We Started YouTube on Our Honeymoon. Now It's Our Full-Time Job

Our YouTube journey from GoPro honeymoon vloggers to full time YouTubers — walking the Camino de Santiago, quitting our 9-5 to travel & building a slow living life abroad in Guatemala. What's going on, guys? It's Chris & Grace (+ Mango 🥭) — today we're in colorful San Juan La Laguna with our friend Matteo, who we met on Day 1 of the Camino de Santiago over 3 years ago on our honeymoon. This reunion had us thinking about the full circle: we started YouTube on our honeymoon just to save memories with a GoPro, accidentally got invited to the YouTube Partner Program 3 months after we stopped posting, went back to 9-5 jobs in Cincinnati, then quit everything to move abroad to Guatemala with Mango. At 09:33 we get honest about why trying to be travel YouTubers was too expensive to sustain and how we pivoted to filming our real daily life instead of the top 5 tourist spots — that's now our full-time job. If you're curious how to become a youtuber, what life as a full time youtuber is really like, or what it takes to quit job to travel and choose living abroad + slow living, this is the honest timeline — no fluff. CHAPTERS: 00:00 Intro in San Juan La Laguna 00:56 Why we started YouTube on our honeymoon 02:18 Honeymooning in France with just a GoPro 03:03 Walking 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago (800km, 30 days) 03:42 Meeting Matteo — Day 1 & 2 on the Camino 04:47 Why we stopped posting in Portugal & Central Asia 05:07 Exploring San Juan + Alma de Colores Café (supporting inclusion since 2011) 06:03 The email that changed everything: YouTube Partner Program invite 07:11 Back to real life — 9-5 jobs, marathons & puppy life in Cincinnati 08:16 Quitting our jobs & moving to Guatemala with Mango 08:51 Learning YouTube the hard way (wrong camera settings in Antigua!) 09:33 Why we quit trying to be travel YouTubers — the real cost 11:19 Our new focus: the best Chris & Grace & Mango videos, not the best travel vlogs 12:40 How we've changed after 1.5 years living in Guatemala 14:00 Watch next — 10 Biggest Culture Shocks in Guatemala 14:21 Would YOU start a YouTube channel? + Thank yous LINKS & MORE: 📺 Watch next — 10 Biggest Culture Shocks Living in Guatemala:    / .  . ☕️ Alma de Colores — San Juan La Laguna (textiles supporting people with disabilities, est. 2011) 🐶 More daily life with Mango on Patreon:   / chrisandgrace   📩 Collabs / Business: chrisandgracecollabs@gmail.com 📍 We live in San Pedro La Laguna, Lake Atitlán, Guatemala ABOUT US: We're Chris & Grace — a married couple from small-town Ohio building a slower, more intentional life abroad with our golden retriever, Mango 🥭 We're technically unemployed and documenting what slow living actually looks like — daily routines, market-to-table cooking, budget-friendly travel, and honest conversations about leaving the US, integrating into local communities, and figuring out this full-time YouTube life as we go. Guatemala is home for now, but the location will change — the constant is us. New videos weekly. #youtubejourney #fulltimeyoutuber #howtobecomeayoutuber #livingabroad #slowliving #caminodesantiago #quitjobtotravel #travelyoutuber #livinginguatemala #lakeatitlan #sanjuanlalaguna #chrisandgrace