Backing Up or Exporting Your Blog

Alright folks. Let's get serious. Some of you may have seen this before, but I think it's worth it to post reminders. We live in a digital age. We are changing to a world where most things are saved as digital copies, and with the risk of identity theft, hacking, etc., we need to become diligent about backing up our data, e-mails, and blogs. Let's start with your blog.  Tomorrow we'll deal with your e-mail, and I'll do some research on hacking statistics.

Back to blogging. You probably post loads of pictures and information on your blog, right? It's a journal to some people. Archives for others. Do you want to lose it? Hitting save is not absolute. Blogs can be hacked or simply deleted. I've heard cases of people who had their blogs flagged and then deleted for reasons that basically came down to ... well, even computers can misinterpret. I've listed the steps below for backing up your Blogger Blog. :)

Go to your blogger dashboard and click on Settings.

 Under "Settings" click on "Other" for a new list.

 You should see something similar to what is pictured below. Next to Blog Tools you can see blue links for importing, exporting, or deleting your blog. Click on Export.

 You'll see a message pop up like the one below. Download your blog and save it to your computer.

Also, learn to save things with descriptive names and dates. It doesn't have to be long. For example, if I backed up my blog today, I would name it something like: BlogBackupJune2014. Don't save over you previous backup file. This type of system keeps you from overwriting any original data that you may decide later you wished you hadn't changed, and it lets you know which file has the most current data, which you may decide is better (perhaps you made some edits?) than your older stuff. Not to mention that it, of course, includes everything new that you needed to backup. Make sense?

Three Isles Excursion from Oban, Scotland

So people. I've been having a great time with my little sister. She likes to stay up and play video games (finally somebody to play with!) so I haven't wanted to step away to blog (Insert sheepish grin).

Moving on. Okay, so my last post talked about our ride on the Jacobite Steam. Let's begin with the end there. We left Fort William and drove to Oban after the train ride. It was such a pretty drive! Here is a look at the map:

We checked into our bed and breakfast. We stayed at the Glenview Guest House. It's a simple bed and breakfast that's not too fancy but cozy. Everybody there was really friendly. She makes you eggs and bacon/sausage for breakfast, and she'll ask what time you need to have breakfast in case you have an early ferry to catch. It's about a 1 mile walk to the ferry station and harbor area. My only complaint was that the walls were a bit thin. The guy in the next room was snoring SO LOUD that it took me a while to fall asleep. LOL.

The Ferry From Oban

Moving on. The next morning we ate breakfast and then packed our lunches for our Three Isles Excursion. It was £60/adult and £30/child. It was worth every bit! We almost missed the ferry though! After eating, we realized that we didn't have enough time to walk there so we drove and decided to pay. My GPS took us to the ferry via the route where cars board it.

Here is a map to help you out if you go here:

We parked where the "P" is on the bottom left because our GPS could not get us there, and the signs were a bit confusing for us since we were not from there and were very frustrated! It cost us £5 for 12 hours so it wasn't too bad. The blue car is where you want to park. It's right where you need to be, and it was £3 for the day. I drew a line from Argyll Square to show how to get there.

Anyway, we actually made it. We had to run. But here we are on a very fancy ferry!

 Good-bye Oban!

 Let's try the views on the side of the ferry...

 Where are we going? Well, it looks something like this:

Oban to Craignure on the Isle of Mull. About a 40 mile bus tour across the Isle of Mull to Fionnphort where we boarded another boat. That boat took us 6 miles offshore (about 35 min.) to Staffa where we got to explore Fingal's Cave. Then, back on the boat to Iona. From Iona, a short ferry ride back to the Isle of Mull where our tour bus took us across again to the ferry going to Oban! Fantastic!

Our ferry.

 Isle of Mull

Our tour bus was nice. I suggest sitting on one side of the bus for both the departing and return trips so that you get views of both sides!

Sleep people... hehe

 Beautiful!

At Fionnphort waiting for the boat!

 Staffa and Fingal's Cave

 Absolutely amazing. Columnar basalt formations.

There is our boat!

Steve doing what he does. :)

 We only had about an hour so before we knew it, it was time to go back to the boat.

 Iona

 We were pleasantly surprised to learn that the Monk's Abbey was part of Historic Scotland so we were able to use our membership cards to have a tour. This picture was taken from on top of the small hill out front.

 Just a few pictures of the inside.

Photo below.

Did you know that the Book of Kells was written at the Abbey in Iona? I didn't! So cool!

This cross has been standing here for about 1300 years.

Aren't they cute?

 The water there was so blue! It was like being in the Caribbean.

This picture is of us waiting in line for the ferry to the Isle of Mull, which is just about a 10 minute trip. Then, we got back on the bus for our trip across the island.

Back to Oban

 We stood on a different side of the ferry this time!

Isle of Mull

It was a really good trip. We were all completely knackered! I would recommend this trip to anybody. Even though the weather wasn't perfect (you saw the cloudy pictures), it was still lovely and enjoyable. Those are some really great memories. :)