The Lowcost Holidays Travel Blogger Relay competition has produced some fine examples of travel writing athleticism, and the captains have got their teams off to a roaring start. As one of the competition judges along with TravelDudes and Travel Chica we’ve had the pleasure of reading your stories and delighting in some of the amazing tales. As a round-up of some the entries so far, here are our nominations for a few of the great posts…

Nominations for the best ‘awwww’ moment

Many entries tugged at the heart strings, but none more so than Runaway Juno‘s tale of rescuing wandering tortoises on US Highways, or Laurel from Monkeys and Mountains story of meeting the late Lonesome George in the Galapagos Islands. We also almost welled up after Janna from The Long Way Back Home told us about a Jack Russell and a little monkey who grew up and now play together as best of friends (you’ve probably guessed by now we’re a sucker for a cute animal story), and who couldn’t be moved by Simon from Man vs World recalling the day he got engaged to Nicola on Kuta Beach in Bali?

Nominations for the most beautiful photo

We love great travel photography, and the competition entries have produced plenty of examples. Dave and Deb’s photos of Paradise Bay in Antarctica on  The Planet D were incredible, as were the colours of Leah Travel‘s Rio Carnival snaps (not to mention the savvy inclusion of a gratuitous – and enviably toned – butt shot in an attempt to sway the judges!). We also loved On the Luce Lucy’s New York photos, capturing the scale of the city from up high and at street level.

Nominations for the best ‘awkward!’ moment

Captain and Clark gave us not one but three awkward travel moments including the tale of pairing their non-romantic opposite sex friends in a Korean love motel with a vibrating bed, getting drunk with a Korean monk, and mixing hookah and hookers in bar in Bahrain.

Nominations for the best ‘when animals attack’ moment

One of the most disturbing stories so far has to be the one told by Kerri of ExpatKerri. After thinking she was making friends with an elephant in a Chiang Mai elephant sanctuary she later found herself in hospital having her ear stitched back on. Extra points for the ‘attached to a drip on a hospital bed’ photo though. We were also pretty jealous of Erica OverYonderlust‘s pink dolphin scar (after being bitten while swimming in the Bolivian Amazon river) and Migrationology Mark’s charging rhino story.

Nominations for the funniest photo

We don’t think there’s many people who couldn’t love the picture of OverYonderlust‘s Shaun being nuzzled by an overly friendly llama named Bossy. Bossy seemed a little too pleased to see Shaun as he stood looking out over Machu Picchu, but what a great photo moment.

Nominations for not quite getting into the spirit of things

Potty-mouthed but loveable cad Will Peach of My Spanish Adventure managed to both insult the competition and remind us of a story which has now put us off couch surfing for life.

Nominations for best drunken evening turning a bit rubbish

SEA Backpacker‘s Laura hazily recalled a night out at a Cambodian wedding. We weren’t sure whether to laugh or cry as a night on the rice whiskey went from karaoke and fully-clothed swimming to jumping on a broken beer bottle and receiving 12 stitches by candlelight (in a shack with no power). Also, a special mention to Kiri of TravelBumpkin. She drunkenly celebrated Australia Day in Thailand, forgot to pay the restaurant bill and was then hunted down by two Thai ladies in a high speed chase the next day.

Nominations for the best ‘oblivious to surroundings’ moment

Abby from Stars on the Ceiling told a tale of near political embarrassment. She wandered unwittingly into Bangkok’s ‘Red Shirt’ protest camp thinking it was a 24 hour flea market but she did manage to escape with only a few hours to spare before her flight.

Nominations for the best hero moment

Greg of Adventures of a Goodman reminded us of the night he became Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Hero’ and helped save a bungalow village in Thailand from burning to the ground – the scary but really impressive photos of the 3am blaze are actually the stuff of nightmares. We also loved Neil of Backpacks and Bunkbeds‘ tale of footballing (or soccer) prowess, as he coached a Sri Lankan school team to victory, and his touchline celebrations.

We’ve loved reading through all the entries so far, and there are plenty more than we’ve mentioned here – thank you to everyone who has entered and picked up the baton. Remember all entries are eligible to win an iPad2, SLR camera and walking boots and the longest team will all win a Flex by filoFax travel journal! We’re looking forward to reading more! Gray and Becky

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