What Travelling Was Like Before Instagram

Gather around children, I’m going to tell you a magical tale of life… before Instagram!

It was a simpler time. A time when you ordered a much tastier bacon bap for breakfast, rather than avocado on toast and a fruit smoothie because it looks more Instagrammable.

A time when you casually looked at street art and thought ‘huh, that’s cool’, rather than orchestrating a full photoshoot in front of it, shouting at your boyfriend that he’s not taking photos of your best angle.

A time when you based your night out on where had the best music or the cheapest drinks, not the pretentious, over-priced bar with the neon sign and amazing selfie lighting in the bathrooms.

I know, it sounds like the olden days! Did we even have electricity back then? Were we even allowed to vote?

Well believe it or not, I’m actually talking about 2009, before Instagram was released to the world in late 2010.

It’s actually insane to think how much we’ve all changed during that time. The way we share our lives with other people, the way we communicate and socialise, the way we manipulate the truth to project our best possible selves onto the internet.

Well something that has definitely been affected by the Instagram insanity, is the way we travel.

I went on my first solo backpacking trip in 2009, a summer travelling around the US. Then another epic 4 months of travelling around Southeast Asia in 2011, followed by a year in Australia in 2011/12. Instagram wasn’t really a big thing until the end of this trip. I actually looked back on my personal Instagram account and I was posting pictures of TimTams at the end of my year in Australia. Naturally using the Hipstomatic app to add a black frame and ridiculously ‘retro’ filter. But otherwise, there was zero Instagram presence during these trips.

And well, travel has changed a lot since then.

During my US trip in 2009, we had Facebook, but it wasn’t really used to be showy or braggy then. I remember going to an Internet Cafe in LA and using Facebook Messenger to talk to the new friends I’d just made in San Francisco about what they were up to and reminiscing about those fun parties at our cabin in Yosemite. I would Skype my mum and email my friends. Sure I would upload some unedited snaps to Facebook but it wouldn’t be until I got home. I was definitely living in the moment more on this trip.

I realise some people will read this who backpacked earlier in the noughties, or the nineties, and will be like – Dude, we didn’t even have the internet. And yeah, that would be a very different experience I’m sure. But really, just Instagram alone has made such a stark difference to the way we travel.

The photos I took on that trip to the US, as well as the later trip to Southeast Asia revolve around the moments I wanted to capture and remember. They felt like they were for me.

I took photos of my new travels pals at Thai beach parties and the cowboys I met in Arizona. And what about the big tourist attractions like the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls? I took ONE OR TWO photos of them, they’re blurry and I’m not in the photos. Because why would I be? I just wanted to remember what these places looked like.

Compare that to how we travel now.

It’s completely normal that when we’re travelling somewhere we’ll do some research to the most Instagrammable brunch spots (not the place that has the most delicious pancakes). We’ll go out of our way to find that colourful mural that will look great on the grid (rather than stumbling across street art ourselves). We’ll plan which outfit will look the best in each location (not wear what we feel most comfortable in). We have full-on photoshoots at iconic landmarks (instead of taking a quick snap to remember it).

I used to think this was just being a blogger. We’re investing in our side hustles. Our blogs often earn us a bit of pocket-money so putting a bit of extra effort into our Instagram feed to get more followers and so that brands want to work with us makes sense. It’s kinda how it works. There’s a return on investment.

But actually, it just seems to be the norm now. It doesn’t matter about followers or whether your account is public or private, so many people are going out of their way to create the perfect photo when travelling. We want to project that perfect life.

Think about it – when you go to a big tourist attraction and see people queuing to have a photo in front of it, in the perfect spot (I’m looking at you red telephone box with idyllic London skyline behind it). Or when you see someone post a photo of somewhere you’ve been and realise how heavily edited the photo is. We now go out of our way to create beautiful images on our travels.

Which is fine, I like to be creative and take gorgeous photos.

But is it affecting our travelling experience?

Last year I was in Spain and considered getting up early and going on an hour and a half bus journey (each way) to Calpe to get pictures at the pink house I’ve seen all over Instagram. (Google it, it’s a thing of Insta-dreams)

But I had to check myself. It’s not worth it. I’m on holiday. And would I have even SEEN Calpe if I took photos and jumped on the bus back again?

I’ve also been on press trips where people sacrifice precious time they have to explore a new destination in favour of having a photoshoot in front of a cute spot they’ve seen all over Instagram. So, have you even seen this destination you’re posting photos of?!

Anyway I’ve gone off on a tangent here.

I know that the way we travel now has been forever affected by Instagram. Yes, I judge people who get to a destination, take loads of selfies then leave without seeing the place. Then later upload a super annoying post that’s been edited to shit with #blessed. But I just have to make sure I don’t cross the line myself, y’know?

I have my own personal morals around Instagram. Sure, I edit lighting and colour balance but will never edit out things that are there. I will never edit myself to look skinnier or anything like that. I will take photos in nice locations I’m exploring, but won’t queue for it. I will wear colourful dresses because I love them, but won’t sacrifice my comfy trainers or practical backpack for the sake of an Instagram photo. But hey, that’s just me. I’m just saying.

But the point of this post was really to have a little nostalgic walk down memory lane and remember how it used to be, less than a decade ago.

Sure, I don’t have perfect photos of destinations I visited back then and the ones I do have were mostly taken at a weird angle (why did we do that in the noughties though?), but I have really authentic snaps of that hungover bus ride to Halong Bay and action shots of the bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. And I kinda miss that. Y’know, photos where we don’t look perfect. Photos where we weren’t doing the same pose. Photos where we weren’t worrying about how many likes they’d get.

Maybe it’s just because I’m getting older. I’m turning into one of those people who thought things were better when they were young! “Kids, in my day we actually went outside during the summer!” (We definitely didn’t, I remember spending one summer just playing Crash Bandicoot on my Playstation.)

But sometimes I just get so disillusioned with the Instagram world. With this perfect world we’re putting online that doesn’t feel remotely real-life (myself included). It can make you feel bad about your life because it doesn’t resemble this make-believe Insta-world of beautiful tanned women on a beach in the Maldives. But are those women even having fun? Or were they there for 10 minutes before going in the shade where they wouldn’t burn, tying their hair up in a top-knot and worrying about the state of their credit card bill after this trip?

I don’t know. I’ll just leave you with this snap from travel life before Instagram. Say what you want, but I know how much fun I was having here. Completely unedited, unfiltered fun.

What do you think about the way Instagram portrays travelling?

Is it a good thing, inspiring you to travel more? Is it showing you places you otherwise wouldn’t have known about? Or is it all a bit misleading?

Do you remember travelling before Instagram? Was it better back then?

Let me know what you think in the comments below or head over to my hypocritical Instagram account where I post photos in lavender fields like everyone else. What you gonna do, ay.