Soul of 'influencer'
It's just a few seconds that gather more than 151,000 likes. In the video, a lady is seen opening a gift, while a sign reads: “ Two years ago, I gave my mother a blog for Christmas. ”. Who writes it is Victoria Yore, the protagonist of the Instagram account Follow Me Away , which turns landscapes from around the world into snapshots straight out of a fairy tale.
“My daughter Victoria had always suggested that she write about my travels, because she thought that others would enjoy reading about the interesting things she did on them or the places she visited. I doubted because blogging seemed like an absolutely daunting task . However, for Christmas 2017, Victoria gifted me with my own website and related social media. She had already done all the heavy lifting, the most tedious, configuring everything!” recalls Linda Malys Yore for Traveler.es.
That gift coincided with her 65th birthday and her retirement, just three years after her husband left her marriage after three decades . “The solo travel thing happened out of necessity. I traveled so often that no one was always available to accompany me. So instead of passing up wonderful and exciting opportunities, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and experiment with this type of travel. It is the best decision I could have made!”, she assures.
Today, ** @lindaontherun **, her Instagram account, she has more than 53,000 followers, and in the photos she shows herself as the star of the network that she is : with long flared skirts in front of the Eiffel Tower, with a pamela and flower jumpsuit in the new Star Wars park, with bright red pants on the stairs of the Izmailovo Kremlin, a beautiful building on the outskirts of Moscow...
Of course, Yore intends to go beyond the pretty photos: “I feel a great responsibility with my followers. I want to get them out of their comfort zones. I want to inspire you to make small changes in your life that can have big rewards. The demographics of my age, the 50s and 60s, and older, have the time and financial resources to invest in travel. I want to show them how wonderful the world is and how much there is to do, see and learn, ”she defends.
“ I strive to be a good example for those who always comment that they 'can't afford' to travel like me. I share my personal lifestyle and how I make financial sacrifices to prioritize travel. For example, I don't go out to dinner as often or get manicures or pedicures. When I travel, I usually stay in airbnbs and cook my own meals,” she tells us. Vegan meals, by the way, a menu that, according to her opinion, is becoming easier to find wherever you go.
"Also I show the true realities of travel. It's not always fun. Planes are late. The weather often plays a big role. There could be mold in your rental room. I am sharing these unfortunate incidents to educate and inform my followers.”
In this regard, she recalls the time an Irish car rental company tried to make her pay for damage she had not caused, or That time her whole family was robbed in Paris. "I don't want it to happen to anyone else, so I share tips and advice to advise and protect my followers," she declares. "I want to be authentic and share all my travel experiences, both the good and the bad."
So far, the best thing about her life as a travel blogger has been meet people and content creators from all over the world. “I have had the privilege of entering their world, learning the history of their country and creating memories that will last a lifetime,” explains Yore. Of course, dedicating time and care to the blog to make it successful has been harder than she expected: "It takes much more dedication and motivation than I ever imagined!" She says.
The hardest thing, however, has been dealing with the technology. “It was a problem at the beginning and it is still a challenge, because it is not something static. Things are always changing, algorithms affect results, the blog is always evolving. I had never thought about that before and I must admit it was a surprise to me.”
That point, which is a problem even for Millennials, is somewhat more complicated when you are over 65 years old. However, according to Yore, it is practically the only thing that differentiates her from a younger traveler, since she claims that she is in good health. The rest are all advantages.
“What is different is the amount of time I now have to spend traveling. Retirement has brought me the time I've always craved to travel the world, meet new cultures, meet new people, and have new experiences! It is also very rewarding when my daughters and their boyfriends travel with me. That multi-generational travel experience is very rewarding as I get to see the world with and through them in a whole new dimension.”