The Social Travel Trend: Are you a social traveller?
When I started traveling in 97 I would take time out every week to lie on the beach or in a hammock and write postcards.
Wads of them.
I would squish an entire months of adventures in and hope my family and friends could connect to the fun I was having through my words and the picture on the front that I never took.
I would make that phone call home once every couple of weeks, using a payphone card and a crackling connection.
The Lonely Planet was my bible helping me get from jungle to jungle in Sumatra and showing me where I could eat and sleep.
I had to rely on the intrepid author’s ability to understand my needs and desires, even though they had no idea who I was.
The best places we ever found to stay were those small guesthouses run by local families who would sit and chat with you of an evening. It was the best way for us to stay connected and learn from the local culture.
And then of course along the way were the recommendations that came from friends and the stories they shared that inspired me to try that new destination or that cool activity – like Mama Hahn’s boat trip in Vietnam.
The new social travel
Making travel social
Times have changed a lot now with travel planning and decision-making and staying connected.
We no longer have to wait by the side of the mailbox for an update to come two weeks late; we get it in an instant via twitter and Facebook and with pictures of our own smiling faces lying on the beach.
We create our own postcards of our trip on Pinterest and we can use apps to help us find places to eat, how to get around and where to stay.
We also have instant access to up-to-date information – a lot of the time coming from those we really like and trust.
Not a guide-book writer who doesn’t understand that museums bore me to tears and I’m happy to wander down village side streets to find that special hole in the wall that only locals know about.
I can find those people who know through my social channels – blogs, twitter, travel groups and forums, and of course Facebook.
How we receive our information now through media channels is very similar to how I would often receive it when I was travelling, through the mouths of others following a similar path that get me.
The new form of social travel is bringing us closer; it’s helping to make our experiences more unique and tailor-made to what we love. There’s less risk in wasting our time and money going to a place we want to leave immediately after arrival.
And sometimes this can form a part of travel joy. Getting lost, figuring it out for yourself and using expert guide writers to help you. I don’t think we should ever end these options in our travel lives, nor do I think we should become too involved in the life of our Facebook and social communities to not pay attention to the world we are actually travelling in.
Making authentic travel connections
Hanging with the Masai
We need to make the connections, have a little fun and then shut down to have the real fun with real people in the real world.
Some of my best experiences travelling were when we stayed in the village with Masai warriors and Hill Tribe people. These we organized ourselves through tours etc, but now travellers can do it just by joining groups of like-minded people on-line.
With the latest social trend of apartment rentals you can even skip staying in impersonal hotels. In almost any major city around the world, locals are willing to rent out their apartments to strangers which is helping travellers, not only have a cheaper experience but a more authentic local experience.
The thing that makes me feel all warm and giddy inside.
The social travel trend
Social travel, they are calling it the trend of 2012. They sure had me at social!
To explain the success of social travel Wimdu have created the following infographic.
Are you into social travel?
Pretty cool huh? Feel free to pin it and share it.
Even though I started traveling when the world wasn’t considered “social” I always had the spirit of a social traveller and you can be sure I was not eating in McDonald’s, refusing to speak in the local language, or wearing tight speedos. And neither was Craig for that matter!!
Although the whole starting to drink at 9am thing — I have been guilty before of going to bed at that time after a night of drinking, but I don’t think I was speaking loudly or being obnoxious.
I definitely have and always will be a traveller who knows how to get more bang for my buck when travelling.
I certainly would never arrive in Asia and just eat Western food. I love getting lost and when in Africa Hakuna matata is what I’m all about. In Thailand it’s all Mai pen lai for me, Denada in Spain and No Worries in the good old land Down Under.
Which traveller are you? Are you jumping on the social travel trend or have you always been that at heart and the only new thing for you is checking Facebook daily and getting more accurate and relevant information to make your travel decisions?
This post is brought to you by Wimdu apartment rentals
Caz
Caz Makepeace is the co-founder of y Travel Blog and has been traveling and living around the world since 1997, first solo, then with her husband, and now with her two daughters. Don't miss her 9 best tips to help you travel more. Follow her on Google+
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39 comments on “The Social Travel Trend: Are you a social traveller?”
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Hi! We’re Caz and Craig…
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Staying at my first AirBnB rental right now in Barcelona right by the Parallel metro stop — and absolutely loving it. It’s night and day compared with a cheap hotel.
Drew Meyers recently posted..The Vision Behind Oh Hey World – Part 1
That’s awesome. Glad you are enjoying it. We are pretty keen to start doing the aparment rental thing as well
Even though I embrace the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and the internet as a whole, I still send postcards. Just as email has replaced letters, I don’t think the internet will replace postcards. Radio didn’t replace newspapers… TV didn’t replace radio… and so on. Of course, there will no doubt be a decline in the sending of postcards as a result of the internet, but everything ultimately finds its place, rather than disappearing altogether.
Paul Johnson recently posted..Win an incredible luxury London hotel stay
This is true. I sometimes send postcards but only to those people who don’t get on the internet!! So there will always be that need
I still haven’t done an apartment rental anywhere (mostly because I can’t remember the last time I traveled somewhere by choice and not because I was sent/invited there) – but I’m definitely a social traveler.
Miss Britt recently posted..Happiness Highlights: Bracing for the Insanity
Scratch that – I guess most of our RV trip was places we PICKED ourselves. But we were in an RV, so we weren’t booking hotels or renting apartments.
Miss Britt recently posted..Happiness Highlights: Bracing for the Insanity
We’re the same Miss Britt! I’d like to try it though. I’d be worried the kids would break things though!!
I think I tend to be a social traveler. Those graphics are pretty cool – but what’s wrong with owning a tight speedo?
Scott – Quirky Travel Guy recently posted..Strap on those crampons and hike inside Alaska’s Matanuska Glacier
Ban the budgie smugglers!!
Very cool! I’d never heard of social travel before! But I love it… meeting the people is the best part and using social media to do it. Sweet!!!
Barbara recently posted..Mural Monday: Venice Beach
I like how social media has made it easier. I would never have kept in contact with the amount of people I have if it wasn’t for facebook.
I’m definitely a social traveler. It’s great to connect with people all around the world who share that same passion for travel as you do. I do however LOVE sending and receiving postcards, so I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing that. There is just something really special about receiving a postcard from another country.
Kristen – Hopscotch the Globe recently posted..Re: Getting Serious About Travel Blogging
A friend and I used to always exchange letters and it really was special. I loved receiving hers, it always felt like more time and love was put into it. We don’t do it anymore though. MAybe we should start it again.
Looking back, it is hard to remember what it was like to travel without the social aspect. Not to mention, thinking to myself “I can’t wait to write about this…” That would never have happened…
D.J. – The World of Deej recently posted..The Historic San Francisco Ferry Building – Foodie Nirvana
I know everything is about the blog story now! I used to write the stories about it but in my journal, now I let the whole world read my thoughts instead
While the graphic is pretty interesting, I don’t know that I agree with their characterization of the social traveler versus the normal traveler. The normal traveler is starting to get drunk at 9am by the social traveler isn’t? Clearly they haven’t met any travel bloggers, lol.
Christy @ Technosyncratic recently posted..Ireland: Tips, Tricks, and Local Flavor
Ha Ha. Totally agree. Sometimes I’d just go from sunrise to sunrise!!
I was working at a hotel last year and a customer asked me where the mail box was, so she could send postcards. I was so surprised. Thought no one sent postcards anymore. Give me FB anyday and I can post my own picture postcards on there.
Natalie recently posted..Göcek –Sophistication that is Not Part of My World
I know I am all about convenience and quick and easy. I used to still write postcards and letters even after I switched mostly to email. Problem was they’d never get sent. I’d find them months later still in my bag. Which reminds me I have an important letter in my bag right now that should have been sent last week
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I love how much the internet can connect people and how it does make it easier to travel, but I sometimes wish I had been born a decade or two earlier and traveled when you couldn’t just do a search for where to go or what to do, you just had to go and figure it out for yourself. I’ll never really know what that’s like, not entirely, because the information is pretty much all here. And yes, I still write postcards and mail them to friends and family. I love receiving them, so I hope they do too.
Ali recently posted..Easter Island Brought Back My Travel Spark
Great point Ali! I’ve experienced both so it is easy for me to say how great social travel is now. I did used to like having to figure it out for myself and I still pretty much naturally do that. I’m hopeless when it comes time to using apps and things, I usually put the phone down, walk into the nearest store and ask a local. Way more fun
Being a social traveler is a great way to get connected and save money. However, like everything in life, we need to do it in moderation. Even on vacation or a trip, we need to put it away and remember that spending time with real people are some of the best travel experiences we will ever have. Social media as part of traveling has made us connected more than ever. However, it can also disconnect us from those people and those moments that we treasure the most.
Jeremy Branham recently posted..How you can help raise money for Passports with #Purpose with #ExpediaFindYours
Agree! I actually find myself disconnected from the social world when I travel more than when I’m at home which makes sense. I don’t want to be absorbed in the tech world, I want to be exploring, learning and connecting. I love taking moments to chat with the locals, even just asking directions can lead to amazing conversations.
I cannot believe there are more iPhone’s sold every day than babies are born. That’s incredible! I’m definitely a social traveller these days. One of the best things about being a social traveller is not only the fact that your friends and family are always kept up-to-date but it means you have something to look back on at the end of your trip. I wasn’t social at all when I first started travelling and I can barely remember my first few months on the road but now I have pictures and blog posts for every place I visit.
Monica recently posted..Monica’s mini guide to packing for a weekend away (and what I’d never leave home without)
That is a bit of a shocking statistic. Probably far too many people are playing on their phones these days to make the babies- which also could be a good thing to slow down our resource consumption!!
Yes! I love having a record of what we do on our travels now. It’s really cool to look back on it and it is a great way of documenting it all for our girls who won’t remember any of what they ahve done so far- which always spins us out!!
Hi Caz,
Just saw you got a shout out on the NatGeo post – well done! I don’t blog nearly as often but it fired me up to write something about it today too on http://blog.arribaa.com. I honestly believe that Social Travel isn’t just a trend – it perfectly fits with the Collaborative Consumption movement and, let’s be honest, it makes perfect logical and economical sense. Thanks for highlighting it in the travel sector!
Colette recently posted.."Le tour de France" Pin up on a racing bike in Military Road, Bondi Beach, New South Wales, Australia with Boudoir salon B
Thanks Collette! we were pretty stoked with the shout out! I really enjoyed your post! Travel is all about the connections and what you can learn from those whose country you are a guest in
The infographic does a good job of showing how social travels sites and collaborative consumption is changing how we travel. Its great that we now have so many more options to connect when we travel whether its for homestays or just to meet others while you travel. I am the founder of Touristlink.com a site that links travellers with locals in the travel industry so you can benefit from their expertise. Certainly all these sites are just the start of a trend that could in the long run disrupt the industry as people change how the travel and what they consume while they travel.
David Urmann recently posted..Bohol
I love social travel, but I think it’s important to disconnect as well, and soak in the immediate surroundings! Social apps make the world smaller, and that’s a wonderful thing in many ways, but not in others
(ps – just back from a stay with Wimdu in the south of France, bloody awesome service!)
Laurence recently posted..Travelling with Wimdu: A Fitou adventure
Great to hear Laurence. I’m keen to check them out. Speaking of apps, I want to chat to you about photography ones. I’ll send you an email
I definitely enjoy social travel a lot…. but I do sometimes miss the days when I didn’t have to check my email and facebook and twitter every day at least once just to survive!
Yeah me too! I love it when I switch off. I feel as if I get my brain back
More social than not, but… I love getting disconnected when I travel, and I love eating at McDonald’s. I don’t like that people think that just because you travel you should LIKE the food of the place you are traveling to. I have a very limited palette unfortunately and find a lot of Asian food and Mediterranean (because of the seafood) to be hard to down. It’s a curse, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t learn about the culture in the process.
Very true Brooke. I think most travellers find themselves in Macdonalds at some stage on their travels they just don’t want to admit it. It comes in handy for toilets, coffee and free wi-fi. I’m happy to eat other food though.
I’m always astounded at how much the world has changed since I first started travelling all those years ago. In some ways I liked being disconnected from everyone and everything and able to just live in the moment. But the advantages of technology these days probably outweigh the negative.
Turtle recently posted..Sailing the Greek islands
I agree Micheal. I couldn’t imagine travelling without it now, but I still often like to take a break from it and just get lost in the moment.
Hey Caz I just found your blog the other day and I love it
I especially love this post, and because I can honestly say that I am a social traveler, probably because I’m only 17 and was born into this technological revolution 
There is one small request that I have for your site. When I found this, being me and wanting to share it to all my other travel friends, I wanted to share it to Facebook, but there is no “share” button like on other sites. And yeah it’s not a big deal at all, all I have to do is copy and paste the link but I know a lot of other people that would just look over it and go to the next post. Just an idea
Can’t wait to read more of your adventures on here
Hmmm Thanks for letting me know Jenna. There should be a share button at the top of the post so I’m a little confused. There must be some sort of bug. Thanks I’ll see how I can fix it. Thanks for finding us. I’m glad you enjoyed the post