Five Travel Vloggers That Will Give You Serious Wanderlust
Danielle Wilkinson
One of my favorite things to do, especially in the colder months when it feels like the snow is never going to stop, and the world might actually freeze over, is to watch travel vloggers on YouTube. Imagining yourself in their shoes, somewhere far away, sometimes makes those endless nights studying, double shifts and long winters somewhat more bearable. Here are my top 5 YouTube travel vloggers to watch when you feel like flying away but might not yet have the means to do so. Click on the names to view their YouTube Channels.
High on Life is a YouTube channel created by friends Ryker Gamble, Parker Heuser, and Alexey Lyakh. After working for a year post-college and saving up $10,000, the Vancouver natives decided that they wanted to travel before they had too much responsibility weighing on their shoulders. According to their website SundayFundayz, they quit their jobs, ended their relationships, along with their leases and flew off to India. These men are not your typical tour guides, they will take you on a wild adventure. Their videos feature them white water rafting, sky diving and bungee jumping, in addition to clubbing, and attending yacht parties and music festivals. Their fun, frat boy personalities, and their obvious love for one another will make you understand why they are high on life and inspire you to strive to be as well.
In 2013, brothers Marko and Alex Ayling won the Biggest, Baddest, Bucket List’s travel video contest which earned them an expense free trip around the world for 6 months. They documented their entire journey on YouTube whilst providing their viewers interesting and informative facts about each place they visited. Three years later, the brothers continue their trend of traveling around the world on their own YouTube channel, Vagabrothers. What sets them apart from several other travel vloggers is that they go out of their way to really connect with the culture of an area. Instead of being tourists, they aim to really understand what it’s like to live wherever they go. Because of this, they meet up with local YouTubers from around the world and visit their favorite restaurants, bars, museums and more and they find cool hidden spots tourists might normally miss.
While the Vagabrothers act like seasoned travelers, the excitement Nadine Sykora brings to each place she travels makes her viewers feel as if it were the first time she’s been away from home. Her enthusiasm and bubbly personality makes viewers feel like they are on the journey with her. She initially caught the travel bug after graduating from college and feeling “lost.” In order to overcome her depression, she bought a ticket to New Zealand and the rest is history. She now encourages her viewers to go to places they have never been in hopes that travel will changes their lives for the better like it has changed hers. On herblog she describes herself as a travel vlogger, videographer, blogger and comedy youtuber. She has been to over 48 countries and updates YouTube twice a week so her followers can be entranced by each new place she visits.
Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu are an Australian couple who, after wanting more than typical day jobs, decided to sail around the world. Since 2014, they have filmed their nautical adventures for the world to see and have crossed the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific Ocean. Neither knew much about sailing in the beginning of their travels and went through the struggles of diminishing water supply, equipment malfunctions, figuring out how to sail in storms and continuing to earn a somewhat steady income while out at sea. The couple is very simplistic and down to earth which makes watching them in the midst of my busy schedule relaxing and inspiring. Try watching an entire episode without wanting to spontaneously buy a boat and mimic their easygoing lifestyle.
Damon and Jo, the creators of the YouTube channel Shut up and Go are completely redefining what it means to be young and free. The best friends met at Pace University and immediately bonded over their love of language and travel. Knowing they wanted adventure, Jo left her 9 to 5 job to start travelling while Damon is took a break from college to pursue his passion. Their channel and blog are dedicated to millennials who don’t want to wait to stop just existing, start living and travel the world. The best part about the duo is that they know what it’s like to be broke 20-somethings wanting to discover new places, and have multiple videos on how to travel cheap. Between the two of them they speak English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, German, and Italian, and often make videos in different languages. They release new videos 4 times a week.
Danielle is a junior at Purdue University studying mass communication. Being aware of the world we live in is something that’s very important to her family and because of that, they have traveled to over 10 countries since she was born. She studied abroad in Barcelona Summer 2015 and is planning to study abroad in London in Spring 2017. Danielle is originally from Atlanta, Georgia so she knows all about sweet tea, southern hospitality, and temperatures 75 degrees and above. She loves traveling because “it gives you a chance to be a different kind of you. You can let loose, explore, and have fun, all while discovering new parts of the world and of yourself” and she thinks that’s incredible. When she is not traveling, you can either find her at home writing while enjoying a cup of chai tea, binge watching shows on Netflix, or hanging out with friends.
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