Don’t Always Follow the Influencers

TTT - Don't Always Follow The Influencers
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Meggan: Hello everyone and welcome back to Travel Tip Tuesday with the Travel Mug Podcast. I am Meggan, joined as always by Jenn. How are you today?

Jenn: I'm doing well. We've booked our next trip to Disney, so I'm very excited.

Meggan: That is wonderful. We love something on the books

Jenn: Yes.

Meggan: to live for that.

Jenn: Mm-Hmm?

Meggan: speaking of travel, I mean, it's why we're here, but recently, uh, we just got back from Amsterdam. I will have a full rundown of the trip. With tips and recommendations coming very soon, but one thing I couldn't help but talk about are places, whether it be restaurants, coffee shops, breakfast spots, whatever it might be that go viral somehow, whether it's an influencer. Whether it's a travel tips group, I don't know what it could be and why, though, you should maybe find an equivalent or an even better alternative. So in other words, consider not going. This isn't a hard and fast rule that will apply to everything. You will see later what I mean, but it is a good rule of thumb.

So let me explain. So unlike Iceland, you'll be very proud, Jenn. I thought this the whole time we were in Amsterdam. We ate at a lot of restaurants.

I love it so much, um, and I knew this would be the case. So for once, I did some research on restaurants in advance and got some recommendations from a Facebook travel group prior to travel, knowing we wouldn't go to all of them, knowing we would find other stuff, but just to have a good basis. So as an example of what I'm talking about is a place that kept coming up time and time again to go for breakfast called Omelegg. As you can imagine, it's famous for omelettes. I don't know how or why they came to be so known, but they do have a 4. 6 with over 5, 000 reviews on Google Maps. So like, obviously they've caught on somehow.

So when we arrived and landed at the airport, we took the train into the city center and walked to our Airbnb. It was about, I don't know, 12, 15 minutes. Now, I kid you not, as we walked, I saw the sign and thought, Oh, there's Omelegg, like trying to get my bearings a little bit. So this was at about 1 p. m. or so. And lo and behold, there was a line and not a short one. So I was like, okay, just a busy day at Omelegg. Look at them go. Um, so the next morning we got up and I was like, let's give it a try. So we got there not too late, but maybe 9 a. m. or so. And yep, you guessed it. There was a line. And again, not a short line. And we did a lot of walking, and we often had to pass by where this restaurant was. And I kid you not, every single time we walked by, there was a long line. Except one time, and it was like 3 25 p. m, they closed at 4 p. m. And at that point, Peter's like, did you want to go in? And I'm like, no, I'm not doing it.

I refuse. I got stubborn. I'm like, I refuse to go in this restaurant. Now, it isn't a big place, so I get probably that's part of the reason why there's a line. But there were also lines because everyone had heard about it from somewhere, just like I had. So overall, like, good for them, like, obviously.

But, I like, saw people taking selfies in line, and with the sign, and I thought, This is part of a bigger, I call it problem, but it's really not a problem, but I guess quote unquote problem. So people sometimes get paid to promote places or they have a big following and so it catches on whatever it is that they're trying to promote. And then everyone wants to go, which means a lot of people won't get to go. Because it's actually too busy. And that has to be okay. Like, we have to be like, okay, it's busy. I'm going to move along. We as a society don't need to do everything everyone else is doing. I know this is hard. But FOMO is such a thing. The fear of missing out. And a line is okay sometimes. Which I will explain in a moment. But in my opinion, and again, this is just coming from me, don't waste your whole trip standing in lines trying to get into places because someone you don't know said it was trending. We need to start veering away from FOMO a little bit, and I can bet you if you did a quick Google search, you can find somewhere else just as good With good ratings and potentially better food because the people working there aren't run off their feet. A great example of this was a breakfast alternative we chose called Ivy and Bro's, one of the best breakfasts ever. And while busy, there was no line, it was nearby to Omelegg and it had amazing service. Now, notice I said there are exceptions because maybe if it means so much to you, I mean do it, it's your life, like whatever makes you happy, but my point is that there are sometimes likely better places out there that are less busy. Now my personal exception to this rule in Amsterdam was Van Stapel and I'm sure that's not how you say it, but this is a cookie shop A very elegant cookie shop with chandeliers, and they sell literally one type of cookie. Their ratings on Google are 4. 8 with over 10, 000 reviews. So again, much like Omeleg, but even on a higher level, the word is out about this place as well. There was a line the two times that we went, however, the difference here for me was, it was in and out. Like, no one was staying. There were no seats to sit and eat your cookies. You bought your treasures and out you went. So the longest I stood in line was maximum five minutes, and for me this was acceptable.

It's the choice that I felt was okay in terms of influenced places. Peter even stood in the line with me the second time, so you know it wasn't long. Man in lines, I mean, no one likes them, but he is really not a fan. And as you stood there, actually, on your left hand side, you could actually watch the cookies being made, so it, like, entertained you for the few minutes that you were in line. So this is my exception, and for you it might have been the omelette. Just don't be scared, though, to look for alternatives and find your own gem. instead of always following the crowds. So Jenn, have you ever sort of seen something in advance of a vacation that you know was probably like virally popular and you did it? And if so, like what was your experience or how do you feel about sort of what I just mentioned in terms of just like my opinion?

Jenn: Yeah. So we went to New York in 2017 and it was like winter. It was, um, early, early January. And I had seen, this was like pre tick tock. So it was like Facebook viral if you believe it. Um, but it was like these waffle things. And they looked so good, but the, it's a cart and it moves around the city. So you had to find it on the day.

And like, we tried to find it one day and we didn't. And then the last day we found it and they were having some sort of issue, um, with the like waffle maker situation. And so we like stood there for like probably a half an hour to wait for them to try to like get it going. And it was like, okay, we need to abandon this.

And so we did. So that does haunt me a little bit because I did never get that. delicious, delicious waffle. Um, but, but it's funny that you mentioned the cookie because there's a cookie place in, um, Disney Springs and it's called Gideon's. And it's like, they make more than one type of cookie, but like they're famous for one specific type of cookie.

And we've never gone there, but it can have like, Hours long line and I'm like, I just don't know if a cookie is worth it, you know, so yeah, I'm willing to wait for something, but I guess not hours of my vacation.

Meggan: Yeah.

No, I agree. Like, and I'm not and again, I'm not saying like, I would never wait for something because, um, I was just in Montreal and waited for a few things. But again, nothing crazy. But there were also things we are waiting for that we left because the line was too long. So I guess it's about where do you want to spend your time on vacation?

And who made this popular in the first place? And, and could there be something better if you just took a quick look?

Jenn: Yeah, for sure.

Meggan: Definitely. Well, that is it for this week's Travel Tip Tuesday. I'll get off my soapbox now. Um, we hope you also travel and find the cookie of your dreams like I did. I even brought some home in a tin. Um, and if you do, we would love to hear about whatever it is that you have found on your travels that you are willing to wait for. So, in the meantime, thank you so much as always for watching. Always for tuning in. You can find us on social media at TravelMug Podcast on our website, TravelMugPodcast. com. We would love it if you left a review for us on Apple or Spotify, or share the show with someone, you know, would enjoy our content. Uh, we would love to have more listeners. So until next time, bye!

Jenn: Bye.