Click play to watch the video I made.

On a Friday the 13th, in the month of June, everything could have gone wrong with my first meeting with Nick Johnson. He is one of the top travel vloggers in the world, and he decided to visit Puerto Rico for the first time.

The way we connected was simple. He published a post on his YouTube page sometime in May, announcing that he would be visiting the island in June, and needed a local to help him with information. I immediately emailed him saying: “how can I help?”

Nick replied later that day, or the day after, quickly enough for us to schedule a phone call. A few days later, we spoke for two and a half hours!

He had done research on the island, and browsed Google Maps looking for routes he could take to shoot material. However, Google doesn’t have complete on-the-ground images of all streets in Puerto Rico.

This is where I came in, and recommended spots he should definitely visit on all corners of the island, including the central mountains. 

When he arrived, I only helped him for half a day, driving him around the city of San Juan. He stayed in a hotel in Old San Juan and picked him up from there. Nick wired me with a wireless microphone on my shirt, and we were off.

While driving, he asked me about economics, politics, current events, crime, history, and what life is like in San Juan. I haven’t seen any of his soon-to-be-published videos, so I have no idea if I responded well, though I’m sure I look terrible. My fault completely. You will see why. 

Nick’s curiosity about Puerto Rico was enormous. He wasn’t here to film the superficial stuff. He wanted to dig deep, just as he does in all his travels. Hopefully, I was able to give him the necessary info.

Sometimes, it is hard to talk about one’s country, which still struggles with the aftermath of a terrible hurricane in 2017, inflation, a crime wave, political corruption, the crumbled power grid, and other things we aren’t doing enough to solve.

I had to be brutally honest with my answers, but at the same time I focused on the positive side of Puerto Rico: the beauty of the tropics, all the fun things there are to do, the rich history, and that there are a lot of good people here.

I’m not sure what segments of my interviews will be included in his videos. That, I shall have yet to see. Having said that, click on the video at the top to watch how Nick operates behind the scenes, and what were his first thoughts about San Juan.

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