About
"You have to see the world to understand it."
I am a traveller. A lot of people call themselves a traveller these days. Apparently,
to many of us living in our own country is not satisfactory. The world has a lot to
offer. We want to see more, experience more. And we want to share more. We want to
share our lives with people all over the world, but we also want to share our
adventures with the ones we left behind. I have shared my life on the road with many
by keeping my own travel journal and I thought it was a nice idea to provide this
opportunity to others as well.
This is a website on which you can publish your travel stories, a so-called
travel blog. There are nowadays many websites which provide facilities to do that.
This one, however, is slightly different. Unlike blogs, TravelJournal.net is designed
primarily for travellers and is supposed to function everywhere in the world. And
with everywhere, I mean everywhere, on the Mexican beaches, in the Mauritanian
desert and on the Mongolian steps. Furthermore, TravelJournal.net provides you with a
complete website, instead of a one-page travelblog. Why is all this so special?
When I travelled around the globe I noticed that many travellers have found a way
of publishing their stories on the internet. Often, they can publish pictures too.
But seldom can they provide the people back home with an idea of the route taken.
Does your mother know where Ouagadougou is located? And does your father know where
you are if you tell him you are in Listvyanka? I considered this a deficiency. After
all, if we want people to follow our footsteps, we have to make sure they can see
them.
Furthermore, we all know that internet connections in the United States or in
the United Kingdom are fast and reliable. But it is not that hard to realize that
this will not be the case when you are travelling in Burkina Faso or Bangladesh.
I discovered that many websites don't function in those countries, simply because
these websites were heavily dependant on the latest web technology, which is (yet)
unsupported in third world countries. Let's face it, they don't use Windows XP with a
Opteron ultra fast in Sudan. Actually, they have a diesel powered generator to
supply the computers with enough electricity, while the room is lit by oil lamps.
That is why this website is designed without a flashy lay-out, but with easy to
download maps, pictures and stories. So that people can track you down everywhere,
and not only when the internet connection is up to western standards.
Finally, you don't just get one page to publish your stories accompanied by three
pictures. You get your own full-size website, with your own map, your own archive,
both for stories and for pictures, your own document vault to store copies of
important documents in a heavily protected zone. Everyone can read your stories,
but you can invite your own travel buddies to accompany you.
Travelling is a great adventure. Don't just read the stories, write the stories.
See the world with your own eyes.
Jacco
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