9 Lies That Travel Influencers Will Try To Sell You
Don’t get me wrong, I love following travel Instagram accounts. I read many travel blogs and see a great number of travel photos pop up in my social media feeds. Truly, I find it inspiring and it always fills my head with some happy day dream about far off places. I love it, really I do.
But with the curated, edited style of Instagram, it’s important to have a touch of reality thrown back in. At least when it comes to making real life plans. So here’s a little dose of the less sexy, more realistic, totally honest side of traveling. Get ready for 9 lies that travel influencers will try to sell you. Sorry not sorry 🙂
1. That The Destination They Are Promoting Is Picture Perfect
Well, welcome to the real world. Even the cutest, most charming, most “instagrammable” places have real world problems like homelessness, stray animals or petty theft.
You might see stunning pictures of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter online but do you know people refer to it as “the pickpocket capital of the world”?
Or you might travel to Rome because you want to experience culture and history but prepare to be harassed by a lot of relentless vendors peddling selfie sticks.
These are the types of things that usually don’t make the inspirational Instagram post!
2. That Traveling Is Glamorous
Cue the mad dash through the airport only to miss the flight by seconds.
Prepare to wait a long time for that bus that didn’t show up.
Remember to pack Imodium to offset the eventual traveler’s diarrhea that thousands experience worldwide.
Get ready to be sweaty, lost, confused by language barriers, frustrated by local public transit and homesick every now and then.
Traveling looks glamorous on Instagram but often that couldn’t be further from the truth! Learn to love the struggle and the messy, chaotic bits as well.
3. That Traveling Is Easy
Think you can maintain your lifestyle from at home when you’re on the road? I have found things like skincare and a regular workout routine to be very difficult things to stick to consistently at all while traveling.
Of course we share our highlight moments. But the realest moments I have while traveling have been pretty difficult. Things like being hospitalized in Venice or getting myself foolishly lost in Cairo, Egypt.
Yet I’m incredibly thankful for these moments because they taught me a lot about responsibility and self growth.
While a lot of people might see traveling as “vacation” and an escape from life’s responsibilities, I’ve found I’ve done the most growing when I cut off my support system and was looking after myself abroad.
At home it’s easy to ask for my parent’s help doing something or figuring something out. But when I was abroad if I messed up, I literally had no one else there to “fix” things. And as the youngest sibling and baby of the family, this was a new role I had to learn for myself- total independence and 100% caretaker of myself.
Read: EGYPT- 18 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
4. That Meeting New People Is Always Fun
Alright to be fair, it usually is fun. But it’s also followed by a lot of goodbyes. The most difficult part of getting paid to guide road trips was getting so close to my passengers over the course of a month then saying goodbye. And only a few days later, I’d be starting a new trip and returning to those same places sometimes filled with memories of other people.
A constant swing of new faces and having to start over with the inside jokes left me feeling lonely every once in awhile.
Read: LESSONS LEARNED AFTER 365 DAYS ABROAD: GOODBYES AND WHAT THEY TEACH US
5. That Travel Blogging Is Easy
(And If You Like Traveling, You Would Automatically Enjoy Blogging About It)
If you think travel blogging is easy money, I hate to be the one to tell you that couldn’t be further from the truth.
You see people with thousands of followers on Instagram getting paid to travel and you think to yourself: “All they do is take a picture everyday, post it and rake in the easy money- I could do that!”
Well any travel blogger will tell you how they spent months (usually years) growing an audience, investing in photography equipment, spending all their money on travel, learning everything they could about SEO & website design and countless hours behind a computer before they ever saw a penny.
If you go into travel blogging you will need to learn:
- How to build a website
- How to write engaging content
- SEO strategies
- Branding & marketing
- Pinterest marketing
- Pitching brands
- Photography & Editing….
The list goes on and on and on… it’s about so much more than traveling and just taking a nice picture.
Read: TRAVEL BLOGGING: MY 5 FAVORITE PLUGINS TO INCREASE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WORDPRESS BLOG
6. That Their Instagram Shot Was Candid Instead Of Staged
Now I say this totally tongue in cheek because of course I have posed for a great many of photos of my Instagram.
My favorite shots on my feed are the candid ones usually snapped by my long time travel buddy, Morgan. But often, you need pictures for a blog post so that means learning how to take pictures of yourself with a tripod so you can have photos even when traveling solo.
Read: HOW TO GET EPIC SOLO TRAVEL PHOTOS
7. That There Will Be No One Else At The Monument/ Landmark
I’m definitely guilty of this. I have solo shots in front of the Eiffel Tower, Pyramids of Egypt, Colosseum in Rome, the Taj Mahal and so on…. But if you travel during the busy season and visit during the afternoon like all the other tourists- don’t expect to have the Taj Mahal to yourself. It will be you+ thousands of other people. Did you know- on a peak day, the Taj Mahal will recieve 60,000 visitors?! IN A SINGLE DAY.
We woke up at 3am to drive to the Taj Mahal to be the first in line to enter so we could take in the beauty and get a photo alone in front of the great iconic landmark. The early bird really does get the worm here.
But alas, if you’re not waking up early to sight-see before the crowds arrive, you may be one of many.
Depending on the destination, even one of hundreds. Or possibly thousands. So while you might see a photo of a beautiful girl standing alone in front of an iconic landmark on Instagram, remember to manage your expectations about the crowds. Or else be prepared to set your alarm clock nice and early!
Read: HOW TO GET A PHOTO ALONE AT THE TAJ MAHAL
8. That Your Life Is Less Cool Than Theirs
This might be unintentional on their behalf. I don’t share photos and hope it makes you feel “not cool enough”. I hope it makes you feel inspired. And that we can connect over traveling.
But I promise you, if you’re living in gratitude and not taking the people and things in your life for granted, then you are living a life that is equally as fulfilling 🙂
So this goes out to anyone who ever let Instagram make them feel less about themselves at some point (so erm, that means everyone right? We’ve all felt it!)
9. That If You’re Unhappy Now, You’ll Magically Be Happy When You Start Traveling
Wherever you go, your problems will go with you.
If you’re ungrateful and in a negative headspace at home, you’ll still be in a negative head space when traveling. Eventually these thoughts and negative patterns will crop back up into your life no matter where you go or what you do.
**However, I do think that solo travel can provide the necessary self-growth and time to self-reflect in order to improve your life.
But traveling isn’t a bandaid for happiness. You won’t suddenly be happy on the road if you aren’t happy at home.
So if you’re unhappy, you’ll still have to do the work within yourself to find gratitude.
Read: 10 THINGS TRAVELING SOLO HAS TAUGHT ME
I only share this post to help demystify the Instagram perpertued idea that your life isn’t “cool” enough if you didn’t quit your job to travel the world.
I’m obsessed with traveling. I will continue to travel and share photos online. But I bet your life is also pretty cool as well 🙂
Let me know your thoughts in the comments about “9 Lies That Travel Influencers Will Try To Sell You”!
