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A certified diver & sea lover
OTWanderlust
Are You an Insta-Tourist?
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This thing has hovered around on my mind for a while.
‘Insta-tourists’ slash Instagramable places' explorers are here, there, and everywhere.
I am one of them.
My friends are one of them.
Maybe you are one of them.
There are plenty of them.
It's here, it's undeniable, it's the NOW.
For me personally, it’s always mandatory to get good pictures when I travel. I love to share the wonder of all places, esp of our own country: Indonesia, which got the least attention years back. It's been forever, since I wrote my own blog in junior high and finally introduced to Friendster, Facebook, Twitter, and so on and so forth. Eversince, photos have become my favorite media to keep memories. I've obediently brought my camera along wherever I go.
In the recent 3-4 years, Instagram has become a BOOM. Real boom. Instagram defines a whole new way of traveling, I must say. All things about travel shift, either its business, platform, people, behaviors, and all, esp. in the business, people are making the most 'Instagramable' places possible to attract more visitors.
Yet in this piece, I just wanna share my point of view in terms of snapping and sharing memories behavior as a result of Instagram effect. I am aware that I am one of those people who get positive benefits from this platform, hence, I won't criticize much about it. I do love Instagram still. :))
This is my honest thoughts on recent (most) people's photo taking behavior, from a combination point of view as a ‘travel influencer’ as some say, and as an ordinary girl who scroll-explore-share things in Instagram as well.
Have you ever find caught in situations below:
Have you ever find caught in situations below:
One, we see the new and hip places in Insta. We aim to just go there to take pictures.
Two, we're influenced to do the same angles as the people we follow —as it’s considered perfect by us.
Three, we sacrifice our friendship, mood, and or SO MUCH time just because we want the ‘perfect Insta shots'.
Four, we spend another hour to sit, on the same table/room without talking, to post those perfect pics. Moments of proper editing in Snapseed-VSCO and well-researched caption making.
Five, last and not least, we tend to forget to have fun, live the present, and enjoy what meets the eye beyond the screen.
Feeling like saying ‘happens to me many times’ or 'gue banget' to one, two, or all points above??
Don’t worry, at least one point stated ever happened to anyone who's in Instagram, including me. We (un)consciously become the Insta-Tourist or Insta-Traveler whatsoever.
Why do I even bother to think about this?
It is because I am slapped at plenty of moments, if not at all of my travel days.
I continuously cross my bucketlist places, snap pictures, and work in between--yes, for sure. Can't stop won't stop, I guess. Yet, somehow I'm provoked with my own behavior or my travel mates or whoever doing any points above when we're in stunning places.
I guess I need to unlearn a bit and learn to be a pure wanderer.
Trying to be mindful, to not turn ‘working/business setting' on all the time. Putting aside the crave to get great contents in every seconds. I am truly longing to just wonder around with my pure curiosity of the new places, cultures, and people —not only focusing on the next places, angles, and poses.
Thus, I challenge myself to make time to just sit, relax, interact, or watch all wonders in front of me and nothing else. I will commit and try my best to ‘work’ and ‘edit’ only in idle time, such as when before boarding, on train/plane, morning poo, between pees, and an hour before/after bed. Haha seems a lot, ya? Well, whenever it is, allocating real talks and wonders in each travel days are essential.
The challenge is, not everyone thinks and does the same. So yes, this effort seems like impossible to happen when the people around you hold and stare at their phone religiously, or taking endless pictures with the same pose and spot. We just seem so powerless to not join their thing. The temptations are REAL, I know. Talking to each other and admiring beauty is also real, though. I guess we can mindfully allocate more time on those real shiz than the gram, if we want to :)
Traveling is so much more than Instagram or #forthegram posts. Make a portion of it, don't make it whole. Maybe we just need a constant reminder, to excitedly being a Mindful Traveler rather than an Insta-Traveler. Don’t slip your precious travel moments with yourself, spouse, best friends, or teams. Let’s explore and have some fun:)
—Written on NAM Air LBJ-DPS.
Initially allocated this free time to edit photos from Flores trip. Lol.
*All photos in this post are from my Jogja Escapade back in February 2018 to Plataran Borobudur Resort & Spa and Mangunan Area.
