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summery photos with words
summery photos with words
Original photo by sophia chlipala
UVA | Culture

Long-Form Influencers to Help Plan your Summer

Sophia Chlipala Student Contributor, University of Virginia
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UVA chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

15-second TikTok videos aren’t long enough when it comes to summer content, so move to YouTube, where the same amazing influencers are making even better content to give you amazing recommendations of places, restaurants, activities, and motivation to plan the best summer yet.

Picture of Spain
Original photo by Gabriella Stanley

If you have the patience for long-form content, you can get a better feel for a place you want to visit and make a better plan than from hundreds of random TikToks that lead to doom-scrolling. Here are 5 YouTube influencers who have the best travel content.

1. Alia Zaita: @aliazaita

      Alia’s content will take you all over the world. Based in New York with her husband, Yoni, they both have impeccable style. Together, they test out endless coffee shops, bakeries, and boutiques, always putting the names and places written in the video.

      Alia has an effortless editing style with a perfect combination of beautiful clips, music, and chats to the camera. Minimalist yet eccentric, Alia produces amazing NYC day-in-my-life (DIML) videos that always inspire me to wear a bandana while traveling around the world to show off delicious restaurants. If you’re wondering how to get through a city in only a couple of hours and see the best places, watch Alia Zaita’s videos. 

      My personal favorite videos: Copenhagen, Portugal, Kyoto, and 24 hours in Barcelona  

      2. Gabby L: @gabbbyle

      If you’re looking to reconnect with nature this summer, Gabby’s videos will inspire you.

      Based in Seattle, WA, she has the perfect rainy-day content. Walking around the city and around it, her DIML videos are so cozy and refreshing as she navigates living alone there.

      When she’s not in Seattle, she is solo hiking the Dolomites in Switzerland or in Japan, trying every matcha ever. Her hiking outfits are chic, but functional, and she is always transparent about where she’s going and how to get there. Watching her journal by alpine lakes or sitting on a balcony in the Swiss Alps, she knows how to make miles of hiking look relaxing and so worth it. 

      Personal Favorites: A Week in Japan and Fall in the Dolomites 

      3. Toni Bravo: @tonibravo

      If you’re on Tin FishTok right now, you know who Toni Bravo is, but long before that, she was and still is a beauty creator. She even had her house in Architectural Digest recently.

      Everything about her aesthetic is beautiful, clean, inspiring, and glamorous. Her brand trip videos are so satisfying and make you want to capture everything around you to be like her. Her content centers more on everyday lifestyle videos; however, she occasionally posts a travel video. Please watch them if you’re looking for outfit inspiration; every outfit is perfect. 

      Personal Favorite: Somewhere in the South of France 

      4. Eva Meloche: @EvaMeloche 

      Eva Meloche IS Copenhagen. Her Scandinavian blonde hair and style both make you want to move there immediately and stay forever. Her recommendations for coffee shops, restaurants, and clubs around Europe will give you the perfect girls’ trip.

      This model and influencer will show you how lying in fields, even when it’s raining, can be fun while she simultaneously explains her journey with mental health. 

      Favorites: any Copenhagen video 

      5. Hildur Karlsson: @HildurK

      Saving the best for last: Hildur has the BEST hiking content in the world, in my opinion. Her videos with her significant other will give you the inspiration to have a wild camping trip, sleep on the tops of mountains, and never have any regrets.

      Her videos feel like a nature documentary. With all the cinematic clips of mountains, oceans, lakes, and trails, she never misses.

      Just like Gabby, her outfits are functional and beautiful, her snacks are always aesthetic, and she will never miss a sunrise. Please watch ALL of her videos to see where to go next for your own nature documentary or to find yourself getting lost in the peaks of any mountain range. 

      Favorites: ALL of them. 

      Money will come back: take the trip! 


      Follow me on Instagram for Colorado and Euro Summer content this summer! @sophia.chlipala

      Sophia Chlipala

      UVA '28

      Sophia Chlipala is from Breckenridge, Colorado. A second-year student studying Environmental Thought and Practice, Media Studies with a concentration in film, and a minor in Business Innovation. She is the Events Director of VMAG, a student publication that specializes in showcasing art, culture, and fashion through creative writing, photography, and features. As a director, she works on the operational side of the publication, facilitating social media, fundraising, and hosting a launch party every semester to celebrate the magazine's achievements.
      She has enjoyed creative writing her entire life, while making pottery, hiking through the Rocky Mountains, baking breads and cakes, and reading anything with a female heroin. She also enjoys obsessing over her Instagram theme and making short movies of her adventures in the mountains while sipping on every flavor combination of matcha she can think of.
      Sophia hopes to become an Environmental Justice journalist/ TikTok travel influencer, where she can influence people to care about environmental justice while traveling around, showing people why our planet is worth saving.