Back when the world was a less well known place to most of us, you had to choose to read about a place or country, or watch a documentary, to learn about it. Now there is so much information everywhere, with people trying to convince us their life is better than ours, that we see places digitally without trying.

From a travelling perspective we all like to find something that is special to us, whether it is a beautiful locaton, a remote town, a restaurant where we had a great meal or even just a bar where we had a storming night. We might tell friends about it but it is just a story and subjective opinion, and there is every chance that neither we nor them would ever visit or experience it again.

Younger people now seem to be striving harder to find something or somewhere less trodden that can be claimed as a “special find”, even if it is just a sandwich or snack, but then immediately posting about it, which in these immediate times can lead to it being overrun very quickly and losing the very essence it had when they found it.

Famous food examples:

In 2017 we were in New York and decided to visit Katz Deli, known for an infamous scene in “When Harry Met Sally”, a film that came out in 1989. That place had been developing their offering based on their status as a “landmark” location for 28 years before we arrived. As it happens we thought it was overpriced and overrated and felt stupid for going.

Today a food place can go viral on TikTok or Instagram (you probably won’t be surprised to learn I am on neither) just from an opinion by someone who has a number of people following them, often resulting in queues forming from 24 hours later. The cafe or restaurant has no chance to adapt to this massive surge in interest so inevitably the wait time increases and the quality goes down, meaning nobody has the same experience as the one who posted.

So far on our travels we have seen constant queues of young people outside various places such as:

Cookie Crumble in Kuala Lumpur

4P’s pizza in Ho Chi Minh

Mythos frozen Greek yoghurt in Hong Kong

We have not queued for or tried any of then so they might be the best thing since sliced bread but I am happy to miss out. After all, how much different can any of these pretty basic products be?

Place, photo or product?

The marketing message seems to be changing rapidly as people’s desire to post their exploits on social media shows no sign of abating and the number of “Influencers” grows exponentially. During this trip we have seen places advertised with phrases like “great Instagrammable views”, “fantastic photo options” and most worryingly “ideal beach location for Influencers”.

What happened to just enjoying the view for yourself, or maybe taking a photo that will cheer you up on a cold and miserable day in winter?

On a 3 hour boat trip in Langkawi I was sat near a young Chinese woman who did not take her eyes off her phone or look outside the boat for the first 2 hours, she might has well have been in a cupboard. Using Google Translate I suggested that the view around her might be more interesting and memorable (why would you be on a boat trip otherwise) and it seemed to resonate, sort of. She and her friend did start taking photos, but mainly just of themselves with the beautiful seascape around them reduced to a very minor feature. They should have saved money on the boat trip and just taken photos sat on a blue carpet.

But hey, what do I know?