I’ve been looking through some of the Bloggie nominees and I found that I have no interest in the food or travel blogs. Ironic, since I love food and travel! But I think that is precisely the problem, actually. Rather than looking at pictures and videos of other people enjoying eating delectable dishes and fantastic adventures, I’d much prefer to be the one doing those things! So maybe it’s in part jealousy, but mostly it is just the fact that I’d rather go discover it myself. I don’t want to live vicariously through these other people having a great time when I could be the one loving life like that.
Food blogs are great for those who want to be shown new foods to try, how to cook cool things, or just love to look at food. Food blogs are not good for those who want to discover the great edible things out there themselves, don’t care much for cooking, or see images of food and must go eat. Now. Can you guess what type I am? I absolutely love to take pictures of my food and share it with my friends. I quite like seeing their pictures. However, reading a blog with pictures and extensive descriptions takes up too much time when I could be at a restaurant or little street stall, munching away. So though they could come in as a useful reference if I’m really having trouble finding something to eat (ha!), food blogs are generally not worth the effort to me (except in times when I miss something and just can’t find it in LA, or whichever city I’m in).
Travel blogs are great for those who can’t go and want to see what it’s like, don’t want to actually go but want to see what it’s like, or are about to go and want to see what it’s like in a new place. Travel blogs aren’t ideal for people who can travel (just not at this exact moment) and experience things themselves, don’t care about traveling at all, or want to find their way around a new city themselves. Though I can’t make it out to a far-away city right now, it’s certainly within my means in the near future and I like to not really know what it’s like til I get there and I look up places of interest, or talk to locals and recent visitors who can share their wisdom. I don’t want to spend my time hearing about other people’s travels because I want to be traveling.
Generally I’m obsessed with researching ahead of time, but when it comes to traveling, I am perfectly content with vaguely knowing what a country is like, showing up, and finding some really awesome experiences. I also seem to have random run-ins with locals. And you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way. Once again, I find that I would prefer to just use these types of blogs as references (aka: “Hey, I want to go to [insert country/city here], I wonder what random things they have to do there?” *searches entries on travel blog and glances through titles and tags* “Ah, ok, got an idea, let’s go!”). Beyond giving me an idea of what’s available, especially obscure stuff, it doesn’t interest me to frequent those type of blogs. Let those people enjoy their travels and share it with those who want to hear about it! I want to go out and do it too, without tainting the experience with too much foreknowledge!
So really, it just comes down to me not wanting to live a vicarious life. Why do that when you can be the one sharing your experiences? As my friend Ninja once said, I want to live a life worth making a movie about (or writing a book about, in my case). You can’t do that if you’re too busy cooped up reading about other people’s lives! Not that those blogs aren’t great for certain crowds. I just find that I don’t belong in the particular group that reads food and travel blogs, that’s all. 🙂
What about you? Do you like to safely follow the lives of those more adventurous than you? Or do you prefer to go have the adventures yourself?
As I was getting lunch at Kaya today, I noticed their chopsticks resemble the pair I have in my To-Go Ware set. It reminded me of the day when Panda saw them and asked me why they were warped. Months later, when another friend came back from grad school in the East Coast, he saw them and asked the exact same thing. -____- Whereas I and our other friend, a history major, saw them as artistic, they saw them as warped. Wow. A lesson in the differences between North and South campus majors!
