Youtuber Review

September 20 2025

Who is GeoWizard?

The straight-line missions and nostalgic feel of the adventures that the Youtuber GeoWizard undertakes have been something I’ve started to look forward to in my Youtube subscription box.

The first of his series that I watched was his straight line mission across Norway. It is exactly what it sounds like: GeoWizard attempts to cross the country in a perfectly straight line while following his GPS and climbing over whatever obstacles he encounters. He has done Wales and England as well, and a community of straight line missioners have been formed to see who can get the straightest line.

Another iconic series on GeoWizard’s channel are the no road missions when he attempts to cross English cities without walking down (crossing is allowed) a single road. This sounds impossible at first but somehow he is able to plot routes that make it possible by utilizing parks, shopping malls, and parking lots. It seems the secret to his success though is using urban rivers and tunnel systems that seem pretty harrowing. I imagine he is often up to his knees in city muck and trash flowing through these polluted waterways. He just finished a no roads mission across greater London where he had to duck down in a cramped tunnel to complete the mission.

My favorite series of his are definitely the “Tenner in my Pocket” videos. He’s only done a couple so far, but has just announced that he will be going to Austria in order to film a new entry in the series. Here he sees how long he can stretch 10 pounds (I guess euros in Austria) while also living off the land and the kindness of strangers. His series along the coast in Cornwall was incredible and it’s great to see the kindness of all the people he runs into. Of course with just ten pounds he must find places outdoors to sleep which contributes to the sense of adventure.

GeoWizard also does one off videos like hitchhiking from England to Germany in order to get to the final of the Euros.

Due to the significant amount of planning that goes into his adventures, GeoWizard often does videos of Geoguessr, or finding the location of various images that subscribers send him in order to have a more consistent schedule of content.

I have to say he also does a pretty good job with sponsorships and only accepting those where he really believes in the product. Possibly in order to offset this loss in potential revenue, he has an extensive number of adventures that are exclusive to his Patreon page which is a bit disappointing since I’m sure they would generate quite a bit of revenue in all the views they would get on Youtube.

Overall, GeoWizard seems like a really down to earth guy and one of those cases where the sense is that the right person made it. It’s wonderful to see that he’s started a family, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts slowing down on content. Definitely check out his channel if you’re into little adventures and geography.

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August 15 2025

Who are Kara and Nate?

Luka Youtuber Review 0

I came across the Kara and Nate youtube channel back in 2017 through their vlogs about travelling on the trans Siberian railway. Their travel videos were wholesome ways of experiencing visiting each country that the pair explored.

For a while, before they became a major success, their travel was also pretty relatable because they travelled fairly cheaply. It was really this mid 2017-early 2019 period that I was the most interested in Kara and Nate. But it was also going back to their earlier library of videos like their series trekking to Everest base camp and other adventures that made me a fan.

Eventually they created the goal for themselves to visit 100 countries, but this begged the question of what would happen with their channel afterwards. Turns out that Covid happened and the pair made the smart pivot to living in a van and driving around the US. At the time this was still a novel idea, but man the amount of people who have converted vans now and are making “van life” content is crazy to me. Subscribers tuned in to see Kara and Nate making modifications to the van and trying to fix things that would regularly break. They seemed to have an especially bad time with the converter. A memorable series of videos from this period of the channel is Nate biking across Colorado with his brother, Dusty, and good friend, Rick. It was here that Nate realized he liked doing physical challenges which would become an integral part of the channel in the future.

After the world opened back up again I became less interested in the Kara and Nate channel. Many of their videos became things that were not as interesting to me or relatable, though every now and then I would return to the channel and check out one of their latest adventures. Some of their luxury train rides are cool to see. And of course I watched Nate run his 100 mile race. The pair definitely seem to be doing what they want to do, which is great.

My final criticism of them though is their choice to be sponsored by AG1 which looks like a pretty nasty health drink. To me it seems like an overpriced multi vitamin, but who knows. I’ve also heard from some that AG1 isn’t actually very good for you. I’d be interested in any of you have tried it and what you thought.

Kara and Nate have also started various businesses including “Faredrop” which aggregates cheap airfares and “Dailydrop” which is a daily email newsletter about ways to maximize miles and inform readers about various other travel related deals.

Each year Kara and Nate make an annual video looking ahead at their plans for the year. In their 2025 video it sounded like this will be their last year of full time travel and youtubing. It seems they finally want to settle down, get a house, and have children. I’m curious whether they will continue to make a video every now and then or retire completely. Nevertheless they’ve had quite the run and it’s been fun to follow them all this time. Definitely check out their channel if you’ve never heard of them.

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July 11 2025

Who is Ken Abroad?

Luka Youtuber Review 0

I am going to start doing posts that offer commentary about popular travel youtubers. Today I am taking a closer look at Ken Abroad who I started watching recently. His content offers down to earth insights into what visiting various countries around the world is really like. He is definitely mostly focused on traveling to various cities rather than going to the countryside. Ken has also made videos about his life in Germany and returning home after a long period travelling. It’s cool to see where he is from and the culture that informs what he compares his travel experiences to. Ken is unique in this way because he is the only large travel influencer I know of who has a German background. He has increasingly involved loved ones in his journeys to get their reactions to new places. He has travelled with his mom and girlfriend.

Ken’s “1st arrival” videos are really great. He vlogs himself navigating the immigration process after landing in a new country as well as his experience locating public transport, buying a metro ticket, and making his way to his hotel. Ken may get hungry and stop for a bite to eat and speak with locals. He also gives viewers an insight into what his first impressions are. Not only are these videos interesting, but you can learn a lot and reduce some of the stress you might be feeling about navigating public transport in a new country, since you have already seen Ken’s video, and know what to do. If he is travelling to a country less frequented by tourists or with strong preconceptions he compares his experience with stories presented in the media, most recently with his trip to Mexico. He also focused on how the media showed Xin Xiang (the Western Chinese province) when he visited there. My criticism of this would be that there can easily still be human rights abuses going on that are not visible to travellers. And saying in a video that oh this place is totally fine can undermine serious reporting that has gone into communicating these serious issues.

I would not call Ken a budget traveller because he stays in Western hotel chains and takes advantage of other conveniences such as ubers. As a result, Ken’s channel fits in a nice middle ground between luxury content and those more focused on backpacking and staying in super cheap accommodations, giving it a more relatable feel for many travellers. That being said, Ken often takes viewers along on walks through the street. He has gotten a shave on a street corner in Pakistan and I just watched him get his shoes cleaned in Mexico City. He also often eats some questionable looking street food which I find funny. I would think that Ken would constantly have food poisoning, but apparently the worst he has had was from some chicken nuggets in his hotel in Kathmandu. When he walks around, Ken provides the prices for everything which is fantastic.

Ken also strikes a good balance of showing his experience exploring popular tourist destinations in the places he visits with going to places I don’t know of. This makes sense and gives viewers the sense that they are learning about new places in the world while watching. Of course you want to experience the must see sites that are world famous, but you also want to explore places and discover things on your own. Since Ken records things he finds off the beaten path this also serves as a way of communicating these to his audience and giving them some less frequented places to visit in tons of cities. Hope this gives you an idea of a Youtuber to check out if Ken’s videos sound interesting to you.