want to put a lot of photos, you could still use it as a journal of your travels!

Are folks really using these things to preserve memories, or for 'sharing' their photos and reports?

If the former, I would say rely only on your own storage, preferably on more than one device. That's the only safe way to preserve your stuff because, as others have mentioned, nothing lasts forever on the interweb.

If however, your primary purpose is to broadcast your exploits, then you're stuck with a blog or whatever .

I really like TripRider. I used Travel Pod for a 10-week cross-country trip in 2009, but found Trip Rider in 2013 and have used it for every major trip since (at least one a year, so I now have 4-5 trips recorded). I use it for planning (packing lists, budget, must-sees etc.), for daily journaling while on a trip, and for photos to illustrate each day’s diary. When the trip is over the app lets me create a “Trip Book” which I can print out and/or save as a PDF - perfect for remembering travels “in extreme old age” or for sharing with loved ones. The app has gotten easier to use with each new iteration and I’ve used it for long enough now that I’m familiar with how it does things. I started with the free version and paid for the full version a couple of trips ago. Give it a try! (No affiliation; just a very satisfied user.)

I also find Wordpress is too complicated (I know...I'm kinda low-tech). So I did my research for some Wordpress alternatives and found this comparative literature. Ghost turns out to be the best choice. It's simple, easy to write and edit, best suits for beginners. It's similar to the "Note" section on Facebook with additional tools for images, links and sources. And you don't need to worry about optimizing for the search engine, this content management system has clear title, description, tags and publishing dates that can do the job on their own. I just love using this stressfree tool, it makes my writing very much relaxing.