My Top 5 Travel Blogs for 2010 (So Far)

I'm addicted to travel, and when I'm home I'm addicted to reading about travel. Lately my passion has taken the form of finding new travel blogs to follow. Don't get me wrong, I love a good travel magazine, with big glossy pictures, a can't-stop-reading narrative and lots of helpful boxes to cut out and save. (And of course I write for lots of travel magazines, so I enjoy reading them to stay current on what my editors and fellow writers are up to.) But a good travel blog has an immediacy, a personal voice, a "you-are-there-right now" feeling that gets me going in the morning like nothing else.

So here, in no specific order, are the travel blogs and websites I find myself checking in with most often.

1. Jaunt Magazine. Editor in chief Layla Revis is a pro, and it shows in this elegant site, which is really more online magazine than blog. Revis's voice has a breezy intimacy, though, and her personal asides give Jaunt a blog-like sense of serving as the sounding board for someone stylish and savvy.


2. Nerd's Eye View. A fresh take and luscious food photos are the hallmark of Nerd's Eye View, the project of Pam, a freelance writer who describes herself thus: "A camera, a passport, a ukelele." Nuff said.


3. Wild Junket. The slideshows on this site are irrestistible, but equally compelling is the topicality. Writer Nellie Huang seems to be everywhere at once, and she has a knack for putting together clever lists and coming up with timely hooks that make planning -- or simply dreaming about -- future trips a lot more fun.

4. My Itchy Travel Feet. In this opinionated guide to "Boomer Travel," Donna Hull doesn't skimp on tips; she lays out everything an active 40-something traveler could ask for to plan an adventurous or educational trip.

5. D Travels Round. An ex-PR publicist who saved enough to become a full-time traveler, the mysterious "D" writes wonderfully detailed posts that tell you everything you need to know to follow in her adventurous footsteps.

This is only the beginning, of course; there are many great travel blogs out there, and I plan further installments. But for this first installment I wanted to focus specifically on fun, colorful, personal blogs with an adventurous feel that aren't on every "top travel blogs" list. Do you have a favorite travel blog - or two or three? Tell me about them in a comment here, and maybe they'll turn up in a future list.

Photo credits: Bora Bora (c) Jaunt Magazine; Tulips (c) Nerd's Eye View; Lava fields (c) Wild Junket