You know when you find a travel website online and at first it looks really cool, so you dive right in. You’re all excited to see what gems they have uncovered that other travelers have missed.
Then, you realize they have an ok story about what happened at the airport or something. But, there’s no meat to it. They don’t know what you’re looking for in travel websites at all.
So, that’s why I thought I should write this. I would like to outline what I think a travel website should offer. Why? Because it’s what I want to offer here on A Passion For Traveling.
Sure, not every post will cover all of the things I’m about to list all in one post. In fact most will cover 2 or 3 of those travel tips, deep understandings and really getting to know the locals. But, cumulatively the posts in the section about that area should cover most, if not all of the following things I feel a travel site should encompass.
What Should Good Travel Websites Cover To Be Considered Good?
1. The first thing it should do (and many of them get this part right) is to tell you about the place they are visiting. That’s easy enough, so let’s move on.
2. They should inspire you to travel. Ok, most of them do a pretty good job at this one too. So, let’s head to the next one.
3. A great travel site should tell you what it is really like there, not just the stuff you see on the surface. What I mean by this is that, they need to travel deeper than the other “tourists”.
They need to go where the other surface scratching travelers don’t go. I’m not talking about going anywhere dangerous or even sketchy.
I mean if they are buying fruits from the old wise looking Senora at the Mercado then they should talk with here about how she grows and harvests her fruits. This will many times lead to you getting asked to come and visit their farm once they find out your a travel blogger.
In many cases you’ll also leave with more fruits than you can carry, for free.
In this way you travel deeper. You get to see things others never will and share it with the readers of your travel site.
4. Share what to do and what not to do. Many will cover the same tourist attractions that you find one every site about the area. But few will tell you what to avoid, what areas of the city, town or countryside to stay clear of for your travel safety.
This is just as important as the fun stuff. None of us want to get caught in a sticky situation. So, that knowledge is equally important.
5. They need to befriend the locals, so the locals share their hangouts with them. If you’re in with the locals of a country they will often times invite you to their home, share food with you and you’ll have a better time than you would at a restaurant that’s for sure.
The site owners then need to share this information on their travel websites for their readers. There is only one I’ve ever seen who really did this. He’s stopped traveling now to go back to the grind. But, he really did travel deeper.
6. In my humble opinion, travel sites that go deeper should also tell you what things cost there.
As an example: when I was in Paraguay I bought a great breakfast at a sit down restaurant consisting of 2 eggs, sausage, toast, an avocado slice and coffee for $1.75 USD. The food was actually very good. Believe it or not, the coffee was a little too strong instead of being the other way around.
My point here is that this is what I really want to do here on A Passion For Traveling. I want to travel deeper and share that with you. I want my site to be what I would like other travels websites to be like.
I hope you have a magnificent day.
Thank you, Patrick Shelley