Comments on: Bratislava: very nice but nothing to write home about

By: Daniela

Daniela — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 12:04:51 +0000

You’re right . When you visited Bratislava in the future, stay longer and check out the neighborhood.

By: Nate @yomadic

Nate @yomadic — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:54:34 +0000

I quite enjoyed Bratislava, but I can see how it wouldn’t be to everyone’s tastes. I actually would like to go back!

By: Katie

Katie — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:59:35 +0000

Great point John. Even though you maybe didn’t consider Bratislava to be worth writing about, your readers may still be interested. Just this post alone conveyed a sense of Bratislava that someone completely unfamiliar with the city may find useful.

Personally, when I find that nothing about a city really stands out to me, I try to at least post a bit of a photo essay with short descriptions (very similar to what was done here), just so readers at least get some idea of the place. I don’t think every blog post has to be some huge exciting story.

By: Sophie

Sophie — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:30:53 +0000

I quite like Bratislava; it reminds me of how Prague used to be. It is nicer in summer, though, especially arriving by boat on the Danube (from Vienna or Budapest). Although you might not have meant to, I think you’ve managed to make Bratislava interesting to your readers 🙂

By: Jeremy Head

Jeremy Head — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:46:24 +0000

Well. I was thinking of making a similar point. If there’s nothing much to say… why say it!?
Something I struggle with on holiday – I click into writing mode and start looking for stories. I almost don’t enjoy the trip without it.

By: John O'Nolan

John O'Nolan — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:39:13 +0000

Is there a flip side to this, though? Are you desensitised to some of the finer points of a destination purely because you’re a very-frequent traveller?

It reminds me, somewhat, of a post by Derek Sivers about how things which are obvious to you can be amazing to others. http://sivers.org/obvious

I guess the real question, then, isn’t whether or not a destination is interesting to you. It’s whether or not the destination is interesting to your audience.

I don’t know what the answer is with regards to Bratislava, it just made me think 🙂

By: Mark Pawlak

Mark Pawlak — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:45:45 +0000

The more places you visit, the easier it is to fall into Andy’s ‘must write’ trap. Try going somewhere, anywhere without any knowledge of it whatsoever, then compare what you write to the tourist information publications…

It think I’ve just found a new angle!

By: Thomas Kent

Thomas Kent — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:09:08 +0000

Hi Andy,

As I know you’re partial to the Partridge oeuvre, why not enliven your 7th paragraph by instead saying “That was the best cooked breakfast I’ve had since Gary Wilmot’s wedding.”

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:45:19 +0000

Thanks Jeremy. Thankfully I was just visiting on a weekend break with my wife so didn’t really concern myself too much about a lack of an angle. But with every new place I visit there’s an urge to write something up on the blog – it’s this that I’m questioning here. If I’d gone out on a work-related trip that would be another matter…

By: HC

HC — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:44:40 +0000

Funny, I passed through Bratislava in 2009 on the way to Vienna, and spent an hour where? An H&M retail store.