Like Real Estate, Travel is also heavily weighted on location! Most realtors say the three most important factors when buying a new home are “location, location, location.” Why is location all three of the three most important factors? Location can make or break a house. For example, people want houses that are in a good school district, crime free, scenery, entertainment, shopping places, recreation, and good jobs. All of those things can essentially “live or die” based on the location of the house. https://www.thebalance.com/what-location-means-in-real-estate-1798766

The same goes for travel! It’s all about location! When vacationing or travelling for other purposes, typically, people want to pick a safe, fun, interesting, beautiful place that has the climate, weather, and overall vibe that each traveler is looking for. Ideal locations vary from person to person based on their own personal standards, however, when it all boils down location is essentially the biggest, most important decision you will have to make when planning a trip.

Sometimes picking a location to visit can be really hard, but that is where social media can be of help! You can really use the features of these platforms to your advantage when making this decision. For example, you can use Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and even Twitter by simply reading about or seeing pictures of different locations and paying attention to the location geotags used within those posts, then researching the ones that catch your eye. Now, once you do actually pick a destination and get on the road, these platforms can play even bigger roles in helping you with your travels! For example, as you move from place to place you are able to see different posts based on the geotags that are associated with those posts. This means location based narratives on social media can come into your news feeds on these platforms and give you even more information on these places! For example, in a location based Facebook narrative that a group of my peers and I made, we used location tags, photos, and typed out words in various posts to describe noteworthy, delicious places to eat that are available in various locations across the United States. The use of posts such as these can really help travelers make the most of their trips by knowing what the go-to places are in that area, etc!

Dr. Seuss got it right when he wrote that book! There are TONS of options out there for where you could travel to for your next trip! It really is up to you where you will go, you just have to explore your options and decide! Dr. Seuss does a great job of conveying that in his children’s book Oh, The Places You’ll Go! and you can find a version of this story by following this link: http://www.hedyyumi.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Oh-The-Place-Youll-Go-FINAL.pdf  

There are a lot of big decisions involved in travelling, however, the biggest and first decision that must be made in the planning process is WHERE to go! There’s beaches, mountains, national parks, different countries, different states, different continents, cruises in the open ocean, and so many options in between for places to go! Sounds kind of overwhelming, huh? Nahhh…you just have to know what you like and have access to digital media. Everyone has climates they enjoy more than others, so start with that. If you like heat, look into southern places, beaches, Caribbean cruises, or other things of that nature. If you prefer cooler temperatures, head north or maybe go on an Alaskan fishing trip. There are many places out there so that’s where digital media comes in!

You can use digital media to help you decide where to go. How? Well, there’s plenty of ways you could go about it. Try searching hashtags on social media that are relevant to a place you might be interested in. Use google! Read up on different places. Pay attention to people’s social media photos that they share…you could see a picture taken at a location that really catches your interest. Also, on a lot of social media platforms there are pages dedicated specifically to travel! So, just by having a Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. you are exposing yourself to plenty of travel information, ideas, places to go, deals, and much more.

For example, on this Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pg/BeautifulDestinations/posts/?ref=page_internal, there are different locations that are being promoted by the use of geotags to show the location that the photo was taken. There is also an intriguing paragraph that goes along with each post to draw attention to it or even tell a story based on that location. Use of sites such as this could really help you in finding location ideas that you could be interesting in going to for future trips.

There are many ways that travel intersects with social media, you just have to get out there and explore them! To quote Dr. Seuss, “You’re off to great places! You’re off and away!”

Hey Everyone! Welcome to my page! My name is Megan and I LOVE sun, sand, palm trees, the ocean, and vacationing! I’ve created this blog to share with you some of my own various travelling stories, tips and advice, destination ideas, and many more topics relevant to travel and vacationing! This is my first time blogging so I hope you enjoy taking this journey with me!

I figured what better topic to start with for my first actual blog post than one about good, solid yet simple vacationing goals! Personally, I think there are “goals,” for lack of a better word, that should be set for a person’s vacation in order to get the best effect from the time away from home. As they’re listed in the title, I am going to explain to you the 3 R’s for vacationing that I believe are a good baseline to follow so that you come home in the most refreshed state from a vacation!

The first “R” stands for Recreation. Recreation is obviously one of the most important things about a vacation because everyone wants to go and do fun things! People plan excursions, activities, and attend various events while on vacations…which is awesome! It is a fantastic idea to plan fun, cool things to do while you’re on vacation! I mean, c’mon, no one wants to sit in a hotel room for days on end while there is a plethora of new, interesting places to go and things to do, so make sure you get out and explore!

However, this brings me to the second of the “3 R’s” which is Relax. Relaxing is just as important while on a vacation so it’s also a good idea to make sure you don’t OVER book yourself during your time away from home. Set aside some time to be a beach bum and lay in the sand by the ocean! Or if you’re not at the beach, relax by the pool, go to a spa, get a massage, take a nap, or whatever else you enjoy that relaxes you! Basically, all I’m saying is treat yourself…after all, you’re on vacation so take some “you time;” you’ve earned it. It’s also important to know that depending on the type of person you are, you may be inclined to want to do more recreation versus relaxing or vice versa…and that is totally okay!!

Finally, we are at the third and last “R” which stands for Reset. This one encompasses all the aspects of the first two “R’s” but it also has a twist of it’s own. A vacation is a time to take a step back from the reality of your busy everyday life and enjoy life and the world around you. This gives your mind, body, and soul the opportunity to “reset” and if you do it right, you’ll go home at the end of your vacation feeling like a new person. The keys to a good reset are simple. Obviously get your fun recreation in and a good amount of relaxation! But during this time it’s important to not get too stuck in the virtual world. Meaning, of course you can still take pictures and stuff as you like! BUT take a few steps away from social media and your cellphone; you can always post the pictures later! On your vacation you should be focused on being in the moment and enjoying it, not so much worrying about impressing everyone back home with that perfect photo or hourly updates. Taking that step back helps relieve your mind from extra “noise” and you really will feel refreshed. Doing whatever is necessary for you to achieve that feeling of refreshment is exactly what is meant by reset.

Discussion of the last of the 3 R’s, brings about an interesting topic as well which is the influence of digital media and writing on travel! I believe that the digital world that is available at our fingertips has a HUGE role in how people travel nowadays. Vacations used to be all about that disconnect from your life back home and being able to refresh and reset. However, now it seems like everyone is too focused on getting those Instagram worthy photos and staying in constant connection with the online world which really can put a damper on their ability to be able to relax. There are many other ways social media and smartphones effect the way we travel today too! Smartphones have the capability of making airline check in much quicker and easier! Social media and news apps can really help people stay in tune with things going on around the world which can really aid in deciding where to go and when you should go there. So technology like this in general really has many pros and cons that correlate to travelling in today’s world!

In starting this blog, I did have a couple of role models who contributed to ideas for how I would like my blog to be. The first was Sabina. She is the girl who wrote the Girl Vs Globe blog. I really liked this blog and it was inspirational for me because it is all about ideas to write about for travel/vacation blogs! Which is perfect for me since it houses ideas that would be very similar to things I would write about for a travel blog. The link to her website is: https://girlvsglobe.com/50-travel-blog-post-ideas/ Another role model was Kiki: The Blonde Abroad. I find her Instagram to be very visually pleasing. All of her photos look beautiful and professional and it makes it look like she leads an unreal, fairytale type life with travelling. She shares some things about her personal life sometimes as well to connect with her audience in the captions which is cool. So I chose her as the person whose digital style I admire. The link to her Instagram is: https://www.instagram.com/theblondeabroad/ The way Kiki’s photographs are displayed is also a perfect example of what I wrote above about focusing on getting those perfect Instagram photos while on vacation. But by no means am I ragging on Kiki for this, I think it is truly amazing that she gets to go and do these things and document them! I just think it’s also important to know when to take a step back from social media as well and not make it your primary or only focus while travelling. My other role model was Annette: The blogger who wrote Bucket List Journey. I chose her because after reading her blog on Exuma and the Bahamas I found that I enjoy how she wrote her blog so I chose her for the person whose tone or voice I admire. I like how she talks about the Bahamas and those islands and gives them a great reputation for their uniqueness and beauty. I have also always wanted to visit the Bahamas so I feel that it’s fitting that she discusses them in such good light. The link to this website is: https://bucketlistjourney.net/exuma-bucket-list-great-things-to-do-bahamas-islands/

All in all, I feel that travelling and digital media are heavily linked together especially in this day and age! But I really think it is also important to
always keep the “3 R’s” in mind whenever you’re on vacation!