Joshywashington's Favorite Travel Videos of 2010

I could have easily chosen 100 videos that get me stoked about travel media and the people out there in the world creating it, but for the tradition of top 10 lists I reluctantly narrowed my focus.

I have chosen videos that managed to evoke something in me. Vids that stirred an an emotion, that I related to somehow. Videos that inspired me, lulled me to daydream and spoke to my experience.

Thank you to every traveler who has contributed their media to MatadorTV.

2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010

~ HOME IN EVERY MOMENT

A different take on the question “Where do you feel at home?” It’s not WHERE that’s important, but WHEN.

I really like the voice of this piece. It is very personal and speaks to a universal theme in travel; where, when and why is home?

~ TAWOCHE 2K10 dispatches #1

Stateside climbers head to Nepal to visit sacred sites, climb jagged peaks and teach young Nepalese the art of mountain climbing.

Tight, interesting cinematography and an attention grabbing editing style makes me love the Tawoche series. I am not usually drawn to “leaving” videos ( the inevitable packing and airplane scenes ) but this video keeps it really interesting and fresh. Has anybody else noticed that climbers shoot awesome video?

~ THE SEASON

Climb, bike, kayak, carve and explore with the athletes from The Season, one of the best outdoor sports video series online.

The Season takes the docu-sport genre to intelligent, beautiful and thought provoking places. Good sporting videos have a home on TV because often the athletes are interacting with massive views, new cultures, extreme climates and natural beauty. They scale the walls the rest of us only look at. They shred the mountains from the powder-topped summit and shoot the rapids that scare us from the safety of the shore. The Season is my favorite adventure sport video series.

~ EVERYONE IS A LITTLE UNIVERSE

Tour a world in miniature with the looking glass perspective of tilt-shift photography

The captivating, god-like view that tilt shift achieves makes for an interesting take on any given place. Cities are shrunk to model scale and the people scurry about like insects. I find this effect to be magical.

~ BREAKING FREE

Break free with the creators of Matador and Robin Esrock and discover passionate travelers living life according to their rules.

I am very proud and very stoked for the Matador crew and the inspiring expats who created Breaking Free. This media projects heralds a new direction for Matador in creating compelling content exploring the lives of travelers.

~ FREE BEATS

The spontaneous collaboration of strangers in NYC makes one of my favorite videos of 2010 FREE BEATS. As a vlogger I can relate to the thrill of interacting with strangers to create a video together. I wish more people would make videos like this one.

~ LIFE IN GOA

Welcome to Palolem, Goa where cattle litter the shore and beauty can be found in each gently breaking wave.

This is one of the gorgeous, lulling daydream videos that make the edges of your vision go fuzzy. Sublime images that make armchair travel almost as titillating as the real thing.

~ INDIAN STREET FOOD SET TO DIDGERIDOO

Dig into the frenetic world of Indian street food to the sounds of a didgeridoo.

The editing of this piece is crazy awesome. Focusing on the kinetic scene unfolding and exploring the relationships of people on the street of India, this video does everything right and gives the viewer a sense of what it is like to be there. The didgeridoo is really cool too. Note to self, use more didgeridoo in videos!

~ FIRE IN SELLERI

Mr. E shoots video as a fire consumes a village.

The editing is minimal, the narration is not compelling (the repetition of “big fire” is amusing though) but this video gives me chills. That could have been any of us wandering around with our camera. The raw energy of this video as fire tears through the village is amazing. A good lesson to take from this is have your camera ready!

~ inTRANSIT 17

Peter sleeps in a jungle hostel, swims under hot spring waterfalls, explores caves and eats fresh-caught cave fish in Rio Dulce Guatemala.

I love this series. If I were making a top 10 list of ninjas I would like to travel with Peter would be right up there on top. inTransit is funny, consistently entertaining and gives us a great story arch with solid production value. I would love more travelers to undertake the kind of commitment that a series like this takes and actually deliver. I am stoked to see what Peter comes up with next.

KEEP THOSE CAMERAS CLOSE AT HAND AND STAY CURIOUS. LETS MAKE 2011 THE YEAR OF THE TRAVELING CREATIVE. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY. ~ JOSHY