One of my favorite things to do when I'm planning to visit a destination is check out hashtags on Instagram to see other people's pictures of different destinations. Often, it's helped me find other interesting things to do, sights to see, cute places to eat at - a whole range of things! If you have an Instagram account, have you ever searched different hashtags (perhaps the place name/city that you're visiting) to find things to do or get inspired? I actually also found a neat and new-ish Instagram account called "indiatravelgram" as the username, which has some awesome and inspiring pictures of things to do and see in India! I'm following along to see when they post new pictures to keep my inspiration going!
Just found another great Instagram when I was browsing for travel inspiration, the Instagram user name is streets.of.india So inspiring! I just love looking at the pictures and this account has some amazing photography!
I have, but rarely. In fact, I tend to avoid them. I feel like Instagram pictures aren't the best way to portray something, because they're almost like professional shoots, and they usually make things prettier than they really are. And that generally leads to disappointment. "I swear this looked much nicer on Instagram."
I also think that a lot of the time what you see on the internet can be deceiving and will be portrayed to look a lot nicer than what it actually is. I usually rely on TV shows and documentaries as they can often depict a truer version of what a place is like and are more often than not a bit more impartial.
Haha this made me laugh out loud! Aint that the truth - sometimes when things are shot from the perfect angle and you put some fancy schmancy filter on it, it does look deceptively perfect, and you might be setting yourself up for some unrealistic expectations.
It's also like when you see a picture in a brochure, they'll airbrush out all the rubbish and just leave it looking beautiful. I visited the pyramids once and there's more litter from tourists flying around there than what there is sand!
I have had seen so many great travel destination pictures on Instagram that it has inspired me to save money and go traveling in the future.
I like to do this for places that I am unfamiliar with. There are some locations that are very popular so I have already heard of everything that I would want to do, or places that family members recommend. If it's a trip where I haven't heard of much there then I like to look at Instagram for inspiration. I also just look at travel tags to get ideas for future destinations.
I do follow a few travel photography instagram accounts. And yes it has made me want to go and visit many of the places I see in the pictures. As people have said they do make places seem more scenic than they actually are. But I like to go to places and 'find' the scenic part of it even if isn't apparent at first, if you get what I mean. For indian travel in specific theres an instagram account called 'Stories in Stone' that's really great.
Well overall I am really not a big user of social media, but I have gotten pretty good at finding the qualities of each that I like and limiting myself to using only those features, so that is pretty nice. Facebook is connecting with old friends and nothing more, Pinterest is good for work ideas and other ideas in general and Instagram is great for inspiration, especially with travel. I would have also said with things like design, but I think that the Wayfair app is stealing a little thunder from it. Anyways, though, it is great for seeing some amateur photography, which is great for that little extra added motivation or inspiration to travel.
This is a really good idea! Unfortunately, I am really computer illiterate. I can barely navigate Facebook, and I have had my account for almost a decade. I am way too young to be saying it, but things like Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram are just beyond my grasp. Now that I know it can be exploited as a resource for awesome travel ideas, however, it has revitalized my drive to learn how to use these online tools!
