I don’t post link roundups anymore, I use Facebook for sharing and I rarely hand over what is, to me, prime real estate, for other people’s stories. I am, as you know, a terrible snob about what people call “content.” I actually hate the word “content” because in my mind it equates with “filler” and “additives” and “high fructose corn syrup.” No one needs that crap added to their intellectual diet. It’s a testimonial to how much I love Matt Kresling’s video that I’m posting it here.
It’s an hour long; you should watch the whole thing. I love everything about it, the awkward conversation with the dude in the hostel, the good-natured joshing about wives with local guys, the way nothing really happens, yet everything happens, the sense of connection that this traveler makes with the place and oh, in the middle there’s some speeded up footage in a weird hotel room that looks an awful lot like what I do when I’m at loose ends in a weird hotel room… This is nothing short of a perfect bit of travel video storytelling — complete with a powerful message — and I absolutely love it. (You know me, I hate everything.) If you share whatever weird snobby aesthetic I have around travel, you’ll love it too. Go get something to drink, sit down, and hit play.
Hat tip to Ukulele Hunt.
I thought I was the only one who didn’t want guest posts on the blog. I like my own writing…not that I don’t like others but I know the quality of my own stuff…and now I sound really conceited!
Thank you. This was totally worth an hour of my time – especially at the end when he wonders which culture is really having the wool pulled over their eyes!
Good lord – that’s the bar-none BEST hour of travel storytelling I’ve ever seen! I too LOVE IT! Thanks so much for sharing it.
Having visited both South Africa (and grown exceedingly weary and annoyed w/ those who continue to regurgitate the false “dangerous” moniker of Johannesburg, et al), as well as dear Lesotho, Kresling’s v ideographic brilliance especially struck a chord.
(and if loving it makes me a “weird travel snob” then so be it!) 😉
I absolutely love it, too. Except that I think he undervalues the middle seat, which I find doubles the chances for meaningful conversation with strangers.