Documentary filmmaker. Travel creator. Useful field notes from the road.
Documentary filmmaker Carl Tomich explores travel, filmmaking, creator gear, YouTube strategy, and the realities of building a life abroad. The site is part film journal, part equipment log, part warning label for people who think moving overseas fixes everything.
No glossy travel fantasy. Just cameras, logistics, bad decisions, useful lessons, and the occasional finished film.
This site is for travellers, digital nomads, filmmakers, and people thinking about living overseas who want the useful version: transport, costs, neighbourhoods, scams, gear, filming notes, and honest mistakes from Vietnam, Japan, Bali, Thailand, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, and Australia.
A grounded itinerary for food, transport, neighbourhoods, day trips, and the parts of Hanoi that reward patience.
IndonesiaWhere Bali works, where it is overhyped, and how to plan around traffic, beach areas, temples, and day trips.
JapanRealistic ways to keep Japan affordable without turning the trip into a convenience-store survival challenge.
Living AbroadRent, areas, monthly costs, apartment mistakes, and what Da Nang is actually like beyond the beach pitch.
Recent guides cover Hanoi pools, the Da Nang to Hanoi sleeper bus, Vietnam e-visas, Phu Quoc, and moving to Vietnam.
Read latest articles →Watch the trip videos, documentary work, guide footage, and behind-the-scenes travel filmmaking.
Open @thecarltomich →For creator systems, YouTube experiments, and niche-building notes that sit alongside the travel work.
Open @growyourniche →
2014 , Remastered Edition
Moved to Berlin with no money and a guitar. Challenged myself to live only on busking income for a year while documenting the street music scene.
2022 , YouTube Only
Attempted to sail around the world. COVID restrictions and an unorganized crew turned it into a documentary about failure. No IMDb page.
Watch on YouTube →
2024 , Sequel to Busking for Berlin
Returned to Berlin's streets a decade later. A sequel exploring how the busking scene evolved and what happened to the artists.
2025-26 , Title TBD
Documenting my immersion into multiple martial arts systems across Asia,Karate, Boxing, Muay Thai, Vovinam. Filming in Vietnam, Thailand, and other Asian countries.
Follow Production →This documentary follows my immersion into multiple martial arts systems across Asia as a narrative constraint for a long-form film about uncertainty, aging, obsession, and creative survival.
I'm training in Karate, Boxing, Muay Thai, Vovinam, and other regional martial arts. This is not a sports film. This is not a fitness journey. This is not a discipline brand.
Martial arts exist here as a story engine,a way to impose structure, risk, and physical stakes inside a life that has no fixed base.
Vietnam, Thailand, and other Asian countries
Principal photography ongoing
Uncertainty, aging, obsession, creative survival
Multiple martial arts as story structure
A short cinematic film shot in Hanoi, exploring isolation, night streets, and quiet movement through the city.
I intentionally burn down my life every few years and walk into something I'm not qualified for. Then I document what happens.
I've lived on the streets of Berlin with a guitar. I've joined a sailing expedition that fell apart. I've moved to countries where I don't speak the language. I've started training in martial arts I knew nothing about.
These aren't lifestyle choices. They're documentary projects.
Risk. Uncertainty. Failure. Obsession. Rebuilding. Turning chaos into films.
Six clear lanes. Fewer random posts. More useful context from someone carrying cameras through airports, cheap rooms, visa offices, editing timelines, and half-built YouTube plans.
Camera setups, field notes, editing choices, and what breaks when you film while moving.
02Vietnam, Bangkok, visas, apartments, loneliness, cost of living, and the parts people leave out.
03Gear reviews from actual use: cameras, audio, lights, laptops, drones, apps, and travel tools.
04Finished films, current production notes, and the ugly middle between idea and release.
05What I am testing across channels: packaging, retention, stock footage income, and niche growth.
06Costs, routes, scams, transport, and the reality check before you book something stupid.
Practical notes from making films, living overseas, testing gear, growing YouTube channels, and dealing with travel when it stops looking like a holiday.
The direct Ahmeti Travel route explained with departure details, ticket pricing, and exactly what to expect at the Greece–Albania border.
Read →Starting over. Identity crisis. The strange freedom of having nothing to lose.
Read →Stock footage. YouTube ad revenue. Affiliate links. The unglamorous reality of funding independent documentary work.
Read →Cameras, audio gear, lights, editing software, portable speakers, laptops, and travel setups tested while actually working. If it is annoying in the field, that matters more than the spec sheet.
View All Gear →Vietnam logistics, cost-of-living notes, visa friction, filming locations, transport mistakes, and what a place feels like after the first pretty shot wears off.
View All Locations →Occasional emails when I finish a film, start a new project, or have something worth saying. No spam. No motivational bullshit. Just updates from someone making documentaries the hard way.
I send emails when I have something real to share. Could be weekly. Could be monthly. Could be never. Unsubscribe anytime.
