Brock, Is An American Travel Blogger & Youtuber, He has a YouTube Channel called ‘Edges of Earth’ In a brief interview with Asiana Times, He shared his travel stories, and how he finds India more diverse than other countries.
- He has been traveling full-time for over 6 years now, He has solo-traveled India for more than 2 years. He thinks that India is so diverse that after every 100 Kilometres, The language and culture change.
He showcases areas around the world that aren’t typically visited and loves to connect with the local people, showing how they live and what occurs on a day-to-day basis.
- Having visited 27 countries and with more than 40,000 subscribers on his YouTube Channel ‘ Edges Of Earth’ is a result of the incredible travel content he creates –from videos exploring packed places to least visited forgotten places.
In an interview, he opens up about his travel journey, and how he took a risk to leave his professional career to travel around the world :
- How Do you Come Up With Your YouTube Channel Name ‘Edges Of Earth’?
Before creating my YouTube channel, I knew that I planned on traveling for a very long time. I was going to make travel my life. I wanted to create a name that somehow indicated long-term travel. Earth is a circle. Trying to find the edge of a circle is impossible because it doesn’t exist. I came up with the name Edges of Earth because it indicated that I would be searching for the edge of the Earth.. which simply isn’t there. So, the meaning is that I will travel forever. I will keep searching for The edge that doesn’t exist. Several years into my journey, I created SoloTravel365.com In the same way, I wanted to create a name that suggested full-time travel. As I am a Solo traveler who travels 365 days per year, I knew that this URL would be a good fit.
- How Long Have You Been Travelling And How Many Countries Have You Been To?
The first time I traveled outside of the United States, I was 14 years old. My parents brought me to South Africa for 2 weeks. It was then that I was bitten by the travel bug. It took me several years to figure out a strategy to make long-term travel a possibility. I have since been to about 26 or 27 different countries. I guess it depends on your definition of a country. For example, some people say that Taiwan is a country, and some people say that it is not.
- Who Inspired You To Do Travelling?
I guess I would say that I inspired myself. I was bitten by the travel bug, as I said before when I was about 14 years old. But it wasn’t until I was about 26 that I determined that I wanted to create a lifestyle around travel. When I was 26 years old, I started to question my own happiness. I knew there was much more to life than working at a dead-end job. I remember asking myself what would make my life happy. And the fact that I couldn’t come up with an immediate answer was quite startling. I decided to dedicate 1 hour every night, for 2 weeks, and write down as many things on a piece of paper as possible. I wrote down everything that I would love to do with my time if I was both incredibly rich, or incredibly poor. I made two separate lists. Eventually, I ran out of ideas. Then, I compared the lists. The item that was on both lists was “travel the world and experience culture.”Once I realized that this is the one and only thing that would make me happy for the rest of my life… I decided to embark on a journey to create this lifestyle. It took me about 10 or 12 months to plan and execute everything.
- How Did You End Up Becoming A Youtuber & Travel Blogger?
Have you ever been on a vacation and take some photos … And then five or 10 years later you look at those photos? You will remember bits and pieces of your vacation through the photos that you took. But there will be many blank spots in your memory. I decided to record a lot of videos throughout my journey basically as memories. Videos give a much better perspective than a single photo. I decided to narrate what I saw around me as well. Instead of leaving the raw footage on my hard drive, I decided to edit the raw footage and narration all into one simple video which would be easy for me to watch again 10 or more years in the future. Since there are many people who are not able to travel due to financial reasons, health reasons, or other obligations…I decided to upload my final videos to youtube, which would give other people a chance to experience what I did. It’s kind of like the second-best thing. Initially, the videos were for me. But it has slowly evolved in creating content for other people to experience as well.
- What Made You To Leave Your Professional Career And Be A Solo Full-Time Traveller?
To be honest, leaving my career was both easy and difficult. Right out of high school, I started my own photography business. Then, I transitioned into real estate. After that, I left my hometown and moved to the other side of the country and started working at a glass shop. I absolutely hated this job. I did this job for 5 years. It was definitely easy to leave something that I absolutely hate. But on the other hand, it was difficult because I was leaving financial security. I found a very low-paying job working on a cruise ship for 6 months. I thought it would be a fun combination of work and travel. I was very wrong. This job turned out to be much worse than my previous job at the glass shop. To say that I was stressed would be an understatement. After my 6 month contract on the cruise ship, I took a 3-month vacation. 2 months into my vacation, the cruise ship messaged me and asked me if I would be returning for my second contract. After thinking for 24 hours, my final decision was no. I wanted to keep traveling. I became addicted after 2 months. That 3-month vacation turned into a five-and-a-half-year vacation.
- Do You Think The Risk You Took in Your Life Is Worth It At This Point?
Taking the risk to start a new life of full-time travel was the best risk that I have ever taken. In fact, my only regret in my life today is that I wish I would have started sooner. I started traveling the world at age 27. I wish I would have started when I was 19.
- Which Is One Of Your Fav Countries You Have Been to?
Out of the 27 countries that I have visited, the Philippines, Vietnam, and India are all at the top of my list. But if I had to choose one country to visit for 6 months, I would most likely choose India. India is unbelievably diverse. So many different cultures, languages, food, and mindsets. It is literally like a playground to me. I have traveled extensively throughout the North and the south. One of my favorite things to do is to get on a train and go to random villages and simply start walking around. I can’t even begin to tell you how many people I have met by doing this. I have made so many new friends and experienced so much within the local culture, I have been able to try so many new foods and so many other things. Indian villages are the best! It is very frequent that the kind Indian people invite me to their home for a cup of tea. The spiced tea of Northern India is quite possibly the best tea on planet earth!
- You Spent Around 3 Years In India. What Did You Like About The Country That You Decided To Stay Here For Too Long?
Correct, I have been in India for a total of 2.5 years. A bit less than a year in Northern India, and a bit more than a year in the South. As an American, the Visa is quite generous. I can stay in India for up to 6 months at a time. This is almost unheard of in many other countries around the world. Many other countries will only give me 30 days. This is one of the major factors for staying so long in India. Besides the visa, I am so intrigued by all of the different cultures and languages. As I said before, India is incredibly diverse. It seems like every hundred kilometers that I travel in any direction, everything changes. There is never a dull moment while traveling in this country.
- What Is Your Message to The Teenagers Who Aspires to Become A Youtuber Nowadays And Also Wanted To Dropout From Their Studies, Do You Think That It Is the Wiser Decision?
Definitely not. Education is important. Most people hear about the success stories of many YouTubers. Sure, they are wonderful. But what they usually don’t hear is the stories of the other 99% of people who tried to be successful YouTubers and failed. Making a full-time income from YouTube is not an easy task. Take me for example, I earn enough money on YouTube every month to stay in a hotel for one night. I never started out with the intent of making money. I started out with the intent of creating content for myself that I could watch over and over again throughout my later years of life. I decided that I would upload my travel videos and share them with the world. If I make a couple of dollars, great. If I don’t then oh well. I’m not depending on this money. I highly recommend that students continue with their education.
- Have You Learned Anything Over The Last Few Years, Because Of Travel? Are You a Different Person?
“I have never been a materialistic person, like so many others in Western society. But I must say, after traveling a lot in Asia and some European countries, I have a deeper appreciation for some of the things we take for granted in the United States. Things like clean tap water, a trustworthy (but expensive) medical system, a regulated food industry, basic education, and trustworthy police are something that I appreciate on a whole new level. Unfortunately in many other countries, what we would consider basic needs, are not met. In some countries, I would not trust the police, I don’t trust the cleanliness of food vendors, I can observe the lack of education in both the youth and the elderly, and I would never drink water from the sink. Like I said before, there are some things that I have a whole new level of appreciation for.
- “What Would You Tell Anyone Who Is Interested in Long-Term Travel?
Long-term travel is what makes me happy. But long-term travel isn’t necessarily what makes other people happy. I would always challenge everyone to look within themselves and to figure out what makes them happy… and if they don’t know, try to figure it out in the same way that I did. Once they figure out what makes them happy, then the next step is to determine how to put more of that thing into or their life. There will never be a perfect time to make a major change in your life. Perfect times don’t exist. Because of this, the best time is always now. That’s the way I look at it. Of the three major commodities in life, health, money, and time… Time is the most valuable. You can always improve your health or earn more money… but you can never regain time once it is spent. Somewhere along my journey a few years back, I coined the phrase: “time is running out…start living.” It is a reminder to myself, and everyone that is listening, that life is meant to be lived. Get out there and chase your dreams.. because your dreams will not chase themselves…!
Can You Tell Us About Your Video, Where You Were Invited to A Home In North India, How Was Your Experience And What Was Your Reaction When That Video Went Viral And Gained Lots Of Views?
Having traveled in India for more than two and a half years in total.. with three separate trips, I got the chance to meet a lot of interesting locals. Whether traveling in the north or the south, people throughout India immediately take interest in me as I’m walking down the street. I am often approached by all walks of life. Men, women, young, old, rich, poor. Since my one and only reason for traveling the world is to meet local people and understand the culture, I always take time to interact with these people. Many of these people have been overly kind to me. I have had countless interesting conversations, drank hundreds of cups of tea, been invited into the homes of strangers, been invited on a weekend adventure to different villages, gone swimming with kids, been invited for dinner, and countless other things. Too many to list. The hospitality in India, and the overall friendliness of people, are truly something special. After my first trip to India, I compiled a bit of footage and created a short video that highlighted India’s hospitality towards foreign guests.
I posted this video on YouTube and it kind of went viral. I remember exactly where I was sitting when I started to go viral. I had just left China and arrived in India for the second time. I was in Goa. While laying on my hotel bed, I started to realize that the video was taking off. It’s always fun to watch videos go viral. This on my channel, this only happens about once a year. So it’s particularly fun when this happens.
