Around The World

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🚂 Watch me spend 46 hours on an Amtrak train:    • 46 Hours On Amtrak Sleeper Train - Ch...  

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Amtrak is the United States' only cross-country passenger trail service. And this means that its been tasked with moving people around a country that is otherwise really large. Unfortunately, due to the prominence of cars and planes, ridership of passenger rail in the United States dipped considerably in the 1900s and never really recovered, even as other countries, such as China, rapidly build out a national high speed rail system that far and away surpasses Amtrak's meager routes. So what's going on? Well, the geography of it all certainly doesn't help!

In this episode, we'll cover the geography and history of how Amtrak expanded, its recent ridership trends, and why Amtrak can't replicate the same success found elsewhere and what that means for Amtrak going forward.

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⛰️ I'm in Canada this week! Watch the video now:    • A Full Day On Vancouver Island's Famo...  

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Greenland has a vast ice sheet that's over 1 mile thick on average. And this means that there's something hidden under all that ice! Specifically, Greenland could be sitting on top up trillions of dollars worth of minerals, oil, and other scarce resources. So exactly how much money is hidden under Greenland's ice? Watch to find out!

In this video, we'll cover the extensive history of Greenland and how it came to be owned by Denmark, why the United States is so interested in taking control of Greenland, and what current estimates suggest about how much money is under all that ice.

And just to give you a little hint: if Greenland's current known resources could be mined and sold, every Greenlander would become a multi-millionaire. That's A LOT of money!

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Stock footage and music acquired from www.envato.com, www.storyblocks.com and videvo.net.

If you think there's been an error in using a video clip, please contact me.

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Thanks to HUEL for sponsoring this episode. Get 15% off your first order by visiting: www.huel.com/geoff

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🌴 I'm in Costa Rica this week! Watch the video now:    • Searching For Sea Turtles In Costa Ri...  

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The West Coast of the United States has historically been a huge success story for the country. Over the last 70 years, tens of millions of people have flocked to California, Oregon and Washington. But then, beginning in the 2010s and 2020s, something started changing for the region. Growth slowed considerably, or reversed entirely! So what's going on that's made living on the West Coast so impossible for hundreds of thousands of people?

In this video we'll go through the history of how the West Coast states because so dominant and successful, what the recent population trends have been since 2020, and why it's become harder and harder for people to actually live in these three states and why people are still leaving.

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Stock footage and music acquired from www.envato.com, www.storyblocks.com and videvo.net.

If you think there's been an error in using a video clip, please contact me.

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🌴 Join me in Costa Rica:    • 24 Hours Driving Across Costa Rica - ...  

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Trump is coming back into office. Which means, he's going to have an impact on how the world looks over the next few years. If his first term taught us anything, it's that he isn't afraid to shake up global norms in order to push his own agenda. And given his transactional nature, he definitely has favorites all around the planet that he'll look to empower.

In this video, we're going to cover the countries Trump will likely have the biggest impact on in terms of their current borders. This will include eastern Europe and Ukraine, Israel and Saudi Arabia, China and Taiwan, and of course, Canada and Greenland. All this is to say, in his second term, Trump will be looking to leave his mark on the world.

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Costa Rica has become a HUGE success story for Central American countries. It has a stable, long lasting democracy, a thriving tourism industry, a growing middle class, and better infrastructure than most other countries in the world. But Costa Rica's situation is markedly different from its northern neighbors who have experienced decades of authoritarian rule, revolutions and rebellions, and foreign interference. So why has Costa Rica been so successful, and why haven't its neighbors been able to replicate it success?

In this video, we'll cover the unique Central American geography that binds these four countries together, how each was colonized, settled and exploited by Spain, and why Costa Rica managed to carve a different path than the other three countries endured during the mid 1900s.

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Stock footage and music acquired from www.envato.com, www.storyblocks.com and videvo.net. If you think there's been an error in using a video clip, please contact me.

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Seattle and Portland make up the two major U.S. cities in the Pacific Northwest. But what if I told you that neither was every really intended to be THE major city in the region? In a different timeline, Astoria, Oregon was destined to rise to a level of prominence and population that the other two cities enjoy today. Unfortunately, due to a combination of geography and historic choices, Astoria is a fraction of the size. Here's why!

In this video, we'll cover the history of how the U.S. first settled the west coast at Astoria, how the region was shaped by British and American politics, and why Astoria became irrelevant despite its strategic location at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River.

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Stock footage and music acquired from www.envato.com, www.storyblocks.com and videvo.net. If you think there's been an error in using a video clip, please contact me.

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Svalbard is home to the most northernmost human settlement on the planet. And if you want to you, you can move, live and work there as well! There are no visa, customs, or citizenship requirements... mostly! And that makes this northern island one of the most unique places in the world.

We'll cover the incredible arctic geography of Svalbard, how the island was discovered and why people first began moving there, and why you (YES YOU!) can move there tomorrow if you wanted to, but you probably shouldn't!

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Stock footage and music acquired from www.envato.com, www.storyblocks.com and videvo.net. If you think there's been an error in using a video clip, please contact me.

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The US-Canada border is one of the most well known, most crossed borders in the entire world. And because both countries have been friendly for so long, you might think that this means the border is pretty simple, right? The reality is anything but. The US-Canada border is filled with small little oddities that make you question whether this is really a border at all!

In this video, we'll cover the extensive geography of the border, from the far east to the far west and then all the way to the north. Then we'll dive deep into all of the weird little oddities along the border and how they can change your perception of just what a border is.

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Stock footage and music acquired from www.envato.com, www.storyblocks.com and videvo.net. If you think there's been an error in using a video clip, please contact me.

Video animations and editing by Dakota Piteo.

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International borders decide who gets to have control over what territory. And because of this, these are often hard lines drawn in the sand that determine who gets to cross. But that doesn't mean they all make sense! In fact, some international borders are incredibly bizarre!

In this video, we'll cover the 10 weirdest borders I could find and I explain how they came to be. The borders included are:

1. Belgium - Netherlands' Baarle-Hertog

2. Ireland - Northern Ireland's N54 Road

3. Croatia - Bosnia Herzegovina's Neum Corridor

4. Egypt - Sadan's Hala'ib Triangle and Bir Tawil

5. Senegal - The Gambia's river buffer

6. Namibia's Caprivi Strip

7. UAE - Oman's Madha and Nahway exclaves

8. Uzbekistan - Kyrgyzstan - Tajikistan's Fergana Valley

9. Guatemala - Belize's disputed border

10. Venezuela - Guyana's Essequibo conundrum

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Stock footage and music acquired from www.envato.com, www.storyblocks.com and videvo.net. If you think there's been an error in using a video clip, please contact me.

Video animations and editing by Dakota Piteo.

This has been a production of Sound Bight Media (soundbight.com)

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Colombia is an incredible country, geographically. But despite being home to over 53 million people, the second most populous country in South America, almost no one lives on the country's Pacific coast. And this is weird because most countries in the Americas have gone through great effort to settle and build population centers on their respective west coasts. So what's going on in Colombia and why have they still not developed the vast majority of their Pacific coast?

In this episode we'll cover the varied and intimidating physical geography of Colombia, how, why and where the Spanish decided to colonize and settle, and why, even into 2024, Colombia's west coast is still vastly underpopulated compared to its Andean and Caribbean regions.

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Stock footage and music acquired from www.envato.com, www.storyblocks.com and videvo.net. If you think there's been an error in using a video clip, please contact me.

Video animations and editing by Dakota Piteo.

This has been a production of Sound Bight Media (soundbight.com)

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