10 years

Ten years ago today was a Sunday and I was reading a Sunday newspaper centrespread in the morning. The centrespread topic was about backpacking and also travelling with companions and organising it via travel websites. The whole idea of that captured my interest. I finished reading the rest of the newspaper and immediately went to use my computer.

The first thing I did after connecting to the internet (yes, it was still on 56kbps modem connection!) was to search on Google for 'travel companions'. Pages after pages of search result appeared on screen. I went through a few sites that appeared on the first three pages, but the sites were not appealing at all. Then on the fourth page of the search result, one link pulled my attention towards it. Although the previous sites were all a let down, I clicked on it anyway and hoped for the best. And the best it gave me.

Today, It has been exactly 10 years since the day I found TP and joined as a member. Being on TP has given me a lot of joy and memorable moments. I have made a lot of friends here from all around the world. Thank you everyone here for all the fun (in Off Topic and chatroom sessions which lasted several hours long), help in travel and not forgetting your support during my tough times in mid-2006 when I had to go through major operation.

Most importantly, a HUGE THANK YOU to Peter and Sam, the Overlords of TP, for creating this wonderful and amazing website. I sometimes wonder how our lives would have been without TP.

Looking forward to my next 10 years on TP! A big cheers to all!

Happy anniversary! It'll be my 10th anniversary here at TP in July. I joined because I was planning a trip to Tanzania, and was looking for some advice. I initially stuck around because I had a lot of fun commenting on other people's threads giving advice based on my trips in 2003 and 2004 to South America and Costa Rica.

So let me second the thanks to Pete, Sam and all the rest of the crew at TP; and of course to all the people I've meet - both in person and virtually here on the board.

Cheers,
Greg

And despite having mostly disappeared from TP in the last couple of years, i will third the thanks to Sam, Pete and the rest of the staff, contributors and travellers. Apparently my 10year anniversary was in January, although at this point i don't quite remember what i was looking for, why i joined or where i was!

I still have almost an entire year to go before reaching my ten year anniversary here. Very easy to remember how I found my way here: I got an email from Peter asking if I was comfortable programming in Coldfusion, as they could use some extra help working on the site. I wasn't, and was rather busy with other projects at the time, but given the nature of this site (and me at the time backpacking my way through Australia - wishing I'd known about this site a year and a half earlier when I was just setting out), I made certain to let him know I was very interested indeed all the same. After oversleeping badly and missing the originally scheduled interview, I did end up meeting Peter, who was probably in a good mood as me oversleeping meant he could spend some time ogling shiny Mac toys. A few days later I signed up on the site to have a bit more of a look around, broke a whole bunch of stuff with some photo uploads, and (thus?) was promptly contracted the very next day.

Nine years on, travellerspoint still has a special place in my heart as one of my favorite projects that I've ever worked on, with a wonderful and very welcoming community (which doesn't have nearly enough moots anymore!), and which continues to provide me with a welcome outlet for dispensing travel advice and tips, so that all my non-travelling friends at home don't need to hear me rant about my favorite New Zealand locations quite as much as they'd otherwise have to. :D

Thanks to Peter and Sam for taking a chance on me back then, and to you all for making this place a fourth home.

I still have a couple of years until I hit my TP 10th, and like Gelli, have mostly disappeared her, but I still come back from time to time to check things out and recommend TP to all my friends about all things travel! I've made several friends here too and recently had a meetup with Katie here in Philly! I hope to keep meeting other TP friends along the way and reconnecting to those of you I've already met in person. Thanks Sam, Pete and the rest of the TP staff for keeping things amazing here xo

I joined in 2005, so have another year before getting a 10 year pin! My life has been made much richer by being a member of TP. 22 members have made the trek to Vegas for helping buying a vehicle. Now I have friends all over the world that I can contact when visiting their country. Thanks to Sam & Pete for getting this thing going.

awww, thanks everyone - all these nice comments to start the week Running this site has been fantastic thanks in large part due to all the great members who make up the community!

It's been great meeting a lot of you over the years and I look forward to meeting many more.

Just realised I have just celebrated my fifth anniversary here! How time flies eh?

[ Edit: Edited on 24-Feb-2014, at 07:56 by Steve79 ]

Congratulations Hien. I have to wait till June but I will then also be ten years on here though admittedly have been very lazy about it in the second half of that term ..

I originally joined to learned about Egypt for a four week trip that year and stayed because of the amazing people and site ( thanks tp overlords ). I learned so much from the forums, blogs, wiki etc...but mostly had a lot of giggles in off topic and the old chat room where I used to disappear a lot with 'ba' or 'boss attacks' as I was supposed to be working but it's so addictive when you get to climb aboard a pirate ship and let your imagination go wild

Over the years I've met some fantastic people and some insane ones ( they're the best ) from here...With my first tp meet up being with Rich/ Gelli in 2004 when I had no clue what to expect so dragged him to the zoo ....

Looking forward to many years to come and will try to be more active again.

Hien, you are the TP Grandad I'm sending a pipe and slippers in the post straight away.

Oh my God, 10 years - it's frightening and it's heartwarming at the same time! I'll be here 10 years next January, and it's been a great place to keep coming back to for travel help when I've been planning a trip, and I hope I was able to return that favour along the way too.

I consider all the TP members I have met to be friends, and it's a little bit special that we have all kept in touch over the years. If I ever get bogged down with things, I usually find myself back here daydreaming about where I want to go next. So, it's a real comfort zone for me, thanks Sam and Pete and all the people who help you keep the show on the road.

xx
ev