About Me

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Hello there, thanks for being curious to find out more about me.

To receive an official blog profile from me, kindly leave a comment below with your email or send an email to flyhoneystars@gmail.com.

If you’re trying to find my name or a picture of me, I’m sorry to disappoint you as I prefer to remain “somewhat” anonymous (or at least I feel so). It has been 10 years since I first started travel blogging and I am still not comfortable with showing my face on my blog. My face does show up occasionally in group photos but most of the time, it will just be my lovely travel friends that are willing to pose for me. My traveling bears (Duffy, Paddington & Captain Rila) and my hand (sometimes with fancy manicure art) will appear more frequently.

I started blogging since I was 13 (back in the Diaryland/Blogspot days) but the entries back then were more about random musings of school life and song lyrics. Travel blogging only started after I returned from my USA Work & Travel Program back in 2010. It was a 3 months adventure (my longest overseas stint to date) and there were many lovely memories to reminisce about.

As time goes by, I discovered that I really enjoy travel planning. Years ago, I frequent the library to read travel guide books as these books were too expensive to be bought. I do it all the time, whether I had plans to travel or not. Today, everything can be found online and even the maps in these guide books may be outdated. Now, google controls more than half of my online life..

So.. People often ask me what is the motivation behind all my writing; and my answer to them is.. If people like me didn’t exist, will you be able to find the information you need for your own Free & Easy trip? It is kind of like a pay-it-forward mentality. I blog useful information to thank the community which fed me with the useful information which I needed while planning for my own trip. It’s such a simple yet important reason but it is also the only way that keeps this information bank growing strong!

In case you’re wondering.. nope blogging does not pay well at all. In fact, for the first two years of converting my free site to a .com, the amount I ‘earn’ from Google Ads is not even enough to pay my yearly domain and hosting fees. It took me a while to grow my fanbase and after a few viral articles here and there, I was on track to break-even from August 2017 – which was the third year of owning a dot com.

Another sad truth I learned along the way was that while it is easy to be a blogger (well anyone can do it and it’s free) but it is not easy to be a full-time blogger. I really respect the many individuals that are able to make their passion their career and (for now) the wanderlust dream will still be a dream for me.

I still do not have the courage to quit my full-time job and backpack around the world. I need a full-time job to finance my travel desires and having the freedom of choice to not opt for the cheapest option all the time. At the end of the day, the travel that I enjoy should be the kind of relaxation/healing and I don’t think that roughing out on a shoestring budget for every single trip is enjoyable. When I was younger, I did aim to scrimp and save every single cent by camping overnight at airports, staying in hostels or eating kebabs every meal but now that I am older with a somewhat stable income, I try to strike the balance between budget and comfortable experience. I guess growing older made me derive more satisfaction from staying in a $200/night ryokan as compared to staying in a $30/night hostel. Maybe one day, these thoughts might reverse again. Who knows?

To see all the trips that I’ve been on and blogged about: Travelogue by Date | Travelogue by Country

For profiling purposes, I’ve decided to add some stats:

  • Flyhoneystars.wordpress.com (free hosting & domain) started in December 2010
  • Website was “upgraded” from www.flyhoneystars.wordpress.com to www.flyhoneystars.com (paid hosting & domain) in August 2014
  • Latest Alexa ranking (25 Nov 2018): 513,493 (Global); 4,996 (Singapore)
  • Latest Similarweb ranking (25 Nov 2018): 1,913,569 (Global); 55,063 (Singapore)

Recognition Received

  • Singapore Best Travel Blog (2016) by Homeaway (Expedia)
  • Top 10 Finalist for Best Travel Blog – Singapore Blog Awards 2015
  • Third Prize for Master Planner Challenge 2014 by Korea Tourism Organization
  • Consolation Prize for Master Planner Challenge 2013 by Korea Tourism Organization
  • Participant (Most Active SNS user in Asia) for Asian on Air Program 2012 by Korean Air & Korea Tourism Organization

Sponsored Vacations (Invitation & Contests)

Sponsored Products

  • Ninja Wifi in Japan (You will receive 20% Discount by using my referral link)

Affiliates

  • Kkday – Tickets/Experience booking (Headquarters in Taiwan)
  • Klook – Online Travel Experience Booking Website (Headquarters in Hong Kong)
  • Trazy – Your Travel Shop for Asia (Headquarters in Seoul)

Featured in

Non-Travel related Invitations

Top 5 Articles base on views (March 2017)

Random Fun Facts

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Do you have any more questions for me? Feel free to leave a comment, drop me an email (flyhoneystars@gmail.com) or via Facebook!

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  • Hi there:)

    Just wanted to let you know that i was in Québec a fews weeks ago and decided to visit
    the spot where they shot Goblin.

    Too bad i forgot to bring a camera to shot some video to show people the actual location they where at in Québec.

    When i saw the Chateau Champlain in the opening sequence i was like: What? hey this is in Québec?! Since its 3 hour drive from where i live:)

    And if i had the chance to ask the actor, would really ask them how they liked our province 🙂

    Anyway, awsome they you gave the actual adress location:)

    • Hey, thanks for leaving a comment! Yep, they visited your country to film this super popular and viral drama~
      I even have readers chancing upon the actual filming too!
      Maybe one day you can visit the locations in Korea too =p

  • Hi, it is really interesting to know you through this blog, as a person. Coincidentally, I have also done work and travel USA, back in 2004 (Haha, so that kind of tell my age. ) and I also transferred at Taiwan because we flew EVA Air.

    I like the very frank and straightforward way you writings are. And I guess you are a fellow Singaporean.

    For your dream of managing a strawberry plantation, I can assure you that it is very tiring and require a lot of physical work. A family relative operates one, so I have been there picking strawberries. As that was always a rosy dream for me.

    For New Zealand, I was there in 2008 for my honeymoon. My husband and I rented a camper and we drove around from Christchurch, up south all the way to the tip of the south island, then go down to around Queenstown area, then go south back to Christchurch. I also visited the Mount Cook and the Glacier. It remains one of the best travel experience I had. And it would be super cool if there is a blog about “Lord of the ring” filming locations.

    If you ever travel to Europe, it will be really interesting to meet up. I now relocated to Netherlands.

    • Thanks for reading my lengthy ‘About Me’ section. I always wonder if anyone reads it since I’m pretty longwinded in my writing. Yep you are right – I am Singaporean! Work & Travel do bring back good memories for me and I’m glad I did it, instead of doing the usual internship which everyone prioritise now. I wanted to try farming jobs for the Australia Work & Travel programme which started this year but.. things happened and I’m still in a full time job. Maybe sometime I’ll do a career break and try out farming. I would love to visit NZ some day but.. I’m still struggling to find a confident driver (or perhaps build up the confidence in my own driving) and a group of friends to travel with. I’m pretty sure there are blogs around about Lord of the Rings! Anyway, I’m glad that you’re crazy with filming locations as well. Sometimes, my friends feel that my interest is ridiculous but I don’t know why I feel super satisfied when I get to visit the actual place! Anyway, I don’t have plans to visit Europe right now but if I do visit Netherlands, I’ll remember to contact you =)

  • Hi! I was reading your Filming Sites guide for Goblin fans and I didn’t miss the part where you mentioned you visited Krabi and got the exact room where SHINee Onew stayed in. I just want to ask if you’re a Shawol since 1) I am too, 2) Your blog theme says so, 3) You mentioned Onew!

    This is my first time visiting your blog and maybe this isn’t the last time. Your Goblin Filming Site entry is so helpful, as I will be visiting Korea on November. 🙂 Thank you for your hard work!

    • Thanks for leaving a comment! I’m glad that you’re pretty alert in sieving out the clues and yes your suspicions are right. I guess the colours that I used is pretty much a giveaway. I’m glad that you enjoyed my post on Goblin’s filming site and I hope that you will be successful in locating the places in November. Have a great trip and do come back to share your adventures with me =)

  • Dear Honeystars,
    Just started reading your blog a few minutes ago as I will be travelling to Japan in June for the very first time.
    Already finding really helpful tips from you and absolutely delighted on stumbling upon your blog!

    • Thanks for leaving a comment! Glad that you found the information useful and do come back and share about more tips about the trip 🙂

  • Amazing blog Honeystars. Enjoy reading your travel adventures! I just started travel blogging 2 years back too. Tiring, but a fulfilling journey. Can’t wait to read more of your travels.

    • Hi Nicole! Thanks for your comment. Yep, I agree that blogging is not easy especially when you have a day job. It definitely takes up a lot of your free time. Glad that you persevered for 2 years. Your website looks great =)

  • Hi, I just discovered your blog thanks to your post about Legend of the Blue Sea filming locations. You’re doing a great job! It’s a wonderful blog 🙂
    I’d love to receive your profile to know more about you.
    Keep up the good work!

  • Do you happen to know SHINee? It’s the first time I’m in your blog and the aqua blue x diamond theme caught my eye. 😊