Is social media ruining travel? We explore whether overexposure to travel destinations is setting us up for disappointment, ensuring our travel expectations cannot be met.

In this episode of Tripology Podcast, we unpack how social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and even travel blogs, impact how we experience travel —and how it might be making us less happy on the road.

We discuss the psychology behind the Instagram vs Reality meme and ask: is travel content killing spontaneity?

Hostel Common Room returns with a fantastic email from a listener, one which will resonate with many: does overplanning dull the experience?

Stay tuned for Tales of a Trip, as we hear a story from a listener who stayed with a Monastic community, only to discover she would be cooking mash potato for 500 people in one of France's largest commercial kitchens!

The topics we cover in this episode include:

- "The Golden Age of travel": Pre-2020 vs Backpacking in 2025

- How hostels & backpackers have changed

- The rise of the Digital Nomad and how digital nomads have impacted hostel culture

- Backpacker diets & hostel kitchens

- How expectations govern happiness, sharing some of our biggest backpacking let-downs.

We'd love to hear from you! Submit your own travel story to: ⁠https://tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip⁠

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Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It means the world.

This week we introduce a new segment: Hostel Wars - We present AI Travel Bot 'Vagabot 3000' (definitely not ChatGPT) with two accommodation options in Kotor, Montenegro. In the hope of backpacking Europe, Vagabot 3000 must pick the worst hostel based on genuine hostel reviews, continuing the search for the most 'authentic' experience.

Tales of a Trip takes a romantic but embarrassing turn, as we hear from a Brazilian backpacker who unknowingly let himself go in Indonesia. No amount of diarrhoea would stop this traveler finding true love.

We'd love to hear from you! Submit your own travel story to: https://tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip

Before Hostel Wars and Tales of a Trip, we discuss:
- Competitive backpacking and travel one-upmanship
- Adam's 7-Eleven friend in Hong Kong

Need travel insurance? We recommend SafetyWing! Click here to get started: ⁠⁠⁠https://safetywing.com/?referenceID=26035801&utm_source=26035801&utm_medium=Ambassador
Require an onward flight? Please use this fantastic flight rental service: ⁠⁠⁠https://onwardticket.com/tripologypodcast⁠⁠⁠

Join our Patreon community: patreon.com/tripologypodcast

Check out our Discord: https://discord.gg/e8AqJgbn

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@tripologypodcast

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tripologypodcast/
Take a look at out our website: https://www.tripologypodcast.com

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It means the world.

A backpacking trip to India takes a wild turn when friend of the show Will Hatton, aka The Broke Backpacker, finds himself surrounded by 100 monkeys — while tripping on LSD. In this psychedelic travel tale, Will recounts how a peaceful sunset at a Rajasthani fortress spiralled into monkey madness.

This is the first edition of Tales of a Trip: a brand-new segment on Tripology Podcast where fellow travellers and listeners of the show share their greatest travel stories — prepare for wild animal encounters, holiday romances, near-death experiences and once in a lifetime adventures.

Submit your own travel story to: https://tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip

Before we get to Will's stellar travel story, we speak about:

- Manila and the Philippines: coffee culture & globalisation

- Alun shares the hilarious story of his Workaway experience in Hanoi, Vietnam, which saw him breaking into a building at midnight.

Need travel insurance? We recommend SafetyWing! Click here to get started: ⁠⁠⁠https://safetywing.com/?referenceID=26035801&utm_source=26035801&utm_medium=Ambassador

Require an onward flight? Please use this fantastic flight rental service: ⁠⁠⁠https://onwardticket.com/tripologypodcast⁠⁠⁠

Join our Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/tripologypodcast⁠⁠⁠

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Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tripologypodcast/

Take a look at our website: https://www.tripologypodcast.com

Please rate the show and help us grow! Recommend the podcast to family & friends (all of them). It makes a HUGE difference! Thank you for your continued support; it means the world.