YouTube travel vlog by Nate and Kara Buchanan documenting a multi-leg journey from the Maldives to Egypt (via Sri Lanka and Oman). The video includes an Audible-sponsored intro with a promo link, scenes of leaving their Maldives villa, an unplanned short (16-hour) stay in Sri Lanka, transit through Oman, use of a $25 immigration expediter on arrival in Cairo, and a closing recommendation of the book "Vagabonding: The Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long Term Travel." The tone is personal and reflective with practical travel tips and sponsor messaging.
Questions this video answers
30-day free trial membership including a free audiobook; link audible.com/karennate or text 'karen nate' to 500-500.
About one night (≈16 hours).
$25.
Vagabonding: The Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long Term Travel.
Chapters
Before we dive into today's vlog, we wanted to say a huge thank you to Audible for sponsoring today's video. We love listening to audiobooks when we travel, and Audible has the world's largest.
Selection, which is why we're super excited to tell you that you can get a 30 day free trial membership which includes a free audiobook using our link, audible.com karennate or you can text Karen Nate to 500 500.
And if you stick around to the end of this video, we are going to give you a recommendation for what is probably our favorite book and maybe the reason why we're traveling today.
But first, we have a super long travel day.
Sam, Today is a very sad day.
Today we're leaving the Maldives and we.
Are checking out at this incredible villa.
And I think we're both crying a.
Little bit on the inside right now.
But we did make the most of our last morning. We got up and had a great breakfast. We watched sunrise. We laid in the hammock over the water, and we enjoyed our villa.
It's been a really good day. They actually we had the opportunity to go snorkeling, and we turned it down because I figure I can go snorkeling plenty more times in my life. But this is probably my last few hours in this incredible villa.
The most beautiful place I've ever been in my life.
But now it is back to real life pretty much starting now. We have a very, very long travel day ahead of us.
It's really real life now.
Let's.
Don't make me do it.
We're leaving.
If you're wondering what the S. International airport looks like, this is it. Here we go.
Bye.
Bye.
Sam.
So we were originally supposed to be going to Sri Lanka after leaving the Maldives, and then we went to the shorty awards in New York, and then we ran out of time to go to Sri Lanka, but we already had a flight booked, so we're on two separate flights. So we're still going to Sri Lanka. We're just staying for like one night, 16 hours. And then from Sri Lanka, we go to Oman. And then after Oman, we finally make it to Egypt.
Here we go.
Tired just thinking about it. We made the most of our incredible villa last night. And this morning, like, we went to sleep sleeping, too. Got up for sunrise, and it's really hitting me right now.
Nate slept on the plane. I didn't even sleep.
Okay, that's all right.
I don't want to leave the baldies.
Okay. We've been acting really sad about leaving but at the same time, we're also really excited to visit Egypt. We're not just depressed right now.
Wow.
Management piece of safety equipment provided for every passenger. It is an offense to remove this item from the aircraft. Should there be loss of cabin pressure, your seat mask will automatically drop from the panel above your head. Pull one mask down, cover your nose and mouth with it, and tighten the elastic band of the mask around your hip.
We just landed in Sri Lanka, but we're still on the plane. We got some really good news in our email when we landed. We were a little nervous on that.
Flight, so we've been, like, just traveling non stop the past few days. And I totally forgot to look at, like, immigration rules for getting into Sri Lanka. It turns out you need to apply for a visa ahead of time, but it's just, like, online. And I literally did it like, two minutes before. Before we got on the flight. He said it could take up to 24 hours, but hour later, Cara has an approval. At least I'm not connected to the Internet. I'm hoping I do.
After we filled out the form, it said, do not go to Sri Lanka until you get the approval. And then we got on the plane. We didn't know what we were going to do. We're going to have to sleep in the airport for a long time.
Or they might have just, like. I don't know what they did. Might not even let you stay in the airport.
It's not quite the overwater mansion that.
We started our day in, but it'll do. In all seriousness, the family that runs this little hotel is, like, the nicest people we've ever met. They stayed up till midnight to pick us up from the hotel, greet us with welcome drinks. They're gonna let us stay till we have to leave tomorrow.
And the mom's cooking us breakfast in the morning.
Not too bad. Sri Lankan feast for breakfast.
That's so foggy.
That was so much better than sleeping at the airport.
I'm, like, really proud of us right now. I am too. I think this might be the first time in two and a half years that we've had an overnight layover and we've paid to go stay at a hotel and get a good night's sleep.
It helped that it was like two seconds on the road and we didn't fly out today until three.
We're really maturing in our travels. The family here is seriously so nice. They cooked us a huge Sri Lankan breakfast feast. It wasn't very good, but I think this is one of Those cases where it was more the thought that counts.
They're precious.
All right, back to the airport.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Pleasure.
For the record, we are not counting Sri Lanka as a country country because we just slept here and we plan on coming back and really traveling.
Sure.
Thank you very much.
Two whole hours.
Work.
Our converters didn't work in our hotel last night so none of our stuff is charged. We have to move to a place.
By.
There'S chicken tikka masala for lunch. We have really taken over this area. We're charging everything we own right now.
Going to Muscat.
However, we advise you to keep your seatbelt fastened in case of unexpected turbulence.
All the way to mankind.
It.
Sam.
Wow.
This is a priority pest.
So nice.
I shouldn't have eaten on the flight. This looks so yummy.
And it's huge.
We just found another food area.
I don't know.
I guess I'm not surprised. It's Oman. Oman is amazing.
I love this airport. And now I'm going to Egypt.
We are currently 25 hours into this travel day. Our body saying it's 10:30 at night. We're about to board a flight that's going to last four hours. I'm sure it'll take us at least an hour to get into the city. Which means it will be arriving at our Airbnb at 3:30. Our body clocks time. That's crazy.
I didn't realize.
All right. Time.
I did have a copy in the lounge.
Is that our.
International airline of the SU Tornado Bowman. I'm your senior flight supervisor on behalf of Captain.
We're three for three on getting the middle.
So I fell asleep on the plane so I didn't get us landing. But we have made it to our Airbnb. It is almost 2am here in Cairo. I think our bodies think it's either 5 or 6am there's no telling the.
Maldives seem like a distant dream. It's been so long before we go to sleep.
For the first time ever, we used an expediter service to get through customs and immigration because we had read some stuff that it could be challenging especially if you have a drone to get through customs. It was only $25 and that included the ride to our Airbnb.
Totally worth it. So easy. Plus we were half asleep. So we just followed the guy around and he got our visas. That's great.
Alright, we're going to sleep.
Before we end this video, we promised a book recommendation and we think that everybody should go listen to vagabonding The Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long Term Travel.
It is without a doubt my favorite book that I've ever read. I probably read it for the first time eight years ago and it's what planted the seed that first made me think long term travel was a possibility. It took years until that actually panned out. But, like, looking back, I can tell that this book is what, like, started to put me in that mindset. I rarely ever reread books, but I'm currently listening to this book again for the third time, and I promise it gets better and better every single time.
It's like the most quotable book I have ever listened to. I want to take everything that he says and make it the caption of my Instagram post.
We could talk about this book all day, but we want you to go read it for yourself. And you can do that for free through Audible.
All you have to do is go.
To audible.com karennate or text Karen Nate to 500.
500.
The reason we are super excited to be partnering with Audible is because we hardly ever listen to music while we're traveling. We're always listening to people stories. We love learning while we're doing something else.
Because when you're traveling, listening to a book is so much better than reading a book because you don't want to have your head shoved down in the pages and missing the sights that are going by. Whether it's riding on a plane, in a train, or like, I love being able to learn something at the same time that I'm observing the world around me.
You don't have to be traveling the world to enjoy Audible. You can listen on your commute while you're laying at the pool. Whatever you're doing this summer, it is a great way to learn something new or be entertained while you're doing something else.
But don't forget, go download vagabonding. Links are in the description.
It might just change your life.
We're trying to get an Instagram out in the hammock, but it's about 8ft deep until you get there.
Whoa.
Whoa.
We almost lost it. Immediately.
Are you okay?
Yeah.
This bag's supposedly waterproof. Oh, it's not. I can touch.
Yay.
Oh, that's deeper.
False alarm.
Nope, it's getting deeper. I'm gonna have to slim.
No problem. This is quite the workout dedication.
Good thing they didn't have don't spread out your cords everywhere.
