Wish you were here? For generations it was the humble postcard that holidaymakers used to rub people’s noses in what a good time they were having on holiday. Today though our smart phones are fitted with a plethora of applications that take holiday bragging to another level and research from Teletext Holidays shows that we are using them to full effect. Half of Brits questioned share their holiday photos online and a quarter go as far as posting regular updates to remind friends what a good time they are having. One in ten even lied on facebook about how much fun they had to impress friends!

It seems that social networking sites are doing travel agents’ jobs for them, as a quarter of those people surveyed said that they had booked a holidays and late deals due to jealousy after seeing a friend’s holiday photos. One in five said they had booked an identical trip right down to staying at the same hotel. Of those who booked, 10% said they hadn’t even intended to go on holiday until they saw a status update or photo. So have you ever booked a holiday because a friend had done the same thing?

Reading about this got me thinking. I’ve definitely been influenced by things my friends have done on holiday but I probably find myself more inspired and more jealous following the social media accounts of the bloggers I like. There are too many great travel bloggers out there for me to list them all here, but these six have recently either left me foaming at the mouth with jealousy or given me an idea for a trip of my own:

Never Ending Voyage

I’ve been following these guys for more than a year now. I am constantly inspired by the way they manage to make full time life on the road work for them. I would say that their experiences have definitely been part of my plan to become a digital nomad in 2012.

Travels of Adam

Adam is another travel blogger who I have been following for some time. Anyone who follows his blog will know that he has recently moved to Berlin and I’m following his experiences with interest. I will be looking to see how he makes it work as I am hoping to travel in a similar way in 2012, spending months at a time in various European cities.

Velvet Escape

My plans for next year are constantly evolving and changing and I think of somewhere else where I want to spend some time or to visit all the time. One blog that makes the process even more difficult is Velvet Escape. Keith covers a massive range of destinations in his blog and can take you from the Costa Brava to Alaska all in the course of a day. It’s worth the confusion though as Keith’s blog is a great read.

Heather on her Travels

I really enjoy following Heather’s travels for a number of reasons. She does some great international trips, but I think I get the most inspiration from her UK travels. It can be very easy to neglect your own back yard in favour of far flung destinations but I really enjoy getting reminded of how many fantastic places to visit there are right here in the UK. I think the same is true the world over, so many of us forget to explore the place we actually come from.

Brendan’s Adventures

Brendan is a great writer, so I always look out for his travel stories. Like the research said though it really is the photos that grab you and make you want to book your own trip. That’s why Brendan’s constant flow of amazing photography shared on twitter and in Facebook is so dangerous!

The Planet D

So, with all the other bloggers I’ve talked about being inspired. With Planet D I’m just going to spit it out and call it plain old fashioned jealousy. Ever since these guys announced that they would be doing my dream trip; the Mongol Rally, as part of The Social Media Syndicate I have been totally overwhelmed envy. As it is, I am just living their experience though their account for now.

This is far from an exhaustive list of all the travel bloggers who have inspired me, given me great ideas or simply given me a real dose of the green-eyed monster! What travel bloggers do you think should come with a safety warning? Who’s blog, Facebook page or twitter musings has caused you to book a trip? I’d love to see some great travel bloggers represented in the comments :)