Advice for Travelers:
Using the Internet to Share Your Adventure
During Your Adventure

disclaimer

Women travelers, or motorcycle travelers, or whatever kind of travelers: there are a number of reasons to share information online during your travels:

It's super simple to do - many camp sites and rest stops in the USA and Canada have Internet access, and some online platforms allow you to make simple updates with just text messaging from a cell phone, and hotels abroad, even in developing countries, offer Internet access.

But a word of caution: don't take so much time up sharing your photos and stories during your trip that you are taking time away from seeing sights, meeting people and enjoying the moment. Keep it simple while on the road. Just a little information goes a long way. Sharing the bulk of your photos and information after your trip allows you to relieve your trip. Going through photos AFTER a trip and writing my travelogue AFTER a trip helps me not get depressed after a trip - I feel like I'm retaking it as I write.

Be sure you post links to that followers can find more information about travelers. For instance, I have a friend that went around the world on a bicycle, and he would post messages like "Crossed border, took 3 hours. Had a puncture. Camping tonight." No info on what country he was in, what city he was near, etc. Even going through all of his posts didn't always tell me where he was. What would have been a better post? "Crossed border from Turkey to Romania... Had a puncture outside of such-and-such town... " and then a link to his blog when has the map of his trip.

Photos

I love the photo-sharing site Flickr. It is absolutely my favorite photo-sharing site. I'm not only sharing my photos, I'm also backing them up! Even if I share photos via Facebook, I don't upload the photos there - I link to them. A lot of people prefer Instagram, and it's okay, but it allows you to share only via your smart phone and that makes it hard to share much information about a photo. I do use Instragram, but for just one or two photos a day while on a trip - or just once a week.

Whatever you choose, you can set your account up such that you can decide how much you want to share: with anyone, or just people you have connected with on the account, or with only some other select group.

If your photos are public, you absolutely should tag them so that they can be more easily found by anyone and reach an even larger audience.

You do not have to share everything while on a trip; just pick 1 - 5 photos to share each day, or every other day - even once a week, depending on how long you are traveling. Upload the rest of your photos after your trip, or on a "down" day on your trip of many months.

A Blog or Web site

You can create a blog or web site only for your travels, or a section of a web site you already have. Your blog or web site is the central space where all other online activities during your travels lead to and from. 

You don't have to write long essays/blogs (as I do); what's most important is that this blog or web site is updated frequently. 

Pace yourself if you want to blog every day or every week, such that it doesn't take too much time away from your travels, from seeing and experiencing the trip.

Mastodon

I loved Twitter - but it is no more (what has taken its place is a porn / MAGA / Nazi hellscape). So I switched to Mastodon. What I love about microblogging sites such as this:

You can set up your Mastodon account so that only people you approve can follow you, or you can set it up so that anyone can follow you.

Good things to manually-tweet to your followers:

See the hashtag (#) in front of some words in those sample messages? Those tags make the word searchable on a social media site. There are lots of social media users who regularly search for certain tags. Using tags helps people, including fellow travelers, to be able to find you. If I'm traveling, I try to use the tag #travel in whatever I tweet. If I'm on my motorcycle, then I may use #motorcycle as well. Using city, state, and even country names as tags is a good idea, as is activity tags like #hiking, #camping, #biking, etc.

There's just one reason to keep using Twitter: if a company messes up your travel - an airline loses your luggage, a hotel doesn't respond to a complaint, a tourist site doesn't provide good customer service - Tweet about it, and if the company has a Twitter account, mention it in your Tweet. Don't be surprised if you get contacted by the company, offering to make amends.

Remember

Again: don't take so much time up sharing your photos and stories during your trip that you are taking time away from seeing sights, meeting people and enjoying the moment. I see far too many people taking hours out of their day to blog, share photos and follow Twitter, and thereby missing out on even more incredible experiences while traveling. Keep it simple. Just a little information goes a long way!

Also see:

Accessing essential information while traveling
Advice on things you should do before you leave on a trip, to ensure you can access information via any computer or your feature phone or smart phone that you might need while traveling

Disclaimer
Any activity incurs risk. The author assumes no responsibility for the use of information contained within this document.

 

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  Quick Links 
Index of resources for women travelers (how to get started, health & safety considerations, packing suggestions, transportation options, etc.
 
Advice for camping with your dogs in the USA
 
Saving Money with Park Passes in the USA
 
Advice for women motorcycle riders and travelers
 
transire benefaciendo: "to travel along while doing good." advice for those wanting to make their travel more than sight-seeing and shopping.
 
Suggestions for Women Aid Workers where the culture is more conservative/restrictive regarding women than most other countries.


Where I've been
A list of all of the states in the USA and all of the countries I have lived in or traveled in, the farthest North I've been by land, the nearest I've been to the equator, various other stats.
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Some of my favorite photos from my travels. Very hard to pick favorites.


Advice for Hotels, Hostels & Campgrounds in Transitional & Developing Countries: the Qualities of Great, Cheap Accommodations

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