For the Love of Travel

I'm nuts about travel. I always have been.

I loved it as a child and I find the more I travel the more I want to travel.

I hope I get to see the whole world!

Here's a great travel blog and post that answers the questions:

Why do people travel?

Personal Writing for Writers and Bloggers

Have you seen the series on personal writing for bloggers who want to share more personal writing with their blog readers.

It covers everything bloggers and writers need to know about personal writing including storytelling tips, the benefits, getting started and what to write about. Find out how to get personal without overdoing it.

I love personal writing for fun, therapy and sharing universal experiences. We all go through a lot of the same stuff and personal writing makes the journey less lonely.

Want to get personal and create writing your blog readers can relate to? Check out these personal writing tips.

Make sure you've read blog writing tips too.

Blogging Evolution

I'm Annabel Candy, an Australian travel writer with British and Kiwi passports.This is where my blogging journey started with one post in 2006 in which I declared I was going to:

"stare fear in the face and overcome my fear of being read, my fear of being judged."

I never wrote another blog post for three years.

But since I set up my blog on my own domain name I've got thousands of lovely readers for my personal writing and travel stories at Get In the Hot Spot. I've also written a book called Successful Blogging to help other writers and small business owners tap into the power of blogging.

I hope to see you there.

Still Blogging and Web Copy Writing

I've moved my blog to its own domain name:

Inspiration, Information & Idiosyncrasies for people who want to live their dream.

By me, writer and travel fiend, Annabel Candy, now living my dream in Australia and planning more bold moves daily. Dip in, dare to dream and enjoy the journey.

We've set up our Australian business:

Internet marketing, Website Design and Web Copy Writing Queensland in Australia

Please visit, you'll be glad you did:)

New Blog : Click Here

Thanks for visiting. This blog has moved. Please click on the title above to visit:

http://www.getinthehotspot.com/

Because dreams do come true: Annabel Candy moved from New Zealand to Costa Rica and Australia with her family. To hear how she made her dreams come true, get help making your dreams a reality and find out how not to move overseas just read it and subscribe now.

Many thanks and good luck with all your travel plans!

Real Estate and the First Home Owner Grant

All new expats to Australia should be eligible for the first home owners grant so that is a nice welcome. It is currently about $14,000 for an existing house and $21,000 for a new one. It does expire in June but most sources say the government will continue it after that date. On the down side, some pundits believe this grant is what is propping up the Australian housing market which is remaining resilient compared to the 20% drops in the US and UK housing markets. Hence, if you sell up in GB, USA or NZ your house money may not go as you would have hoped. Unless things drop here in the future of course. Time will tell.
See http://www.firsthome.gov.au/ for more information.
My husband, who is a real bear, says that $14,000 is nothing anyway if the value of your home goes on to drop by 20% and that it certainly true. It is definitely a case of buyer beware.

Autumn is in the air, time to get realistic

I’ve come to the conclusion that, realistically, updating my blog will be a once a week event. This should actually make it a better read by paring it down to the essentials and also assuage the guilt I have been feeling for not adding to it on a daily basis.

The thing is we really have settled in now and the routine is down pat. Kids off to school, I write, Hubby works, all easy peasy. Not so with the blog which I have decided to relocate from Blogspot to WordPress because I think the latter has better stats which I desperately need. So now I have to revisit all the sites I’ve added In the Hot Spot too and also relocate my (six!) wonderful followers.

The other evening I felt quite strange, I couldn't put my finger on it for a moment and then I realised, I was cold! I don't think I've felt cold for two years so that's why I couldn't pinpoint it at all, but since then I've been feeling a nip in the air in the mornings and even once in bed a night. So, my old duvets which were packed away in storage in New Zealand are now outside airing. It is actually quite fun to have seasons again. In Costa Rica they do call the rainy season winter but it is hardly cold. Meanwhile here in Queensland, the summer was hotter than the temperatures in Costa Rica but now we will get a bit of respite over the winter and can enjoy wearing jeans and sweaters. Funnily enough Ticas (Costa Rican women) wear skin tight jeans non-stop no matter how hot and steamy the weather. It is kind of a national pastime I think. So, now the sky is clear blue andd there is a light breeze, the perfect weather for airing my duvets after a week of clouds and unexpected showers. I do hope we have nice weather over the Easter holidays and need to put getting a wetsuit to the top of my list as I could definitely tell I was cold last time I went surfing and was eying all the surfers with wetsuits on enviously.

Making New Friends: Playdates

Following up on the Gold Coast post and McDonald's Happy Meals

We have a lot of kids over to play where ever we live. My kids demand it and I supply. Anything to keep them happy, even though this means lots of phone calls to strangers lining up the play dates and lots of conversations with mothers I don't know. Recently I had a conversation with one mum who was dropping her lad off at my house which went a bit like this:
“Samuel can stay for supper.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, it's no problem. We're just having omelets.”
“Samuel doesn't like eggs.”
“Oh dear.”
“Just give him a little bit, maybe he'll try it.”

Later at supper, after Samuel's mum has gone home, Samuel eyes the omelet with suspicion and asks:
“What's this?”
“Cheesy delight.” I answer, smiling encouragingly.
“Try it.” Samuel obediently has a bite, then asks:
“Has it got egg in?”
“No.” I reply, then shamed by the blatant and, to my own children, obvious, lie I add:
“Well, just a little bit.”
“Crocodile eggs” My hubby interjects helpfully. We all laugh and Samuel looks slightly confused but eats the omelet anyway. Good lad.

Shameful I know, but we had Samuel's best interests at heart. After all, you just can't beat an omelet for taste, nutrition and ease. But I'm sure they'd be more popular if they came with a free toy.