2022 Paper 1 Sample Response 3 (Travel Blog)

Every so often people go on trips, possibly for a new scene in life or to take a break. In a blog called ‘The bicycle diaries,’ readers read the account of a journalist who travels across three continents and twenty countries by bike. In this specific blog entry, the journalist recounts his experience in Bulgaria where unexpected events occurred and they show how their environment constantly changes. For readers that may crave the sense of adventure, this journalist uses their narrative voice to provide full-sensory descriptions, a sense of a quick pace and the sense of immediacy as their experiences are new. By doing so, they allow readers the sense of adventure.

The author, ‘reo18’ includes time stamps and adverbs to create the sense of a fast-paced experience. In the first paragraph of the entry, they use phrases such as “spend an exhilarating 20 minutes,” “10 minutes later,” by doing so they create the sense of time passing for this entry. This allows readers to understand that this specific experience is moving quick to the next moment, allowing the sense of adventure. The blogger continues to achieve this throughout the blog entry. Another instance is when they use “then” and “finally,” as this narrative tone of impatience shows that their plan did not occur as unexpected moments happened. Further supporting that this experience was unexpected like an adventure. Additionally, the use of those words attracts readers to keep reading as it creates suspense, so that they can understand the blogger’s experience as an adventure, a possible contrast to their lives.

The blogger provides a sense of unpredictability by using a tone that shows readers, that elements in their experience keeps changing. The first word in the second paragraph is “instead,” to illustrate how they had to resort to alternative methods then their original plan. The use of “This transpires” too illustrates the sense of change. This gives readers the perspective that a trip like this can give a whole new environment of a changing lifestyle rather then keeping to a routine. This is further supported when in the last paragraph, the blogger explains that the couple hosting them describes how “the country exists in an almost constant state of unresolved ambiguity” meaning that the environment is always changing. The blogger therefore achieves to show readers that a change in environment or surrounding can provide a less constant state as to avoid boredom in a routine.

The blogger’s use of the description of the environment additionally supports the idea that this trip or any trip is an everchanging experience. By describing the weather throughout the blog entry, and because the weather changes from “buckets of rain thump” to “tsunami” and finally to “slowed to a funereal drizzle.” The blogger hence, creates an auto sensory description of the surrounding. In this way readers can imagine the feeling visually and sonarlly. In this way, readers can feel involved in the experience as they can imagine being on the trip. Additionally, the changes in weather allows readers a new perspective of a different country, as it is possible that their location experiences different weather and therefore provides them what a different lifestyle could be like.

The blogger’s use and method of description is to allow readers to empathize with them, so that through the blog they can imagine the experience themselves. By achieving this, reo18 provides the sense of adventure so that readers can get a taste of a different environment as contrast to the typical lifestyle of the same routine everyday. In line 4, the blogger writes that they “can’t see a thing” through their glasses and that their “padded underpants are already sodden” from rain. Although this may seem undesirable to anyone, readers are illustrated an accurate description of the experience. However, their narrative voice allows full sensory descriptions of what seems to be a troubling experience, but the blog lacks any complaints or intention to stop the trip. It is possible that readers understand that trips like these are never perfect. With the combination of the perspective of their experience readers are still hooked in to the new experience as it is different from the typical lifestyle, providing newness into their lives. Additionally, when at the hosts household, the description of the ambience accurately depicts the setting when “they have a newborn baby” can allow the imagination of baby cries or even laughter, also when they were served “cold red wine and pizza.” The last sentence of this paragraph, the blogger questions why this busy family accepted them to their home. Although in this moment, the blogger creates a sense of appreciation for this experience, for which readers can appreciate too the different lifestyle.

The blogger’s narrative voice fails to describe their identity or any past experiences, although this successfully allows the reader to empathize with the experience. With the aforementioned idea of the full-sensory descriptions to help the reader can fully be attracted to the idea of a similar trip. Furthermore, the use of the image of the blogger’s bike and a beautiful monument, the readers are given space to put themselves in this experience that is new and different to a constant routine. Additionally, it is relatable for readers when the blogger felt lost or that they should have prepared better, seen in line 24. In this way, readers can fully relate to the blogger not the experience.

The bicycle diaries achieves to provide readers the perspective of a new and different environment. In our society, people can feel stuck in their constant lifestyles, where change can provide a fresh perspective or make us feel renewed, even if the experience was not perfect. Blogger reo18 achieves this when they provide full sensory description, and the sense of a quick paced changing environment as this illustrates to readers the sense of a new and different lifestyle in contrast to a constant routine. As readers have experienced being stuck at home, probably form a COVID-19 lockdown or self-quarantining themselves. In this way, readers can achieve the possibility of new experiences.

Word Count: 1009