I'm Eva and I've spent
the last three years of my life traveling solo to some of the world's
most remote and off-beat places. From horse trekking alone in Mongolia, to living in Pakistan for a year and spending the first
three months of the pandemic stuck on a remote island
off the coast of Yemen, before making my way
back home on a cargo ship. It's been one hell of an adventure. But recently, I decided
it's time for a change. I've been dreaming of being
completely free and independent with a little nest of my own. So, I bought my dream truck,
a Land Rover Defender and started converting it into
an off-road overlander slash mini camper. How do you go the bathroom?
How do you make money? Don't you have a crew
following you around at all times? Does it ever get unsafe? Do you ever get lonely? These are the kinds of questions
that I got from you. Some of them, I get a lot,
like the toilet one. Others are a little bit more unique
and a bit more unexpected. Today, I'm gonna answer 20
of the 1000 plus questions that I got from you in my last post. And then, I'm gonna do
a little quick fire, rapid-fire... What is it? Quick fire or rapid? Rapid-fire round at the end. Plus, there's gonna be cameos... Well, one cameo, with Mike. And different locations,
because I want to show you a little bit of this beautiful, quite touristy,
but still very beautiful region of Turkey. So, let's jump into it. The first question that I wanna answer... And I don't even have
to look at my phone to check it. And this is a question
that I've been asked so many times: So, the answer is, and you have to watch me
carefully right now. The answer is... Here. Not just anywhere, obviously. You'd go, find a very private spot,
dig a little hole, you know. Or just go to like,
Starbucks, or a gas station. There's loads of toilets everywhere. This is not as big of a problem
as you would imagine. Anyway, on to some of the other questions. I got a really interesting question
from Peter, who asked something that is like almost my pet peeve. I understand how people
don't really know about this, but what hurts me
is the accusation that comes with it. So, Peter is asking: Thank you, Peter. So, Peter and everybody who's wondering. No, I don't hide a drone pilot
in the back of my car. There is nobody else
usually traveling with me, unless it's, you know,
someone very close to me. Yeah, it's a smart track feature. Most DJI drones, I think
all the modern DJI drones, have a smart track feature,
so, you just set it to track you, or your car or any object. And then, it just automatically
does circles around you or follows you. It's as simple as that. Next question, from DespoTraveler.
This is also one of my favorites. It's: Now, I love this question, because I don't count countries. I don't know,
somewhere between 50 and 100. But I consciously stopped
counting countries, because I feel like it really takes away
from the essence of travel. If you're counting countries,
what exactly are you doing? Really, the only answer is
you're collecting social currency, I guess. Counting countries doesn't show, doesn't reveal how much
of the world you have seen. I could spend a year just in Turkey
and it would just be one country but I could have countless experiences. If you count countries,
do consider my point of view. Well, for the next round of questions,
which will be about my old life before vlogging, let's move
to a different location, shall we? Maybe somewhere over there. All right, we have got
a question from Audrey, who's asking: Well, let me just say
it was not a smooth ride. Definitely not. First of all,
I have no background in filmmaking. Second of all, all of this came about as a result of me hitting rock bottom
in what I now call "my previous life". Four years ago, I was living in London,
between London and Brussels, working for a fast-growing media start-up. I was married. It was very, very different. You know, I kind of had built that life, based on the premise that
that's what success looked like in life. But deep down I was terribly unhappy and I started seeing signs of that
pretty early on, actually. It was much more than just like what
we jokingly call "quarter-life crisis". I got into some really destructive behaviors
and that's kind of how I realized that I needed to change something. Because if I didn't change
something in my life, I might not be here any longer. And that's not even an exaggeration. So, after doing a lot of
really painful soul-searching, and I am really making the story
very, very short for your benefit, I decided to quit everything
and start completely afresh. So, I ended my relationship back then,
I quit my job, I left my apartment. I called my family to tell them
that I'm leaving everything behind and going traveling full-time. Obviously, they thought
I was completely crazy. I decided that I wanna build my own dream
and that was storytelling and traveling. So, I bought a second-hand camera,
I taught myself how to edit videos, just using YouTube tutorials and by doing. And that was the start of the journey. I had to hit rock bottom
in order to bounce back and create something really special. If you are in that place right now, just know that you can create
something really beautiful and lasting out of any crisis. Next question: "Your location?" Let's do it! A question from Sarah
and Sarah is asking: Well, Sarah, my question to you is, what camera crew and what cast
are we talking about here? There is nobody here,
as you can hopefully and probably tell. The camera is not being held
by a cameraman, it's being held by a tripod. This is just a one-woman show,
most of the time. I'm just traveling alone and filming alone. Yes, also the drone shots. And I do have a couple of people
working with me but they work remotely, and they just help me with things like
planning and editing, stuff like that. No camera crew, or cast here, you know. As real as it gets. Maybe one day.
But I don't know if I would want that. This just gives me
so much independence and freedom. All right, next question. Jane: Well, yeah. You definitely have to learn
to ignore the awkwardness which you always experience at first. It always feels strange. And even to me,
these days, I still have to battle through that initial feeling of:
"What will people think?" It doesn't matter what people think. If someone judges you for creating content,
why should you care? Besides, every single time
that someone has paid attention to me while I was filming myself somewhere,
for example, they came up to me and they would just ask:
"Are you a YouTuber?" So, it was really nice
to share my YouTube channel with them and overall, a positive outcome. I know it's weird,
but you just have to battle through it. Just one of those things, you know. All right, let's go. A bunch of these questions are related to
traveling alone or traveling full-time. Rachida is asking: Yes. There was that one moment
where I really felt like I was gonna die and that was when that cow attacked me
in Montenegro two months ago. I'm not even exaggerating. That was the scariest moment
in all of my travels, maybe even in my entire life.
I really thought I was going to die. That minute. As for other situations, yes,
of course, there have been moments where I feared or where I had a sense of:
"Oh my God, I don't know if this is the right thing that I'm doing right now,
am I in the right place?" But there was never really a real threat. I am also very, very cautious
about avoiding threats like that. So, it may seem to you
I'm just going anywhere and bumbling along, but I do take
safety precautions quite seriously. For example, I would never go out at night
all alone in a place I'm not familiar with. Or if I ever feel
a sense of danger or threat, I just leave the situation, immediately.
I just follow that gut feeling. And if I'm staying
in a remote place all alone, usually there is gonna be nobody there. Strangers with chainsaws and guns that we imagine, I have the feeling
they only exist in horror movies. I hope. So, no, there have been
no such situation, really. Philip is asking: Very rarely. I just love being on my own. I don't know why.
I really like spending time by myself. I just find it so nice. Isabella is asking: Oh, so many flies! Yes, actually. Yes, it does get tiring. Living in a van versus living in a 4x4
is also a very different kind of experience, because a van is almost like a small studio
and you can basically live there full-time. With a 4x4 it's a little bit different. The space is very small
and it's difficult to work properly for extended periods of time. And that's why sometimes
I rent out Airbnbs, or flats, or even guesthouses,
stay in guesthouses or with friends. So that I can focus a little bit, do some... So many flies! Do some focused work
and then go back and enjoy this life. So, now I think it's a good moment
to start driving back to the Airbnb where I'm staying for the next few days. OK. One more spot,
because it's absolutely gorgeous! Before we head home. A question from Nicky, that I love. One, don't take yourself so seriously. And two, take yourself very seriously. Don't think that you have
to carry the weight of the entire world on your shoulders. That's why you shouldn't
take yourself too seriously. Don't put so much pressure
on yourself to be perfect. But do take yourself very seriously
in the sense that... Question. Question the norm. Ask yourself: "What it is exactly
that you want out of life?" Give yourself time. Think. Dare. Be brave! Hey, here we are. At home. Temporary home. And QualityGuitar
has a very interesting question that a lot of people ask about. Yeah. I mean, just because I travel alone,
it doesn't automatically mean that I feel lonely. In fact, I'm always meeting new people. It's a rare occurrence
to be completely alone for a really long period of time,
because people are everywhere. But if you're talking about feelings
of sadness, or anxiety, or loneliness, yeah, of course I feel those things. And it might seem like
I'm just always happy, but keep in mind you're mostly seeing a highlight reel. I am happy 90 percent of the time, but there's a ten percent which, you know,
it's hard to film it sometimes. Because when you're feeling nervous,
or stressed out, or just plain dejected, grabbing a camera
is not always your first instinct. I don't know if there's a solution to that. I've been trying
to be more mindful of my emotions and be more accepting of what I feel.
I've been meditating a bit more, I've been trying to analyze
myself a little bit more. I don't know if those are good things. Basically, I don't know. I don't think I have answers
to those questions. I think I'm just like anyone else. I wish I had a better answer. Let's go inside. There is a question that I think
Mike and I should answer together. - Hey babe!
- Hi! Wanna answer
a couple's question for my Q&A? Do I ever wanna answer
a couple questions for Q&A? OK. Let's go get real awkward real quick. What are the questions? Christine is asking: It's your vlog, you start. I think WhatsApp video calls. - Or Skype, or FaceTime, or Facebook.
- Yeah. We started dating
just right before the pandemic hit. So, we had a few good months together
and then four months apart, because we couldn't see each other
because of the pandemic. Then I came over to Europe and then
we hung out for about a year, or so. And then I got summoned
to the United States for a really big project
that took my entire summer. And then Eva was supposed to come visit
and then COVID got in the way again. We booked flights,
we weren't allowed to board flights. Four more months went by. Because of the pandemic we didn't see
each other for four months, twice. Which was hard.
What's the secret? There's a lot that goes into it, right?
Because if I wasn't doing my own channel and my own thing and you were traveling,
then I'd get left behind. And if I was traveling
and you were doing your own thing at a desk job or something,
then you would get left behind. And the fact that
we're both doing our own things, no one gets left behind, because
you go do your thing, I go do my thing. The cool thing with this job is
we can bend schedules and commitments to be able to see each other
in Istanbul, or Bangkok, or wherever. Or we can be conveniently unavailable
pretty much all the time. But I think the main thing is that
we both have our own stuff going on. If two people are kind of
pursuing their own dreams, then they encourage
the other person to do that. But if one is out adventuring all day long,
meeting cool, sexy people, doing cool, sexy things, whatever... All the cool, sexy people! And the other person
is just watching it all on Instagram, it doesn't work very well. Yeah, there has to be that equality,
that equilibrium between two people. Trust has to be the first thing because,
again, we do spend much more time apart than the average couple does.
More than we'd like as well. - Yes.
- Right? Here is a question
that was upvoted a whole bunch of times. So, usually the idea comes first. For example, if I know that I'll be filming
with specific community or group of people or a culture, then I need to make sure
that I've got the logistics sorted out. And that I get in touch
with someone from that community and that they know that we'll be filming.
Otherwise, I just kind of go. Yeah, I do usually come up with
a bit of a structure. Not like a script per se,
but just a rough outline of what it is that I want
to be filming and in what order. Because that helps me
prevent filming everything. When I was starting out
with this YouTube thing, I would just film everything, which just made the edits of my videos
completely overwhelming. So, knowing roughly
what you're gonna film is helpful, but I always, of course,
allow for spontaneous moments. Because that's usually
what makes the best videos. Blair is asking: Well, I have a real big problem
with rules and authorities that I try not to make them for myself. But I would say that
if there's one reminder that I always have
in my head for myself, it's to enjoy. And I don't mean be careless,
go partying and just... No. I mean enjoy in its true essence, get joy out of everything
that you do, as much as possible. Grant is asking: You can actually find
most of my book recommendations on my Instagram,
there's a highlight reel titled "Books". If there is one book
that I really loved reading in the recent times,
it was "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari. "Sapiens" is basically
a story of mankind, humankind. The philosophy, the sociology,
the economics, the history, the development. It's really accessible and just talks about the development of humanity
through the millennia, in mind-blowing way. I think everybody should read
that book at least once in their lives. OK. I am gonna shift this around
and sit on the floor. This is no nice. Next question. So, there's two questions here,
that are really practical. I always get asked these questions,
and I wanna answer them once and for all. I don't really have one, I wash my face
with water and sometimes soap, and moisturize it with cold pressed oils,
like floral, botanical oils. All natural. And I don't really use make-up on my face. I haven't used foundational powder...
Well, powder maybe twice in the last year. But foundation I haven't used,
I think at all, in the last two years. I think that helps, and I also think
that leading a healthy lifestyle, healthy and active, might have
something to do with the fact that I'm very lucky
to have not terrible skin. And then: Periods. Very simple, I use a menstrual cup. Easy. Let's move over there. Money, money, money. Everybody wants to know how I earn. Us, YouTubers or "influencers",
I hate that word, don't really talk about money very much,
but here's a question from Tom: So, the short answer is
YouTube is my main source of income and I earn on YouTube via ad revenue, which is generated by you watching the ads in front of my video
and in the middle of my video. I also sometimes work with brands
and I'm lucky enough that I can choose the brands that I really, really like
and that I really support. So, sometimes you will see me
making videos with brands. Not very often, but sometimes. And I also make videos
for other media platforms like Euronews, or Deutsche Welle
in the last year or so. So, I would make travel episodes for them
and get paid that way. I also have a Patreon page,
where people who like what I do can choose to support my work either on a one-off basis
or on a more regular basis. And there's perks like,
recently we did a livestream, or there's just a sort of exclusive updates
about my location, and what I've been up to, which, yeah, it's a nice little community. So, if you wanna join it,
there's a link in the description box. Right, a couple of big questions
about the future here. And after that, we're gonna go into the rapid-fire round,
which is gonna be fun. There really isn't a place like that. There isn't a place that is 100 percent
this one because, you see, I'd love to just have a big piece of land
in the mountains, with forest, where I could keep horses, and sheep,
and goats, and dogs, and just have a wooden house. And just have freedom
and be kind of self-sustaining. But I don't know if I've picked the place. Maybe Romania,
I really love the nature in Romania. Maybe that one. But I haven't decided
and I'm really not at that stage yet. So, we'll have to wait and see. I'll probably get there
in the next couple of years. So, if you stick around,
you might get an answer to this question. And then the last question in this Q&A,
the last big question is: Actually, no. I don't want to have kids.
I've never wanted to have kids. You know, when I was like 10 or 15
I knew that I didn't want to have kids. And everybody would just tell me:
"You'll change your mind when you are 25, when you are 30,
your maternal instincts will kick in." But they never did. And I just don't see my life with children. A lot of people find a lot of meaning
and self-actualization in having kids, but it's just not for me, I don't think. I don't feel at all
this desire or this need. So, no. I probably will never have kids. And I'm quite happy with my choice
to be child-free, that's that. About settling down, yeah, I can sense
that in the next two or three years I will probably seek to have
some sort of home base from which I would then travel,
but we'll see. I try not to worry about it too much.
I try not to overthink it right now, because right now
I don't want these things. So, we'll cross that bridge
when we get there. And now it's time for probably
my favorite part of the video, which is the rapid-fire round questions. So, we've set up
a little tripod contraption here because I have no idea where my tripod is. And my lovely assistant here, Mike,
is going to be throwing the questions at me. All right, let's get set up. OK. Number one. None. Two really well and two more fluently. Taurus. Scorpion. No. Cow brains,
before I went vegetarian. Dog. Well, if I told you I'd have to kill you. Very long. Extremely long. Never-ending. Endless amount of places to see and things to do. Yes, I'm a trail runner. A smile? That's so cheesy.
It's kind of true, though. Everything else you can do without. Definitely something in between. But I don't really believe in this label,
in the labels anyway, so. And then I had a bit of
a mishap on my knee. It really hurts. I went for a run to celebrate
the Q&A video being finished and also, to keep training for
an ultramarathon that I had signed up for. And I felt amazing,
I felt like I was flying and then I tripped over a chain
and fell flat on my face on the concrete, hitting my chin, my lips
and my knee in the process. So, my lip looks really huge right now,
I don't know if you can see it. There was blood in my mouth,
so, I thought I had knocked my teeth out. Luckily, that didn't happen. And my knee was kind of okay
and then just after icing it, it started hurting a lot. Oh, man, I hope I didn't just jeopardize
my chances of running. Anyway, so that's that.
Thank you for watching my Q&A. Life was so much fun just a few hours ago
and now it's just a little bit more painful. Anyway... More adventures to come! Like this video, comment and subscribe. Help me feel better. All right, keep exploring, if you can. And see you for the next adventure.
