As you watch travel vlogs on YouTube, you will often see a man and a woman touring fascinating and unexplored places in the world. There are also solo travelers, but I find "couples" to be the more interesting kind- a man and a woman. Just two people, braving against all odds. The kind of life these couples have chosen to live reminds me of the lives that early men had- living amongst nature, gathering food from the wild, and never settling in one place. The circumstances of these vlogger couples are quite similar but with the addition of technology to record their adventures and allow viewers to enjoy the journeys, albeit vicariously, through their films. During the 2020 lockdown, such travel videos were a delight to watch when all we could do was stay indoors for days.
Man, as a living entity, is designed to thrive in the company of others and yearns to be a part of a community. Even if there isn't a community, the company of another person is enough to sail through life. Perhaps this is why, in these vlogs, you'll witness merely a guy and a woman doing everything on their own, most times without a group of people helping them. They enjoy traveling together, documenting their experiences, shooting their own photographs, and recording their strolls through the forest, only to return and retrieve the camera from the ground. In addition, life on these travels needs a plethora of knowledge on how to survive with minimal access to facilities. By nature, men and women are designed to possess different attributes which help them perform different tasks in life. While a woman, usually, is meticulous and disciplined, a man is seen to be good at decision-making and taking risks. These qualities work together to form a perfect alliance that enables them to face any challenge that life presents. Making them a complementary deal.
Now, am I trying to advocate here that the combination of a man and a woman is the ideal scenario for traveling together? No, absolutely not. I'm talking about this pair of combinations as they fascinate me. My mind wonders how the basic instincts of a human drive him or her even after centuries of evolution. The desire to see new and different places has become one of the prime driving factors of modern life. Every soul has the desire to travel; some maybe be scared by the idea of it, find it exhausting to plan for one, or lack the initial funds to start a journey. But, if money were no obstacle, I'm sure a lot of people would pack their bags and leave for a trip this very instant. In fact, one of the prime reasons for hustling every day in the 9-5 jobs is to gather enough money to travel to that dream destination. Our hearts and minds yearn to visit places we've never seen before with our own eyes. And with these dreams in our unclosed eyes, we carry on with our daily work.
P.S. The birth of these thoughts took place while I was watching Ronnie & Barty's vlogs on YouTube. Absolutely mesmerizing, with brilliant voice-over, and captivating background music in each video. These guys know how to make a cinematic vlog which reminds me of the travel shows that I used to watch on Discovery and Travel & Living channels during my childhood.
A picturesque view from Meghalaya resembling a scene from The Shire from The Lord of the Rings
P.S. This piece was written a year back in June 2022. I'm publishing it in August 2023 as I saw it in my drafts and wanted it on my blog.
