authentic travel in the tiktok itinerary era

on escaping the algorithm

I’m about a week away from my next trip, and the algorithms already know. Every day, as soon as I check my phone, I am flooded with vlogs, tips, and recommendations for visiting Taiwan. I’m not complaining; I was looking for this. But after a while, I couldn’t help but notice how everyone’s highlights look… similar, to say the least.

Everyone goes to the same few places, endures the long queue to get some viral breakfast meal, goes on the same couple of daytrips and recommends doing the same things. And I’m well aware of the reality that, at least to an extent, I’ll most likely fall victim to this as well. Like a little sheep, I will go through the motions, do all the things there are to do in the area, and move on. How exciting.

Is it really that hard to have an original experience in a world where social media dictates our lives?

current situation

Still, I believe that to get the most out of travel, especially if we’re looking for deeper cultural understanding, personal growth, or really anything more than just social credit, we must at least attempt to think for ourselves.

So, here are five tips and reminders to consider if you don’t want your next trip to be so influenced by trends and algorithms.

what would you do if the internet didn’t exist?

In this day and age, travel is almost considered something we must do to be cultured, live to the fullest, make the most of our 20s, and fully develop our personalities. It’s been rebranded from a luxury to a necessity. Which I believe leads some people’s driving force to travel to be FOMO rather than curiosity.

You see everyone and their grandma booking trips to Japan, and you start wondering. What’s in Japan that everyone you know has suddenly decided to spend their hard-earned cash and precious vacation days in this country? Why are the kids who made fun of you for liking anime in high school suddenly posting stories from Akihabara maid cafés? And most importantly, could it be that you’re missing out on something important right now?

Next thing you know, you’re on a flight to Tokyo.

but seriously, why is everyone in Japan???

But if you weren’t constantly exposed to pictures, videos, and stories from Japan, would that still be the case?

Would you still have the same urge to be there? Would you even go anywhere at all? Staying home and reading a book instead is also a valid way to spend your leisure time, only it doesn’t look as cool on your IG grid.

Therefore, when considering booking a trip somewhere, ask yourself: “Would I feel the same if social media didn’t exist?”

nothing is mandatory

One thing about me, I’m not going to be sightseeing stuff I don’t care about seeing. You’re not going to catch me paying the Colosseum entry fee, doing a Sagrada Familia tour was a snoozefest I only endured to make someone else happy, and you couldn’t pay me to go to the Louvre. I don’t plan my travels around seeing things (I plan them around seeing animals but that’s a whole different story). I pick and choose what I’m interested in spending time and money on, and I don’t think it makes me any less cultured.

Are you like me? Then don’t pay for the tour for heaven’s sake. And it doesn’t stop at old buildings:

• If you find yourself in an “adrenaline capital” (there seems to be one in almost every backpacker-favorite country) and the idea of doing extreme sports makes your stomach churn, you don’t have to go bungee jumping.

• If you don’t want to eat worms or fried insects on sticks, go eat something normal instead.

• If you’ve never been on a hike in your home country, maybe get the idea of climbing an active volcano in the tropics out of your head.

There’s no need to do things that don’t interest you just because someone out there is trying to sell an idea that “you haven’t properly visited a place unless you’ve done XYZ”. You are actually under no obligation to do all the “must do” activities. Your trip isn’t inferior just because you didn’t complete some arbitrary destination checklist.

And for the record, neither do you have to go out of your way to “wander off the beaten path” just to be different.

“different” doesn’t necessarily mean “better”

ditch the influencer recs

Social media undoubtedly inspires our lives nowadays, including the way we travel, and consulting an upcoming trip with the internet can be super helpful. But being overly reliant on our phones stifles curiosity and sets us up for disappointment.

Why trust someone who spent a weekend in a city to give you recommendations on anything? Let’s be so for real, they have no idea where the best *insert a trendy food item* in the area is, they’ve only had the time to check out the highlights and maybe try a couple of well-rated, conveniently located spots they also previously found on TikTok.

Popeye village in Malta, probably one of the worst places I've been influenced to visit. I want my 15€ back :((((

People will make anything and everything into content. We really need to look at TikTok, Instagram, and even blogs with discernment because they are usually created by someone who’s getting paid or someone trying to get famous so that they could get paid. It’s not essential to particularly enjoy a destination, an activity, or a meal to post about it. What goes viral is dictated by aesthetics, SEO, and other non-human factors. Don’t let algorithms dictate your taste.

When researching your destination, go a bit further than the most popular videos. See what the people who actually live there have to say, both online and offline. A passerby can find and recommend cool spots here and there, but they won’t give you the whole picture.

Also, don’t overdo the planning in general, which brings me to…

leave space for spontaneity

I’ll say it—I’m an itinerary hater. You will never see me plan out my entire trip hour by hour. I’ll probably have a rough idea of what I want to do and maybe make a few logistics-related bookings in advance, but I’m extremely non-committal even on short trips, sometimes to my detriment.

I do believe that doing some level of prior research is needed. You should have some information about the place you’re visiting in advance—things like local customs, dresscodes and manners, as well as how to navigate around and stay safe. Having an idea of what you want to see, do, and eat is not a bad thing either.

But overoptimizing kills the magic. The pressure to squeeze as many activities as possible into your trip is real, and it’s normal to want to make the most of your time. The most memorable travel moments, however, tend to be the unplanned ones. If you schedule every day of your entire trip with the intention of doing as much as possible, you are robbing yourself of the opportunity to experience something you wouldn’t find in a destination guide.

So, do your research, but leave space for spontaneity and unexpected turns of events. They tend to be the best parts.

stay authentic… to yourself

“How to travel more authentically?” I asked Google, Reddit, ChatGPT, my partner, a tarot deck, and the Universe. I always got the same couple of insights: travel slowly, hang out with locals, eat the food. And while all these tips are great and some of my top travel memories resulted from following them, I think what’s even more important is to curate an experience that’s true to you.

The older I get, the more picky I am about where I go and what I do there. My time on this Earth is limited. My finances are limited. I want to tick items off from my own bucketlist, not a random “30 things to do before you die” blog post.

I heard Nepal is a great place to visit, but as an ocean-loving primadonna, there is probably no way I’ll ever make it there. Neither am I going to follow the terminally online to Kyrgyzstan (I’m actually lowkey scared of horses).

I have, however, spent a large sum of money and jumped through numerous hoops to watch orcas in a remote Australian village. Because I love orcas that much, and it was worth it to me. To you, it may sound crazy.

money well spent for some, madness for others

It comes down to the “to be interesting, you have to be interested” rule, and by that I mean interested in something other than the idea of travel itself. My sister dances, I dive, some of my friends climb mountains, and my mom, for example, is a Greek mythology nerd. I just saw a video of a guy going on a Zoo trip and ranking Zoos. You get the idea. People with hobbies and interests of their own don’t struggle to find things to do abroad, not to mention that shared interests double as great entry points for connecting with other people.

Leaning into our own interests and curiosity is what opens the door to the most enriching moments and adventures that feel truly ours.

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To finish everything off, I’d like to point out that all of the tips above are for those who crave more authenticity and depth in their travels, and that there’s nothing wrong with not wanting that.

I’m well aware that sometimes all we want is an easy break from our everyday lives somewhere nice. And in that case, outsourcing the mental load that comes with planning a trip (seriously, that stuff can feel like a second job) to a simple itinerary prepared by a kind stranger online can feel like a Godsend.

At the end of the day, all that matters is that your trip feels like yours. Whether you want depth, novelty, rest, or just good food, choose it because you want it, not because the internet told you to.

If you enjoyed this article, you might like to read about some other ways I’m changing my approach to travel to be more mindful…

you won't find me in venice this year

… or another take on checklist-driven travel

i dont care how many countries you've been to

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fialka