Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by rococode on Sunday March 21, 2021 @12:48AM (#26528195)

Video walks on Youtube. If you haven't heard of them before, they're simple first-person videos where the filmer walks around some area with a stabilized video camera - no talking, just walking. I've really missed traveling and watching video walks while exercising has been a great way to satisfy that travel craving a bit and also trick my brain into experiencing some semblance of normalcy (not sure I could remember what a crowded street feels like otherwise haha).

I'm partial to Japan so my favorite channel has been Rambalac [1], and I recently also started watching another channel with the very creative name JAPAN 4K [2]. There are tons of other channels and places too, for example I recently watched a few in Lisbon [3] and Seoul [4] and Copenhagen [5]. They're very relaxing and fun to watch and going from place to place with no cuts captures the usual tourist experience quite well. If you like traveling you can probably find some that are interesting to you!

[1] https://www.youtube.com/c/Rambalac/videos

[2] https://www.youtube.com/user/keikaikeikaikeikai/videos

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXlFDpaQ1ec

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqj7l0Xk0Ho

[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl69sN5PtgM

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by sprkv5 on Sunday March 21, 2021 @12:15PM (#26531476)

This. This is exactly what I started watching last summer to keep myself calm and optimistic through the pandemic. The channels I watch are - Nomadic Ambience[1], NIPPON WANDERING TV[2] and IURETA e[3].

Here are my favorite[4] video[5] walks[6] from Japan. Hope you like it. As for other places, here's two from NYC[7][8] and another from Olympic National Park[9] which is not a video walk per se, but would appeal to folks who love the wilderness.

Last but not least, thank you for videos you shared :)

[1] https://www.youtube.com/c/NomadicAmbience/videos

[2] https://www.youtube.com/c/NIPPONWANDERINGTV/videos

[3] https://www.youtube.com/c/IURETAe/videos

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et7O5-CzJZg

[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpxJSvgHysA

[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JCNn_4-Ap4

[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21HKaqA1rpo

[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOan6RRvOi4

[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jGX1oUADhg

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by OrbitRock on Sunday March 21, 2021 @12:28PM (#26531573)

I’m wondering what camera would be best for this kind of thing? I’d love to make some.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by harph on Sunday March 21, 2021 @12:44PM (#26531720)

Looks like some gopro type actioncam with stabilization would work nicely. I made videos of hikes when I was on Azores a few years ago with an old GoPro 5 and they look pretty good, so newer hardware should make it even better.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by slallum on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @09:20PM (#26655587)

If you like the videos of Nippon Wandering, he states which equipment he uses for each video. In his last one he used DJI Osmo Pocket.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by ildix on Friday March 26, 2021 @02:22PM (#26595226)

The new Insta360 GO 2 would probably work really well for these type of videos:

https://www.insta360.com/product/insta360-go2

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by f311a on Sunday March 21, 2021 @03:16PM (#26533035)

Osmo Pocket is a good starter

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by emgo on Sunday March 21, 2021 @03:48AM (#26528822)

Also, train ride videos, for example this one in Switzerland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw9qiV7XlFs

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by disabled on Sunday March 21, 2021 @08:54AM (#26530034)

Yeah train ride videos are amazing. I cannot put my finger on why though. I guess because it is mellow, chill, and open-ended. Plus you get to see all of this terrain and the changes to it in an easy to process way, on a time scale. Trains are a lot more comfortable to be on, or even watch, than airplanes, although airplanes often get you from point A to B faster.

I also like going on “walks” on VR, on Google Earth VR, especially via Google Street View. I like going to my old stomping grounds but I also like seeing new places. I also have used it to scope out new neighborhoods when moving, which is extremely useful.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by NanoWar on Sunday March 21, 2021 @10:56AM (#26530906)

You might enjoy Tiny Rails for Android then ;)

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by disabled on Sunday March 21, 2021 @11:38AM (#26531217)

Thank you so much! :-)

It looks awesome and I am about to try it out!

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by oe on Sunday March 21, 2021 @01:19PM (#26532030)

It's interesting how much art direction there is involved in a relatively simple video (train driving from A to B), and for example rmoriz's cycle videos. What is the field of view, how high is the camera? How is sound recorded? Do you cut when the train is stopped on station (or bike in traffic lights), do you fast forward or just show the stop in real time?

As a viewer I'd want there to be zero cuts: If your video puts me on a train I want to experience the whole train journey. Some train videos record audio from the train cars, maybe to avoid recording radio traffic in the engine but this also makes the experience somehow worse.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by jadavies on Sunday March 21, 2021 @06:26AM (#26529422)

That's an excellent channel for train ride videos. Mind you I would love it even more if they did one with a 360 degree camera at the front of the train!

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by dmerrick on Sunday March 21, 2021 @08:15AM (#26529854)

I don't get opportunities to share this very often... my sideproject is a 24/7 Twitch channel[1] of driving footage with a companion chatbot. If you like slow-tv you might enjoy it.

[1] https://www.twitch.tv/ADanaLife_

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by edge17 on Sunday March 21, 2021 @10:01AM (#26530509)

Out of curiosity, how much does it cost to stream 24/7 off cellular like that?

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by jetpackjoe on Sunday March 21, 2021 @10:28AM (#26530706)

The about section of the Twitch channel says:

> This is pre-recorded dashcam footage from a year of traveling the United States in a campervan. It runs 24/7.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by ehnto on Sunday March 21, 2021 @04:48AM (#26529045)

I had been watching Rambalac's videos since I got back from Japan in 2019. It's so comforting, it's difficult to explain exactly why, but I feel very content while watching them and they seem to occupy a part of my brain that usually wanders when I'm working.

Worthy of a mention is "Smarter Every Day" has a channel called The Sound Traveller, where Dustin explores places with a binaural audio setup.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0tq0g5u2bo-TErZt7SJM6w

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by DyslexicAtheist on Sunday March 21, 2021 @08:24AM (#26529896)

why not go out for a walk yourself? as somebody who spends a lot of time in nature it's hard to grasp how sitting more in front of a screen can improve the mood. or perhaps I got it wrong and OP isn't working in Tech and screen time actually means being not at work?

not judging what makes you happy (that would be stupid on many levels) but genuinely wondering if you don't need the endorphines and flowing juices of at least some form of physical movement (even just walking) to get the feeling you describe?

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by qwerty1234599 on Sunday March 21, 2021 @10:11AM (#26530587)

In lots of northern climates, going out for a walk during winter sucks. It's cold, dark and slippery. The winter landscape is cool to look at for a few days sure but after that it just becomes depressing.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by packetlost on Monday March 22, 2021 @11:00AM (#26541790)

This. I live in the American Midwest. I absolutely hate the winters here. If you're the subset of people who love winter sports it can be great, but I can't bring myself to enjoy them despite living here my whole life.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by nonbirithm on Sunday March 21, 2021 @05:28PM (#26534258)

The weird thing is, these kinds of videos actually stress me out, because they remind me of the fact that I'm sitting in my tiny apartment watching someone else getting out and seeing the world. The more I watch, the more I ask myself: is this ever going to end? Am I going to break out of this preexisting bubble of just being content with what's on my screen, a mentality that I'd already lived out for years before the pandemic?

The places I walk around lose their charm after a while, since I don't drive or live in a large city. It feels like a wasteland at times. A pretty wasteland. But it's pretty empty and alone at tim

And especially when it comes to Japan, I just can't get over the fact that I can't get enough time to see the country. No company is going to hire you on the basis that you'd prefer to live overseas, and of course the pandemic has set back the process by a couple of years. But each time I went to Japan, I wondered why I wasn't living there yet, personally. It's a stupid feeling that refuses to exit my mind, no matter how much I debate myself over it. They don't prefer to hire people above age 30, and they cancelled last year's JLPT, so every time I'm reminded of the fact that I'm quickly running out of time to accomplish one of my goals, it stresses me out, big time. I believe I possess a lot of the things that specifically make it hard to gain entry, like a college degree and reasonable proficiency in the language, but not... connections.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by packetlost on Monday March 22, 2021 @11:04AM (#26541843)

Unless you had a specific career you wanted to pursue in Japan, why not focus on Western companies with offices in Japan instead? The culture is closer to that of Western culture supposedly, so you may not need to deal with the idiosyncrasies. Or you could just do fully remote internet-based work. Lots of tech work can work just fine entirely remote and on an entirely different timezone

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by maximumpeaches on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @12:30PM (#26649297)

I just watch them in the background while doing something else which I can't do while walking.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by rmoriz on Sunday March 21, 2021 @11:48AM (#26531284)

I started doing that but with cycling. Shameless self promotion: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCkTuqgUxzTaLZ6lGidtd5iw/video...

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by cmdalbem on Saturday March 27, 2021 @07:24PM (#26606559)

That's amazing to hear so many people are getting so much happiness from this kind of videos! It was this same feeling that inspired me in the beginning of the pandemic to create a website with all the best videos I found out there, and I invite you all to take a look:

https://escapista.app

It's like a live TV that streams this kind of videos 24h/day. Just tune in, choose what category you prefer and enjoy :)

(disclaimer: it's completely free, open source and all views and ad revenue goes to original content creators. I earn nothing with it, it's all for the love for this kind of content and the potential positive impact it can have in all of us stuck at home at these challenging times)

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by A_Venom_Roll on Tuesday April 06, 2021 @05:54PM (#26717861)

This is nice, but I like streaming these kind of video's to my TV. Do you use YouTube playlists 'under the hood'?

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by vinhnx on Sunday March 28, 2021 @11:51PM (#26617533)

This, hundred times this!

I always feel like watching walking tour videos is my kind of meditation, feel-good video or AMSR kind of activity.

on a lazy day, a lazy weekend afternoon evening that you just want to chill out, I think nothing is more comfort than watching walking tour videos. you can just lay down, sit back, have a snack and travel with your eyes, you can "visit" places you had never been before. Wouldn't that feel great?

I curated a link of my personal favorite walking tour YouTube channel, especially in Japan: https://github.com/vinhnx/life-notes/issues/15

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by yitchelle on Sunday March 21, 2021 @10:37AM (#26530772)

If reading a newsletter is also your thing, I recommend Craig Mod's newsletter on his walks around Japan. Quite refreshing.

https://craigmod.com/ridgeline/

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by lazydon on Sunday March 21, 2021 @04:11AM (#26528893)

Yeah, I dig such stuff too. For this, I go for Reddit live streams where you can QnA with the streamer and it's quite fun. In last few months I have been to Rome, Kenya, Germany and of course Japan has it's own charm.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by anm89 on Sunday March 21, 2021 @08:23PM (#26535429)

If you like this kind of stuff, I highly recommend also just going on Google maps, picking some remote corner of the world, dropping the guy down and just having a walk around.

It has provided me endless entertainment over the years.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by ismail on Sunday March 21, 2021 @11:53AM (#26531319)

Thanks I did not know this existed.

I have started a small side project which is somewhat related. I started it because I saw the beneficial aspects of walks and wellness from my own journey over the last few years. It is something I wish existed in the world but does not. The idea seemed so small and inconsequential that i thought it could make a good non-profit that has a significantly positive impact on wellness. There is a model in where it would be self-sustaining. If anyone is keen to chat about the intersection of wellness, physical activity and walking drop me a message!

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by ncarroll on Sunday March 21, 2021 @07:14AM (#26529607)

Oh my gosh, I've never heard of these and you're right, they do look like a wonderful way to "travel" if you can't otherwise. Thank you so much for sharing.

Edit: Punctuation

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by jackdbd on Sunday March 21, 2021 @09:41AM (#26530356)

Thanks for the links. I'm a great fan of video walks too. They are very relaxing and IMHO they provide a much better overview of a place than the typical travel vlog.

Here is another Japan-focused channel. There are walks either with or without audio commenting. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGfM15CKSjHl8bGp16P6P8g/fea...

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by weinzierl on Sunday March 21, 2021 @09:19AM (#26530176)

I love the videos of ActionKid from New York [1]. I watched them before COVID, but they got really interesting when the crisis hit The Big Apple.

[1] https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCBkcw8h7epT_bK0QzuY2Bmg

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by jvm_ on Sunday March 21, 2021 @12:06PM (#26531404)

Whenever I come across a picture of a location that looks cool, whether it be a castle/ruin/beach/city. I search Youtube for 'place name walking tour' and then filter by Long videos.

Usually gets some good results. Sometimes the camera person is too chatty, but you can always mute them.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by packetlost on Monday March 22, 2021 @10:58AM (#26541750)

Similar to this, I've picked up photography and have started watching and following a number of POV street photography videos. It's a similar concept, except there's sometimes dialogue about what's going both in the environment and in the photography.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by jjjjjjjjjjjjjjj on Sunday March 21, 2021 @08:26AM (#26529904)

Yes! I can wholeheartedly recommend Tokyo Explorer as well. He's a talented photographer who started doing a lot of these walks during covid. He does both 4K walks and walking streams where he interacts with the audience.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by nayuki on Sunday March 21, 2021 @10:56AM (#26530907)

Johnny Strides doing Toronto: https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnnyStrides/videos

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by StickyRibbs on Sunday March 21, 2021 @03:46AM (#26528810)

Thank you for this.

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by mstdokumaci on Sunday March 21, 2021 @08:20AM (#26529871)

i had just started a channel like this unaware of the whole concept :)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5SdRE9IQeZs7e1vepRvn4w

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Re:Ask HN: What was the biggest contributor to your happines... by kilroy123 on Sunday March 21, 2021 @05:36AM (#26529248)

I prefer to do this in VR myself.

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