Writing blog posts for an architecture travel vlog from the rooftop of a hostel in Agra is not where I expected to be at 35 years of age but the truth is, there are a lot worse places to be.

Chai cooling by my side, footage from Shimla still being sifted through whilst errors are in play ... A hard drive error that rendered a lot of video useless, lesson learned back up more than once!

Ten episodes are now live on YouTube at Backpackers Blueprint. Just ten, but somehow it feels like the start of something bigger than I imagined. It has honestly already been a lot of work and I have been learning on the go, but here we are ... ten.

I have been dancing the line of when to point the camera at myself, rather than locals and passers by who (I am sure) want to go about their day without becoming a youtube extra.

On the contrary have been pointing the camera at people who want to be on it! These people generally give me a big smile a big shout and a wave and beacon me over. Nine times out of ten it is someone from a market who seems to turn into a seasoned actor as the opportunity to adverse their goods is simply too good to miss! They may be dancing a different dance if they new my subscriber count at this point is still less that 100. If you are one of those 100 then I say thank you. Thank you for watching, thank you for listening just thank you. I have had feedback from friends of old and friends of new and it is all appreciated and received with an open heart and mind and without you I would this would not exist at all.

Although small, the camera seems to be a marmite. Some people look at it like a a lotus blooming in winter, others like an oasis in the desert and some like a fox in a hen house.

But whilst learning about architecture travel vlogging, and where to point the camera, I want to make sure what I am respecting the people of India, who will become the unknown extras (or the main characters in the case of the spice market guys).

So this post isn’t a celebration. It’s a checkpoint. A chance to pause, take stock, and remind myself (and maybe you) why Backpacker’s Blueprint exists.

Why I Started this architecture travel vlog

I am a qualified architect but truth be told I do not enjoy the industry of architecture. I find the reality of the job does not really fit me as a person! Yet I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the subject! So a silly idea occurred to me, could I combine my love of architecture with a love of exploration and discovery.

Explore the world through architecture, not just as structures of stone and steel, but as evidence of the people, power, conflict and culture that shaped them and would this be something people would resonate with, and find interesting.

Too often, we see buildings as backdrops. But they’re storytellers. Every arch, every carving, every crack. They have meaning and purpose, but most importantly (and even if we cannot see it) they have connection to the human(s) who built them. Perhaps I am a bit of a romanticist at heart, but the delicate hand sculpted elephants on an ancient Hindu temple excites me a lot more than a lump of steel spanning 20 meters. Yes I do see the elephant, but I also see and imagine the person who carefully carved the elephant. What sort of individual did this, who were they what were they thinking at the time, was it forced labour or a joyful process? We will perhaps never have the answers to these questions but the idea of that person, that process can really sharpen the story beyond what we usually understand and see.

So now I set out to find exactly that, camera in hand. Searching not just for beautiful places, but for why they exist, and who they were built for and who they were built by.

What I’ve Learned So Far

Ten episodes in, here’s what’s become clear:

No.1 Architecture isn’t static, it’s living memory. A temple might mean one thing to a tourist, another to a pilgrim, and something entirely different to the person sweeping its steps.

No.2 Storytelling takes presence. Not just filming, but feeling. The narration I write now often comes days after filming, once I’ve listened to a place properly and had a chance to reflect on what I have seen.

Editing on the road is hard. But it’s also honest. These episodes are shaped in real-time, not in a studio, but in the spaces between trains, hostel dorms, and roadside samosa stalls. I am currently doing the whole 9 yards so what you see is all me and I am throwing my heart and soul into it. I do not aways get it right, but for as long as I breath I will attempt to continue to improve.

Shorts might win views; depth wins hearts. I find that my YouTube Shorts are gaining traction, but it’s the long-form episodes; the ones layered with history, soul, and voice; that feel true to the mission and where I will continue to focus in.

What to choose. Scripting important information into vlogs has been a deep body of encompassing research. Picking the key points and buildings to include in an episode becomes a difficult decision. I recently had a comment on one episode of 'why did you not visit x' whilst in my city. You cannot please everyone, but you also do not want to offend anyone.

Do not let the influencers fool you. There are moments of beauty in India, but the reality is, around the beauty there is a lot of chaos a lot of crumbling buildings, a lot of shit flowing in the streets ... or in the middle of it! On the flip side of that not everyone is out to 'scam you' there is the reality of the places and spaces that are something in the middle, not one end of the spectrum. However, India does show you both sides of that spectrum, the best of the best and the worst of the worst. However as they say, without one you cannot appreciate the other.

Where We’ve Been

• Start - New Delhi the Mughal rich city

• Rishikesh - To discover spirituality and the beetles ashram

• Chandigarh - Le Corbusier's sand box city born from turmoil.

• Shimla - where empire strolled, and silence lingers

• The Mall - Colonial charm and contested space

• Viceregal Lodge - Decisions made here shaped borders

• Jakhu Temple - Monkeys, myth, and mountain air

• And a dozen streets, stairs, courtyards and facades in between

  
  

Each place peeled back its layers: Surface, what we see Structure, how it was built Soul, what it remembers and ohh so much more.

So, What’s Coming Next

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be releasing episodes from:

• Amritsar - the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, and the Wagah Border

• Jodhpur - Mehrangarh Fort and the quiet resilience of the blue city

• Jaisalmer - a golden fortress fading into desert light

• Udaipur - stories of water, royalty, and resistance

• Jaipur - Amber and Jaigarh, the geometry of Hawa Mahal, and the weight of beauty

• Agra - for the monument that speaks of love, loss, and empire: the Taj Mahal

• Varanassi - One of the most complex and religiously significant cities perhaps on planet earth.

But it’s not just about ticking destinations. It’s about looking closer. Listening longer. Asking why this fort is built like this, or why this city shines blue beneath the sun. India has been a fantastic starting point for this new journey as each and every place visited so far has been vastly different from its predecessor! Long may that continue as it really does spark a level of curiosity that keeps getting my up each day with camera in hand.

Over the coming days I will be putting together not only travel vlogs, but honest reflections on places and spaces I have visited as well as a 'introduction video/ trailer' who knew that was a thing on Youtube!? So please look out for those here at the website Backpackers Blueprint .... but also at the Backpackers Blueprint Youtube, where I invite you to join me.

What I Want to Do Better

I’m learning to weave in more human voices. Architecture is shaped by rulers, yes, but also by the hands that built it, the voices that echo through it, and the lives that pass it daily. I want to capture more of that.

Even one sentence from a local, a thought, a memory, a protest or a prayer, can shift the story entirely.

Flow in edits, it is my goal to bring more cohesive and fluid story telling to the forefront. Perhaps less of my own face (who wants to see that anyway) and more of the people who live and breath the sites we are visiting.

Join Me? And Thank You

If you’ve watched any of the first ten episodes, thank you. If you’re here for the stories behind the stones, the ghosts in the gates, and the soul within the skyline, then you’re exactly who I’m making this for.

Share it with someone who travels slowly.Or someone who once stood in a fort and wondered, “What really happened here?”

Because Backpacker’s Blueprint isn’t just a vlog. It’s a living archive. Of architecture, yes ... but also of memory, conflict, and the quiet dignity of place.

Here’s to the next ten.

Jack