If you have any type of social media account, it’s not hard to see that everyone from Millennials, to Gen Z, even to you grumpy ‘ol Gen X-ers (hehe) have been traveling like crazy, posting about it, saturating our timelines with wanderlust-worthy Insta content to feast our eyes on. But unfortunately, much of it is the same! How many times can I see the cliffs of Santorini, Machu Pichu in Peru, buddhist in Bali, Phang Nga in Phuket? I’m not hating, trust me, get your travel on — because these destinations will be coming to an @AngelEra Insta-feed near you soon too; but listen, I think we as Americans tend to travel to places and see the popular destinations, go to restaurants, stay on resorts, pester our man or woman to take a million photos, then go home.
Travel is about more than just getting the best pictures for your Instagram feed, and relaxing on the beach, in my opinion, it should be about immersing yourself in the culture of the indigenous people there, learning the history, tasting the food, getting OFF the resort’s grounds, maybe even volunteering or giving back to the community who depends on tourism as an economy there. A lot of these countries that we travel to and romanticize are actually impoverished, and the people there are living on so much less than we complain about on a daily basis. Don’t you want to be able to tell people a little more about where you’ve been than where to eat? So I’ll make a promise to you, while I travel, I’ll definitely seek to practice what I preach, and tell you more than just where to eat and where to go.
If you think this post is a killjoy well then, I don’t know what to tell you. If traveling out of the country and staying on an all-inclusive is just your thing, than by all means, enjoy yourself. All I’m saying is, maybe consider learning, growing, and progressing through travel instead of just coming home with tan lines.
Xx,
