A camera, a couple of strangers, and whatever happens.
I'm Jamie, a Kiwi from New Zealand. The project is to keep filming travel videos from places I've never been to before, anywhere in the world, and to write the long version up here. International Kiwi is the YouTube channel. This site is everything that didn't fit the cut.
Every blog post is anchored to a video. Read it for the prep, the receipts, the bus that broke down, the bad day that became the good one. Watch the video for the rest.
Where I've actually been
Right now I'm moving through Mexico. The Yucatán mostly, with detours into Quintana Roo. Bacalar, Mérida, Isla Mujeres, Cozumel, Tulum so far. From here the rough plan is further into Latin America (Colombia is high on the list), then East Asia (Japan, Korea, China are all on the route). The point of this site is that you can come back in a year and find that I've been to a country you're heading to next, with the kind of honest where-to-stay and worth-it write-ups you actually want before you book.
If you're wondering why a single trip to one place is getting two or three blog posts, that's the strategy. One video, multiple angles. Where to stay. How to get there. Whether it's actually worth it. Then the next destination.
What I shoot on
A GoPro 10 and an iPhone. That's the whole kit. Light, fast, doesn't get in the way of the actual moment. The point of the videos isn't cinema. It's recording what actually happens when a Kiwi walks around a place he's never been before for two days, regardless of which country it is.
What you'll find here
Posts grouped by destination. Honest where-to-stay breakdowns with the affiliate links that keep this thing running, fully disclosed. What I shot with. Why I went there. What I'd do differently. The kind of write-up I wish someone had done for me before I got on the bus.
What you won't find
Top-10 listicles. Drone montages set to lo-fi. “The hidden gem that locals don't want you to know about.” Mass-produced SEO content about cities I've never been to. Newsletter signup popups before you've read a sentence.
Affiliate links and honesty
Hotel and booking links on this site are routed through Stay22. If you book somewhere through one of those links it costs you nothing extra and it helps me keep filming. I only recommend places I've actually stayed at, would consider staying at, or have flagged after researching enough recent traveller reports to feel comfortable pointing you at them. Where I haven't been somewhere, I say so in the opening paragraph of the post.
How this site works
New videos go up on YouTube most weeks. The blog posts that pair with them follow a few days later. Each post lives next to its source video so you can read and watch the same trip in either order. If you want to follow along, subscribing on YouTube is the lowest-friction way to know when a new place is up.