What I want from your YouTube travel channel or travel blog

There are lots of blogs out there telling people how to create a travel blog everyone will read, or how to create a YouTube channel regarding travel that everyone will watch, written by people who have travel blogs or YouTube channels. 

How about some advice NOT from someone who has such a channel, but from someone who watches such channels and reads travelogues? What makes me check out a channel? What makes me read a blog about a trip? What keeps me coming back? What will keep me in your audience?

First, A Thank You

Thanks for sharing your travels on a written blog or on YouTube. That's really nice and, in some cases, brave, of you to do. If you enjoy doing it, keep doing it. If you like how you are doing it and have no interest in changing, stop now and don't read anymore. 

If you want more readers and viewers, I think my perspective, as a reader and viewer, are good ones, so read on. But I won't be hurt at all if you read this and think, nope, she's not my audience.

Why I check out a channel or read a travel blog:

Usually, it's because of a recommendation from someone, either a friend on social media or an online community. 

Sometimes, it's something that YouTube recommended because of something else I watched - but, wow, that algorithm isn't very good. 

So, make sure your friends are sharing when they watch your channel or read your blog on Twitter, Facebook, an online community, etc. That's as important as making sure you are using text in the description of your channel and each video so that the people that you want to read it can find it, based on the keywords they use in a search. 

How I find a travel blog is usually because I find it while I'm searching for advice online and I come across it, because it names the places I want to go, it talks about camping or motorcycle riding, it's clear that it's by a woman, etc., and after reading a few paragraphs, I realize it's really good and I keep reading. 

So, make sure you are using text in the body of your travelogue so that the people that you want to read it can find it, based on the keywords they use in a search. 

Why I keep reading a travel blog:

Because it's interesting. It's well-written prose. I like long reads. I don't need to know every minute of the day and how a traveler spent it, but I do want to feel like I'm experiencing something right along with you. 

Two of my favorite travel books will give you an idea of what I like to read in travel blogs: Long Way 'Round and Travels With Charley. 

Here are my own travel essays, by the way. Many people hace said they are too long. I don't care. I write them mostly for myself and the two devoted fans who write me every time I publish one, to gush about how much they loved it. Publishing my blogs is how I figured out how little my family cared about my travels - buried in one of them was how I had a bad wreck on my motorcycle, complete with photos, and they never commented about it.  But my two devoted fans were frantic with worry. 

Why I keep watching a travel-focused YouTube channel:

• Your videos feel like you are doing the trip you would do even if you weren't filming it, even if you didn't have a YouTube channel. If YOU find what you are doing interesting and compelling and worth doing, if you are doing what you are doing because it's what YOU really want to do, and you are able to show me why you are doing this trip, visiting this place, taking this road, etc., that's most important to me, the viewer, and that's why I'll keep watching. I want authenticity. I'll go along with you on that trip, virtually speaking, to a place I might not be particularly interested in if YOU really want to go there, and you make it clear why in your video through what you show. This is the most important reason in all of this list.  
   
• You show beautiful vistas: landscapes, viewpoints, historic buildings, etc. I want to say "oh, that's pretty" or "interesting" at least sometimes. Show me WHY you are in that place. Even if it's just pulling over for a few seconds and saying, "How's THAT for a view?!" If YOU think it's pretty or interesting, film it and share it. 
   
• You sometimes show what you are passing: fields, villages, slums, cities, cars, whatever. I want to get a sense of what life is like where you are. And I don't want perfection - I want reality. Even if you show just 15 seconds and say, "Here I am in blah blah blah and it's not worth filming anymore so I'm not," that's fine. 
   
• If you are on a motorcycle, you show the road. A lot. I want to know if it's possible for me to ride there. Just turn on your helmet cam and ride. As long as it's not endless paved straight highway, I'm going to watch that. 
   
• When you are showing a lot of landscapes and vistas and passing scenery and the road, you throw in some music or voiceover in the edit if the sound of the motorcycle is going to get boring, if you have the tech to do so. The only time I haven't needed this is when I was watching someone doing a motorcycle rally - then I really liked hearing the engine. Just please don't talk ALL the time over scenery video. 

Those are the most important bullet points. The rest are things I really like, but not necessarily make or break. 

• You tell me where you are. Names of cities and villages. You show me on a map. Maybe I want to go there someday. You don't have to name every place, but give me an idea. 
      
• You film the sign of hotels and campsites where you stay and like. Please? Just a three-second flash of it is fine. Unless they don't want you to, of course. Again: I might want to go there myself. 
      
• You briefly film the room you stay in. "Here's my room! Goodnight! See you tomorrow!" Film your campsite and maybe a bit around the campground. Seriously, it's wonderful to just get a sense of where you are, even for a few seconds. It makes me feel like I'm setting down for the night too. 
      
• You show your challenges. I want to see what you do when you drop your motorcycle, when you get a flat on your bicycle, when you get turned away at a border, when you get lost, how you get a sim card when you don't speak the language, etc. Don't have to be a long, detailed story, but the info is really helpful to other travelers. 
   
• You talk about the challenges you can't show on camera: the argument at passport control. The guesthouse that turned you away. The guy that harassed you. About getting robbed. About police officers. About losing your passport. I particularly want to hear how you handled it, because I'm going to handle that too at some point. 
   
• You show me what you are eating! Whether you cook it yourself or you are in a restaurant, I really like to see what travelers are eating. That could be some delicious, beautiful local dish or could be "All I could find is this can of Sprite and this can of potato chips..." 
   
• I like an entire episode devote to what gear you are using: your tent, your sleeping bag, your stove, your camera, your battery packs, your helmet, your train gear, your riding hear, your boots, and anything else you want to share with me. I like that episode when you are well into your trip, not right at the beginning, because I want to hear how you like it - or don't. Not everyone will love such an episode, but there's no reason not to do one.  
   
• You are respectful of where you are. Please travel with respect. Please don't ride your motorcycle offroad when you clearly are not supposed to. Don't carve your name into a tree. Don't say something racist about local people. Don't film in a religious or historic site when you are told NOT to film. Wear a mask if you see others doing so. Traveling with respect is really important to me, and when I see a travel blogger not doing that, I turn them off. And, again, maybe you don't want me as a viewer, and that's fine with you. 
   
• You share sometimes who you are meeting on the road. You don't have to introduce me to every traveler you encounter, every kid on the street, every restaurant owner, ever guest house host, but I do like it when you show other people sometimes. I like seeing how travelers navigate checkin somewhere, or how they try to order food. I like seeing people being kind to travelers. 
   
• I don't at all mind the mentioning of personal problems or complaints - if you have ever read Long Way 'Round, not just watched the videos, you see that a lot of conflicts among the team are documented, complaints about each other, and it's a reality of group travel that too many folks gloss over and is almost completely left out of the videos (except at the beginning). Or if you read Elspeth Beard's Lone Rider, you read a lot about personal things she's going through - and it's WAY too much in the first 100 pages, as I note in my review, but once you get past that, it's a really perfect balance of road trip and personal journey story (and I so highly recommend you read it). And there's one person I love to watch on YouTube, but she NEVER mentions personal problems - to the point that it makes it sound like she has no family or friends anywhere, that she never has an ache or a pain, that everything works out, and that's just unrealistic.  
   
• A mention of how you are feeling is fine. And in a six-month or year-long journey, I don't at all mind an entire "I'm not sure I can go on" video, with tears and doubts and everything - it's real. It's most definitely part of a journey. But if you are going to make MOST of your videos here's how I feel, if you are going to talk over the scenes of landscapes and fields and forests and the road about all your complaints and doubts, over and over, you are going to lose me as a viewer. And maybe that's okay - maybe you don't want me as a viewer. 
   
• You just talking to the camera is fine in LIMITED QUANTITIES. There are people that don't do it enough - like all the Charlie and Ewan shows. And then there are people who do it WAY too much. I like it when a presenter explains something that wasn't clear earlier in the video - like why did the camera suddenly cut off when you were nearing the gas station? Or why are you now in Germany when you just showed yourself in Norway, headed to Sweden? Or explaining that your plans are changing and how, in the next video, we are NOT going to be seeing such and such waterfalls because you aren't going there after all and why. But unless it's a really compelling story, like how you almost got arrested or that the borders are closed because of a civil war or global pandemic and you are stuck in one place until further notice, keep it short. 
   
• Be kind to street animals or I will come after you like the raging banshee I can be. 
   
• Go back and read bullet #1. It really is the most important.  

Ideal length for a travel video episode for me? No longer than 20 minutes. Any longer than that should be broken up into two shorter videos. 

What about your personality? Honestly, I really don't care. My favorite travel vlogger is bubbling and bright and has a delightful and bouncy personality. My other two favorite travel vloggers speak in almost monotone, don't say much and are even hard to understand sometimes. But when it comes to my favorite travel vloggers, they do all of those first bullet points and many of the ones that follow. 

Those are the reasons I will keep watching your travel video or reading your travel blog. And if you don't want me as a subscriber, that's FINE. You absolutely cannot please everyone all the time. 

Two new travel resources from me

A blog about something travel-related again! 

I've created two new pages on the travel-portion of my web site: one to encourage people to be better prepared for a public health crisis while traveling and one to encourage people to travel with respect to others and their surroundings. Both were inspired by the current global pandemic or current political climate. 

travel with respect
To be able to travel - and to travel abroad - is a sign of your privilege. You absolutely should travel if you are able - it's a wonderful, soul-enriching act. But never forget that to be able to travel depends on your economic status, your passport and how the world labels or categorizes you. To be able to travel is a privilege. People without your privilege see you, the person that has such. And, sometimes, they see your pity and condensation. Or your outright disrespect and arrogance. And that contributes how they see and treat all travelers - including me. These are tips for how not to be an asshole while traveling - and I can't believe anyone needs this guidance but, based on what I've seen - yeah, a lot of people don't know this.

Traveling during a global pandemic
Welcome to the reality that, while you are out having a great time far from home, an intense disaster, even a global pandemic, can break out and not only alter your travel plans but force you to evacuate and get home ASAP. It's actually always been a possibility, but while there were stories here and there of travelers stranded somewhere because of a disaster, or having difficulty re-entering their home country because they are coming from a place with a widespread disease outbreak, the novel coronavirus pandemic has brought home the reality that this can happen to anyone, anywhere. If you are going to travel before the global pandemic is over, these are suggestions that will keep you safe, keep others safe from you, and help you prepare beforehand in case you need to get out of a dicey situation.

I have no idea if these will really help people. I'm expecting criticism for being sanctimonious and a killjoy. So be it. 

How Trump's presidency endangers American travelers abroad

This blog elsewhere talks about the increased danger aid workers from the USA will now face when working abroad, and many of these risks are the same for anyone traveling overseas. For instance, Trump has said he will reauthorize waterboarding and other forms of torture. This, coupled with his stated attitudes about Muslims, immigrants and refugees from Syria, has the potential to put people from the USA traveling overseas at risk, not just aid workers.

When I lived abroad from 2001 - 2009, and someone discovered where I was from, the European, Arab, Muslim, whomever I was talking to was almost always welcoming and warm. The vast majority of people did not judge me by the George Bush government nor my nationality. But that was a different time and circumstance: George Bush did not frequently threaten other countries with destruction and insult entire religions. He invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, which caused the deaths of many thousands of people, but there were also people in those countries that supported those invasions, and some neighboring countries that did as well. I worked in Afghanistan in 2007, and I made sure the Afghans I worked with knew my heart was in helping them, not bombing them - and everyone I encountered welcomed me (and many are still good friends).

By contrast to Bush, Donald Trump has been boisterous with his threats and insults and promises of human rights abuses and destruction. Therefore, if you are someone from the USA that is traveling abroad, that means you need to be even more cautious about to whom you reveal your nationality.

I did not wear anything that indicated that I was from the USA when I lived and abroad, and I did not volunteer my nationality unless I was asked directly. I strongly suggest you do the same.

If you are financially sound enough - privileged enough - to travel abroad, and people can tell you are from the USA by looking at you or hearing you, you can expect people to ask you about this election and how you voted. You have to decide how you are going to answer that. If you voted for Hillary Clinton, you will probably receive a warm reception; she is well liked and respected abroad in most (but not all) circumstances, and such a vote shows you do not support Donald Trump. If you did vote for Donald Trump, I strongly suggest you lie - except in Russia, where you will be embraced as a hero.

Distancing yourself on social media, including Facebook, from the policies and statements of Donald Trump could help you as you meet people from other countries, people deeply angered and further disempowered by Trump’s foreign policy. That doesn’t mean you post anti-Trump memes on Instagram or are ever obligated to say publicly whom you voted for. Rather, it could mean posting sometimes on social media of your support of and concern for Muslim Americans, Syrian refugees, people in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, the Occupied Palestinian territories, human rights for immigrants, etc., and your condemnation of waterboarding, torture and any violations of human rights.

Another consideration is how the Trump presidency puts women at greater risk for harassment, at home or abroad. Again, as this blog about aid and development work notes. the incoming USA President has, by his statements and behavior, made it acceptable for anyone, including politicians and other government representatives, to rate women by their looks and to insult women reporters, politicians, artists and celebrities with most vile statements about their character, appearance – even their sexuality. It will be hard to demand such comments stop when the head of the most powerful country on Earth is saying the same.

Be careful out there. Don't assume that just because things have gone well for days or weeks they won't suddenly, and violently, go wrong. Keep your eyes and ears open, and get out of any situation quickly if there is even a hint it could turn sour. And have the number of your nearest embassy on your person somewhere at ALL times.

Explore the Oregon Desert Trail - Oct 10, 2016, Portland, Oregon event

Eastern Oregon beckons for your next adventure!

The Oregon Natural Desert Association and the Mountain Shop invite you on  to learn about new opportunities to explore your public land on the 750 mile Oregon Desert Trail on foot, by bike or packraft, via an October 10th event at the Mountain Shop, 1510 NE 37th Ave, Portland, Oregon. Doors open at 5 p.m., with the panel beginning at 6 p.m. Space is limited, so register for the free event at ODTBootsBikeBoat.eventbrite.com.

Join bikepacker Gabriel Amadeus, ultra-runner Christof Teuscher, thru-hiker Brian “Tomato” Boshart, and packrafter Renee “She-ra” Patrick for a panel discussion about their adventures in the high desert, and the importance of public lands for recreation.

Enjoy free beer from Base Camp Brewing, explore lightweight gear options from Six Moon Design, and score some great raffle prizes from Six Moon Designs, Oboz, Sawyer, Clif Bar, TOAKS, Gerber, Gossamer Gear, Trail Butter, Superfeet and more.

The 750 mile Oregon Desert Trail traverses some of the most spectacular natural areas of the state’s dry side, including Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, Steens Mountain and the Owyhee Canyonlands. Thanks to thousands of volunteer and staff hours, the guide material, maps, GPS tracks and waypoints, and town information are all freely available for anyone to create his or her own Oregon Desert Trail adventure. With a western terminus in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness and an eastern terminus in the Lake Owyhee State Park near the Idaho border, this route crosses mountains, vast deserts, rivers and canyons. It links existing trails, old Jeep tracks, historical wagon roads and cross-country navigation, and is accessible at different points by bicycle, horseback and raft in addition to foot. Some sections offer easy walks along well-marked paths. Other areas require GPS skills, significant outdoor experience and serious preparation, particularly for water sources.

The Oregon Desert Trail guide

Also of note, the Oregon Natural Desert Association has asked federal agencies to consider designating the Oregon Desert Trail as a National Recreation Trail "Connecting Trail" linking the existing Fremont National Recreation Trail and the Oregon High Desert National Recreation Trail. (See othis Nov. 8, 2013 letter.) This would result in the more formal adoption of the route, allowing for signage, inclusion on federal maps and more.

The association wants feedback from users and from the communities surrounding the trail so they can work with land management agencies to refine the ODT and offer the best information possible to visitors to our public lands: Please contact the organization at renee@onda.org. And consider sharing your adventures on the trail on our High Desert Trip Reports page.

Postcards forever

After my grandfather died, my Mamaw decided it was time to travel, something Papaw never enjoyed. So, she started "Going Off", a term she used that would send me and my siblings into hysterics. She went all over the USA, and even overseas.

In 2009, my sister, my sisters-in-law and I all got together to clean out Mamaw's house for her big move to downtown Henderson, and I found, as my sister put it, "a blue million post cards" that Mamaw bought from all over, but never sent. We wondered what to do with them, and then one of my sisters-in-law laughed and said I should take them and then send them back to the family over the years.

I don't know if she was kidding or not, but that's what I've done, since 2009, sending cards to my  to my siblings with my own weird commentary. And now I've added my two nieces to the send list and, apparently, they love it. These are the first cards they received - my sister took a photo.

What's amazing is how often I can find postcards in the stash for places I've just been or am going to. I can't decide if I should hold on to the postcards she bought in Greece but never sent, because I really do plan on going there once we move back to Europe some day.

Mamaw not only bought postcards, she also grabbed all the free ones that were offered. As a result, she had probably 10 from some big restaurant in, I think, Wisconsin, that claimed to have world famous fried chicken. For a few months, those are the only ones I sent to family.

For a while, I sent the postcards to Mamaw too, with notes like, "Do you remember going here?" But unfortunately, my grandmother is now quite blind. In fact, she doesn't remember traveling. But her form of dementia is different than Alzheimer's - she doesn't remember the trips, but does remember that we've told her that she used to travel. The last time I was in Hendo, I sat with her in rocking chairs out on the front porch of the senior home where she lives now and asked her if she remembered coming to visit me in San Francisco. "No, I don't remember, but tell me about it."

So I did. I told her about how, while we toured San Francisco, she had told me she didn't want to eat Chinese food because she didn't like it, and when I asked her what Chinese food she'd had that she didn't like, she'd answered, "I haven't ever eaten it, because I don't like it." But then she'd tried beef and broccoli at a Chinese restaurant and couldn't get enough of it, and had eaten Chinese food ever since. And how the evening of that same day, we had gone to Fisherman's Wharf for supper, and I'd eaten sautéed seafood, while she'd eaten fried fish, and when she got home, she told Mom I'd eaten raw fish (if it was fried, it wasn't cooked!). I told her about how, at some point on this epic train and bus trip, she and her travel companion had gone to bed early at their hotel, then gotten up in the morning, packed up, gone down for breakfast, and found out that they'd been asleep only a couple of hours.

And she laughed and laughed. And when I was done, she said, "Well, I don't remember any of that, but I sure had fun, didn't I!"

Yes, Mamaw, you did. And the postcards prove it.