Wordpress Blog Template for Travel and Photography Related Blog

18countries.com

I'm taking a year off to travel through Asia, and I have 18 countries on my itinerary, hence the website name, 18countries.com. Countries planned are China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, India, Nepal, Japan, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, East Timor (Timor-Leste), Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam. Will I get to all of them? Who knows, but it should be an interesting trip. :-)

I plan to take a ton of pictures, but this won't just be a photo blog. It has to seamlessly integrate photos with my articles, stories, recommendations, etc. It is important that this platform allows me to be creative and look really sharp.

People wanting to do the same thing, people thinking of traveling to Asia, people looking for travel advice and recommendations, and of course my friends and family, etc

Please see the attached wireframes for a just a potential idea. If you have an idea on how to design or layout the site in a better, more intuitive, or cooler way, do it! Also, I need some space for ads, maybe the right column? You can decide.

Looking for 3 general designs in total:
-Homepage / regular post design
-Picture gallery / summary design
-Picture detail design

It is important that social media is integrated into the site, but not obtrusive. Make it look smart, and have a way to share on facebook, digg, SU, etc without taking away from the aesthetic.

Please don't think you must adhere strictly to these, if you have some great ideas, feel free to go for it.

Some sites I like for inspiration include: travelfish.org, shibuya246.com for travel blogs, and boston.com/bigpicture for pictures