Going on vacation is the best, but I also love the time leading up to a trip.
Once I’ve decided on the destination, one of my favorite parts of the vacation experience is planning out what I want to see and the many places I want to eat.
A decade ago, I’d head over to Barnes and Noble and hang out in the travel section, likely buying a book or two to try and figure out what I should take in.
Now I do almost all my research via social media.
My upcoming trip is no different. In just a few days, my husband and I will be heading off to Hawaii and we could not be more excited!! We have excursions and tours booked, and few restaurant reservations already lined up.
Here are some of the tools we used to figure out what we wanted to experience during our little tropical getaway:
Podcasts
I’m a huge fan of podcasts and my husband found a great one a few weeks ago centered around vacationing in Hawaii. It’s called the Hawaii Aloha Connection Podcast. They’ve done countless episodes that cover everything from how to save money on your trip, to the best places to eat poke.
Thanks to this podcast we learned about the Aloha Plate Hawaii Food Tour, which we immediately booked.
The tour is led by Lanai Tabura, who most recently won Season 4 of the Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network. I’m so excited to taste all the local flavors. And of course, I’ll blog all about!
My favorite social media app is also my go to when it comes to travel research.
Just use the search feature, type in where you are going, and slide over to “places”. Thanks to all the awesome Instagram users, tons of pictures will come up of things to do and eat in the area.
This is also great to use when you are trying to pick between two restaurants, or even what to eat once you’ve decided where you want to go. I don’t have to strain to see what the table beside me is having anymore- I just use Instagram now.
Once I’m at my destination, Instagram is an even more useful tool. I just use the “Near Current Location” option in the search tool, under “places”.
Pictures of food options and beautiful locations you are close to will auto-populate. It’s the best!
Bloglovin
Blogs are a great way to get the inside scoop about things to do and places to eat when you are on vacation.
I recommend checking a mix of travel and local bloggers so you get a broad view on all the options available.
Of course, Google works for finding bloggers, but a really helpful site is called Bloglovin. It’s an aggregate of thousands of blogs. You can use the search option to find posts that are relevant to your trip.
Just one word of caution- some bloggers get paid, or at least have things comped, in exchange for a review.
The good news is bloggers tend to disclose if they have been compensated in any way for the post they put up. And in the United States, it’s a law enforced by the SEC.
So, if you see that they were compensated, just do a little crosscheck before you book it. Yelp is a great way to make sure the blogger isn’t the only one that had an “amazing” time on a tour that you are really interested in.
I’ll be posting a recap of my trip, with recommendations (no comps here! only 100% honest reviews). Also follow me on Instagram at UnSippedlife or on SnapChat UnSipped for Hawaii highlights!
