Tripbase started a great project a few months back. Or, that is at least when we were nominated by 1000 fights to join in. Maybe it’s been around for longer? None the less, it’s about time we finally took part!

The project is meant to connect travel bloggers together and give them a chance to show off some of the amazing content from their sites by sharing 7 links.

Scott and I have been running Dream a Little Dream since April 2008! That’s 3 years!! We’ve been around off and on for the last year. But still, choosing 7 links in the following catogories have been quite a challenge. We have tons of posts from a long time ago we love and didn’t get much exposure due to being a new site in the travel world. On the flip side however, all of our more recent posts are just at such a higher calibre due to everything we’ve learned in these past 3 years to create better content and get more exposure.

Anyways, after much hard thought here is what we came up with:

OUR MOST BEAUTIFUL POST:
Christmas ornaments from our RTW trip

http://dreamalittledream.ca/christmas-ornaments-from-our-rtw-trip/

We’ve seen some beautiful things across the world but nothing quite compares to grouping all those beautiful memories together on our Christmas Tree to ensure they last a lifetime!

OUR MOST POPULAR POST:
Banksy vs the Bristol museum

http://dreamalittledream.ca/banksy-vs-the-bristol-museum/

If we look at our site stats this one post gets the most hits day in and day out. This paticular exhibit ended a long time ago but still Banksy continues to pull in the numbers for us. It really is quite remarkable how popular street art is.

OUR MOST CONTROVERSIAL POST(s):
1. Cairo from a women’s perspective 2. The Valve Sound System Show Down – Epic Fail 3. Netherlands soft drug policy – is it working? 4. Contemporary Museum in Vienna: Mak

1. http://dreamalittledream.ca/cairo-from-a-womans-perspective/

2. http://dreamalittledream.ca/the-valve-sound-system-show-down-epic-fail/

3. http://dreamalittledream.ca/netherlands-soft-drug-policy-is-it-working/

4. http://dreamalittledream.ca/a-contemporary-art-museum-in-vienna-mak/

Okay, I cheated and listed 4. What are you going to do about it? The reason I listed 4 as we don’t really have any posts that have caused any heated discussions or debates. It was really hard to figure out exactly what of our topics is controversial to people. Thus, I’ve chosen 4 topics which I think can lead to a variety of opinions if people actually commented or is a touchy subject.

OUR MOST HELPFUL POST:
How to care for a second degree muffler burn in Thailand

http://dreamalittledream.ca/how-to-care-for-a-second-degree-muffler-burn-in-thailand/

Step by step instructions on how to care for one of the most popular injuries that can happen on the tropical islands of Thailand.

A POST WITH SUCESS THAT HAS SURPRISED US:
AK-47′s and naughty squirrels

http://dreamalittledream.ca/ak-47s-and-naughty-squirrels/

Just a simple post about our time in Riga, Latvia that continues to soar high in our site stats. Maybe it’s the title that is causing all the attention. Guns and naughty things. Yup. That has to be it!

A POST THAT DIDN’T GET THE ATTENTION IT DESERVED:
Scott the hero

http://dreamalittledream.ca/scott-the-hero/

An epic and heroic tale of how Scott saved the day after crashing our scooter and causing me to get a second degree muffler burn. Complete with crash video!! How can this not be popular??

THE POST WE ARE MOST PROUD OF:
Our Canadian Thanksgiving experience in Germany

http://dreamalittledream.ca/our-canadian-thanksgiving-experience-in-germany/

We are proud of that entire day that ended with the great success of that amazing meal!! May not be as interesting to others but to us this was a very special moment during our travels. In the top 5 for sure.

Okay, we hope you got to read something from our site you might of missed before. Thanks for reading!

Here are our 5 nominations to other travel bloggers to share their 7 links. Be sure to check them out in the following weeks to see what they shared. It was hard to pick as there have already been so many nominated. Check out this list to see the others.

1. iStopOver
2. The Departure Board
3. Lives of Wander
4. Dan’s Adventure
5.  Across and Abroad

Happy New Year everyone! This year has been amazing for both Dee and I. We’ve managed to suspend our jobs (Dee permanently!), got our apartment rented out, possessions all packed and hopped on an airplane to explore the word! We’ve seen and done some pretty frickin awesome things and written about most of it. So here it is, what we think our top 10 things we did this year traveling.

The DVS top 10 of 2009

I can already feel Pamplemousse’s fury of anger from here… please don’t fret! The email is really on it’s way!! We promise!

Okay its not a furry friend, but just wait! Read on!

We were wondering along the romantic cobble stone streets of Riga, Latvia. Going past little old stone building after little old stone building. All of them are built right up next to each other with barely any gaps or greenery between. Suddenly, we came across a big opening that was protected by a very old and rusty gate as seen above. What was beyond this gate looked quite out of place, an old abandoned building that did not match any of the Riga’s beautiful architecture.

Anything look familiar in this picture to you?

Instantly, as Scott and I spied the black and white cat through the gate we both got the feeling we have seen this before… Anyone seen the movie the Animatrix? Remember the one were a girl follows her run away cat into an abandoned building that is claimed to be “haunted” but it’s actually just a glitch in the Matrix that causes all the weird stuff to happen there.

Yup, we meet Uki the cat from the short Animatrix film, “Beyond”, and once again reminded ourselves to think….

Are we really here?

Until next week…. keep your furry friends close and the furrier ones even closer!

Searching online for a hostel to stay at is always a bit of a challenge… Every traveler will have their own set of preferences of what to search for in a hostel. Our list goes as follows:

• Price
• Rating
• Location
• Free Wifi
• Free Breakfast
• Other Bonuses

The very first to appear on our hostelbookers.com search for a hostel in Riga, Lativa was named “The Naughty Squirrel Backpackers”. How can someone not be intrigued by that name? So we eagerly clicked on it. It hit almost all of our personal preferences and more!

• Great prices, even for a private room. ($22.76 CDN per person)
• 95.4% rating (249 out of 260 recommended)
• Located right in the center of Old Riga
• Free Wifi
• The only non-hit on our list was No free breakfast

Almost about to click back on the browser and search for a hostel with breakfast we noticed The Naughty Squirrel’s bonus…

• Rated in the Top 10 worldwide
• Bar with happy hour specials
• Free shots if you call heads or tails correctly
• No communal showers
• Nice common room
• Free walking tours
• Free linen and freshly made beds, etc etc etc….. the list goes on…
• Oh and what’s this… Shoot AK-47′s in a soviet bunker?? Hell yeah!!

Of course Scott was sold… Soviet Bunkers? Guns? How can you go wrong? The next thing we know we are clicking on book now and whipping out the credit card.

And that fast decision became the best hostel booking we have made to date. We will now be comparing all of our hostel experiences to the Naughty Squirrel. If you’re ever in Riga, Latvia you must spend your time there and say hi to the staff for us!

The Road to the Naughty Squirrel

Oh wait… what was that? What about the Ak-47′s?? Well since you asked….

I have never shot a gun in my life. I figured shooting a gun in Eastern Europe in an old soviet bunker sounds like the perfect place to try it… and for 30 Lats each it was hard to refuse! The price got us Eva (a Naughty Squirrel staff member) as a “tour guide”, transportation to the bunker, and then 5 rounds on a handgun, 5 rounds on a AK-47, and 3 rounds on a pump action shot gun. Our tour group was a total of 7 people. With me being the only girl…

Feeling excited we walk down the bunker stairs… it smells old and dank with a soft aroma of burnt something. We get instructions from what sounded to me like an Russian accent gun lover and the next thing I know its my turn.

Probably the most power I have ever felt between my hands… but it sure makes action movies seem even less realistic! It’s not easy to fire a gun, let alone aim it and actually hit your target. Faster then you expect, your out of ammo and your turn is over. Did I even hit the target??? I couldn’t tell, it was too far away in a poorly lit room.

Would I shoot a gun again? On this trip if another unique experience turns up, yes I will for sure. But back home to just go to a firing range, I don’t think so. It wouldn’t be worth the price back home!

Dee's on the Left, Scott on the Right

Check out the rest of our photos from Riga, Latvia at our flickr gallery. We love comments on our photos… So, if you don’t have a flickr account, spend the minute and sign yourself up!