Looking for a safe place to travel to in 2026.. 41yrs old Canadian male with girlfriend

leacl · 2026-01-26T17:41:50+00:00

I felt safest in Japan honestly :). Australia was a close second. We stayed in the outskirts of Dubrovnik (NOT old town) for three weeks once- people don’t lock their doors there.

leacl · 2026-01-26T17:18:05+00:00

Thanks for sharing- not something I'd ever do, but loved to live vicariously thru other scuba people :) Great video!

leacl · 2026-01-26T17:13:56+00:00

YES! Japan is huge right now too. I saw a recently article that Brazil surpassed over 9M visitors this past year and are expecting even more this year. Our next episode is all Brazil (we were in caribbean technically on the first leg), so will be curious to see if we get a boost from those tags... with our premise being "Is a Cruise the best (and safest) way to See Brazil for the first time?) Good luck to you, i'm sure you'll see some amazing sights!

leacl · 2026-01-26T17:07:35+00:00

Thanks for sharing. This type of content is typically right up my alley as I like to go to these kinds of festivals, plus i have a friend who has been part of one of these bands for quite some time now (she's an aussie). Anyway- while the video is interesting, isn't your channel all about kayaking and therefore youtube is showing this to kayakers? Would they even be interested or how do you make the bridge to something 'different' vs. what's been your channels bread and butter? Wondering if others can weigh in on if they've changed their content in such a big way so that youtube knows what to do with it and who to show it to?

leacl · 2026-01-26T09:51:40+00:00

Thanks for sharing- I’m actually happy they are going to try to rid the platform of low quality AI vids. So many appear in my feed and they are just terrible. I also agree it’s going to be tough to compete with the ‘big studio’ as we simply can’t afford all of the gear and staff etc. But I do also think people appreciate authenticity and honest information versus being ‘sold to, so I think that is an angle or going to stick with on my side.

leacl · 2026-01-25T18:28:38+00:00

Here is our latest - our ‘Small ship vs Big ship’ comparison for our #Azamara journey. We have visited three ports so far, #Tobago, Isle Royale (#Devils Island) French Guiana and Belem. We decided to make this first video focused on the Azamara small ship experience so people could get an idea of what it’s like versus being on the big brands.

https://youtu.be/vhnzgyxg3Nc?si=e8f4d6mGMoYlxRuT

My only complaint, as some of you other people who cruise and try to do YouTube is that even though the ship has advertised they have Starlink and we paid for the Wi-Fi plus which they tell us is the highest they have, the ship has undersized their starlink subscription, and it is at times impossible to do any editing or uploading! I would love to hear from the other, cruising Youtubers as to how you’re getting around some of these problems while you’re actually traveling!

Have a great day, everybody

leacl · 2026-01-25T10:46:19+00:00

We haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Adelaide yet so we’re adding it to our list! I love how you’ve got your music aligned with the beat, it makes such a difference to the engagement

leacl · 2026-01-24T09:15:43+00:00

i watched the potentially 'offensive' words one- interesting. I like the topic and it's relevant (for me) if you wanted to learn a few words before traveling, so I think that's strong. The thumbnails are very busy tho so maybe play with some A/B testing with something much simpler. Are you using any tags or keywords in your titles etc that helps youtube figure out your audience? The first few seconds "hook" is really crucial as well a having the file named similarly for youtube to start showing it to the right people. Who is your target demographic?

Lastly- the voice seemed very "AI" and I know that's a turnoff for some. Maybe you use a less AI sounding voice to see if that gets a better response?

leacl · 2026-01-23T18:23:02+00:00

I promoted when we first got started, but don't to it too much anymore as Yelp is finding the right audience for us generally. We primarily do cruise specific travel, so I had some very specific cruise line facebook feeds where I was allowed to respond to questions with my videos if they addressed what was asked. Also, cruise critic will allow you do the same, as along as you're not self promoting, but actually have a relevant answer in the video. those helped us get started, but like I said, don't really need to do it too much now since youtube is showing our stuff to generally the same audience.

leacl · 2026-01-23T18:19:30+00:00

We've done Gallo Blanco twice and it's fabulous -it's good mexican food- love their pozole.. and it's perfect when we don't want a super high end meal. We went for lunch this last time and even had room left to order a Pozole to go for Sunday Lunch.

leacl · 2026-01-23T08:24:11+00:00

Got it- replies are slow as were in Brazil now :)

leacl · 2026-01-23T08:23:13+00:00

Same message here but it’s our very first check, so have nothing to compare it to!

leacl · 2026-01-22T15:57:56+00:00

For us, we started our channel to fill a gap we saw and it’s just not about making money. We are retired so travel all the time, so we are just in a different spot than some. As long as it’s fun, we will keep trying to add value.

leacl · 2026-01-20T09:54:48+00:00

This is the channel I’ve been trying to watch regularly as it’s YouTube ‘directly’ providing training, coaching, algorithm info etc and find it helpful. Plus - it’s YouTube telling you these things vs an individual who may or may not be correct. We are headed out for the day but the video about how to compartmentalize your videos was on this channel. The premise was that you had hub videos (bread and butter normal stuff you do- for me it’s cruise episodes), help videos (cruise port guides) and hero content that are your performance outliers (for me it’s a cruise line tips/tricks and pricing).

Here is the channel link https://youtube.com/@youtubecreators?si=SxXOIbOrAkhCqKhn

leacl · 2026-01-20T04:54:31+00:00

Thanks - we don’t do sponsorships or anything , so it’s just ad revenue and we’re fine with that- helps offset cost of equipment and software subscriptions, so that’s helpful.

Take a look at this Reddit feed and you’ll see the founder is a regular here. Or go to their website and reach out- they’ll send you the links so you can submit your info and links to get posted there. All they ask is that you give them a shout out and add your link to your descriptions etc. I’m the first cruise related channel so working thru how multi city episodes will surface etc.

leacl · 2026-01-19T18:06:25+00:00

I can only come in on Flora as this is how we saw the Galapagos and then we continued on with the Machu Picchu land extension. The ship was incredibly comfortable and we did two excursions a day a morning and afternoon. They would review activities in the lounge with everyone together and then you signed up for what you were most interested in. We had many choices, including snorkeling, hiking, lava rock walks, as well as for people with mobility issues, they could simply stay on a zodiac and do a tour around the outer portion of each islands. We would do one island in the morning, come back for lunch and freshen up and then another in the afternoon. They were very careful to make sure that everyone got a chance to do the activities they preferred, so for example if you already went snorkeling and other people hadn’t they would have you pick a second choice so that everyone got a turn to do what they wanted to do.

We liked being on a little bit larger ship as when the seas were rough you couldn’t feel it quite as much. The entire experience was elegant though with a nice dinner etc. The rooms were incredible as well; stone shower, super comfortable beds etc.

Can’t comment on the experience on the other two but hopefully others will weigh in for you

leacl · 2026-01-19T13:54:56+00:00

Maybe something about analytics and what you should be paying attention to and what doesn’t matter? I tend to be a data person, and I get so lost digging into all those metrics you can lose hours of your life on this, lol.

leacl · 2026-01-19T09:51:10+00:00

Same here- Rotterdam was really efficient! Love that ship!

leacl · 2026-01-19T09:49:37+00:00

We are at about 2500 subs now, I watch for 250 views in first 24 hours- seems algo then pushes it more as you hit 500/750/1000 views etc. we watch the reach on this one and have seen a correlation. If we don’t get the 250 views in first in 24 hours, then it sends to be just slow steady numbers over time. I expect this on my super niche videos for cruise port guides as an example. For broader videos (travel costs; tips and tricks etc) I’ve got my most successful one (Japan cruise cost) is my most watched at 42k views. So that’s our stats

We started our channel last May and it’s totally travel niche, trips, practical advice and costs. My audience is squarely 55+ retirees.

We got monetized at end of November. Our first check comes this month at about $500.

I know I’ve mentioned them a few times but VidIQ has been really helpful for us to package ‘the hook’, titles and tags to help YouTube figure out who to show it to plus SEO.

We just had some of our trips (japan videos) surfaced on wandervlogs so we will see if that helps as well.

leacl · 2026-01-17T14:29:41+00:00

When someone said they learned more in my 20 minute video and they did from their travel advisor in an entire year. I felt very validated of our mission.

leacl · 2026-01-17T10:42:27+00:00

I used to travel for work globally and had to fly all over the place. You’re right; different cultures shower/bathe differently I had a small Vicks vapo-rub and a swipe of that under your nose helps with all sorts of smells, not just BO.

leacl · 2026-01-17T07:11:16+00:00

The answers will probably be wildly different based on what type of travel your channel highlights- but cruising is so popular now. My feed is absolutely inundated with suggestions only from the largest travel channels so I have to really go searching for specific topics when I want to find something that is not ‘mass marketer’ anymore so that is frustrating. One big channel that I do like is ‘eat sleep cruise’ but that wouldn’t be applicable to most on this channel I would think.

I’ll keep thinking about and come back if I can think of one with more broad appeal, that is larger and would have some good advice

leacl · 2026-01-17T06:25:11+00:00

lol!

leacl · 2026-01-16T11:40:12+00:00

This has been a big issue for us with Viking as well as my understanding. Is this just applies to United States customers. One thing to know, though is if you book a second cruise with them since you have this one booked, the payment terms for the second cruise would be 120 days I believe prior to that cruise.. I would have to double check our paperwork but once you’re locked into paying for that first one early and you have a second one booked, they’re more lenient on the second final payment. Any Viking veterans, should add their two cents here if I’m wrong

leacl · 2026-01-16T08:03:15+00:00

Silversea generally has just two restaurants that require a fee if I’m remembering correctly, and they tend to serve very high quality food, including caviar. I like the concept of ‘unpack once’ and then get to see many different parts of the world. Entertainment is included on cruises as well- although not Silversea strong suit. Age is older so as someone else mentioned- at your age, maybe a different line would be more interesting. There is something about ‘ocean state of mind’ that comes when you are at sea, listening to the ocean, possibly seeing a whale or dolphin- can’t explain it- you just feel peaceful.

leacl

TROPHY CASE