Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I completely agree with your travel ideas. It's getting easier and easier to meet locals and enjoy the culture of places with all the social media sites now. Thanks to steemit I have friends now in several countries that I hope to visit one day. I think more people are getting the desire to become travelers vs vacationers. If you are just on a short vacation there is little time to get to know the people and culture you are visiting and instead just shuttle from tourist trap to tourist trap. People more and more are looking for an authentic experience I think.