7 Travelers to Follow on IG for Your Wanderlust Fix

This year has halted a lot of the leisure travel that we know and love, but there are still some travel bloggers out there that are catching wind beneath their wings and redefining travel for themselves. More than invoking jealousy, these 7 Instagram travel influencers are inspiring creativity and joy with their throwback pics and road trip flix.

@travelgirlboss looks like she is always in a good mood and has a closet full of comfortable shoes. Thithi Nteta embodies effortless travel style, and while she can clearly be the life of the party, this pandemic has her singing Brandy’s “Sittin in my Room,” and feeling good about it. Hunkering down in her home country of South Africa has meant that her feed is inspiring us with throwbacks of her trips to Marrakech, Jaipur, and Ghana, and – of course – Coachella. You’ll be happy to know that she’s been using the shutdown wisely. Her latest vibe is a femme fatale line up on the @lifethingspodcast, which she co-hosts with gal pal Keagan Carlin. 

@zorymory is a travel photographer, so she’s a pro at making us wish we were in places that we’re not. Architectural geeks, prepare to fall in love. She has a knack for capturing individual houses and making them look palatial. Whether it is a mundane wooden cabin in the Sierra Nevada or a Victorian row home in San Francisco, she takes the time to stop and snap the postcard picture that we all would have walked right past. When she’s not profiling warm summer nights in the desert, she’s making short videos scored to French ballads. As unrelated as that might seem, somehow it all comes together beautifully on screen.

@packslight is a curated Gen Z travel and culture smorgasbord of things we can’t get enough of. There’s a Virginia Roadtrip, a curly afro, solo female travel tips, and a 10-minute vlog about how she showed up to BWI airport at 4:45 am to ask each and every airline about their cheapest flight available that day to a destination she’d never been to before. Gabby Beckford is all about helping young people travel for free, and she uses herself as an example of how easily it can be done. With just a bit of gumption and clearly no shame, she’s dropping hints and catching flights all over the ‘gram. And we are definitely picking up what she’s putting down.

@bibi_wheelchair_traveller is not letting ALS stop her in her tracks. Bianca (Bibi) Reidmann lives in Austria, and her first travel memory is from a trip to Portugal at the age of 4. With such a head start on travel, it is no wonder that she didn’t let this terminal illness kill her travel bug. Instead, she recognizes that she’s a survivor and she’s committed to living life to the fullest. America is one of her favorite destinations, but she also says that Tenerife and Switzerland have wheelchair-accessible routes that let her maximize her experience. She and her boyfriend integrate travel as part of their self-care routine, and they inspire us to do the same.

@minoritynomad is making me miss Thai massages in Chiang Mai and tacos in Bangkok. His latest photojournalism series on Asia will definitely pique your interest. Erick Prince’s feed isn’t just great for the images, though. His captions are poignant commentary of the state of global affairs and tourism worldwide. After visiting 95 countries, he’s become quite the expert. He’s not into overtourism and the environmental destruction it causes. As a global citizen with a keen sense of humanity, Prince has something to say about wherever he stays. It is safe to say that he lures you in with images and serves up provocative political opinion that will keep you scrolling for more.

@travelingblackwidow is a feed for anyone who has been putting off travel for some mythical future date. Charlotte Simpson lost her husband after 31 years of marriage, and she decided to carry on his wanderlust spirit by taking their initial challenge of seeing all 50 states a step farther. Now, she’s solo traveling around the world. Only occasionally does her daughter travel with, but even then they give each other some space. Char’s pictures show that age is not a barrier to seeing the world. Nor is color or marital status, by the way. Her feed is classy motivation for anyone who thinks that they have to document their journeys with cliffhanger pictures and hair raising angles. You don’t.

@thetravelingchild lives by the motto “If kids live there, kids can visit.” Mama bear Monet is a mommy blogger originally from Jamaica, now living in Miami with her husband James and their two daughters Jordyn and Kennedy. This family is giving us absolutely no parental excuses for being immobile. From hair care tips to cost-savings tricks, the Hambrick family of 4 is proving that kids are highly adaptable and curious little beings. Whether it is in an RV or in the Sahara, they are pretty content so long as the ones they love are near.