At the beginning of every year, a travel bucket list goes online on Josie loves. This list has a tradition and is one of the most popular articles on the blog year after year.
I always write our current long-term goals on this list. Places that we have not yet traveled to but that are particularly interesting to us. Destinations that we have heard so many stories about and that we see again and again in the media.
It’s quite interesting what influence social media has on our travel behavior. There are a few travel destinations that I come across again and again. Every social media encounter increases the “I really want to travel to this place!” thought. And then there are travel destinations where social media has the exact opposite effect. I’ve seen so much of some places that I feel like I’ve already been there. And the interest in actually traveling to this place yourself is becoming less and less. Santorini for example is one of them. I have seen this “picture perfect” outlook too often. And just as often, the behind-the-scenes images of the crowds pushing through the narrow streets just to stage that one perfect image. Social media creates expectations that often cannot be met.
I know many of you feel the same way about Bali now. Honestly? I can understand it so well! We fell in love with Bali long before the island became so relevant on social media. It makes me sad to see how the huge social media hype has changed the island of my heart and I wish “the magic of back then” back. Back when everything was new, untouched and exotic. When we discovered new things without ever having seen it on social media before. At this point a reading tip, a Josie loves column from last year: How Bali became South Tyrol
I realize that this is partly at odds with our job, where we share our insider travel tips with thousands of people. It’s always a fine line. At this point, probably the most important travel tip that we share over and over again: Travel plans should never be set in stone. The real magic is usually found far away from travel guides, fixed program points – somewhere along the way on a road trip. Never expect too much from a single place, but rather engage with all your senses in what you encounter on the way there.
There is “that one picture” from so many well-known locations that requires a photographer to stand in one place for hours to get exactly the right moment. This picture, which was already available to marvel at on social media in a beautiful, an even more beautiful and an EVEN more beautiful version. And that we have all come across countless times on Instagram, Facebook and Co.
Chris and I usually handle things differently. When we travel, “real experiences” come first. We don’t stand on a mountain or on a beach at 6 a.m. to take the exact picture we saw somewhere on social media. We rarely have a very specific motif in mind, but rather let ourselves be carried away. Images are created spontaneously – adapted to the respective situation and lighting mood.
Many of Chris’ most beautiful images were taken in situations where the actual sight was in unfavorable light and he instead brought a particular detail or another subject into focus. Especially on road trips, you rarely have the opportunity to return just for better lighting.
By the way, it’s different with hotel photography jobs, as it’s often really about the one subject in the perfect lighting situation. We sometimes stand in exactly the same place ten times to put a particular subject in the best possible light. But that is a completely different topic. A reading tip at this point too, because in this column I went into more detail about the challenges of hotel photography: Travel blogging = non-stop vacation?
What do I actually want to tell you today? The true magic of travel is rarely associated with the clear expectations (which are tied to perfect social media images), but more often with the moments of surprise. The rainbow after a sudden rain shower. The path off the well-known road that is not in any travel guides. The view that we discovered completely by chance during an hour-long car journey. The little café in a hidden alley. The people we meet on our travels… or the special lighting atmosphere after hours of rain…
And we often experience the most beautiful moments in places that we would never have written on our travel bucket list before. Places where we ended up by chance. Which we had no expectations of before. In recent years, travel destinations like these have often enchanted us even more than the ones we’ve really wanted to see for years. Places for which we left our “summer, sun, beach and sea” comfort zone, of which we hardly had any images in our minds that could really surprise us.
I keep thinking about our Patagonia trip in 2020. Sure, we had already seen some pictures from the Torres del Paine National Park. But on this trip we saw so many places that we had never heard of or seen before – and that gave us such magical moments. Such special travel memories that will still put a smile on our faces six years later.
Which travel destination particularly surprised you? What magical travel moment do you like to think back to? What was your personal “out of your comfort zone” travel experience that you will remember for the rest of your life? We look forward to your comments!
