Backpacking Philippines: Four Years of Blogging No Quid Pro Quo

Four Years of Blogging No Quid Pro Quo

Blogging has been on the mind of Tutubi way back then when his online friend and travel mate, Ferdz of Ironwulf has been blogging for quite some time, as well as another friend and blogger R.O., quite acerbic yet really nice in person, has been bugging him to start his own travel blog knowing how itchy his feet was.

Three months after the ill-fated Palawan trip, Tutubi fired up his browser, logged on to blogger.com and published his first blog post, with blog title Tutubi Patrol. This blog later morphed into Backpacking Philippines two years later and the rest is history.

Four years after, he's still at it blogging unbiased and unsponsored posts bashing establishments for lousy service or giving glowing reviews and feedback to deserving ones.

Year 2009 was marked by an attempted buyout of this blog by a Singapore-based company interested in buying this pathetic space on the web with an inclusive offer to hire Tutubi as a paid blogger that he didn't accept, even if the pay's good, for sentimental reasons.

Tutubi may have slowed down his posting and limited his travel and adventures lately but one thing's not going to change though, this blog will NEVER post advertorial and sponsored posts. It's not easy doing it, with offers from resorts, hotels (the soon to be opened budget hotel of the Philippines' budget airline is one of the latest), doing so will turn this blog into something like mainstream media lifestyle writers and some bloggers receiving freebies for promotional posts lacking objectivity and, worse, without disclosure.

He may not have the best pictures and articles that didn't go through rigorous polishing to accompany his posts, but Tutubi will always be the fun blogger with a trustworthy blog, one of the very, very few actually in the Philippines!

"I Explore, therefore I blog...No Quid Pro Quo!"

-- tutubi AT BackpackingPhilippines DOT com

Last note: Good luck too to Nina whose blog anniversary post serves as annual reminder of this blog's own anniversary... Just Wandering is just few days older than this blog :P

Labels: Blogging

posted by GingGoy @ 6:13 PM,

16 Comments:

At May 6, 2010, 10:32:00 PM, carlotta1924 said...: keep it up tutubi! happy 4 years of blogging! and counting!

:)
At May 6, 2010, 11:19:00 PM, Chyng said...: Honest review comes first in blogging. Good job Tutubi! (and Nina!) Ü

See you around,
At May 6, 2010, 11:48:00 PM, Resty Odon said...: Congratulations, Tutubi! You're so idealistic, like this acerbic blogger I know. :p
At May 7, 2010, 10:37:00 AM, GingGoy said...: carlotta, this blog will be online for as long as I live...already grooming an heir too :P

chyng, yeah...thanks for visiting again

R.O., idealistic? would you vote for me if i'm a candidate on monday elections? hehe
At May 7, 2010, 12:16:00 PM, escape said...: congratulations! youve also done a good job for backpacking. that's worth celebrating.
At May 7, 2010, 4:21:00 PM, Traveler on Foot said...: Congratulations fellow traveler and blogger! You know that your blog was one of our sources of envy and inspiration that's why we put up Traveler on Foot a year after you've established Tutubi Patrol.

Cheers!
At May 8, 2010, 4:23:00 PM, bws said...: congrats bro. I always felt like you had been blogging longer than 4 years ;)
At May 8, 2010, 11:06:00 PM, pieterbie said...: Congrats on your fourth birthday!
At May 10, 2010, 11:31:00 PM, dodong flores 도동 플로오리스 said...: Congrats!
your site don't look like it's just four years old...
I think we have the same line of thinking about how we should run our blog.
Ako naman, I may not sell my blog even if somebody would pay me a hefty amount. My blog kasi is already a part of my personality...
Again, congratulations and keep on blogging...
At May 11, 2010, 8:53:00 AM, Photo Cache said...: Happy fourth tutubi. I will celebrate my fourth year this July. Nauna ka lang ng kaunti sa akin.

Where's the cake, bro!
At May 11, 2010, 11:12:00 AM, GingGoy said...: the dong, you're also deserve a pat on the back for promoting backpacking, let's have our own backpacker's party list :P

traveler on foot, thank,s continue too with your own advocacy and travel stories

bw, seriously, i have an earlier anonymous blog with political tones mostly bashing politicians and hard-headed pinoys...dropped it after a few months though

pieterbie, thanks. more to come

tatay dodong, i would like this blog to be continued by Tutubi, Jr someday...sentimentality. being a professional blogger pays but it's not always about the money

photo cache, will send you the cake and barrel man too ;P
At May 11, 2010, 5:24:00 PM, witsandnuts said...: Congrats! Keep it up and hope to see you by chance one day while I am in Paete.
At Jun 6, 2010, 10:34:00 PM, Jepoi said...: Wow... I actually want to earn through my blog! I just started and I am not getting offers yet. I'll see when offers come. hehehe

CONGRATULATIONS and keep it up!

http://insidemybackpack.blogspot.com
At Jun 27, 2010, 7:24:00 AM, thepinaysolobackpacker said...: i've been an avid reader for God knows when, ur page and ferdz' & lagalog's too has served as my travel guide, but i only started traveling solo 2 yrs ago and started blogging (w/ a lot of backlogs coz i'm too lazy! hehe) back in December.

i'm a freak of ur blog bec of it's helpful posts (directions) and unbiased reviews, true,i've seen some blogs turn into some kind of a money-making site w/ posts slowly deteriorating but you have adhered to your disclosure. your blog helped me a lot in some of my trips. as far as i cn rmmbr though,ive never left a mark on ur site. so when I stumbled on this post, i knw this is the best post & time to leave my mark at and. :)

congrats tutubi on your 4th yr! i knw,i'm a bit late but i jst wanna let u knw ur blog hs been a gr8 inspiration! thnx for sharing ur adventures! keep the posts coming and keep on exploring! :)

ur fan,
Gael
thepinaysolobackpacker
At Jun 28, 2010, 12:32:00 AM, freeze said...: congratulations! keep it up and i admire your conviction to maintain this site unsponsored. It does make this site credible. :)
At Jun 28, 2010, 11:42:00 AM, GingGoy said...: thepinaysolobackpacker, geez...I'm flattered by your comment...such a thing to travel solo but honestly i've yet to actually travel solo except on some business trips

freeze, it's quite tempting for the offers but i just say to myself my schedule won't permit me to join them anyway

Four Years of Blogging No Quid Pro Quo

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