Around The World In 80 Days

Amy Collins sat at her cubicle, staring at the blinking cursor in an email she had no interest in finishing. The faint hum of fluorescent lights above blended with the muffled clickety-clack of keyboards and hushed conversations. The office smelled faintly of stale coffee and too many repressed dreams.

It wasn’t that Amy hated her job. She had once loved it—or at least convinced herself she did. Project management at a mid-sized tech company had its perks: predictable income, health insurance, a good 401(k) match. But over the years, the daily grind had turned from challenge to chore. Each Monday bled into Friday, and weekends vanished in a blur of Netflix and meal prepping.

Across the aisle, Matt, her husband of three years and partner in both crime and budget meetings, caught her eye. He worked in the IT department—had for seven years. They had met over a broken printer and bonded over shared sarcasm, instant ramen, and the unshakable suspicion that life had more to offer than quarterly reports and performance reviews.

Today, something shifted.

Amy sent the email—more out of obligation than interest—and turned to Matt. Her voice barely rose above a whisper.

“I want out.”

Matt looked up, eyebrows raised, but he didn’t need clarification.

“You mean... out, out?”

“Gone. Done. Quit. I want to leave all this behind. I want something new. Something wild. Something real.”

Matt leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. He looked thoughtful, but not surprised. “You remember that YouTube channel idea we joked about?”

Amy smiled for the first time that day. “Around the World in 80 Days?”

He grinned. “Let’s do it.”

Chapter 1: Resignation and Revelation

They gave their notice that Friday.

Matt’s manager blinked at him like he’d spoken in another language. Amy’s boss tried to counter with a raise and a remote work deal.

“No,” she said kindly but firmly. “We’re going to travel the world.”

“You’re what?”

“Travel. Explore. Document. We’re starting a channel. A vlog.”

Her boss had laughed, but Amy didn’t care. Because that night, for the first time in years, she felt alive.

Chapter 2: Van Life and the Open Road

They bought a converted Sprinter van—complete with a kitchenette, composting toilet, and the kind of cozy aesthetic Pinterest dreams are made of. They spent their first month zigzagging across the western U.S., filming their experiences in quirky Airbnb treehouses, sampling local wines in California’s Central Coast, and befriending retired nomads at RV parks in Arizona.

They learned fast: how to edit video on the fly, how to get the best drone footage without getting kicked out of national parks, how to speak on camera without sounding like infomercial hosts.

Their channel, Around the World in 80 Days, started slow. A few curious subscribers, then a few hundred. But Amy’s honest storytelling, paired with Matt’s crisp editing and eye for detail, caught fire. Soon they were getting sponsors—gear companies, travel apps, even a luggage brand that wanted a full review video.

They used their first real paycheck to book a flight to Paris.

Chapter 3: Airbnbs, Baguettes, and Overrated Attractions

Paris was beautiful, yes—but also crowded and cliché in parts. Amy wasn’t shy about saying so in their video: “Sure, the Eiffel Tower is iconic, but you know what’s better? This tiny bistro in the 11th arrondissement with a 20-euro wine pairing menu and a grandmother who’s been cooking coq au vin for 40 years.”

Their followers loved the honesty. They coined a segment: “Tourist Trap or Treasure?” Every week, they picked a hyped-up attraction and gave their take.

Sometimes the big names lived up to the fame—the Colosseum in Rome, the cherry blossoms in Kyoto. Other times? Not so much. Amy’s review of a certain famous overwater bungalow resort in the Maldives—“Beautiful, but it smells like sunscreen and regret”—went viral.

Chapter 4: Trains, Planes, and Ocean Liners

By month four, they’d become transportation aficionados. In Japan, they filmed the Shinkansen slicing through misty countryside at 200 miles per hour, eating bento boxes filled with untranslatable delicacies.

In Switzerland, they rode antique cogwheel trains to alpine villages and interviewed elderly conductors who’d spent their lives riding up and down the same tracks.

Then came the Queen Mary 2.

Their transatlantic journey aboard the ocean liner was a throwback to a more elegant era—champagne at noon, ballroom dancing at night, and no Wi-Fi for a full week.

“It’s like a floating time machine,” Matt said in the vlog, twirling Amy in a formal dress while a string quartet played.

Their viewers—now in the tens of thousands—ate it up.

Chapter 5: The Hidden Corners of the World

The joy wasn’t just in the big cities. In Romania, they hiked to remote castles and stayed in a shepherd’s hut with no electricity. In Laos, they learned to cook local dishes with sticky rice and river-caught fish.

They interviewed artisans, musicians, and hostel owners. They spotlighted places most travelers overlooked: a ghost town in Patagonia, a bookshop run by monks in Bulgaria, a cheese cave in Slovenia that smelled like feet but tasted like heaven.

Amy wrote travel essays. Matt began doing mini-documentaries. Their channel became less about the couple themselves and more about the world through their lens.

They weren’t just quitting the rat race—they were helping others find the way out too.

Chapter 6: Not All Smooth Sailing

It wasn’t always easy.

There was the time their rental car broke down in northern Iceland during a windstorm. Or the bout of food poisoning in Bangkok that took them off camera for five days.

Amy missed her niece’s birthday. Matt’s grandfather passed away, and they couldn’t make the funeral in time.

There were arguments. Over editing styles, over missed trains, over one particularly regrettable decision to “just wing it” in Marrakesh without booking a riad in advance.

But every time they questioned their choice, one of them would say it:

“Remember the cubicles?”

And they’d laugh. Because no spreadsheet ever looked like a sunrise over the Sahara.

Chapter 7: Circling the Globe

By their one-year anniversary, they had circled the globe—twice. They had danced in a midnight samba parade in Brazil, rode camels under the Egyptian stars, and sailed through the Norwegian fjords.

Their “80 days” theme became more symbolic than literal. They leaned into it, titling each leg of the journey “Day X” to keep the spirit alive.

Their audience had grown to nearly half a million. Fans sent letters, care packages, and invitations. A woman from Portugal named her cat “AmyMatt.” A couple in Texas told them they sold their house and started their own travel blog after watching their Morocco series.

Chapter 8: The New Normal

A year and a half in, they returned to the U.S. briefly to visit family. The old neighborhood looked the same—but they didn’t feel like the same people.

“We used to walk this route every day,” Amy said, standing in front of their old apartment complex. “And we thought that was all there was.”

Matt squeezed her hand. “Now we know better.”

They didn’t stay long.

Next stop: South Africa.

Chapter 9: Why We Left

In a special video they titled “Why We Left,” they talked openly about burnout, fear, and what it meant to start over.

“It wasn’t about hating our jobs,” Amy said to the camera, seated on a hill overlooking the Cape Town coast. “It was about realizing we were playing a game we didn’t want to win.”

Matt nodded. “We’re not saying everyone should quit and travel. But if you’re not happy, really ask yourself why. And what you can change—even in small ways.”

The video became their most-viewed post.

Epilogue: Home is Everywhere

Today, “Around the World in 80 Days” is a full-fledged brand. They publish travel guides, host meetups, and even mentor aspiring creators.

Amy writes a monthly column in a travel magazine called Not Just a Postcard. Matt teaches video editing through online workshops.

But they’re still on the move. They’ve downsized again—this time to backpacks. A minimalist experiment for their third year.

Because home isn’t a house anymore. It’s the path. The plane seat. The port window. The shared meal in a place where you don’t speak the language.

And as Amy likes to say at the end of every video:

“Don’t wait for someday. Chase the world while you can.”

Want to turn this into a series or add sample YouTube scripts or travel entries from their fictional channel? We can totally build it out.