I’ve been reviewing my blog statistics for 2015, curious to learn what posts drew the greatest response. Over the year, I had 1970 total visitors and 3830 views. And the post that drew that greatest response is one I wrote some time ago about not booking first class on Spain’s trains (193 views). It hasn’t lost its appeal.

As I point out in the post, “From the RailEurope website (and what little I could glean from the Renfe site), I understood that first-class (premier) tickets included a meal (from the RailEurope website:  “Enjoy an a la carte menu served right at your seat.”) Nothing could have been farther from the truth! We had been told by a Renfe agents at the information center in Seville that a hot meal would be served during our 4 1/2 hour ride to Barcelona, so I didn’t purchase something to eat on the trip.  But all we were given were tiny rolls, equally tiny pieces of cheese, and a smidgeon of ham.

To make matters worse, the train ended up stalling 45 minutes outside of Barcelona.  Only one announcement was made, in Spanish.  Nothing in English.  And we were kept in the dark, figuratively and literally, for two hours before another train arrived to rescue us, not knowing what was going to happen.

Surely we could have been informed more frequently about the rescue operation.  It also would have been good public relations if someone had thanked us over the public address system for our patience and acknowledged the inconvenience we had all experienced (there were a lot of elderly people on this train, and they had no help in lugging their bags over to the train that rescued them).

I would like to say that first-class travel in other countries was better. It wasn’t, except for a train we took from St. Petersburg to Moscow, another 4 1/2 hour ride. In that instance, we truly did have a first class experience The stewards served us a three course lunch that was tasty and filling. I had a chicken dish with vegies and mashed potatoes. My husband had fish. As a starter, we enjoyed a cheese selection. Russia’s first-class high speed train was definitely worth the extra cost.

But back to my most viewed blog posts in 2015, my page for Fling!, my novel that was published in 2015, had almost as many visits as the one on first-class trains. I’m delighted that so many people were interested in learning more about the book and all of the reviews I’ve posted there.

The next highest, other than visits to my bio, was a piece I wrote, “The Magic in Magical Realism.” Since Fling! definitely fits that category, it makes sense that both should have a high number of views. “Go for the Gold and Hire a Publicist,’ has high numbers, as does “Writing’s Dialogue with Myself And My Life” and Bone Songs, another of my novels that will be published in November 2016.

Surprisingly, the viewing numbers were healthy for several other posts/pages, and most of my entries had at least one visitor. I’m not sure what to conclude from these stats, but I’m happy that my blogging explorations have somewhat of a following.

Thanks to my readers!