Travelling YouTubers Who Inspire Wanderlust

If you’ve ever travelled before, you know what wanderlust is. Once you arrive home after your vacation, you yearn for another trip right away. Seeing new people and learning about different cultures is one of my favorite things to do. Luckily, when I am unable to travel, I can turn to YouTube and watch videos of other people who travel. If you can’t travel right now, but still want to feel like you can, here are some of my favorite travelling YouTubers that you should watch.

Samuel & Audrey

What They Do

Samuel and Audrey travel all over the world and share their adventures. Most of their videos are “__ things to do in [city]” or trying local foods, but each video feels distinctly different. They post about 2-3 times per week, and are often in a different country each week.

Why I Like Them

When you watch the couple’s videos, you feel like you’re really there with them. I appreciate that they are just normal people. Their videos don’t come off as pretentious or elitist, and you can tell they genuinely enjoy travelling and sharing their experiences.

EatYourKimchi

What They Do

EatYourKimchi (otherwise known as Simon and Martina) are a Canadian couple that became well-known from sharing their experiences living as English teachers in South Korea. Now, they live in Japan, but they still share the same crazy meals, Insta-worthy experiences, and heartfelt content they always have.

Why I Like Them

Simon and Martina are not afraid to be completely themselves. They have tons of fun on the camera, but have also shared some of the hard times they’ve gone through, such as Martina’s struggle with the chronic condition Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which caused them to move to Japan for more accessibility. Plus, they’re Canadian, so I enjoy when they talk about growing up in my country.

Fun For Louis

What He Does

Louis started out as a gross-out channel, where he ate anything given to him. Now, he posts near-daily vlogs of his crazy adventures, and it seems like he is constantly in the midst of one. You’ll see some of the most unique experiences on his channel. Starting in August, he and his friend JP started circumnavigating the world, and you can see his many videos in this series.

Why I Like Him

Louis is fun-spirited and makes every video interesting. I can watch his videos every day and I don’t get tired of it. Since most of us can’t live the way he does, it is fun to live the adventures through him.

YouTube is one of my favorite websites, and travel channels are some of my favorites to watch. There are many more channels you should watch than what I’ve listed, but if you need somewhere to start, these channels will keep you entertained for days.

Is there a channel I missed? Tweet me @JuliaSotnykova to let me know!

Society6: A Graphic Designer's Heaven

Graphic designers often struggle to sell their own art. Either they don’t have the resources to print their designs, or they have a hard time marketing their works. It’s a problem that has been plaguing graphic designers for years. However, there is a site that has fixed this problem: Society6.

Society6 is a place for graphic designers to sell their work, and fans of fun designs to buy them. It’s fairly easy to begin selling; you simply join, verify your account, and you’re ready to sell! The process for uploading your images is also easy. You click the Sell button, and you are ready to upload.

Some artists are skeptical of Society6 for a few reasons. The first is their rights to their artwork. S6 states that even after uploading your designs, you control the rights to all of your pieces. People also tend to be concerned about the quality of their pieces, but you can easily find the pixel dimensions for a general art print, as well as the dimensions for some specialty objects.

Furthermore, you have the ability to choose which products you sell your designs on. If you only want to sell art prints, that is completely fine. If you want mugs, tapestries, throw pillows, and more with your design, you can also do that. It is completely customizable.

Finally, Society6 allows you to set the prices for your prints. That is the price you will be paid if you make a sale. However, if you want to sell your design on anything other than prints, S6 has a list of how much commission you would make per item. No matter what you sell, you’ll get paid through Paypal at the beginning of every month.

If you are a graphic designer and you don’t have your works on Society6, I strongly encourage you to consider the benefits. College students in particular love this site, and they are willing to spend a good chunk of money to get the high-quality products S6 provides. If you’re thinking about joining the site, check out their Artist Bootcamp article for advice on how to make the most of your business.

Best Cities for Graphic Designers: Beijing

So far in our series, we’ve covered two places in North America where graphic design is prevalent. For our third city, I wanted to branch out to other parts of the world. Today’s great city for a graphic designer is Beijing, China.

Many people think of China as simply a communist state, where everyone works in a factory. However, there is more to the story than that. China has a rich cultural and artistic scene, and Beijing is right at the heart of it. Considered the art capital of the country, Beijing is a great place for a graphic designer.

Let’s look at salary. Graphic designers in Beijing typically make no less than 234,000 Chinese Yen, which roughly translates to 45,500 CAD. A one-bedroom apartment in the center of Beijing costs about 1,139 CAD per month, and the cost of living aside from rent is about 685.00 CAD per month. This means you will have roughly 2,000 CAD left each month to use for entertainment or to save. Considering the cost of living is lower in Beijing than in Toronto, and you will likely have a higher salary, this can be a great place to live if you are looking to pursue your passion and save money for a few years.

There are a few things to note about working and living in China. There are very strict laws that govern the country, from censorship to control of the Internet. You also should be fluent in Mandarin, as it will be easier to get by than it would be if you relied on English. Furthermore, if you are not of East Asian descent, you may stick out in Beijing, and you could be targeted by criminals as an unsuspecting foreigner. However, if you can bypass these pitfalls, Beijing is a great place to make a nice living and save a decent amount of money, all while working in the field you want.