WanderingTrader

A New Game for Travel Bloggers: Travel Roulette


And The Winner Of This Weeks Travel Roulette Is

“You might think you go home, but you are not going home.” Words you don’t want to hear when you’re travelling alone in a strange place. In my case, it was the middle of the day in Rio and the man who uttered them slipped next to me out of nowhere, a knife at his side. He made sure I saw it and then raised it to my neck, demanding my wallet, and ending our encounter by ripping the earrings out of my ears. I wanted to yell “seriously dude, I’d have GIVEN THEM TO YOU.” Of course, I said nothing. When I tell people I was mugged at knifepoint in Rio they laugh and say of course! It’s Rio! But no matter how much you anticipate that something could go awry, it’s never as terrifying as when it actually happens. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse.

It was tough this week to choose a winner but since Jodi is a petite woman being alone in Rio and getting approached by a Brazilian man (probably a massive man) that ripped the earrings out of her ears it was clear that she was a winner.  Look for tweets on #travelroulette and head over to Jodi’s blog for the next round of travel roulette!

This was the first week of Travel Roulette and I want to thank everyone that submitted their stories.  We had a total of 7 submissions which is comparable to the first week of photo roulette.  Look forward to seeing all of the stories in the future!

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In light of hosting the Photo Roulette 24 contest that has been going viral between bloggers I have been inspired to connect with more travel bloggers by started a new Travel Roulette.  Instead of sharing just pictures I thought it would be a good idea to share short stories as well.  No one wants to write a 300 word essay so it would be a small paragraph or a few sentences about a topic that the winner chooses.

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Theme

It will be similar to Photo Roulette in that the winner of the contest will pick the new theme and host the contest on his/her blog.  The theme for Travel Roulette Round 1 will be “most terrifying experience”.  It can be getting lost or robbed or even just getting embarrassed in front of a group of people.  You decide the meaning of terrifying!

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Rules

The rules of the game are simple. The hosting blogger is the chosen winner of the previous week’s (7 days) contest. The new host chooses a generic topic (theme) or that other bloggers submit short stories on.  As stated above in case be a short paragraph or even just a few sentences.  During the week the posting author will update the submission post with the submitted stories credited back to the authors blog and visitors can comment on which they like the best.

At the end of the week, the hosting blogger chooses their favorite short story that fits the chosen phrase and moves it to the top of the post as the winning entry with direction to the new host’s site for the next round. Readers can attempt to sway the author into picking a certain story by making their story extra juicy!

The game is repeated with the winner hosting the following week’s game and chooses a phrase for new short story submissions.  Within the post, a running list will be kept of game dates, submitting author, and submitted phrase hyper-linked back to the hosting site as shown below.

The Travel Roulette Contest Round 1 will run from August 21st to August 28th

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Extra Criteria to Keep in Mind:

  • One submission per Blog (so sites that have 2+ authors only get one entry).
  • No fake stories!  If it sounds fishy you have to back it up with proof.  This can be a picture or proof on your own blog
  • No one wants to read a 500 word essay.  Keep your stories short and to the point!  Preferably under 75 words
  • Keep phases general so that all bloggers can participate. Specific items like “What you thought of London” should be avoided but rather made open-ended like “best capital city.” For variety, it is ok to say focused things such as “best capital city for nightlife”
  • Abstract thoughts are appreciated, but keep it within the realm that all readers will understand. No “Kafka-esque”, but “Overlooking Creation” is able to be interpreted by all.
  • No obscene stories allowed.  Try to keep everything at least PG or at worst PG-13
  • After a sufficient period of time, phrases can be reused, however new stories must be submitted. Keep the ideas fresh!
  • The link to the story on your site will not be included.  If someone asks for the story you can reply in the comment section of the travel roulette post
  • Most importantly, ALL STORIES MUST BE YOUR OWN.

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My submission for this week’s theme:

The time that I got kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint at the Caracas, Venezuela airport.  The two gunmen proceeded to drive me around the airport to take most of my valuable belongings.  They did end up giving me money back to pay the taxes for the airport.  Click here to read full story.

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Ready to get your most terrifying experience on?  Let the stories begin! Leave your short story in the comment box below and I will update the post throughout the week

Annabell: GetInTheHotspot

“I experienced sleep paralysis in Greece. Convinced there was a strange man in my room, I ran outside naked yelling at some male travelers to help me. My fear turned to confusion then tears when I realised the strange man was just a figment of my imagination.”

Greg: AventuresOfAGoodman

“What the hell are you doing in here!” my wifescreamed from our porch as the naked Thai thief fled the bedroom of ourfloating hotel room at 3am into the River Kwai. Unsure of what he had stolen,adrenalin and raw instinct overtook my better judgment as I jumped in afterhim, yelling out for help while I gave chase and hoped that he didn’t have anaccomplice waiting on the shore.

Annabell: GetInTheHotSpot

“I experienced sleep paralysis in Greece. Convinced there was a strange man in my room, I ran outside naked yelling at some male travelers to help me. My fear turned to confusion then tears when I realised the strange man was just a figment of my imagination.”

Theodora: TravelsWithANineYearOld

“‘You need to leave now, darlin,” the girl behind the bar said. “You’re not safe.” I knew that. But the taxi was broken, there were no phones and every time I tried to leave the guy physically dragged me back in. He was big, well over six feet. My guesthouse was miles away and I didn’t know the way. A guy with a pickup truck offered to help me out. As we screeched out of the parking lot he was battering on the windows, and he raced after the truck for some way up the street.”

Cam: TravelingCanucks

“Our mission was to see an active volcano at night, but it was too cloudy with pour visibility.The beat-up mini-bus without doors or windows quickly descended down the steep mountain, zip zagging and taking the sharp turns without so much as a tap on the brakes. We were 1,000’s of feet high. It was late. It was pitch black. We could still see the glowing lights of Banos in the distance. The roads were muddy and washed out – brakes wouldn’t work anyways. On the turns, our arms dangled over the endless cliff drop, instant death was in reach. We quickly realized why the tour was only $5.”

Raf: MiranMsMt

“Terrifying moments in Bangu – Rio de Janeiro:On my way to Bangu, one of the Bairros of the west zone of Rio deJaneiro, I followed the indications of my GPS and found myself drivingarond in a favela. At one point, my Brazilian friend, who was in the carwith me, spotted a guy sitting on a porch of a house holding a big gun,and in a panic he told me to stop the car, which I did. The guy withthe gun saw the car, got on his feet and started walking in ourdirection, pointing the gun and shouting all kinds of things wecounldn’t understand. In spite of my friend telling me not to move, Iput the car in reverse and bolted out of there as fast as I could.Speeding off, I heard 7 shots, none of which hit us or the car… I willnever know what would have happened if I would have listened to myfriend.”

7 Comments

  1. Our mission was to see an active volcano at night, but it was too cloudy with pour visibility.The beat-up mini-bus without doors or windows quickly descended down the steep mountain, zip zagging and taking the sharp turns without so much as a tap on the brakes. We were 1,000’s of feet high. It was late. It was pitch black. We could still see the glowing lights of Banos in the distance. The roads were muddy and washed out – brakes wouldn’t work anyways. On the turns, our arms dangled over the endless cliff drop, instant death was in reach. We quickly realized why the tour was only $5.

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