You can also watch and share the video for this on Facebook.
Next month marks my one year anniversary into the world of creating travel videos. What started out as a side hustle to help me create social media share worthy content for my travel business, soon developed into a passion and is now one of my favorite parts of running Travel is Life. Please subscribe to my Facebook channel while you're here and follow along with my video stories. 2019 is going to be an exciting year!
When I first got into my video making, I wanted to learn from the best, so I began paying closer attention to other travel video creators. Particularly I was interested in solo travel vloggers, as opposed to travel companies with big budgets or video curation channels that syndicated other people's work. And even more specifically, I was looking for Facebook travel vloggers, not YouTube vloggers. I've learned that different types of video content work better on each platform, and my style of mini-documentary travel stories cater more towards Facebook's News Feed discovery platform than YouTube's subscription based platform.
To give you an idea of how much more popular my videos are on Facebook, I just crossed 12,000 Followers on Facebook compared to my 344 Subscribers on YouTube – and I've published all my videos on both platforms. The ability to have my video content reach new audiences through Facebook's Share button is unrivaled on any other video platform at this time, but that's a topic for a different post.
If you're a travel video creator also looking to learn from the best, or you simply love travel videos and are looking for some new channels to follow, here's my list of travel vloggers on Facebook to follow in 2019.
Top Travel Shows on Facebook Watch (2019 Edition)
#1 – Nuseir Yassin
By now, you've heard of Nas Daily, right? At least one of your travel friends have shared his videos in the past. (If not, you'll start seeing them everywhere now that you're paying attention.) Nuseir Yassin has created daily 1-minute videos on Facebook under the page Nas Daily for the past 953 days and counting. I've watched him build his fan base to over 10 million subscribers in the past 2 1/2 years.
He's one of the hardest working guys in the biz and has certainly earned his success every step of the way. He's recently announced that he will stop making daily one minute videos after he hits Day 1000, but hasn't shared what's coming next – although I'm confident he's got something spectacular is in the works. See my other article 21 Things I Learned From Nas Daily for a deeper look at his work.
On the subject of working hard, here's a great video from Nas Daily entitled Why I Never Take A Day Off. It's an inspiring one for any other video makers reading this post:
#2 – Mitch Summers
Mitch started his journey into video making with a show called The Unexpected Journey that was based on his “unexpected journey” of not only self discovery, but his journey in search of great stories about the people and places he met along the way.
I had the pleasure of meeting Mitch for dinner in Raleigh North Carolina earlier this year, and talking shop with Mitch made me realize just how little I knew about the technical side of video making – he's a real pro. (I consider myself more of a storyteller with a camera than a professional videographer.)
The day after I met Mitch, he flew to Canada to meet The Nas Daily Team – which he was invited to join. (Mitch's unexpected journey continued.) A couple weeks after that, he changed his page name from The Unexpected Journey to Mitch Summers so that he could diversify his videos away from just travel themed stories and tackle other topics that are close to his heart. However, names aside, he's still on the road full time and putting out travel themed videos which I know you'll love. His videos get better each week.
Here's one of my favorites from Mitch entitled The Missing Ingredient in Life. It's one of his more recent videos from when he began to tackle topics outside of travel:
#3 – Drew Binsky
I'll add that this list is in no particular order – because Drew Binsky is a pioneer in the travel vlogging world and certainly not in “3rd place” on anyone's list. (I just like to number things.) When I first got into creating travel videos, people kept asking me, “Have you seen Drew Binsky's videos?” – which at the time, I had not, but now I'm a regular viewer and you will be too once you see what he's all about. Drew's been on the road for almost 2500 days and counting, has visited over 140 countries since 2012, and plans on visiting all of them before he turns 30. Ah to be young again!
He recently started traveling with a full time cameraman and editor so his videos are evolving by not having to be the guy holding the camera anymore. We're able to see a lot more Binsky! Here's a great example of the type of videos you can expect on his channel. This one's entitled Most Unique Tribe in Asia? (LONG NECKS).
#4 Andrea Valeria
I was introduced to Andrea's video channel It's a Travel O.D. by my business partner Stephanie Linder, who has been following Andrea's hybrid digital nomadic / traveler video channel since she first entered the world of digital nomadism, and I've been watching Andrea's channel ever since. She primarily vlogs about life as a full time traveler and her adventures working from the road through remote work opportunities. If you'd like to learn more about Andrea's work, she was kind enough to guest host an Internet Crash Course with Stephanie called Behind The Vlog where she teaches you how to get started elevating your brand and reaching a larger audience with video.
Here's a great one from Andrea and a classic example of her work and the types of subjects she tackles. This video is entitled Travel To Get Over a Breakup.
#5 Ariel Viera
I put out a request to my Facebook network to tell me to their favorite Facebook travel vloggers, and Andrea introduced me to Ariel Viera, creator of the Urbanist channel – the show that explores the history of cities. I love cities so I was excited to learn about Ariel's work. Whenever I fly into a new country to explore, I often start in its capital city because they are a great place to begin an adventure. You can typically get to anywhere in a country from the capital. Big cities are a melting pot of culture, history, and FOOD! What's especially interesting about Ariel's work is that he's built up a big following doing primarily Facebook LIVE videos. That's impressive to me. Live video is something I've been dabbling with on my personal profile the past couple months because I'd like to integrate it into Travel is Life in 2019. I'm excited to follow along with Ariel's channel in the coming year and learn from the Live Video Master himself.
Fair warning – his videos are long. Some of his live videos exceed 2 hours. Length comes with the territory of producing live, raw, and uncut videos. Here's an interesting one from Ariel entitled Epic History of Maine Lobster. This video is one from his edited collection so that you can an idea of his style in a short video, but it still has his live vlogging vibe:
#6 Nowhere Men
Andrea also introduced me to Alex, Brian & Eric – aka: Nowhere Men – three friends who have been traveling around the world together for the past few years making videos about real people doing inspiring things. Their adventure started with a 3 month drive around the world making a TV show, and then they took their videos to Facebook. Eric left the group to pursue an education in business school but Alex and Brian are still going strong – so stay tuned next year. They've got an exciting channel!
Here's a recent video from NoWhere Men entitled A Day in the Life of a NYC SHOE SHINER!
#7 Tyson Mayr
My friend Diana Godoy introduced me to Tyson Mayr's channel The Naked Traveller and two things caught my eye: 1) The name of his channel – because who hasn't thought about how much easier it'd be to pack for travel if you didn't need clothes! (Okay, he's not really naked…) 2) His appreciation for Ecuador – a country that I've grown to love after having spent 7 months of the past 2 years in Ecuador between other travels. (By the way, you might remember Diana from the video I did on about her and Alex's cafe in Quito Ecuador that has fostered over 100 dogs and cats. Tyson also met Diana through visiting Cafe Mosaico.) Tyson's been backpacking the world since 2009, and although he primarily documents his travels through photos via his Instagram channel, he also regularly puts out travel video content. I also read that he's got a project in the works with Nat Geo so be on the lookout for that.
Here's an example of the types of videos you can find on The Naked Traveller page:
#8 Rick Steves
Everyone in the travel biz knows Rick Steves right? Host of the tv show Rick Steves' Europe on PBS since 2000 and the radio show Travel with Rick Steves since 2005. Famous travel personality, author, and guide book creator. Did you know that he's also got a Facebook Watch channel? It's everything you'd expect from Rick Steves too – classic travel education. If you've always been a fan of Rick Steves, you'll also want to follow along with his Facebook videos which compliment his bigger work.
Here's an example of the type of videos you can expect from Rick Steves:
#9 Jake Wettern
My friend John Williams introduced me to Jake Wettern's channel iamjake – which documents his journey living in his Jeep Wrangler “Jade” with his dog Annie. From the videos I watched, I think Jake does a great job blending a raw vlogging style with edited/produced videos. His videos have got some production flair which adds to the quality, but still offers a freeform style as if you're right there living the adventure with him. I got wrapped up into his stories right away and felt like I was there with him and his friends.
This video of his from Baja Mexico is a great example of what you can expect on his channel:
#10 Christian LeBlanc
When I first got into making videos last year, my friend Jon Santangelo introduced me to Christian LeBlanc's channel. (You might remember Jon from his article on this site about living and working remotely in Makati Philippines.) On Christian's page Lost LeBlanc, he vlogs about leaving behind the corporate world and writing a new story for his life. The first videos I ever saw of his were from the Philippines – where Jon and I had recently connected. Jon had wanted to show me some of Christian's videos from areas that we had previously visited. Christian's got a nice laid back vibe to his videos and he'll show you some amazingly beautiful places around the world.
Here's one of the first videos I ever watched of his from the Philippines:
Who's your favorite travel vloggers on Facebook?
As you can probably tell, this isn't an official “best travel vlogger” list by any means, and there's no award for making the list. I only titled the post “Top Travel Vloggers On Facebook” so that people could easily find it on Google and discover these video creators. (However if you made it on this list, I will happily send you an official Travel is Life T-shirt if you'd like one. Just e-mail me your current mailing address.) The list is very anecdotal and showcases travel personalities who I've encountered, befriended, or pulled inspiration from this past year, as well as a few names that I was just recently introduced to.
The real reason I put together this list is to ask you…
Who's YOUR favorite travel vlogger on Facebook?
I'd love to continue expanding my horizon, discovering other travel personalities, and learning from video makers who are better than me. Consider this Top 10 List a starting point for discussion. Now I'd love to hear from you. Drop a link in the comments section to your favorite Facebook travel vlogger – or if you are one yourself, I'd love to see your page, so feel free to drop a link to that too. (For the sake of keeping this a safe place for my readers to click on links in the comments, please only leave direct links to pages on Facebook. I'll delete non-Facebook URLs.)
I feel like female travel vloggers aren't represented well enough here! That's my fault and unintentional. It's just the way the cookie crumbled when doing my own research and reaching out to my network for their suggestions. Although a love for travel transcends all genders, I'd especially love to hear who your favorite female travel vloggers are on Facebook so that next year's list can be more evenly balanced.
And while you're here, please be sure to subscribe to my videos on Facebook, or if you'd prefer YouTube, I'm on there too. Thanks for reading and happy travels!
PS: If you're a travel blogger or vlogger looking to grow your online presence and connect with other like minded travel professionals, check out my Travel Blogger Success Kit and consider joining Travel is Life Creators. We'd love to have you!
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