Huzzah!

“Andy!  How was your trip?!”

“Good!”

That didn’t really seem to cut it.  “People in passing don’t really want to hear me go on about my trip,” I thought, “so why don’t I start a blog?  I mean, how hard could it be?”

Well it turns out it’s a bit harder than it looks.  Not by much, but it’s still pretty tough.  Ok, it’s not tough, but takes some time.  Ok, not much time.  But a little bit.  More time than you’d think.  Maybe.

Anyway, I’m proud, honored, humbled, and grateful to be writing my 100th post at Andy’s Travel Blog.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that only two years later I’d be living a life of luxury with mansions, fast cars, beautiful women, and all the miles and points in the world.  Wait.  That’s exactly what I imagined.

Anyway, I started this blog in November 2012 because I had a story to tell.  A young, experienced traveler with a thirst for adventure and a knack for decent photos?  Surely that was a niche.

Well, turns out almost every travel blogger is also young and has a thirst for adventure and takes decent photos, so I missed the niche on that one, but somewhere along the way I picked up some visitors to my site (over 100,000 times!), and some of you have been gracious enough to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and through the comments below.

If you’re reading this, you’re one of an elite community that makes this blog special to me.  To say it’s a labor of love isn’t an understatement, it’s completely accurate!  I love all of my readers and am thankful every day for you.  That you’d take moments out of your life to read these words and see these pictures and have them mean something to you is a privilege and an honor.

This blog isn’t mine, it’s yours.  It’s all for you, my beloved readers.  Thank you for joining this community from the bottom of my heart and I hope I’ve inspired you along the way (or at least I made you chuckle a few times).

Best of ATB

Most popular post:
My review of Singapore Airlines Suites Class

Most popular photo (I can still taste it now and it’s delicious):

Just look at it, so beautiful

10 countries, besides the USA, that visit ATB the most:
Singapore
Australia
United Kingdom
Canada
Germany
Malaysia
Philippines
Hong Kong
Indonesia
New Zealand

10 countries who have literally sent me 1 viewer:
Azerbaijan
Bhutan
Comoros
French Guiana
Georgia
Iceland (that’s it, looks like I’ll have to go there and fix that)
Iraq
Palestine
Tanzania
Zimbabwe

Most random search term that led to a visit to my site:
“sexy unmade bed”

My favorite post to write:
My sudden trip to St. Gilgen, Austria

My favorite trip since I started blogging:
Going to Israel with my older brother

And now, to wrap it up, a list of special people who have helped me along the way:
My beautiful, sweet, loving Mom, Linda, for consistent encouragement
My brother, Alex, for traveling with me and putting up with my fits of little brother-ness
My grandmother, Dixie, for instilling in our family the love of travel
The email group folks on Sunny, you know who you are
Matt Harding, for these videos that inspired me to start traveling again
Casey Neistat, for this video and the challenge to make this blog count
Chris Guillebeau, for consistent inspiration to pursue my quest and dominate the world
Ben Schlappig, for early guidance in navigating the points/miles waters
Gary Leff, for generosity and encouragement both before and after I became a blogger
My CrossFit Strong family, who challenge and support me daily
Brian Braun, for patiently answering all of my dumb questions about photography
Jake Thompson, who put everything on the line to follow his dream
Randy Petersen, for seeing potential in me as a travel blogger
The BoardingArea and Prior2Boarding family and staff, for believing with me and laughing at some of my jokes

and…YOU.  Thank you.  Here’s to 1000 more posts and some great memories along the way!

As sweetly and sincerely as my heart can say it,
Andy Luten

Me.