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On June 24th, this blog turned 7 years old. Over the past 84 months I’ve written 2,180 posts, created 394 pages, and received 26,165 comments from all of you. (My favorite part of running foXnoMad.) Most of you are likely new readers, perhaps finding me though The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament or one of my recent mentions in Lifehacker. Maybe you’re old school from 2008, but hopefully not constipated anymore. Or you’re my mom, the only person who read this site for a long while after it was created.

During the last 7 years the articles here and their writer have developed small traditions of our own. From Cardassian space stations to my emergency editor, these are 7 things you probably didn’t know about the posts on foXnoMad.

1. There Were Originally Multiple Authors

Initially I started this blog with several friends as a way for us to keep in touch with each other after we had all moved to different parts of the globe. About a few months in, I was the only one writing, mostly about absurd random topics. That is, until I got my first comment from someone who wasn’t an immediate family member. It was then I decided to try to put some effort into what I was writing. I chose the three topics I knew best and was passionate about: travel, technology, and anthropology.

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2. I Used To Post 5 Times A Week

And I don’t know how I did it. In early 2010 I cut back to 3 times a week. Then, late last year, twice a week. It’s not that I have less to say but that each post requires more behind the scenes work like editing photos and uploading videos. I also write reviews of all the places I’ve eaten, stayed, and bars I’ve not been too drunk to remember. So there isn’t less content really, it’s just distributed differently.


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3. Planned Articles Are Usually Finalized The Weekend Before

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I maintain an idea list of several hundred, adding to it as my mind or experiences give me inspiration. Sometimes I have a general idea of where my posts will go over a period of several weeks, but I rarely know for sure prior to the preceding Sunday.

new delhi train station

4. Almost All Of The Photos Used In Posts Are Mine

At least after sometime in 2011 if I’m recalling correctly. Around then I decided to use only pictures I’ve taken in my posts, unless otherwise noted. That means I now take hundreds of photos at every place I visit, often snapping random pictures at gift shops and museums. You never know when you’ll need a photo of a velociraptor.

oaxaca art

5. My Sister Is My Go-To Editor

It takes me an average of 8-10 hours to complete a given post, most of that time researching relevant information and editing the draft multiple times. Occasionally, at the end of that process, nothing looks right. I don’t send every article to her but when I’m unsure about a theme, sentence, or title, she’ll graciously tell me I’m stupid and help me (temporarily) correct the problem.

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6. You Probably Won’t Get An Email Response From Me Early In The Week

Monday through Wednesday are my primary writing days to prepare my weekly Tuesday and Thursday posts. I get 200-400 emails a day and found it’s more productive to focus on writing first, then deal with everything else later.

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7. There Are Deep Space 9 Easter Eggs Hidden In Posts

Some are more obvious than others but there are a number of covert references to my favorite Star Trek series, Deep Space 9. A great series to marathon on your next long layover, somehow inserting various mentions, quotes, and names became a habit I formed. I’ve thought about running a contest to see who could find the most Star Trek easter eggs but I doubt even I could even locate them all at this point.

Now It’s Your Turn

This list of 7 is limited to my side of the keyboard. Since you are all as much a part of this site as I am, I’d like to hear what I might not know about how you read my posts. How did you first find my site and when was it? Any favorite posts or not-so-favorites? Let’s take a trip down memory lane together in the comments below, I’ve got your visas ready.