Mette Lisby: Is it just me…March 2019

… who often catches myself daydreaming when scrolling through friends’ and acquaintances’ social media feeds?

It seems to be a statistic truth that no matter how many or few people you follow on various social media outlets, there is always at least one who is holidaying in the most beautiful place on Earth. It could be the Maldives. Or Zanzibar. Or Tulum – oh, wait. That was me, actually.

Someone is always right there, in the most spectacular surroundings. And it looks amazing! Soon you are sighing wistfully, longing to swim in those turquoise waters and bask in the sunshine – and by the way, is it not amazing that it looks so enviable, perfect and fantastic and it must be so great to be there, yet the people who are actually there are not so compelled by this perfection that they can resist tearing themselves away to take photos, edit them and come up with a neat, catchy caption for their post?

Even upon pondering that, I still find myself dreaming of being on that beach, wishing I were there, living that sweet life. That is when I remind myself: it is not always what it looks like. Take the arguably most photogenic moment of my life: I saw whales breach while whale watching in Cabo san Lucas. As a kid, I watched the iconic Greenpeace posters on my socially conscious friends’ walls (I’m sad to admit I was more of a posters-of-ABBA-on-my-wall type – sorry!), with the tail of a whale majestically rising from the ocean. This was officially what everybody declares is a universal ‘wow’ moment. And it looked fantastic – but the smell! I would have never suspected it, because it completely contradicts this moment of beauty and harmony, but let me just say that personal hygiene is not a big priority with large sea mammals. Their breath was horrid! Imagine the smell of rotten fish laced with dead krills blown violently towards you. Everyone on board the boat repulsed in horror during this, the most photogenic moment of our lives.

But boy, it looked good on Instagram.

TEXT AND PHOTO: METTE LISBY