13 October, 2026
As I was reorganizing the Traveling Widower blog the past few days, I started browsing through the posts from the trips I’ve written about the past two years, just for the fun of it….Wow, I’ve been to a lot of really incredible places, and have overloaded my brain with memories. I’m glad I’ve been recording what I’ve seen on the blog since I’ve probably exceeded my internal storage limits. I need one of those storage implants that Keeanu Reeves had in Johnny Mnemonic (one of my favorite films…I want room service!).
I need more than the 80 GB he had attached to his head. Much like the SSD card I used the last day in Katmai National Park, I think a large portion of my brain is corrupted.
Wait! This is not what I wanted to write about. Not enough coffee this morning. Let’s start over.
One thing I noticed while reading my stuff is that while I do write a lot about each location in excruciating detail sometimes, I do not really spend too much time describing what a lot of people are looking for in travel related sites. While my intent has never been to turn the blog into a Rick Steves or Travel Advisor type of site, some viewers might want to know more details about where I stay – hotels, restaurants, interesting places to visit. Or the company I travel with. My recent Iceland trip is a good example – we visited many of the major tourist sites, and also visited quite a few places off the beaten track. Along the way, we stayed at seven different hotels, ate at a lot of restaurants, and hiked or stopped at many locations that most of the larger travel companies ignore. If I were planning a road trip in Iceland on my own, I might be interested in some of the places I stayed at.
So, what can I do differently without going through yet another time consuming redesign? Using my Iceland trip as an example, with the new format for the blog, maybe I’ll create a post summary for each trip, something like a “Best of My Iceland Trip”, which lists each place I stayed at, what I liked about it, focused more on what I liked about that village and/or hotel along with some pictures. For Iceland, this might include (as an example):
Reykjavik
Places to Stay – I only stayed at one hotel – The Hilton Canopy City Center, and it was one of the best hotels I’ve stayed at…anywhere. The hotel is something of a maze, but other than that, the rooms are large and modern, there are a number of great sitting areas to relax in, a great bar, excellent restaurant, and very helpful staff. It is also located on the main street with gobs of restaurants, bars and shopping just around the corner. Excellent location for getting around the city as well. And the gelato shop is just a block away.
Food – Reykjavik is a foodie city…really. It’s not just weird fish dishes. You can find just about anything there, including the famous hot dog stand (never got to try it…too crowded. I do recommend the Baka Baka bakery – great food, pastries and breads.
Akureyri
Food – We had our final group dinner at a seafood/sushi restaurant, Rub23) across from out hotel. Very upscale, with a nice wine list. The dinner was pre-ordered by our guide – all sushi, and some of the best I’ve ever had. There are lots of restaurants, bars and coffee shops along the main shopping area – most looked pretty good, but we only at the hotel (meh) and Rub23.
I can then create a new group on the home page – My Favorite Places or something like that. Or maybe “Max and Aperture’s Favorite Places”:
This new category group will then have composite blog entries for each of my trips. And maybe some generic travel tips as well, on things like gear that I bought for some of the trips. I will have to start taking more photos of the towns instead of animals, but I’m taking classes on street photography.
I’m liking this idea. As Captain Picard would say, “Make it so!” Version 2.1 of the site will soon have this new category on the home page, with an entry for Kodiak. I’ll back fill some of the places over time – Iceland for sure since I still have all the maps and itineraries from there. And I’ll take more photos in Puerto Natales and Ushuaia on my upcoming trip,
And in case you are wondering, I am not writing a travel guide book. That was just more AI humor.
Peace
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