The story of TravelBlogger begins with co-founders Ian MacKenzie and Sean Aiken, both from Vancouver, BC.
Like most of you, Ian and Sean share a passion for travel, exploring new countries, learning about other cultures and developing a greater understanding of themselves and the world around us.
They originally met in elementary school but didn't become friends until years later in Junior High. Sean invited Ian over for a game of Ping Pong after he had confidently boasted his own superiority during one of their classes together.
To make a long story short, Sean won every match, even neglecting to use a paddle on the last one. Afterwards, they gradually hung out more often until some time in high school they realized they'd become "best friends" (cue Diana Warwick music).
Sean and Ian continued on after high school to study at the same University, and in the summer of 2003 embarked on a 3 month cross Canada trip in a Greyhound bus. (For much of the journey it was their mode of transportation as well as their sleeping quarters).
Both Sean and Ian had completed a bunch of traveling beforehand (Europe, Greece, Australia), yet this was their first trip together. While the days were long on that bus, good times were definitely experienced on this great way to traverse the country.
While on the road, they were using good ol' mass emails to keep their friends and family updated to our whereabouts and such (now known as the 'old skool' method). Not too exciting and doesn't invoke much jealousy in friends who are stuck at home working.
Anyways, when Sean and Ian returned from their trip, Ian compiled his mass email journal entries along with their photos and designed a website to share the complete adventure. The only problem: the site took hours and hours to build and upload the photos.
Ding, a thought!
Wouldn't it be cool if you could share your experiences, photos, and videos with family and friends through a personal travel blog while you're traveling and not have to worry about mass emailing? The answer (as you may have guessed) is yes...it would be cool.
And TravelBlogger was born.
Launched in early 2005, Sean and Ian have developed the TravelBlogger community in between finishing up their University degrees and of course, more traveling. (Check out our travels, ianmack and jamaiken).
Ian will be getting married in May 2007 after getting engaged to his fiance Karen during their latest trip to South East Asia. (read how it happened here) And coincidentally, Sean will be the proud best man!
Well that's the story of TravelBlogger. Hope you enjoy the site as much as we do running it! If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us.
All the best and happy travels!
