Personal snapshots
Forget about selfies, and you can put away your selfie sticks. At least when you’re on vacation in Nicaragua.
HERE’S an idea for compulsive selfie- takers who can’t let a good photo op pass without pulling out the smartphone: A week- long vacation touring Nicaragua’s Pacific coastline, accompanied by a personal photographer to capture all the Kodak moments for them.
The intro for the seven- day trip to Nicaragua says it all: “Leave your selfie stick at home. ( For younger, pre- digital folk, Kodak was the 1990s equivalent of Instagram and Snapchat).
Instead of missing the humpback whale ( www. cbsnews. com/ news/ man- on- cell- phone- misses- hugewhale- in- front- of- his- face) because they were typing a hashtag or uploading a photo, participants with El Camino Travel check their mobile devices at the hotel door and allow someone else to document the most memorable moments of the trip.
The objective: To allow partici- pants to learn – or re- learn – how to live in the moment and unplug. Earlier this year, a photo of man who missed a whale sighting because he was looking at his mobile phone went viral after being captured on Instagram ( https// instagram. com/ p/ zRcoTYnEtS).
At the end of every day, the photographer will provide each participant with 20 of the most dynamic shots that can be shared immediately on social media for a # humblebrag.
About a month after the trip, participants will also receive an edited bank of 150 images from the vacation.
The Nicaragua trip, which has two departures in July and one in December, includes activities like morning yoga, surfing lessons, an all- day catamaran tour, excursions to local artisanal markets and a visit to a cigar factory.
Last year, the W Hotel chain offered a service that was also aimed at freeing clients from the constraints of social media.
But at US$ 3,000 ( RM10,984), the Social Media Wedding Concierge service, which involved hiring a community manager for a couple’s wedding, had critics calling the programme a step too far in narcissism.
The digital concierge is tasked with live- tweeting the wedding and posting Facebook updates and Instagram photos throughout the nuptials.
The El Camino Travel tours to Nicaragua ( www. elcamino. travel/ nicaragua/) cost US$ 1,650 ( RM6,042) to US$ 1,850 ( RM6,774) for six days and seven nights, not including airfare. – AFP Relaxnews