We are now nearly a fortnight shy of a full year since our travels came to a close (in fact, one year ago today, we were in Amsterdam, for what it’s worth). On and off since we settled in Raleigh, I dedicated many a night or weekend to working on a project. I had always envisioned compiling the videos we took during our travels, and putting them together in some way (I find the editing process to be a lot of fun, and have done the same after previous trips).

While I was conscious of this while we were traveling, I also did not want the capturing of videos to get in the way of our enjoying, experiencing and exploring. We were not traveling to these places and having new experiences solely to be captured on video (an influencer, I am not). Our travels were natural, and anything we captured on our phones was purely a bonus. For this reason, some places we captured the main attractions in all of its glory, and some we did not (A few stops, we hardly even took out our phones at all).

All that being said, I’d really like to share the finished product with you. Admittedly it’s quite lengthy, clocking in at nearly 54 minutes in its entirety. I know what you’re thinking, that’s a lot of time to dedicate watching someone else’s travels. In this post-Covid world we’re all living in, admittedly, we’ve all found ourselves with more time on our hands than usual. Feel free to watch, or don’t, at the pace of your choosing (Due to file size limitations, it needed to be chopped up into 5 separate videos).

Yes, there are far more important things going on in the world right now than this. But at the same time, it’s okay to breathe, and it’s okay to take time to laugh or be entertained. Without that, we’d all be in a much darker place.

I would like to add that in my very biased opinion, I honestly don’t think this reads as an hourlong glorified “look at us” sort of slide-show. Yes, Isabel and I most definitely feature. However, the deeper I dug into all the clips while I was putting this project together, I was pleasantly reminded that the main stars are all the places we explored, and not the two explorers.

I hope you see this as a chance to explore all these wonderful places with us. Whether it’s a country that is entirely foreign and new to you, or a city that you’ve been before (maybe this video brings you back to familiar sights? maybe it shows you a new side of a place that is otherwise familiar to you?) … Whatever your experience, I hope watching this brings you nearly as much joy as it brought to me while putting it together, and some semblance of the happiness that Isabel and I shared while on our adventure.

Here it is – enjoy!