Alright guys so this is a very different sort of video from what we normally make.
We've realized that in going around the world and telling you about all these
cool adventures we've had,
there's one thing that we have not really told you about.....
and that would be us.
The reason we haven't told you our stories because it's all over the place and it
spans multiple years. So this video is all about our YouTube story,
who we are, where we come from, how we started making films and how we got to where we are.
So let's rewind 30 years ago to 1986. - 30 years ago I was born, but before that our
parents met while traveling. So both of our parents are travelers. Our mom is
from California, and she was a flight attendant for Pan Am back in the day.
And our dad is from New Zealand, and they met on a train in Switzerland. Our mom was
lost and our dad had a map. They moved in together in San Diego( married in 1983)
and in 1986 Mark was born. In 1988 Alex came along. We grew up on the go and between
cultures. A combination of having a mother who was working, going all
around the world and dad who is from a different country really showed us that
the world was a big place at a young age.
What were we like as children? Oh my god terrible!
When we were growing up Alex and I were total shitheads. We were always
getting in trouble, but I definitely was the one that kind of played the goody -good,
and Alex was always getting in trouble. We're from San Diego. We went to high school,
and then from San Diego,
Mark you went to UCLA and spent four years in Los Angeles. - Right. - I moved to Santa Barbara
and went to UC Santa Barbara and spent three years there. I also studied
abroad for a year the University of Otago in Dunedin in New Zealand.
So we should also clarify that we're dual citizens. We forgot to say that.
We are citizens of New Zealand and America.
I've always wanted to make the world a better place, and during college I thought
that being involved in politics was a good way to do that so I studied economics and
politics.
I did internships at the United States Department of State. Why don't you talk about
you going to college. What was it like a college? - I don't know. - Alex is a
Santa Barbarian.
I went to UC Santa Barbara voted by Playboy as number one
party school in the United States. Isla Vista is this little commune of amazingness.
It's right at the beach.
you get everywhere by bicycle or skateboard. - It's kind of like a square mile of party flop houses.
But anyways, I studied history and cultural anthropology. My philosophy is
if you're going to go to school,
you should be studying something that you're legitimately interested in.
The important thing is to never let your schooling get in the way of your
education.
Ok so after college I graduated. I moved to India where I got a job working at
a microfinance bank- a non-profit wing of a sugar company and I was
helping farmers get access to credit, to internet, irrigation.
I was in India for about five months. My internship took me between the capital
of Mumbai and the sugar fields of Karnataka in the south of India.
At the end of my internship, I was offered a full-time job.
I turned it down. I was falling in love with writing and wanted to do
something creative
I turned it down, and I left Mumbai. And about a week later, there was a terrorist attack
that struck the city, and hit all the places I would hang out.
It basically gave me a mission in my life: I could have been killed for what I
represent rather than who I am. I wanted to use my creative skills to foster
communication and understanding between different cultures. - While Mark was doing
that I was still in college and I was reading his emails that eventually
turned into a blog.
He backpacked all over Southeast Asia. I was in the library reading it and
getting some serious wanderlust. Graduated from college.
We moved to Spain. Mark was out there a year before hand
teaching English, and I applied for the same program and spent my first year in
Spain in Galicia which is in ... it's a region above Portugal on the northwest
coast of the Iberian Peninsula. That summer I got invited on a documentary
expedition to Ecuador in search of lost Inca gold. It was basically a treasure hunt,
glorified treasure hunt.
We were in the mountains for two weeks. In the Sincholagua Mountains
following this thing called Valverdes, and it was basically
like a treasure map written in the 1500s. We didn't find any gold, but it did
really open my eyes to the world of adventure film making.
Through that expedition, I met a guy who turned out to be a mentor for me.
His name is Ken Hames.
He is a former British Special Forces officer turned BBC television presenter.
He really coached me through a lot of my doubts in the beginning
when I was starting to make films.
So Alex and I were both living in Spain. We did this through a program called
Auxiliares de Conversacion. Super good. You get a visa. You get a paycheck.
I was using my time to pursue creative writing,
and Alex used his time to start making videos. So at this point Alex and I had
not lived together for eight years.
Basically we didn't get along at all. - No you were a dick.
You were a bigger dick. A family friend said, "You know you guys are so different
that you should make a travel TV show where each of you shows your
different perspective ." So this would have been the fall of 2012
We founded Vagabrothers. We wrote a mission statement about trying to
explore the world, meet with locals and inspire other people to do the same thing.
We wrote the idea down. We sent it to production companies. They loved it.
They said, "Let's see you guys on camera." So we made our first video, filmed it on GoPro,
sent it off and they said ... - After we got the news that we sucked and they didn't want
to work with us,
we decided that we were going to make our own TV show
and that's when we really started putting a lot of effort into Vagabrothers.
We decided we were going to create a video every week from exploring
around the Basque Country where we were living and teaching English and making a
new video from a new adventure every single week. It's now March of 2014. - 13.
It's now March of 2014. - 13. - Okay you're right. Sorry. - It's 2013. - 2013 my visa was expiring
I had 15 days to get out of Spain.
My family is writing me going: "Ok Mark you've tried to be a writer,
you've tried to do YouTube. Get a job! I go on Twitter that night, and I see a tweet
saying.... Win a six-month trip around the world and fifty thousand dollars.
All you have to do is make a three minute video about any destination in the world.
So the one video that we hadn't made during our time in the Basque Country
was about San Sebastian, where we were living.
We get 15 days until I had to leave the country. We wrote a script. It rained for
13 days. We cut the script down to its bare bones essentials, and then we
had a day of sun. We went out and filmed it.
Everything just worked perfectly, and when it all fell into place and we
exported the video
it was this feeling like .....hey maybe, maybe we could win this and fast forward
a couple more months......
We did win it, and we started The Biggest, Baddest Bucket List.
First and foremost, we should say it was an amazing experience. One of the
downsides was that it was absolutely exhausting. The idea was 25 destinations
in 25 weeks.
I think in the first six weeks we made more videos than we had ever made previously.
We had to produce two videos a week for six months straight on the
road. - On the road.
Editing, uploading, filming, presenting. It was really intense. It was a grind.
I think one of the strange things that happens in life is when you get scared
of actually getting what you want. Right before we went on that trip
I remember just like the day before looking in the mirror ooohh shit. Am I going to
totally f*** this up? How are we going to pull it off? But you know what?
We just did one thing at a time.
I think that's the key. We just did one step at a time, and we just got over
different obstacles, and we made it through.
I think we had gotten a taste of the digital nomad lifestyle and
didn't want to go back to the traditional 9-5 kind of career.. So we
brainstormed for a while, and we launched our new channel Vagabrothers, which you
guys are watching now. And thank you so much for subscribing and watching our videos.
Since february 2014, we have gone through many kind of changes and
evolutions in the videos that we make, but the meaning
and the reason we do it is the same. - I think another big important step in our
journey was not just focusing on the travel aspect, on travel storytelling, but
also really getting into YouTube. The BBB contest showed us that YouTube could be
an end in and of itself. Through that contest, we got introduced to Jack and Finn Harries
from Jacksgap. They were flown out to meet us in Dubai and also got introduced
to Louie Cole who introduced us to Ben(Brown) and Steve(Booker), and we started discovering the
YouTube community, which is why we're doing this video because one of the
things that we realized after two years of being on YouTube is that you guys
don't really know that much about us. We've shared a lot of this stuff before,
but we've done it in different episodes or in moments where it's not
all here for you. So this video, the goal of this video is really just to
reintroduce ourselves, to allow ourselves, to be vulnerable and open and to
hopefully connect on a deeper level with all of you Vagabuddies out there
because realistically in the last six months we've gotten so many amazing
comments from you guys that are inspiring us to keep the axe to the grind
and really get out there and make these videos for you guys.
I think the takeaway is just is just a big THANK YOU.
All the Vagabrothers supporters out there, Vagabuddies, all the Vagabuddies
out there. We could not be doing this without you.
Many thanks. Muchas gracias y obrigado
This whole experience.... our journey together, Mark on this weird amazing
thing that we've done together. I don't know. I feel so A: blessed. B: so
grateful for all the support
and all of the inspiration... and all of just the positive energy that you guys
send to us.
Now it's been quite the journey, and I think now what we're trying to do in my
perspective is we're trying to take the principles that got us into this
the idea of creating understanding between cultures through our creative
outputs... in trying to do that in a way that is able to be successful on
YouTube and able to earn us an income. So those have been the challenges
that we've been trying to figure out.
We've built this community of Vagabuddies all around the world.
We're at a hundred thousand subscribers right now, which is insane.
So thank you guys all for subscribing. We've got a team of volunteers
who are bringing our videos into a dozen languages around the world, which
is helping us make this channel more accessible. Vagabrothers translation
team ...you guys are amazing. We love you so much. If you're interested in
helping us translate our videos from English into whatever language you speak,
there's a link in the info box that will show you all the videos available to
translate into your language.
But guys, it's been a long therapeutic speak with you.
So we just want to say thank you guys so much
if you enjoy this video, you guys know what to do, and if you have any more
questions, please put them in the comments section. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
More videos you want to know about us? Any questions in particular? I think
we're going to do a 25 things you don't know about me and Alex sort of video.
We'll probably so a snapchat Q&A
and basically we just want to say that we love you guys, and thank you so much
for sticking around and supporting us. - If you liked the video give it a
thumbs- up, share with your friends and subscribe to vagabrothers for travel
videos every week. And in the meantime remember to stay curious, keep exploring,
and we will see all of you Vagabuddies on the road.
Peace. Love ya.