I found that social media sites like Trip Advisor are a very helpful resource for planning a trip. You get the "real" reviews of a country, the what to do's and what no to do's, what you should spend your money on and what you should skip. Facebook is great because while "creeping" through your friends' pictures (or even those people you come across without a blocked profile where you can spend time looking at the smiling faces of strangers), you can find out the great hotels, and places to visit and party that often times are off the beaten path, or simply the areas that aren't advertised in a tour magazine. I found a couple of pretty crazy places while looking through others' pictures and decided I HAD to visit. For example, on the East Coast of Australia, there is a tiny littlw town called Nimbin. Famous for it's hippy residents who are generally stoned 24/7, this is never a place you would be informed of at a travel agent! But what a weird place! And a place that I'm glad I got to experience!
The main street of Nimbin. Please take note of the man in a tutu.
I've also discovered YouTube can be another great resource. During one of my sleepless nights when I was planning an adventure and stressing about my budget, I decided that I would start YouTube-ing "cute cats", "funny animals" and then became very nostalgic and decided to look at some of the places I had visited on my last adventure. Vang Vieng, a town in Laos, a small country in South East Asia was one of these places and I found quite a few videos of the famous river-tubing where I did go, but Contiki wasn't eager to promote to its customers because of its dangerous reputation. These videos were taken around the time I was there, and really show the craziness of this attraction, that I'll tell you is not a family-friendly activity. It is wild and full of twenty-somethings who love to party. Ahhh, the memories ;) My experience in Vang Vieng was not so wild since, unfortunately I had some "stomach trouble" due to something I ate (a typical complaint when visiting S.E. Asia), so I had a fairly leisurely float down the river, not quite like the videos you'll find on YouTube.
But looking through the party videos, I found another very sad video and true story of a Canadian tourist who was seriously injured, (he almost died to be honest) when his fun time went awry. It highlighted the importance of travel insurance and being safe while still having a great time. So not only are people quick to post party videos and amazing less popular hot-spots, but while looking through these resources, you'll also get the reality of how travelling can be dangerous and how caution should be taken.
Beautiful Laotian landscape
Typical village in the mountains of Laos
So the moral of the story here is that to get your very popular tourist attractions, travel guides are a great resource. But backpackers wanting to get a different taste of the culture and find those little known pieces of paradise, (Leonardo DiCaprio and The Beach come to mind here) use social media tools to learn a lot more then you would by talking to someone at a desk. Our peers are the best resource and of course, we are always willing to show off what a great time we had to our friends and families through pictures and videos.
...Claire was here.
