Curious enough, I tought similarly the other day! "So what that my vote doesn´t even get 0.01?, eventually it will!"
Travelling the world and Steem about it sounds a great glimpse of the future!
About "feeding some whales", well, I see it as some online games, its called "Level Boosting" ! We use the whales to help boost our level for a while, and in the process we try to get noticed! :D
It´s all about the content!