Happy Birthday, AlionLive Blogs and -Facebook!

Today we celebrate a "little Birthday". No, not the big one. This will happen on May 10 and will really celebrated in a very special way this year. How? No, I don't want to tell that now. But it will be BIG!

So a small birthday because exactly one year ago the AlionLive Blogs and Facebook page saw the dim light of the world, and were immediately loudly ignored by interested people ;). Meanwhile, however, things are getting forward, and that makes me happy. I actually thought that I would have a hard time to find anything newsworthy about that one year. But after I looked at what has happened since January 26th 2014, it is not so little. First, the raw data:

• 19 new videos with a total running time of exactly 8 hours, 51 minutes and 37 seconds have been uploaded. This includes the completion of a large Madeira series, and the almost 50% completion of the latest one. Also some public jestering was performed and the most successful short series about a bike tour in Germany was both filmeded and uploaded.

• From the statistics side 6334 video views were counted, and people wasted.... errrm... had a good time watching a total of 19 days and 14 hours of most magnificent quality entertainment. From our overwhelming (currently) 74 subscribers, 32 came to us. That means we have almost doubled the subscribers within a year.

• AlionLive also got two small offshoot, namely the gaming channel AlionLiveLP and the tutorial channel Multiversity of Alion.

• Well, and otherwise I got to know some nice people who liked the one or the other video. Of course there were also scattered trolls and haters, but as a veteran of the Internet I am used to grief and have therefore some routine in handling asshats ;).

Overall, I see the past year of AlionLive quite positive. It goes up slowly and steadily, and all signs point to success. With a smirk I read an older post yesterday when preparing this post, in which I still seriously and very open thought about ditching AlionLive due to lack of publicity. I smirked because I would not even dream of something like that today. Firstly, I know now that things take time, and secondly IT WORKS!

So by now I think about many interesting extensions of AlionLive and a few of the ideas are already tested for feasibility and usefulness. I can't and don't want to tell too much here, but 2015 a lot will happen. Only a few points:

• Website (Once I have the caught up with the other pages)
• Wiki (All facts well sorted)
• Database (for the AlionLlive Wiki, but also for other nifty things)
• Hiking GPS App (Windows Phone, maybe Android)
• More KMLs in the KML section
• Irregular Vlogs where I just kinda talk about stuff
• ... and lots of little things that I do not remember right now ;)

Well, and now I don't know what else to write. Cheers on the next year! And we also go to Madeira again ;) Oh yeah, almost forgot: THANK YOU, for whatever reason you watch AlionLive. You are cool <3

Fancy a one-hour bus ride in Madeira? Here you go!

Well, what's left to say about the latest "Spring in Madeira" video, that was not already said? The plot is fairly simple: A one-hour bus ride from the Ponta de São Lourenço to Funchal. This time the route is a little different than on the ride in 2012, and we even drive right through the airport... NO, not through the building. That would be bad ;) The weather is also alot better this, time and so the Sun blinded plentyful sometimes. The somewhat breathtaking driving of the bus driver made me a few times almost falling off the seat. It is not very easy to sit stable, if you can't hold on to something with both hands, because you hold a camera. One time, a rude person placed himself between the window and the camera and had a long conversation with the bus driver. Therefore I had to cut a part of the ride. There are people, who have the empathy of a concrete post ;). Everything is accompanied by works of the alionsonny project from 2004 to 2014. Detailed links to free and purchasable albums can be found in the video description, or just visit alionsonny.com. Yes, and that's actually all about this video. In the next part we go hiking again in Ribeiro Frio to the Balcoes. This time without a rain apocalypse.

Oh yes, one more thing. If you do not already know it: New videos will be uploaded from now on only, if the previous video has gotten at least 50 views. This is a little experiment and also i do not want videos to "get left behind", just because I upload too fast. So don't be surprised, if there's nothing new for some time.

And now have fun riding the bus!

Spring in Madeira - Day 8-1 - Ponta de São Lourenço

Also for day 8 I decided to split the video into two parts. The most obvious reason for this is that about half shows a hike on the Ponta de São Lourenço and the other half a bus ride. But more on that later. In addition, the whole in one block would have become a little too long.

The Plot
Late in the morning we went on a one-hour bus ride to the eastern tip of Madeira, the Ponta de São Lourenço. Once there, we decided to strengthen ourselves with a hearty meal of bread with cheese and sausage. The numerous crowd of local reptiles showed a clear interest in both, cheese and sausage. So seven minutes of the video footage shows a lizard show. Then we went, in perfect weather, on the spectacular hike to the Cais do Sardinha and back. Unlike my hike in the same area in 2012, I had this time my hiking boots (instead of sandals) with me, and the weather was, as I said, much better. I did not find this hike to be so challenging this time. People with latent fear of heights should maybe not watch this video ;). For all lovers of exceptional natural sites and beautiful views, this video is highly recommended.

In the next part you see the bus ride from the Ponta de São Lourenço back to Funchal. And if anyone complains about unnecessary bus ride videos: Just look at the views of these videos on Youtube ;)