Why I Chose To Suffer Like This - Moto Dog Diaries 18

Music by Aubrey Danielle (https://soundcloud.com/aubreydaniellemusic)

Really appreciate the support, check out the Patreon for more access and perks: https://www.patreon.com/FindingSimon

If Patreon isn’t your thing, I also have a Paypal.me link: paypal.me/ShelbyandSimon

I’m a Canadian photographer from Ottawa who got rid of everything to travel to world. I make travel vlogs sharing my ups and downs, adventures on motorbikes, sailboats, and vans.

Instagram: @Finding_Simon
Snapchat: Finding_Simon
Twitter: @FindingSimon
Donations: paypal.me/ShelbyandSimon
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FindingSimon
Merchandise: http://simonstiles.com/finding-simon/

:::::::FAQ:::::::

– How do you afford to travel constantly?
A: I travel really cheap, free camping, cooking my own meals, being as efficient as possible. I make my income almost entirely on YouTube but it’s really tight. Ad revenue, patreon, paypal donations, merchandise sales and affiliate links bring in about as much as a part time minimum wage job, and I’m able to make that work. When it isn’t enough I go back to work, doing photography mostly, sometimes commercial video projects, but it takes me away from my travels and videos.

– How much does it cost?
I spend on average $2000 travelling, most of which is gas, some repairs, food, and on average less than $200 on any eating out, shopping or extra curricular expenditures. I make $200 a month from YouTube and $400 from Patreon. The rest I make from my work.

– What camera do you use?
Sony A7ii, Nikon D810, Sony RX100 iii, DJI Phantom 3 Advanced, Rode Videomic with Deadcat, Zihyun Crane 3 Axis Gimbal, Underwater Housing, tripods and lights.

– What is your bike?
1999 Yamaha Vstar XVS1100 with a Champion Escort sidecar.

– What’re your plans?
Buy a boat, fix it up, sail off into the sunset.

– How do you find all these cool places?
To gain access to my complete research you need to hit me up on Patreon, but here’s a few sites I frequent: https://freecampsites.net/ https://www.campendium.com/ http://www.atlasobscura.com/ https://www.couchsurfing.com/

– What do you do for Internet?
I use coffeeshops and libraries to upload episodes a few at a time, I also use my wifi antenna (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T9lNM8Mukk&t=2s) and a data package on my phone (10GB)

– How do you live on the road with a dog?
It’s really not as difficult as people seem to think. I spend most of the day with my dog anyways, especially if it’s warm out in the middle of the day. I let the constraint of bringing my dog with me help me make some decisions, avoiding places that ban dogs, and spending more time out in nature instead of in the cities.

– What happened to the girl?
We decided to go separate ways (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPgxDIXxCjY&t=4s)

– Are you rich or something?
definitely not. I’ve spent some quality time homeless, I’ve struggled financially most of my life, and although I’m blessed with great friends and family as well as being able bodied white and male, I don’t subscribe to the belief that you need someone footing your bills in order to travel the world. You need to sacrifice comfort, consistency, safety, time with family, and often your career but it is possible.

– Why don’t you have 10x more subscribers?
My channel isn’t that old, many of the bigger channels you can compare mine to started putting out videos a couple years before I began. I could always use your help sharing my videos, spreading the word, and connecting with cross promotional opportunities. Editing and travelling tend to take up all my time.

– Where are you now?
The top perk on my Patreon page is a live link of my location on google maps so you can get an active idea of where I am currently. If that’s not an option for you there’s also Instagram and Instagram stories that give you a much better idea of what I’m up to today.