For the love of travel, please de-influence yourself

I'm on the very last day of my Guatemala trip. I booked super last minute. Besides my flights. The only other thing I booked was th Acatenago hike and my first few nights in Antigua. After the, everything I did was through word of mouth. I had the best time. I felt like I was discovering things, living in the moment, having an authentic experience even though I was on the man tourist path. I felt that travel magic that I felt had been missing for my last few trips.

Today my algorithm caught up to me. I'm so glad I didn't see any Guatemala travel content. I would be trying to do everything, get fomo when the "cool" hostels were full. Living in other people's shadows. I was cringing at all the videos of people doing the same things as me. I know I'm not "discovering" anything, but it was still me doing all the planning, adventuring and exploring. Trusting people I got along with and meeting locals. My trip would be totally different if I let the algorithm show me what to do.

So please, for your own love and joy and passion for travel, stay off the socials. Make mistakes. Missout on things, and maybe you'll be the first to find something truly special for yourself.