Today, social media is an innovative tool to inspire people to travel. Charged with inspiration, viewers plan their next holiday by liking aesthetic photos uploaded to platforms like Instagram. The images often showcase the historic Eiffel Tower or the architectural La Sagrada Familia. While regarded as the must-see wonders of the world, it persuades thousands of people through social media to visit the same destination. However, the London travel influencer Camille Kenny-Ryder wants to break this sense of repetition and clichés of travel. Instead, she uses her Instagram platform, Thoroughly Modern Milly, to encourage authentic travel experiences.

Camille was born and raised in London and comes from a creative household where both of her parents are professional artists. The influencer dabbles in many creative pursuits, such as her blog Thoroughly Modern Milly, photography, and a family-run travel guidebook business called Weekend Journals. However, Camille has not always had a career in the travel and lifestyle industry. When the influencer was young, she sang professionally and studied music at university with the mindset to become a performer. However, Camille realized that a career in the music industry was difficult to sustain. She then started to think of new ways she could be creative, and that’s when Thoroughly Modern Milly began.

Thoroughly Modern Milly is now a platform where Camille shares her interest in lifestyle, travel, and different cuisines. The influencer writes about five-star restaurants, most of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and many luxury eateries around the world. Camille was named one of the Top Ten Food and Travel influencers by The Evening Standard. 

Camille’s passion for travel began when she went on a six-month honeymoon with her husband. “During this time, my interest in travel took off. I accepted so many press invitations to wonderful destinations like Fiji. After the honeymoon, I decided to go into content creation full-time.” However, Camille’s most significant travel experience was her trip to the quaint Canadian Fogo Island. The trip cemented the type of travel content Camille wanted to share with her followers, unusual destinations, and not travel hotspots.

“Fogo Island was originally a cod finishing island, and the younger generation isn’t interested in fishing, so the island was population was gradually dying out.” Camille became fascinated with Zita Cobb while staying on the island, the founder of Fogo Island Inn. “The hotel is perched on the sea’s edge and is completely sustainable. Zita Cobb provided jobs and brought tourism back to the island.” Camile likes to travel to unique destinations and enjoys unearthing stories within each place she visits. She uses her platforms to encourage her followers to explore the world more deeply and travel to nearly forgotten destinations like Fogo Island.

The London travel influencer has two Instagram platforms, Thoroughly Modern Milly, which reflects her lifestyle and blog. Then Weekend Journals, which showcases her family-run business of creating travel guidebooks. The Thoroughly Modern Milly platform is where Camille shares photography about her trips to five-star hotels and her passion for coffee shops around London. On her main platform, her photography has a very particular style, which Camille calls the helicopter-style shot. Camille uses this style while working with hotels like the New Orleans hotel group Maison de la Luz and hospitality brands like Pret A Manger.

However, the other platform, Weekend Journals, has a more focused demographic of people who are dedicated travelers and are interested in researching a destination. “My team and I have created three travel books already, one on Cornwall, Provence, and London. We are also working on a Somerset travel guidebook, which will be published soon.” The travel guidebooks are full of pages that recommend cultural experiences, restaurants, and luxury hotels Camille has visited. 

The next big thing to expect from Camille is her trip to Transylvania. Most travelers are repelled by the prospects of visiting a region steeped in myth and folklore about vampires. Yet, Camille is eager to immerse herself in the culture and history of the hair-raising destination. “You can do a road trip around Transylvania and see Gothic style architecture very in line with Dracula’s castle and then in contrast colourful little villages. I found through my research that Transylvania is nowhere on Instagram. Even if it’s not what it turns out to be, at least it is a new travel experience.”

Camille is a London travel influencer with many creative interests surrounding travel, photography, and food. She has an ever-growing list of destinations she wants to visit and different cuisines she wants to taste. The influencer continually aims to inspire her followers to embark on unique travel experiences, encouraging them to not only visit Instagram trending destinations but to explore the world more organically.