I sometimes use travel vlogs as research material when planning my trips. I feel they have the potential to give us a glimpse of what everyday life in a foreign place away from the main sights. But I cannot for the life of me stand those vloggers who run around and yell “Hello!” at locals (I appreciate the effort to learn the local language, but who does that? That’s not normal human behaviour.).

Are there any vloggers who do not exhibit the behaviour above you could recommend?

  • zeno@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I often try to get the feeling of a city by watching a 4K walking tour on YouTube. I try to do this on Google Maps as well, but often their maps are 5+ years old. I just watched a few of Montevideo for example.

    I also look on Google Maps for “consumption zones” which are the yellow areas that are typically commercial or mixed-use zones where people might be going around to get a feeling for the walkability and vibe.

    Vloggers IMO are not a great fit for digital nomads. They are trying to create engaging content for the average person, which means, they are trying to create artificially engaging content, whether it reflects reality or not. I’m personally trying to see how day-to-day life would be if I were to be there for more than a few days.