Most travel journals out there are the Ugly Bettys of the blogosphere. Humble little things, they are typically called something like ‘Jim’s Trip’ and feature a weekly post along the lines of ‘I saw the Grand Canyon and it was really nice’ with a grainy mobile photo alongside. And we love them: what they lack in style or substance they make up for in charm and individuality, and they represent online writing at its most democratic.

However, in our new feature we want to ogle at the travel blog Gisele Bundchens - beautifully designed, cutting-edge, well-known sites we can all use as inspiration. These witty, pretty multimedia babes show just what you can do by breeding broad-minded travel with the best of social media tools. Feel free to nominate your own, and over the coming weeks we’ll be suggesting just a few of our own wet dream superblogs.

Vagabonding is a bit of a museum piece by now, but this site, created by Mike Pugh to record his trip through Asia and East Africa in 2002-3, became well-known for pushing the travel blog format, with its witty, in-depth text, images and videos that prompted loads of comment and debate. It remains a key resource for travellers and bloggers alike, so go do some vagabonding here.

One Man’s Travels has won a bevy of awards for the vibrant design and engaging writing of travel hungry Wiltshire man Graham Ettridge. Stunning photos, audio clips and an active reader community makes it a great resource on such destinations as the Sinai Desert, Istanbul, Corfu and the Amazon, as well as a number of British sites. Explore it here.

by Molly on 7 May 2008
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