Kara and Nate

[lolkay]

I wonder if they will be back to the National Parks now that a US judge has issued a judgement indicating that National Park Service requiring permits for commercial filming is a violation of the US Constitution?

I wouldn't be surprised. They posted the article on an IG story-- saying "Does this mean that we get to vlog in NPs again? And what are the chances the judge is a subscriber?" Which, news flash Kara, doesn't work like that . TBH I don't even want to see that series after their video crying about it.

 

[letsgetouttahere]

The part that got me more than vlogging in a National Park was flying the drone in a National Park without a remote aircraft license under Part 107 of the FAA. That is a bigger no no. And even with it, you would know you can't fly a drone in a National Park.

 

[HaphazardSE]

Hi! Longtime lurker, first time poster in this thread. I believe the first Kara and Nate video I saw was the one where they stayed in the capsule hotel in Japan. I forget how long ago that was, but I know it was before the documentary fiasco. I watch and enjoy some of the other travel vloggers out there, but something about that video really didn’t appeal to me. Every so often, I’ll try to watch one of their videos just to see if I could understand their appeal and...I just don’t get it. Based on what I’ve read in this thread, I sense that some of you are former fans? Is that accurate or am I just misreading things? If there are any former fans here, do you mind telling me a bit about what drew you to them / why you liked them? I don’t get it, and I’m legit curious.

 

[What's your point]

I used to really enjoy watching them as they visited a lot of places I am interested in. I honestly cannot tell you what drew me in other than I was watching no other travel vloggers at that point and had nobody to compare them to.

I did really enjoy some of the places that they visited but started to really go off them when they were just rushing to as many different countries as possible to smash the 100. It all seemed rushed and like they were just doing it for the sake of it and no real passion for it. And the way they acted for the 100th video was a bit of a kick in the teeth for everyone that had supported them so far.

I was so disappointed with the vlogs once they got back to the US as I would love to see more of the States but none of the vlogs they put out interested me really (I appreciate Covid has made things difficult).

Now they just irritate the life out of me and I dont think I will ever go back to watching them again. To me now it isnt about travel it is about them earning as much as they can from ad content and sponsorship so that they can call it quits (pretty soon I expect) and not have to worry about getting a 9-5 job anytime soon.

 

[Guacamole123]

Anyone else stopped watching them as soon as they started the van series?! I think I realised it’s not really them I like, it’s just the escapism that I enjoy, being able to watch them travel the world. Looking back now though they’re just typical tourists, like when they went to WETHERSPOONS for fish and chips in London, and how they did the Trans-siberian and didn’t even really get off the train and explore.

 

[lolkay]

A longggg time ago, I had a dream of backpacking SE Asia (I hate to admit it, but I even bought a backpack lol), and I stumbled upon a bunch of people (Sorelle Amore, K&N, Endless Adventure, The WayAway, Backpacking Bananas, Flying the Nest, etc.etc.) and would follow these folks around picking up tips and learning about their lifestyle.

I really appreciated how K&N (I guess moreso Nate) were super transparent with their finances and they inspired me to start learning more about credit cards and points.

But things started going downhill and I felt the channel vibe changed around the release of FareDrop and them taking larger sponsorships. Now, it seems like most of their content is an AD. I like how they say this is their "passion," but lately, it really doesn't feel like it.

 

[todoraviation]

Hey everyone,

Quick update from me about my stance on Kara & Nate. I just tried watching their most recent video.. and I couldn't watch more than 5 minutes. Their content is just not that great anymore and they have started to annoy me beyond no return and I have officially unsubscribed/ unfollowed them on social media. I will check back in with them once in a while to see what they are up to (or if they have complained about something new) but thats it from me.

I've recently started watching Trent & Allie (they are currently building a house in Utah) and they are super interesting and entertaining to watch. Also have been watching Eamon and Beck from time to time.

 

[katabaticwind]

I don’t understand why these two people are popular at all as travel vloggers. Having watched their videos during this past year, I have found them to be shallow, boring and completely lacking any knowledge of places they visit.

How did these people get popular in the first place? Is it like a Kardashians effect where people would watch mindless superficial content? Blimey, their travel content is sub-par and their knowledge of places and things they show is quite appalling.

I realize they are a whitey white couple from the Stateside which puts them at an advantage over say, some bloke vlogging about travel from Pakistan or Philippines who has substance and they also have some folksy charm like Forrest Gump but even with all that, their shallowness and daft and somewhat entitled behavior overrides everything.

They seem like a couple very focused on the money and my God, that Kara acts like someone dipped her in sugar syrup one too many times to be annoyingly cloying and the bloke Nate will put miserable old curmudgeons and Mr. Grinch to shame.

But I am still trying to understand why they are popular or why people are clamoring for their content at all apart from the fact that they are a white couple from the stateside. Because their travel content and their knowledge is mostly shite and just going to the airport doesn’t mean you have visited a country or for that matter, you doing adverts for some helicopter tour or dive shop and get in and out just for that is not really travel content. Their whole channel is full of adverts in hiding for someone who is paying them.

I saw this thread and had to make an account to post on it. It seems people on Redditof which I found some threads about them, are not really fond of them either except the occasional dedicated worshippers of their lifestyle.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[katabaticwind]

I used to really enjoy watching them as they visited a lot of places I am interested in. I honestly cannot tell you what drew me in other than I was watching no other travel vloggers at that point and had nobody to compare them to.

I did really enjoy some of the places that they visited but started to really go off them when they were just rushing to as many different countries as possible to smash the 100. It all seemed rushed and like they were just doing it for the sake of it and no real passion for it. And the way they acted for the 100th video was a bit of a kick in the teeth for everyone that had supported them so far.

I was so disappointed with the vlogs once they got back to the US as I would love to see more of the States but none of the vlogs they put out interested me really (I appreciate Covid has made things difficult).

Now they just irritate the life out of me and I dont think I will ever go back to watching them again. To me now it isnt about travel it is about them earning as much as they can from ad content and sponsorship so that they can call it quits (pretty soon I expect) and not have to worry about getting a 9-5 job anytime soon.

What country vlogs of theirs did you like and then they went to shite? Because I’ve watched them from the start in the past year and most of them are mundane and plebeian and lacking any substance or any travel insight for someone calling themselves travel explorers. Their travel vlogs are like Untoasted white bread with nothing to eat it with.

I’ve searched long and hard for some country travel vlogs of theirs to say “ wow, these people really are travel adventurers “ but yet to come across any so far.

I am trying to rack my head on how these two got popular in the first place considering their travel content has been like eating a week old Borscht with stale white bread and Bud light beer. Their travel knowledge and preparedness as travel vloggers is almost nonexistent and they visit the places like they just read a popular tourist guide about how to see a city in 12 hours.

if I have missed any vlogs of theirs that has any interesting travel content with insights, feel free to point me in that direction because I have not found anything so far that made me go “wow” yet.

 

[What's your point]

What country vlogs of theirs did you like and then they went to shite? Because I’ve watched them from the start in the past year and most of them are mundane and plebeian and lacking any substance or any travel insight for someone calling themselves travel explorers. Their travel vlogs are like Untoasted white bread with nothing to eat it with.

I’ve searched long and hard for some country travel vlogs of theirs to say “ wow, these people really are travel adventurers “ but yet to come across any so far.

I am trying to rack my head on how these two got popular in the first place considering their travel content has been like eating a week old Borscht with stale white bread and Bud light beer. Their travel knowledge and preparedness as travel vloggers is almost nonexistent and they visit the places like they just read a popular tourist guide about how to see a city in 12 hours.

if I have missed any vlogs of theirs that has any interesting travel content with insights, feel free to point me in that direction because I have not found anything so far that made me go “wow” yet.

Why do you feel like I need to give you an explanation? I enjoyed them at the start and I dont now so stopped watching it really is that simple.

If you have watched alllllll the vlogs from the beginning and not enjoyed any of them then more fool you for wasting your time.

At least I was watching something I liked at the time not sitting watching something just to complain about.

 

[katabaticwind]

Why do you feel like I need to give you an explanation? I enjoyed them at the start and I dont now so stopped watching it really is that simple.

If you have watched alllllll the vlogs from the beginning and not enjoyed any of them then more fool you for wasting your time.

At least I was watching something I liked at the time not sitting watching something just to complain about.

i didn’t watch them just to complain about them. I gave them a fair opportunity and watched quite a lot of their videos but I am yet to find anything in their content to set them apart to be popular.

You seem a little touchy on the subject for reasons unknown to me.

 

[tylenoal235]

I watched Kara and Nate a lot up until the pandemic. They travelled to a lot of places that are on my bucket list, so they were the easy choice when it came to watching content you know will be relatively good and well edited etc.

When they travelled back during COVID and isolated in that cabin in Nashville, I was genuinely impressed by the responsibility they were showing to their followers - I thought that they were setting a very good example.

Then when they bought the van and started travelling through America, especially through areas that were very badly hit by the virus such as Portland (and commenting on how the amount of homeless people made them feel uncomfortable), that's when I started to be turned off by them.

The flight to Vegas, and then the subsequent travelling to get content has really really put me off. They are showing no real interest in their van or in showing van life content anymore. Their travelling shows a lack of respect to health care workers on the front line of this pandemic, and isn't setting a good example to their followers.

 

[ECH]

The flight to Vegas, and then the subsequent travelling to get content has really really put me off. They are showing no real interest in their van or in showing van life content anymore. Their travelling shows a lack of respect to health care workers on the front line of this pandemic, and isn't setting a good example to their followers.

Agreed. Before this they'd had some missteps, but the Vegas trip really turned me off from them and the fact they just let their van rot. Seeing people like The Endless Adventure who have put so much love and care into their van is like night and day compared to Kara and Nate, who spent a large amount of money on something that they've just destroyed which I think shows how out of touch they are.

 

[katabaticwind]

I recall them doing some adverts for Philippines tourism bureau, a country they had previously slagged off and whinged about in their earlier visit ( but money is the great equalizer for them) and as soon countries started closing down their borders, their first reaction was to fly to Singapore instead of flying back to their home in the States.

Then they made a video there advertising their generosity by filming a maid with 14 hidden cameras to give her $500. Only after that did they decide to go home particularly due to Singapore not being a not so dearer location for hotels and food and general standard of living.

The Van Life phase of their travel saga seemed like a copycat idea of what every other travel vlogging couple was doing and was just as shite in preparedness as their travel adventures. I didn’t get the impression they knew anything about mending or maintaining a caravan type van except how to empty their pee and poo.

They are mostly doing full segment adverts for hotels and corporations and there is not much travel interest focused travel content they have been uploading. They are all hidden adverts for paying clientele.

I am also quite unsure who was that interested in them playing video games inside an aeroplane that they felt compelled to upload as content in the middle of a global pandemic and it just shows how money-centric and unconcerned about the health climate around the globe.

they could have easily made some more videos about their van (seeing as it's broken again) and then some local trips, but no, they need to fly to las vegas instead

I suspect they are sending out mass email solicitations to everyone like that Elle Darby character from UK asking for free stuff and make influencer videos for them in exchange.

 

[What's your point]

i didn’t watch them just to complain about them. I gave them a fair opportunity and watched quite a lot of their videos but I am yet to find anything in their content to set them apart to be popular.

You seem a little touchy on the subject for reasons unknown to me.

Why would I get touchy about a couple of you tube vloggers .

You queried what I liked about them, I queried why you wasted your time watching them if you didn't like the content. If I don't like something then i dont invest time watching it which is why i no longer bother with them.

 

[toanna1]

I recall them doing some adverts for Philippines tourism bureau, a country they had previously slagged off and whinged about in their earlier visit ( but money is the great equalizer for them) and as soon countries started closing down their borders, their first reaction was to fly to Singapore instead of flying back to their home in the States.

Then they made a video there advertising their generosity by filming a maid with 14 hidden cameras to give her $500. Only after that did they decide to go home particularly due to Singapore not being a not so dearer location for hotels and food and general standard of living.

The Van Life phase of their travel saga seemed like a copycat idea of what every other travel vlogging couple was doing and was just as shite in preparedness as their travel adventures. I didn’t get the impression they knew anything about mending or maintaining a caravan type van except how to empty their pee and poo.

They are mostly doing full segment adverts for hotels and corporations and there is not much travel interest focused travel content they have been uploading. They are all hidden adverts for paying clientele.

I am also quite unsure who was that interested in them playing video games inside an aeroplane that they felt compelled to upload as content in the middle of a global pandemic and it just shows how money-centric and unconcerned about the health climate around the globe.



I suspect they are sending out mass email solicitations to everyone like that Elle Darby character from UK asking for free stuff and make influencer videos for them in exchange.

I watched them and liked them until they did their whole dirty play at releasing the 100 countries blog for money ! It’s not the idea of them getting money on it which offended me , it was their it will come out today , Tomorow, next week false statements and even polling on Instagram if viewers wanted the vlog ( majority including me responded to the poll) and then suddenly hanging all the viewers with nothing and coming up with a brilliant idea of we having to pay to watch it THEN or watch free later!

Helloooo.. are audience toys ? Fools? Why engage with the viewers so much and do whatever the hell you like ?

I did not unsubscribe until the Portland incident , but Isubscribed again butfully unsubscribed with their Las Vegas trip !

I suspect they are sending out mass email solicitations to everyone like that Elle Darby character from UK asking for free stuff and make influencer videos for them in exchange.
[/QUOTE]
May be they are ! I really think what they liked about the whole travel thing is enjoying the luxury of first and business class flights and lounges and all inclusive resorts which came after their show casing of third world counties and living there with less expenditure and making videos ( which made a huge income flow ) !
they just can’t do the simple humble van life , they are all about money , free stuff , trying to convert any idea into a money making things and travelling for the luxury ! Why else would they do the luxury VEGAS trip in the middle of a pandemic !
if you look at a lot of van life bloggers or non blogging van life people , they are very simple , minimalist people who do it because they want to do it.

Kara and Nate simply took the van life ( complains about the van shamelessly 50000 times ) only because they needed content and when pandemic started it seemed like a good idea for them to keep making money via that content ! Now that flights are running and businesses are open they can’t , just can’t stay away from the FREE EXTRAVAGANZA luxury travel !

 

[katabaticwind]

I watched them and liked them until they did their whole dirty play at releasing the 100 countries blog for money ! It’s not the idea of them getting money on it which offended me , it was their it will come out today , Tomorow, next week false statements and even polling on Instagram if viewers wanted the vlog ( majority including me responded to the poll) and then suddenly hanging all the viewers with nothing and coming up with a brilliant idea of we having to pay to watch it THEN or watch free later!

Helloooo.. are audience toys ? Fools? Why engage with the viewers so much and do whatever the hell you like ?

I did not unsubscribe until the Portland incident , but Isubscribed again butfully unsubscribed with their Las Vegas trip !

I suspect they are sending out mass email solicitations to everyone like that Elle Darby character from UK asking for free stuff and make influencer videos for them in exchange.

May be they are ! I really think what they liked about the whole travel thing is enjoying the luxury of first and business class flights and lounges and all inclusive resorts which came after their show casing of third world counties and living there with less expenditure and making videos ( which made a huge income flow ) !
they just can’t do the simple humble van life , they are all about money , free stuff , trying to convert any idea into a money making things and travelling for the luxury ! Why else would they do the luxury VEGAS trip in the middle of a pandemic !
[/QUOTE]

You ever contemplated their whole traveling 100 countries gimmick was an eventual lead up to what they are doing now? They just rushed through 100 countries hardly visiting any country in depth but they wanted to get to 100 countries by which they would have enough credit to be influencers that make adverts for hotels and tours?

Having watched them over the last year during downtime, I really did not get the feeling that they are that interested in traveling for exploring places but rather an image building exercise to call themselves travelers but what they were really invested in was to market themselves as travelers to the companies they are doing adverts for?

I somehow got the feeling from watching them that was the plan all along. Iam not against people making money off of their passions but I never get the feeling they were that much interested in traveling as in the exploring part as much as how they get there. They didn’t show that much interest in the actual exploration of places as much as them getting on flights or spending time at the airport lounges.

And you point out their condescending comments about the homeless in Portland but if you watch their videos, that is a trend and they were too patronizing of the local people or calling them “cute” like they are exhibits in a human pet zoo for American tourists.

 

[katabaticwind]

I've tried to like Kara and Nate as I follow a lot of travelling YouTube couples (Flying the nest, Eamon and Bec, Sailing La Vagabonde) but I can't take to these two. I used to think it was because their personalities irk me with Kara acting like a child and crying whenever they get the slightest bit of (well deserved) backlash and Nate just seems to so arrogant.

I also just couldn't see a genuine passion for travel from either of them? Like they were just ticking countries off their list for the sake of it and staying at unusual places so they could make an attention grabbing video. I have never seen a desire from them to actually experience a country and get to know it's culture.

I think the pandemic really has shown their true colours and how entitled they really are. They rushed into van life with very little thought and complained the entire time because the van kept breaking. Maybe if they'd taken some time to fix it up properly then it would have ran more successfully.

Also in one of their recent videos they said they weren't going to be visiting any US National Parks because they wouldn't be allowed to film there without a permit, meaning they'd have to actually plan their visit and fill out some paper work (Heaven forbid). I've never been to the US but I know there are some incredible parks there that many people would love to visit yet the fact they are so unwilling to put in any effort to go see them shows how little they care about their travels. It's all about getting views and making money.

The final nail in the coffin is the fact that they chose to travel to Vegas in the middle of a pandemic and had to cheek to complain how disappointing it is that there were so many others on the plane! It's ok for these entitled influencers to travel but the rest of us better stay at home so we don't put them at risk and disrupt their plans!

Rant over.

Good to know I am not the only one who felt they had no interest in travel as such and all this 100 countries ruse might be a build up to them getting to make paid advert videos.

And yes, Kara comes across as incredibly childish, patronizing and perhaps a little empty in the top paddock as well and I don’t understand the whole subservient and obedient wife act as well. Is that some Southern US Christian thing deferring always to the husband who himself is not very bright or well informed?
Is Kara in some kind of extreme Christian cult like that Amy Coney Barrett woman? Handmaiden, is it?

 

[tylenoal235]

Good to know I am not the only one who felt they had no interest in travel as such and all this 100 countries ruse might be a build up to them getting to make paid advert videos.

And yes, Kara comes across as incredibly childish, patronizing and perhaps a little empty in the top paddock as well and I don’t understand the whole subservient and obedient wife act as well. Is that some Southern US Christian thing deferring always to the husband who himself is not very bright or well informed?
Is Kara in some kind of extreme Christian cult like that Amy Coney Barrett woman? Handmaiden, is it?

I definitely got this vibe when Nate was doing the Colorado trail with 'the dads'. I hated that she would be driving around to pick him up, have dinner ready for when they got back and work on their content all whilst he was out cycling. It felt incredible subservient and obedient of her.

She'll get pregnant soon enough I reckon.

 

[katabaticwind]

I definitely got this vibe when Nate was doing the Colorado trail with 'the dads'. I hated that she would be driving around to pick him up, have dinner ready for when they got back and work on their content all whilst he was out cycling. It felt incredible subservient and obedient of her.

She'll get pregnant soon enough I reckon.

I don’t think it’s isolated to just the videos in Colorado. Right from the start, she has played the dumb and subservient and obedient wife part always deferring to his superior knowledge even when he was doing incredibly daft and irresponsible activities. I don’t know if it is the lack of self confidence or overly co-dependent but the theme has been there all along and I started watching them only in the past year.

I thought she would be pregnant by now already. Is the subservient and obedient wife act just to get pregnant?