S3 Ep111 Louis Cole: The Price Of Being Seen

Your life can be your work, your brand, and your public story. That sounds like freedom until you realise the camera can start telling you who you are. Aaron Hill sits down with Louis Cole, filmmaker and one of the original daily travel vlogging pioneers behind Fun For Louis, to unpack what it really means to grow up and evolve in public.

We talk about the early rush of YouTube’s Wild West years: accidental virality, inventing a job that did not exist, and the relentless daily vlogging grind of filming all day and editing into the night. Louis shares the less glamorous side too: losing identity inside a channel name, missing moments because you are hunting the next shot, and the way social media comments can wreck mental health if you let strangers set your self-worth.

From there we get into the hard modern questions: how to stay authentic without turning life into a highlight reel, what “grounded” content looks like when you are building a home in Costa Rica, and how to think about kids’ privacy and consent in family vlogging. Louis also tells stories from high-jeopardy travel, including being arrested in Mexico during a Central America school-bus adventure, and reflects on how fatherhood changes risk, purpose, and success.

We finish by looking forward: the shift towards TV-style YouTube viewing, sustainable living content, and the uncertain role of AI in content creation. If you care about online identity, creator burnout, resilience, and building a meaningful life with an audience watching, this conversation will stick with you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who lives online, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Transcript

Welcome And Meet Louis Cole

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Forge and Resilience. Real conversations for high performers facing transition. I'm Aaron Hill. And join me as I talk with people about challenge, change, and the adversity they faced in life, so we can learn from their experiences, insights, and stories. Today on Forge and Resilience, I'm joined by Louis Cole. Louis's filmmaker, creator, and one of the early pioneers of daily travel vlogging. Many people first knew him through Fun for Louis, where he built a global audience by documenting travel, adventure, and a life lived outside the normal script. But beyond freedom, the colour and movement is maybe a deeper story about purpose, visibility, pressure, responsibility, and what it means to keep evolving in public. Louis, welcome to the show, mate.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah, no, likewise, but it's been a it's been a long time coming. I umdenard a lot about reaching out and asking to do this, and in the end, uh your dad, your dad gently nudged me towards it, so I'm grateful to them for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Yeah, did you did you mention that we're cousins? I don't know if you mentioned.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Not yet, not yet. Not yet. That will come out, no doubt. Louis, for for for those that don't know you, mate, um gallop us through your story, what's relevant, and what what brings us to be sat here today, mate?

Growing Up Different And Curious

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Yeah, I'll try not to waffle on too long, but yeah, I'll share a little I'd I could share a little overview of my life so far, and then we could start diving into some of my life experiences. And yeah, um, so yeah, grew up in the UK with my family, pretty normal upbringing. Um I do feel like from an early age I I enjoyed being unique and questioning the norm, and I actually enjoyed not fitting in. So even through school, you may say I was a bit of a weirdo, possibly. Um and and with my family as well, like they, you know, though they had pretty ordinary jobs, we lived in the suburbs, we we went traveling quite a bit, especially in my early teenage years, and that kind of um gave me this amazing perspective on the world, going to different cultures. We went to Asia to like Indonesia and Thailand, Malaysia and stuff when we were like 13, 14, me and my one of my sisters, and um yeah, that just opened up a whole kind of uh curiosity about the world. So later on into my late teens, early twenties, early 20s, got really into travel and adventuring around the world, but also um I felt that purpose-wise in my life, it was a lot about caring for others, probably from my church upbringing, um, just want you know, just through compassion and just seeing how my parents lived and wanting to have a positive impact on the world. So I think uh early 20s, I was doing a lot of like charity, community work, supporting others. I'd say late 20s, um, that kind of evolved, and this is where I stumbled into uh the world of YouTube accidentally.

Stumbling Into YouTube By Accident

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Um, pure it honestly just felt like um really lucky timing that as YouTube and the world of social media was really taking off, I kind of stumbled into it. Um, it was kind of stupid stuff, actually. It was just like my friends daring me to eat weird things, and it was just like that whole fear factor um kind of bare grills, eating bugs, you know. So it was like that kind of thing that kind of blew up views, and then very quickly I was like, this isn't really me or what I want to put out there in the world, but it was it was kind of accidentally took off. But then I was like, okay, there's this whole world of being able to create videos, which again I've I've failed to mention, but I already was really into filming and shooting stuff, maybe a passion I got for my dad. So so kind of tying all my worlds together where I loved travel, love doing impactful stuff in the world, loved filming. I started daily vlogs probably 14 years ago now. And um, someone actually suggest suggested to me, I remember saying, like, hey, I don't want to really film these weird eating videos anymore. What else could I do? Because I've already built an audience. So, yeah, someone was like, Oh, your your life is actually pretty unique, like the way you live. So, why don't you try filming? So, yeah, end of 2012, started filming my life, what I was up to, and it just felt like the most exciting, almost like the Wild West gold rush kind of time of like everything's everything's kicking off, and um, I've just found myself in this place. Uh one sec, one second. Um so yeah, uh I'll try and be brief, but yeah, so so uh that was kind of my late 20s, and I just got swept up in this amazing world of like uh meeting others as well that are all doing different things online, not just travel content. But I I ended up just just kind I'd say I kind of invented a job that didn't really exist um by just pursuing my passions, and I don't think it was initially it wasn't even about money. I thought, oh, maybe I'll make enough just to kind of live off, and then it suddenly was like, Well, this is a really viable, you know, uh way to make a ton of money at the start as well, you know, when it was all kicking off. So yeah, um, so yeah, it I don't know. I could all I can describe it as is like all of my passions and everything just aligned, and there was this perfect timing where it just all started. So yeah, for years I was doing

The Daily Vlog Grind Years

SPEAKER_01 6:00

um kind of just grinding. At the time I didn't realise how hard I was working, but it was almost an obsession where I'd film all day, every day, stay up till three in the morning every night editing, upload the next morning and go again. And I it pretty much was non-stop for three or four years, maybe even five years. I kind of kind of lost count. Now, in doing that, I was able to share a huge amount of my life and outlook on life and share the world with people. People talked about like living vicariously through what I was sharing. Um, but we can dive into this in a bit, but I think there were sacrifices made, and I think there was a tough element to that too. I feel like I found a better balance now. I'm still living um my main incomes from online content, and now we've now I've got a wife, two kids, and we've shifted slightly, and now I'm I'm we're still filming a lot, but we're kind of slowing the uploads to once a week. And uh I feel I feel like over the years I've found a really good balance with it all. Um there's a ton of other things I could dive into, but I kind of that's that's a bit of an overview of my life.

Identity Loss And Being Present

SPEAKER_00 7:08

I love it, mate. And I I think I'll go straight for the jugular and say, what what what has been some of the costs for you personally then about living your life through through a lens or or for for others to observe your life through a screen?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Yeah, I think initially what it was was that I lost my identity outside of being a YouTuber. So I remember saying to friends, no, I am my channel was called Fun for Louie, and I was like, I am Fun for Louie, like I am a YouTuber, that was my core identity. And I think the danger there became that became the most important thing to me, probably over friendships, even like if I was with if I was gonna hang out with friends, but they didn't want me to film, understandably, some people are more private. Often I was like, Oh, I can't really come hang out because I had to film everything. So I remember right in the early days, I was really kind of cutthroat in being like, I'm this is me now. I'm just always got a camera rolling. So I can understand that some of my friends struggled with that, rightfully so. And I think people, a few of my close friends called me out and said, Look, you're you're kind of starting to become really self-centered and narcissistic because that often is the world of social media. It's like it's all about me, look at me, look at me. So I think those that was really, I really enjoyed, not enjoyed, but I really appreciated that challenge from some of my closer friends, and it helped me reassess a bit. And also I'd say like I wasn't able to be as present because I was always thinking, what's the next shot? Oh, I need to leave and do editing. I couldn't have like I couldn't sit down and just have a nice conversation like this because I'd always be thinking, even though we're creating content now, but like I'd always be thinking, what's the angle for the content? Um, and I think over the years, and we I took a really big kind of break at the end of 2018 after six years, um, and and was really craving community. And me and my girlfriend at the time, who's now my wife, Raya, we moved to a community in in LA and Venice Beach in the US, and I really had to have this breakaway from being the vlogger, being the YouTuber, and like start searching again in myself, like what what's more core to me than that? And can I step away from this identity? And I I felt like I shed that self-identity to being a YouTuber then, and I was like, hey, this isn't my passion, this is something I love doing still, and it kind of is up and down, but like it's not me, you know, I'm more than that. Um, and I've been on a journey, and it sometimes I'm not great at it, but of becoming more present and creating a bit of a work-life balance divide, which has been really important with the

Comment Sections And Mental Health

SPEAKER_01 9:54

kids as well. Yeah, but um, and then some of the challenges as well, and I think I've been a bit better at this than some, but uh if you if you start reading the comment section and start caring a lot about what people are saying, it can just destroy your life. I'm not even exaggerating. Like I've seen friends have complete mental breaks because they're constantly feeling this need to please the this ambiguous audience of strangers that are kind of just typing away, commenting on every asset of your life, and especially creators that share a lot of personal stuff rather than just like if you're just doing reviews on cars or something, it's not gonna get too personal, but if you share like your about your love life and your family life and all this stuff, like people can really have opinions, you know. So I think I did pretty well. I remember it affecting me quite a bit at times. I think the the the the strongest reaction I've had is when they people start being unkind to people I love, so my family or my wife now. Like, if I see those kind of comments, it really riles me up. But typically um I've been pretty good at kind of holding holding the comments like not taking them to heart. And I think otherwise you're living your life as a bit of a roller coaster because you might get loads of positive comments and then it lifts you up, you're like, oh, people love me, and then it's like nasty comments, oh people hate me. And it's like if you're if you're so I kind of don't even try I try not to take on even the nice comments too much. I'm like, oh that's nice, but I'm not gonna like let it like help me like define how my worth or value. Um, but it's not easy, honestly. I I see it affecting a lot of people. I don't know what the answer is, but it's something you have to be so aware of as you get into the world of social media.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

So that is I I I guess that's that's what I'm hearing, is just the awareness. There's no such thing as as right or wrong, or what might work for you might not work for somebody else, but just the awareness to know, yeah, yeah. First of all, like you've alluded to, that I am so much more than this label or this this job title, um, but as well to catch uh when we're using it to fuel us and become needy or dependent on it. And and I'm curious, when when when did you catch or when was the a moment that your friend said to you you're becoming quite self-centered? When was there a particular moment that you remember that you started to change tact and in terms of how much content you're producing and when you were filming?

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Well, yeah, I mean, firstly, let me just say I just thought I'm so grateful that I got into it in my late 20s. I've seen a lot of people get it in into it in their early teenage years. It wasn't really a thing when I was an early teenager, obviously, we're a bit older, but yeah, kind of kids nowadays or even 10 years ago, kind of getting into social media as a teenager before you found your identity, before you've really understood life in the way you do in your 20s or 30s, like it's so much it can be so harmful if you're building your entire life kind of um the your view of how the world works through this lens of social media. So I'm so grateful that I already had found kind of value in a more core value outside of that, and that's where I was coming from. Um so but I think I imagine it's so much tougher if if you don't have that and you're getting into social media from a young age and finding fame and sudden loads of you know, a big audience. So but yeah, um in terms of just like that journey of realization, I think having friends, I think whatever field of work or life passions you have, especially when it becomes like um you you've you've you get to a bigger state status or whatever, like you're you're getting fame or power or whatever it is, having friends around you that aren't yes men that are like honest friends that will be straight with you is so important. Um I I hear this a lot from extremely wealthy people that they don't know who to trust around them, maybe they don't know what genuine friendships are because there's always this element of like a people hanging around with me or wanting something more. But I have I have this core group of guy friends in particular that I just have always been so close to since kids. So it's it was pretty early on, I would say in the first year of me making content, probably for from their perspective, they saw me shift from doing a lot of um selfless kind of like community work and projects, and then suddenly I'm just like it wasn't hedonistic, it wasn't like I was like, I'd say it was still fairly wholesome, but it was all evolved around what I'm doing, what I'm doing, and um sorry, one sec. Good, mate. Um so anyway, yeah, um, yeah, so having having friends call me out earlier and being like, hey, I guess it's for them, it's like this isn't you, like yeah, something's a bit weird here with your behaviour or how you're portrayed, even how you're portraying yourself online. Uh, I don't know whether it's just like the selfie culture and that just it all, you know, I'm you know, it's trying to find that balance. I think when I was first doing a lot of stuff on Instagram, it's all selfies and me in cool places doing great stuff, and it's like, is it is there an element of that that's harmful in a way of like you're creating this, it's not real, you're creating this highlight real of your life, and then one of the negatives could be you're just creating jealousy or or people are like, Oh, good for you, but you know, a lot of people don't have the privilege to do stuff like that. So, where does the where's the balance of like being inspirational and helping people see the world without it being like, hey, look how cool I am, look at what I'm doing. Um, which I guess is yeah, just being part of that journey, really.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

That's a great question, and I would reflect that back too. So, how how do you now uh share your stuff from from a place a bit more grounded place from from purpose and trying to positively impact the world, as you mentioned earlier?

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yeah,

Showing The Messy Reality

SPEAKER_01 16:22

I mean, I I think it's showing the showing the ups and downs. I think I like to be able to share when we're struggling because it it paints a more realistic picture. And and I often say in our content, especially our so we're doing like these hour-long weekly vlogs on our couples channel, so it's not just a pit it used to just be a picture on Instagram, you know, right, and that and then like a vlog as well. But it was like I think an image captures this one frame of your life, and people can think what they want from it. But I think when you when you're sharing an hour of content, it's hard to put on a facade or a pretend kind of like life. I feel like we're just so raw and like kids screaming in the background, or like something goes wrong. With we're currently building a house in Costa Rica, and it's like it is a challenge, and it's like stressful, and we've had to change plans. So it's like showing us navigating life and overcoming some of these challenges, I think, is really helpful for people to see because some people might not have people in their life that approach life like that. They might not see. I I would say I'm quite proud of the way that we handle challenges as a couple in our relationship and in life and things we're doing. You know, obviously there's improvements, but I feel like uh some of the comments and stuff I get I hear back is how like calmly and level-headed I am when stuff goes catastrophically wrong. And I like that I'm able to portray that and show people, hey, look, life is gonna throw stuff at you, and it you know, uh, I think I was saying saying this to you other the other day, like 90% of life is is uh was it like 10% what what happens to you and 90% is how you react.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Um so like for me, it's like I love that I can share everything basically and people can see through that shh shh what I go with with with the live audience there, mate, it reminds out of your comment, which is absolutely fine, but it reminds me in how do you how do you balance that then with exposing your kids to the public, mate?

Kids On Camera And Consent

SPEAKER_00 18:37

What's your the conversations you've had with Roe around that and how Yeah?

SPEAKER_01 18:41

I mean I've seen I've seen an array of approaches online. I've seen people that don't want their kids on camera at all and they blur their faces. I've seen other people share life with their kids from a young age, but then once they start becoming more independent, maybe start going to school, they kind of phase them out of videos, so they they're kind of getting into that time in their life where they'll have opinions on stuff. Like right now, they wouldn't, if we said to them, hey, do you want to be on camera? Like they don't know what's going on. So I mean, some people might say, Oh, you're not giving them a choice, but I would say, look, I I I think it's beautiful to be able to capture these memories, and I don't mind. We're very open. I totally understand people that aren't. Um, my sisters asked me not to share her kids' faces on my content. Um, so I get it, totally get it. Uh, but we haven't really figured out what that looks like in the future. Is there going to be a point where we're like, hmm, you know, maybe we'll phase kids out. We we don't want to make the content primarily about the kids. I think it's about us as a family. It'd be weird if we didn't show them or we didn't include them for us right now, but yeah, I'm very open to that changing, and at some point in the future we'll be like, okay, it's time to stop showing them in the content. Um, but yeah, I think it's it's tough when it feels like exploitative. I've seen some YouTube channels which are really distasteful because they're like, you know, the kids are you know, they're pranking their kids and it's like the thumbnail of the video and the kid gets upset, or do you know it's like using you know something happening with a kid as a as a way to get views or money. So I feel like as long as it's we're just living our life, the kids are one element of that, we're we're happy right now. But you know, I'm very open as well about you know, if someone convinced me that this was not going to be healthy for the kids growing up, I'd be open to listening.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

You um

Why Risk And Discomfort Matter

SPEAKER_00 20:44

you you strike me, Louie, as somebody, especially now that we're a bit older, as somebody who I am the opposite of, in the sense of if I was in my old line of work in a hot and dusty country working with reporters trying to keep them safe, you would run to things that I would want to run away from. Um and I'm curious a bit about your mindset and what what draws you to adventures and and and and when things go wrong, what is what is your your line of thought uh around those sorts of challenges and setbacks? Because I'm sure it's not just oh this would look great on camera.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

No, I think yeah, um that's a great question. I I think possibly I invite a bit more risk and uh jeopardy into my life than most. I I actually really enjoy problem solving, and I think life sometimes can become too bland and simple, and especially like the last three years great, before we moved out to Costa Rica, like this January, we were living in the suburbs, very people. Peaceful, enjoyable life, um, which is really nice with little kids. I'm not saying I want to take my sm small kids into risk, risky environments, but there's a part of me, and we've I've talked with Raya about this, she's also a bit risk adverse right now, which and definitely more than me. But we've talked about I need something to be able to do at points in my life where, or points in my year where I can take a bit more risk and have a bit more crazy adventures. So the last couple of years, I've taken like 10 days out to attempt kind of challenging trips. I mean, the last year and the year before it happened to be with an electric moped. I was trying to drive across Europe, but I didn't have enough battery, and it was like running out, and I get stuck in the rain, and I was camping on the side of the road. And like, I involved, I that was by design. I wanted things to go wrong. I wanted but but in my head, I'm like, we're not in a war zone, I'm not in a super dangerous country. The worst case scenario is I get stranded. Um, one day I got a bit dehydrated, I have to walk into a town to find some water. Like, it's not life or death. Um, our drive through Central America on our so I mean another thing is we drove a school bus down here that we were living on from the US down to Costa Rica. That might have been one of the wildest adventures I've been on because there are some sketchy parts of Central America. Um and we're like Western travellers just like cruising through on our bus, and like that was pretty mental. Like that was that was I would say it was like a nine or ten out of ten for my adventure, like risk enjoyment level, and for Raya, it was like way too much. Um but yeah, I don't know what it is that that I don't know what the core of that is for me. Is it that it just makes me feel I mean it's maybe it's like the adrenaline sport thing as well, it makes me feel alive. I love that kind of variety, I love again like problem solving. Um I don't know, and I love sharing it, and I think it's very entertaining as well for people. So there is a part of it that's like I do love seeing the response because some people are like, you're nuts, this is stupid. Like some people are kind of think I'm an idiot. Uh but again, like I said, it was all a lot of it's by design, like a lot of but even going back to like in my early 20s, way before YouTube, we would I would with my friends like I remember buying a minibus for my 20th birthday or 21st birthday for like 700 quid. I bought a minibus, we all piled into it with no plan and just drove south through France. Like we ended up at the beach, then we like camped on the beach and like drove off in a different direction. We were just it's this kind of you know, something breaks. Oh oh yeah, we we tried to install a battery so we could power like to charge our cameras and laptops, the battery fell on the engine, it melted, battery acid was going everywhere. Do you know what I mean? It's like this. I loved all that. It it forms memories. I think if if life goes too smoothly and you have everything planned out to the T, like, I just think it can become a bit predictable and boring, and you kind of you don't have as strong, poignant memories of stuff. A lot of my memories of these like very spontaneous moments. I think if you don't allow room for spontaneity, one uh going back even further, now I'm thinking about it. When I was 13, 14, and my parents took us, me and my sister Hilary, to um Indonesia, we landed in Sumatra, and we landed with no plan of where we were staying, what we were doing. And at the airport, my dad and mum were talking to a taxi driver, like, Oh, can you just take us around for a week in your taxi? Show us, like, be a tour guide. And then the taxi driver went off, called his wife. He's like, Can I bring my wife? Yeah, great. So, literally, that was the most spontaneous. And I love that we didn't have a hotel book, we didn't have a plan. And I think that is maybe from early age being modeled by my parents. Like, I love going into things with no plan and just figuring it out.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Yeah, you you mentioned right at the beginning that that that we're cousins, and it's it's interesting because I'm I'm a few years older than you, and my memories are of you as a younger lad were never really like that. Maybe not, yeah. I think stuff changed. Yeah, 100% it does. I mean, I do remember you having the coolest bedroom ever. That was incredible. The jungle. Um yeah, so interesting thing how things developed, because I guess as I as I left home and you were what how how old are you now, Louis? Uh I am 43. 43, so yeah, I'm I'm 46, so three, four years older than you. Um, I guess you were just coming into that adventurous period as as a young teenager, just as I was as leaving home.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Um Yeah, and and even thinking back to that time, I remember we all, you, your your younger brother, and we were all kind of into survival, military. You kind of followed that path. Yeah. But I I still loved it. Or I read every day every night I was reading the SAS survival guide. Like I just loved learning, you know, and I'd always go out into the woods near where I lived. I even remember when I was like 10, maybe 10 or 11, my parents would let me camp out on my own or with a friend overnight or two nights out in the woods, and I was just like foraging and like whittling little things. And I I loved that element of it. Um, I never kind of pursued the path into the military, but I loved that element of it that was like camping, survival, learning stuff. Like, and I think even when I I remember even as a younger teenager going to school, I remember things like packing extra weight into my school bag because I was like, I want to build kind of um endurance of like carrying heavy stuff around. I don't know what it was at the time. People used to laugh at me, but I'd carry all my books for the entire week from Monday, even if I didn't have a need to book till Friday. So I'd have this really heavy backpack, and I just maybe there was something in me from a young age that thought if I can if I can build a to like a resilience to like discomfort or like extra stuff, like it's gonna set me up in life. And it and I totally think that mindset has stayed. And it's but it is weird thinking about it. I don't know where that came from, but maybe it was reading a lot of these like you know, Bravo 20. I remember was like one of the first books I read, like this SAS book. So I don't know whether that was part of it, but this like loving that endurance element of it all.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

Yeah, no, no, I get that, and and and we'd have definitely swapped notes on books as as young lads there, definitely. I'd I I remember that. Um in in terms of going down through Central America quite discreetly on a on a big American bus.

Arrested In Mexico On The Bus

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Um, what what were some of the what were some of the um the highlights or the or the the the tricky situations or any stories that you got from from Lermo?

SPEAKER_01 29:12

I mean there's there's some crazy one. One of the craziest was I was like really dramatically arrested in Mexico, and it was like partly our fault. Well, I guess I need to hold my hands up. Like, firstly, we were told not to drive ever at night through the whole trip. We mainly drove at night. I don't know, I don't know why. It was like we were spending days places, we'd leave by the evening, we would just be like faffing. I mean, sometimes we drove in the day, but again, I ignored that kind of safety advice, probably unwise. So we were coming in late in the evening to somewhere, it was super crowded. I ended up getting the bus trapped in a tiny street, and a police officer was yelling at me, asking to take my passport, and that's when I was pushing back a bit. I was like, No, I'm not giving you my passport. I gave him a photocopy of my passport, he was screaming, screaming. So I was like, I just need to get out of here, I don't want to start getting uh extorted by the police. So I ended up doing a big like 10-point turn to get the bus turned around and get out. In that process, unbeknownst to me, I clipped a police vehicle with the end of the bus. So I drove off. It was a basically a hit and run. Um, 10 minutes later, it was like a movie seed with multiple police vehicles coming from different streets, angles. They blocked me off, approached the vehicle, screaming in Spanish. I'm don't know any Spanish really, I'm learning slowly. But got I got pulled out the bus, handcuffed, thrown into a pickup truck, and driven off. And I and Raya, who doesn't drive, was left in the middle of the street at night in the school bus with all of our belongings, probably £20,000 worth of gear and our passports, laptops, cameras. Uh, and she's crying. This is all on video as well, by the way. But she's crying, and she's like, What do I do? What do I do? And I just drove off, saying, Lock yourself in the bus. That's all I could think. Lock yourself in the bus. Now, um I at that point I drove, I was in the back of a pickup truck, didn't even have my phone, I couldn't even grab anything. They're screaming at me in Spanish, and it's weird. Part of me is very worried about Raya. Had Raya not been with me, the majority of how I was feeling was very excited. I was like, this what an experience. This is amazing. Because in my head, I was like, I'm not gonna be imprisoned, I'm not gonna be beaten up. I didn't think this is me being optimistic. I just thought they just want money off me because I'm a Westerner. I mean, so if I'd been in the US, I think I'd have been way more scared. Because anyway, so so I'm on the way to I don't even know where they're taking me. Raya absolutely, she just figured it out, and and I love she handled it so well. She found someone to watch the bus. She someone else offered to move the bus out of the road, she found someone to watch all our gear, she packed a bag with all of our valuables in passports, laptops, cameras. Then she caught a taxi. She found out from one of the police officers where I was going, she called a taxi to come get me, bailed me out, and um, yeah, it ended up costing us like $700, like $500, 600 quid to get out of that situation, which I thought was well worth the experience. But um, she didn't enjoy obviously any of that like I did. So as a couple now, we've had to talk, you know, are we gonna get ourselves try and get ourselves? I wasn't trying to get myself into this situation, but I guess she she would say, can we actively avoid trying to end up in situations like that in the future? As a couple, if you want to go do that on your own, cool. Um another just another quick one crossing into Honduras, which was one of the sketchier countries, we were warned at the border there's a lot of bandits that will try and rob you. And as we this was during COVID times, so as we crossed the border, I had we hadn't had time to get the correct COVID test. So I doctored one of our COVID test printouts to say that we just had it done, bit a bit naughty. Um, but they basically clocked that it was fake, and they were mad at us at the border. So then we were stranded in no man's land between uh Panama, no, no, uh El Salvador and Honduras, I think. And we had a helper on the phone to us, and he was like, You need to get out of there, like this isn't good. So I'm like, what are we gonna do? He was like, they're furious at you because you've tried to like fake your way into the country. It was like really bad. So ended we ended up again had ended up having just to pay them some fines. Uh and we m we managed to get out of there, but that was sketchy as well, just because that was an area where it was like we've been warned this is particularly bad. So again, I don't it's not probably not of it probably wasn't kind of me to take Briar into those scenarios, but knowing that she doesn't enjoy that kind of stuff, but I definitely I definitely do enjoy those kind of adventures.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

That's so interesting, mate. It's so curious, yeah. For for me, it's just yeah. I'd yeah, I I'd rather some slippers and uh and a book by the fire. Um so that's it's really interesting, mate, to listen to that. Um Louie, I'll I like I like both. I do like both. Yeah, no, I know you do. I I know. I know. I I guess yeah, if I if I pause and slow down, then um uh yeah, I guess part of it is down to experience and and and having a bit of a bucket full of certain things which I can't control. So I definitely have a a control element uh to certain things that I do, and and I I find mountain biking gives me just enough of a an adrenaline rush, but it's controlled, and yeah, the worst thing is I'll hurt my shoulder or break my arm, and I can deal with that. Um but otherwise it slippers in a book, even in Spain.

Fatherhood Changes Risk And Purpose

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Wait, how how has fatherhood changed how you think about adventure and purpose and success?

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Well, yeah, I mean those stories I was sharing was before we were married. It was the year, it was the year we got married, then the following year we had our first son, Neo, and now we've got a daughter, Navi, who's nine months old. Definitely changed me. I'm talking about it and saying how much I love it, but the reality is I would probably tone down my level of risk taking. If I was aware of risks, yeah, maybe like there's bandits at the border of Honduras, maybe I'll be like, yeah, we can't go there at night. Um, so yeah, I definitely think and and probably putting myself in danger, I've definitely been more careful of. Um just because uh you know now it's not just me that it affects and I guess before it was affecting Rye, but now my kids, I don't want to there being ever any level of like potential for me to be, you know, out of the picture. It would just be so terrible to leave my family like that. So yeah, I think as soon as the kids come in the picture, I definitely think my appetite for risk has dropped. Um, and then the next level is when I because I I remember going on quite a few adventures with my dad, even recently last summer, I got the privilege of just having a fun trip with my dad. I'm curious when Neo gets a bit older, how much risk I'm gonna want to take with him when we go on fun adventures. Um, what am I modelling as a father? So all of that's super interesting. But yeah, I mean, as a short answer is yeah, definitely tone down my risk. Yeah, tone down my appetite.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

Yeah, obviously. But I I I think I think sometimes as well, we don't really know until we're there either, do we? And and you'll get a sense that that's too high or that's too long. Um yeah, yeah. Let's let's come back tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

And yeah, I think that's true as well. Too long, like being away from the kids, like if I am doing some fun adventures on my own, it definitely can't be more than I mean, 10 10 days to two weeks, absolute max. I would just want to be away from the kids. Two weeks is probably even too much.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Is that enough to to tick your emotional box then, Louie, for that for the year, then those ten days?

SPEAKER_01 37:42

I reckon, yeah. Um, and and it will change like as they get a bit older and we're getting a bit more freedom, but at this age, but definitely kind of just honestly, even just you know, getting away for the day and doing something crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I do think it's a new chapter, and I think there's amazing, incredible things about being a parent now. Like you you'll know, like anyone listening that will know just the purpose and contentment it brings me is like next level, did not expect the depth of like just fulfillment that I would feel. I knew I'd love being a dad, but it is so deeply fulfilling, and yeah, I think it just shifts the way you think about all a lot of stuff in life that it re-prioritizes things, it re-you know what I'd say the adventure of parenting, even though it might not be a classical adventurous thing to do, it feels like the craziest adventure I've been on. Oh, hell yeah. Like the the late nights, the challenges of how to navigate stuff, and now we're planning to kind of travel a lot more as a family. Like as of next month, we're gonna be like nomadic for six months traveling the world as a family, so that's gonna be a whole new experience. Like, and I've already travelled a ton of the world, but now being able to take my kids and see the world through their eyes, that's so exciting for me because you know, there's only so many times you can do something on your own before it starts becoming a bit more normalized. But as soon as now you're like, I'm able to show my kids going, you know, one of the things I'd love to do in the future is go on safari, take them to Africa, do see elephants in the wild, like stuff like that, which I've done a few times myself and still think's amazing, but it's gonna be next level when I see my kids reacting and yeah, experiencing that.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Yeah, it reminds me of my son maybe five years ago. So we'd be about um about six. We went we went just down the coast towards Tarragona um uh to uh to a natural park there called La Delebra, and it's it's all these paddy fields, it's a protected natural park. Uh it's an it's all protected because it's natural park, and um so it's not the typical Spanish um holiday, um, and these just big beaches that are un unspoiled. Um and we went for a little bike ride around. Yeah, it's all good, mate.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Yeah, dump a little. Yeah, you went for a bike ride.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

Yeah, we went for this big long bike ride, it is flat, and we'd been there for a few years because the water, the the water's so warm, the beaches aren't aren't particularly steep, and it's only an hour and a half away from home. But to to young kids it feels like the other side of the world. And I remember going for this bike ride think thinking, yeah, it's alright. And he said to me, uh something along the lines of oh, it's just brilliant, Dad. When I have kids, I'm gonna bring them back here. And and it reminds me of it, there was nothing particularly special about it, but it's that it's what you're talking about there, that shared experience, yeah, um, yeah, with loved ones just makes it so valuable. Even if it is just a bike ride, you know, it doesn't even do that big or something.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

One of my first one of my first memories was going on an overnight bike road with my dad when I was like six or something, and I think it was just down the road. I think it was probably like at two miles from where we lived, but it felt like this epic adventure, and I was like riding behind him, and then we pulled into like some forests and put up a tent and you know made a little campfire, and I just remember that so vividly being incredible. But yeah, it was like literally just in the woods by our house, probably. But it just felt like this amazing adventure.

The Next Decade Of Vlogging

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Love it, love it. Mate, um, given that you've been in this game vlogging content for for so long, if you were to make a prediction and it's it's fine for it to be wrong, or even if you have to pull it or invent it from somewhere, where do you see the next 10 years of of vlogging, both for you personally and generally as a as as content creation, do you think?

SPEAKER_01 41:44

I think for us, the direction I can see it is sharing our life now here in this eco-village in Costa Rica, kind of this journey of learning how to live more sustainably, more in touch with nature, learning skills that we don't have currently, like planting food and growing stuff. We like literally two days ago planted our first little coconut tree in our in our garden. We want to, you know, we want to learn all about permaculture and eat eating from the land and like being self-sufficient and renewable energy, all that stuff. So I think that's one part of our content moving forward. Um, and I'll probably do a ton of like learning skills for DIY stuff, building my own things, and um so there's that that element, and then I think we'll split that with traveling with our kids as they're growing up, so being able to explore the world, go on epic adventures. So I see yeah, easily the next 10 years us kind of sharing that. Like we've got we've got a lifetime of experiences that we both are still very passionate about sharing online. Um yeah, I don't see I don't know what will change much. I think what I've shifted seen the shift over the last few years in terms of how people consume our content is most of our viewers now are watching us on a TV rather than on their phones or on a computer. I think it's shifted from people watching on their laptops to people watching their phones, and now weirdly, it's kind of gone to the place where like YouTube and other streaming platform platforms have become what we grew up with. Like you just flick the TV on and watch a show. So it's like we're doing hour-long episodes, people sit down with their dinner or a cup of tea, and they just sit and watch on their huge script TV screen. And so a huge chunk of our audience are doing that as a cons uh so I think a lot of what I've heard in the next couple of years is YouTube are gonna lean into encouraging creators to make more like shows. Um and I even saw a comment the other day like, oh, this is like a TV show, like you sharing your life. And I just thought, yeah, I guess so. Um, but I didn't used to view it like that. Uh I used to view it like, yeah, it's just like YouTube felt different. But I mean, 10 years is a long time. You could say, are people gonna start making like Like virtual th you know, 360 videos. I don't know if that's gonna take off. I think that it's been a technology available for a while now, this immersive like you feel like you're there in 360. I don't know if that's gonna happen because I that's kind of taking you out of where you are. I think it's not as relaxing, it's a bit maybe it's an element of it. Um I wonder whether some I've got a bit, you know, that we could talk for hours on this. I've got loads of questions around AI and how that's gonna come in. I saw a thing the other day.

SPEAKER_00 44:33

I was like, no, I won't.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

I saw a thing the other day saying YouTube are now demonetizing channels where they're just pumping out AI content. And I've seen those channels where it's like uh it's historical events, but as if you're someone's there vlogging it, and it's kind of cool, but it's all it's all AI. I see a place for AI. Uh Raya was worried at one point, she's like, oh, AI is going to take over our jobs. I was like, I don't think so, because us specifically, we're very personality-based content. I think some people making content which is more just like a review or something where it's not about them or it's not a discussion-based, conversational-based thing, it's more at risk of people kind of like AI taking their jobs. But I do like this move from YouTube where they're just saying you can't monetize AI stuff at the moment, just because it's set putting a bit of a safety thing around it, suddenly the internet being flooded with kind of low-quality AI stuff, which it's taken away from that creativity and all that. So I yeah, I think over the next 10 years there's gonna be this fight and balance of like what where can AI serve us as humanity through content, as you are specifically, like online, and where do we need to pump the brakes or put have some barriers of like this isn't actually helping anyone, it's destroying culture or destroying um kind of creativity or whatever. So, yeah, I think I don't know what that I don't know where we're gonna land, is what I'm saying. I I'm curious, I'm an optimist, so I hope we'll figure it out. Um I think if it's starts becoming really bad and bad, you know, there'll be a counter movement that pushes against it. So either way, I think it will find a balance. But I think in the in the process, I think for some people in the creative industries could be challenging. Um but yeah, I think even with um filming as well, like I'm being sent this little robot that's like a little um R2D2 style, like wheels, like a little um wally, you know, like the car animated. So with I'm being sent one of these that's this automated robot that has a you can mount a camera on that can follow you around. And I was like, that's cool that I could have a little robot vlogging me rather than me having to film. Yeah, and I think it could get to the point where the robot films you all, and then it could like send the files to get edited, and that could be edited with AI, and then all we're all we're doing is just we're just being ourselves and living our life, and it's almost like a little reality show is being filmed for us. That would part of me is like, that's the dream, then I don't have to worry about filming, I don't have to worry about editing. But who knows, man? Who knows? We could we could uh yeah, we could guess, but

Staying Genuine In A Noisy World

SPEAKER_01 47:26

yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:26

No, I was just curious what what what your would be. Louis, I've got two more questions for you, mate, and I and I'll let you go. And and I'm curious, what what do you think the one of the key to your success has been with with content and and vlogging?

SPEAKER_01 47:43

Um I'd like to think I'm quite genuine, and I think people appreciate that. Um I I try not to put on too much of a persona, kind of like I hope I'm just myself on camera. So I think people like that relatable, down-to-earth. Um despite what my friend said initially, I I don't think I'm particularly narcissistic in comparison to some online uh characters or you know, uh creators. Not not I'm not like criticizing anyone, but I I think in general I'm pretty chill. Maybe it's being British as well. You'll there's a there's a humour of like being um self-deprecating, like I I'm happy to admit my flaws online and stuff like that. So all of that relatability and and genuine, and then maybe a bit of my optimism as well. I think people enjoy in a in a world where we're bombarded online by catastrophic stuff happening in the world, whether it's like geopolitical stuff or wars, and it's just exhausting. And I think what I've seen in the comments is a lot of people find tuning into our content as a breath of fresh air. It's just wholesome. We're just living our lives fun. It's not like I'm ignoring all the bad stuff happening in the world, but it's like unless I can directly do something about it, there's no point allowing yourself just to get depressed and miserable because you're being bought bombarded every day by it. It's not healthy. And I've personally tried to tune out some of the, you know, I'm trying I like being fairly geopolitically aware of what's going on, but I don't I don't want it to dictate like I wake up in the morning sad about everything happening, you know. Um so I wonder whether and look, I do think we have a place to stand up and get our voices heard and be activists as well. But I I think the way that we're doing good in the world right now is creating this safe, wholesome place for for families and other, you know, just for bit for our audience to tune in and see our life and stuff. So I feel like that is why we we're still after 14 years, still seem to be doing pretty well, like um entertaining people and having an audience online. Um, but it has been a journey, you know. I've I've experimented with a ton of stuff that hasn't worked as well, and I feel like it always comes back to the more genuine and real I am, it's typically people enjoy that the

Final Reflections And Goodbye

SPEAKER_01 50:18

most.

SPEAKER_00 50:18

Love it, mate. Love it. And and the last question would be um as we start to wrap it up, mate, is it is there anything that we've not talked about that you feel important to mention?

SPEAKER_01 50:29

Um we've touched on a lot of stuff, haven't we? Um I mean nothing springs to mind. We talked about like a ton about online stuff, family, uh life, life approaches. Um nothing nothing springs there's nothing desperately, I'm like, oh I wish I got to share that. I think I've probably shared a bit a bit of everything. Unless unless anything springs to mind for you.

SPEAKER_00 51:13

No, mate, that was that was exactly how it was meant to be. Um so yeah, I'd like to say, mate, thank you so much for taking this time to to speak to me, buddy. It's been great to chat with you and catch up the other week. Uh unfortunately it'll be it'll probably be a while or another family reunion before we see each other, but that's the way it is, it's all good. But um, yeah, from the bottom of my heart, mate, thank you for the love and support that you give to certain members of my family, mate. It's greatly appreciated um for all the good that you're doing in the world. Appreciate you, buddy. And um, yeah, proud to call you my cousin, Louis. So thanks for being you, brother.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, that thanks for having me on. It was a great conversation. I feel like I could we could keep chatting for hours, but um maybe we do maybe we do a second part at some point. I'll be I'll be game for that, Louis. Cool. Uh yeah, thanks for inviting me to be on. My pleasure. Have a good night.