Welcome to Been & Scene, where adventure is viewed through a different lens. Browse cinematic travel guides, adventure vlogs, and authentic destination stories from around the world. Use the categories (Travel, Discover, Explore) below to find out more, or scroll through All Posts if you’ve a bit more time.
Been 📍& Scene 🎬
Capturing Moments, Creating Memories, Crafting Meaning
Koh Mak Travel Guide | Thailand’s Most Laid-Back Island?
Koh Mak sits hidden in Trat Province, between the islands of Koh Chang and Koh Kood. During our two-night stay, we discovered…
I’ve Stayed at Tripadvisor’s Top 4 All-Inclusive Hotels
We'd stayed in ALL FOUR of the Top 4 All-Inclusive Resorts reported in Tripadvisor's Travelers' Choice “Best of the Best 2025” Awards.…
Behind the Numbers: How We Score Destinations with the TripWorthIt™ Index Tool
Two Hotels: Same Google rating, same budget: Wildly different outcomes. "Travel Reviews" don't measure Enjoyment. TripWorthIt™ Index Does! Hotel Stars and reviews…
Is Koh Chang Thailand’s Most Underrated Island Paradise?
Koh Chang was meant to be our underrated island paradise: lush jungles, turquoise seas and pink-sand islands. Here’s what we found when…
Is Your Next Holiday Worth the Money? Five Ways to Measure Travel Value
Traditional travel ratings tell you if a place is good. Built on five pillars [Comfort & Ease, Authenticity & Connection, Adventure &…
Costa Rica Self-Guided Tours
Planning a Costa Rica adventure? Our self-guided journey took us from volcanoes and cloud forests to wildlife-rich beaches and remote eco-lodges. We…
Why Koh Kood Should Be Your Next Thai Island Stop
Discover why Koh Kood beats overcrowded Koh Samui for authentic Thai island experiences. With pristine beaches, healthy coral reefs, and genuine Thai…
Koh Chang, Koh Kood, Koh Mak: Which Thai Island Should You Visit?
Which Thai island suits you best—Koh Mak, Koh Kood, or Koh Chang? We share our first-hand journey via Boonsiri, the stays we…
El Nido Disappointment vs. Darocotan Island Bliss – A Tale of Two Palawans
If you went to the Philippines, would you rather go glamping on a quiet island off-grid or stick with the crowds in…
This Hotel Did Something INCREDIBLE for My Wife – Luxury Thai Train Hotel in Khao Yai
On our second night at Thailand’s most unique luxury hotel, something happened that made my wife cry — and completely changed our…
24 Hours in Bangkok: A whistle-stop Adventure Staying in a Wacky Hotel
Landing in Bangkok is like stepping into a kaleidoscope—one that smells of sizzling street food, hums with tuk-tuks, and glows with gold…
Our Emotional Stay at Chai Lai Orchid Elephant Sanctuary, Chiang Mai
Arriving in the hills of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, unsure of what we'd find, our stay at Chai Lai Orchid turned…
My Travel Filmmaking Blog: Been & Scene
Blogging For Fun
I’ve always enjoyed writing and sometimes I actually think I communicate better on paper than in the spoken word. You’ve more time to think about how to construct a phrase or describe something when you write. The shame of it is that my handwriting is now so bad, even I can’t read what I write. Thank heavens for the ability to type.
This page is dedicated to my written blogs that go hand-in-hand with the vlogs I’ve started sharing publicly on YouTube. I’ve been making videos about our travels for a long time, but only recently did I decide to start sharing these to people I’ll likely never meet.
The Travel Filmmaking Process
I needed a new hobby to keep me amused for the dark days of winter. Don’t get me wrong: I love cold, frosty days. I love autumn mornings when it’s still and the dew is hanging in the cobwebs that we never normally see. But gloomy days, blustery with drizzle, fill me with dread. It’s like a claustrophobia and I just cannot wait to see the sun again.
So, adventure vlogs and travel filmmaking has become the distraction. I can while away days at my computer and focus on the process of producing cinematic (and often emotional) short to medium length films based on the adventures we are lucky enough to enjoy.
How do I make adventure vlogs?
I love tech and gadgets and spend too much time reading about them and how to use them rather than actually using them. But I’ve learned how to create a system of capturing, storing, filtering and consuming the multiplicity of digital images we take.
I’m a Mac lover (but only fairly recently) and now need processing power to be able to produce the high definition (and hopefully high quality) content I love to share. But that process takes hours and hours to firstly pull together the content taken by Mel & I.
We both have iPhones, mostly shoot in “live” mode, so you automatically start with two files for every “still” photo (.HEIC & .mov) that allows you to choose the best “key photo” before you do anything. Add to this GoPro or other Action Cam footage, drone footage PLUS the MOVIE files both of us take on the phones too.
Starting to make a new cinematic movie could mean a treasure trove of several thousand image files. I then consolidate these into folders and numerous sub-folders to cater for different aspects of an adventure.Â
Filtering & Rating
Then the fun begins as there’s no way ALL of those image files can be used! I then have to rank them, which I do using ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac. Using keyboard shortcuts, I can rank these from 1 (delete) to 5 (gold), but often I have too many “2’s and 3’s” that I’d love to include if only there was space and time.
Mel tends to shoot in Portrait too (which makes it challenging sometimes to include in YouTube Long-form videos), but they COULD be used for YouTube Shorts or Instagram – But ACDSee only has 3 Rating categories.
So even before I pull these files into a new Project in Final Cut Pro (using the folder structure in Finder as Events), I average around 30-40 GB of disk space. In FCP, you can use Proxy Media (so leaving the original files in place), but still the software is constantly rendering in the background, and before you know it, each 25-minute movie has consumed over 500 GB of space!
Capturing Moments, Creating Memories, Crafting Meaning
People say “life is for living”, and I fully agree. But I think it’s also about challenging yourself and pushing the boundaries as well as crafting meaningful moments too.
Maybe a better mantra should be “If you don’t capture them, you won’t remember them.”
If you don’t share them, even with close family, there’s little in the way of purpose of doing it in the first place.
Our recent adventures, now turned into vlogs, took us to places we’d never been before, where we didn’t speak the language, and had no guide or tour party to help us. This is now my preferred way to travel. It’s becoming so much easier to plan a trip and book it yourself.
DIY Travel is part of the fun!
I see DIY Travel as a challenge as well as fun. 16 days on a self-drive tour through the jungles of Costa Rica was incredible AND exciting. Planning 5 weeks around south-east Asia took a lot of time and research, making sure that every leg of the journey worked. We took 8 flights, 10 ferries, multiple trains, minibuses, Grab taxis and tricycles.
But I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
I do hope you enjoy the vlogs and blogs as much as I enjoy making them.
Where will You go Next?
Keep your adventures going with HindlesWorld travel film making blog through our 3 pillars: plan & travel smarter, explore deeper, and discover true value.
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DIY Travel Itineraries
Step-by-step guides and tools to plan your own adventures.
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Cinematic Storytelling
Immersive films and stories from our journeys around the world.
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Discover TripWorthIt™
Compare trips by joy, comfort, and value with our unique scoring tool.










