There are so many travel Youtubers out there now. Some may say that the market is oversaturated. And I kind of agree. But what I find is last common is what I consider to be TRUE travel Youtubers. You see many videos of “influencers” and content creators who just say at these expensive resorts where they have product shots seeminly every other frame. Sure, staying at the beach or pool may be cool. But that’s not the type of travel that inspires me. I like seeing Youtubers on foot, trekking through the city, getting lost in the streets and finding hidden gems. I think some of the bigger/more popular Youtubers do more vacationing and less traveling.
Hey, if that’s what you want, then go for it! I know my sister for example would hate walking around a city for hours. But for me, and I am sure a lot of you too, when you travel you want to experience the local culture. You want to see the beautiful (and not so beautiful) parts of a country. Why travel if you’re going to be surrounded by things/people you could meet at home? So I’m here to introduce you to five Youtubers you should be subscribed to.
1. DamonAndJo
I watched practically all there videos within a few days. There personalities are just so addicting. Not only are they insanely positive but their friendship and chemistry is amazing. They started their channel to encourage students and those with low budgets to “shut up and go” travel. Even with limited budgets, they were able to travel across the globe. They worked odd jobs, slept on couches, did what they had to in order to live the life they want. And now they are full time travel content creators, if that’s not inspiring, what is?
What made me even more obsessed with them is that they are able to speak multiple languages seemingly with ease. If you read my last post about my journey to becoming a polyglot, you should know it was inspired by them. I mean, I always knew I wanted to learn multiple languages. And even before discovering them I did study my Spanish. However, they inspired me to set out a goal, become more organized and know that it IS possible. Jo is Brazilian-American, speaks English, Portuguese, French, Italian and Spanish. Damon is American and speaks English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. I think that’s all?
2. Samuel and Audrey
You may recognize these two from my Youtubers You Should Be Watching post. They are a young married couple with a passion for traveling the world and food. Their style of travel is similar to what I like, exploring the cities, staying near the locals, not having a true “home” base. I’m not much of a foodie, but if you are you’ll love the emphasis of food in many of their videos. I discovered them from their city guide videos they do in many of the destinations they visit. They are detailed and concise and often feature things beyond what you’ll find in a travel guide book. I also particularly like their videos of them in transit from one city to another.
Also, and I mentioned this is the other blog post, they have a channel in Spanish! For someone who is trying to improve their Spanish skills, particularly listening comprehension, the channel is amazing. Audrey has Argentine and Peruvian roots. She wanted to create this channel to help her practice the language as well as to connect to their Spanish speaking subscribers. So whether you want your videos in Spanish or English, these two are definitely worth checking out.
3. Vagabrothers
These two brothers (yes, actual brothers!) have a true passion for travel that you can sense through their videos. Their videos are less raw than the previous two channels mentioned. But it’s nice to switch things up a bit. They put together high quality videos with top notch production. But don’t let their high quality videos fool you. They don’t just experience the “luxury” style travel I mentioned previously. Plus, they have so many videos giving you tips on you guessed it, travel. Whether that be how to avoid jetlag or how to make money traveling, these guys have a video on it.
I particularly like the fact that they lived in Spain for several years, learned to speak Spanish and taught in Spain. All of which are goals of mine, If you into travel but also love cinematography/videography, then I think you will like them.
4. Wolters World
Wolters World is a different kind of Youtube channel travel. He doesn’t really do vlogs and instead he has many educational videos. As someone who is still a novice traveler, I was looking into all aspects of travel. And Wolters World covers many of them. He has his “Do’s and Don’ts” videos for various places around the world and the U.S. These videos are super helpful if you want to know about local custom or norms or requirements before entering a country. He also has videos on general travel tips such as what to expect at the airport. His videos are typically short and sweet and to the point, which I appreciate.
He also offers a different perspective of travel than many other popular Youtubers. He is older, married, with children. So while that doesn’t apply to me, it may apply to many of you out there. Also, I’m pretty sure he still has a “normal” job. So he is proof that even with a job, kids, a partner, he still is able to make travel a parrt of his life.
5. Gabriel Traveler
Remember those content creators I refrenced in the beginning? Those more interested in luxury travel? Yeah, Gabriel is the polar opposite. He is the definition of a true nomad. He spends most of his time on the road and has experiences from his travels one wouldn’t think of. Such as hitchhiking from one state to another. Or camping in Alaska. Okay, that one seems pretty cool. But he is all about frugal travel and is more into experiences than things. He often documents how expensive a particular city is, covering things from food to public transportation to lodging.
I also appreciate that he goes to places that aren’t super popular in the online travel world. Due to his channel I discovered plenty of cities that are now on my bucket list. Many of them I never even heard of before. Plus, the fact that he sacrifices what society tells us we should want in order to do what HE wants is inspiring. Sure, he may not have a house, but he has once in a lifetime experiences. I’d take the latter anyday.
Recommendations?
I don’t follow just these five people. But I thought this was a short yet well rounded group of travel Youtubers. Who do you enjoy to watch?