About
Hi I'm Karen Bryan, the founder of Europe a la Carte, a UK based travel website which focuses on authentic travel in Europe on a modest budget. Europe a la Carte was created in July 2002. The Internet was really catching on and I thought that having an online presence
would allow me to gain
market exposure, even as an indepedent player in the travel market. I chose the name to reflect the fact that more travellers were opting for an "a la carte" versus "set menu' approach to planning and booking travel. It was becoming easier and cheaper to put together your own holiday on the Internet rather than booking a traditional package holiday, especially with the growth of low cost airlines in Europe. I also thought it would be
wonderful to work in a field in which I had a great personal
interest, as I've always loved travelling in Europe.
I soon realised
that I would have to find a niche market as I could not
compete with the large travel companies in selling airline tickets or
accommodation in popular destinations such as Paris or Venice. I started to specialise in less well known destinations
in Europe. My rationale was that if you venture, even slightly,
off the well worn tourist track, you can get a more authentic flavour
of your destination. I discovered that the best way to promote
the business was to write destination guides and then have these
published on as many other relevant sites as possible.
I started the Europe a la Carte blog in
the Autumn of 2006 in which I feature European travel deals,
accommodation, reviews, tips and news. The blog has been a great way of marketing the business. In June 2008 the Europe a la Carte blog became a multi author blog in order to add more variety to the content.
From March to October 2008 I was editor of the Wandalust UK travel blog, part of the Creative Weblogging Network. It was a difficult decision for me to write for another blog but I wanted to increase my exposure and gain experience writing about destinations outside Europe.