Ellie tells me what it’s like to travel as a twenty-two-year-old wanderer in the bustling city of Seoul, what it means to be a social media star, and what inspires her to live this way.
*trigger warning this article contains reference to sexual assault*
By Emily Latimer
“It’d be a dream to be able to sustain myself through YouTube, it just makes perfect sense to me, I can’t see myself working a 9-5 in something I don’t care about”.
After two weeks of breathing in stuffy air and pacing between the same beige walls of a government facility, Ellie was finally allowed out into Seoul, the city she had flown 14 hours to see. Not only did she have the nerve to move her life 6,000 miles across the world, but she also did so amidst a global pandemic. I speak to Ellie through a blurred screen; a small insight into the life of a girl with 10,500 virtual followers.
Ellie shakes her head in disbelief. “It’s strange thinking about the number of followers in reality; there’s over 10k people. If I were to look at that number of people in real life it would be terrifying. But I try not to think about it too much. I don’t want it to alter how I present myself.”
The first thing that strikes me about Ellie is her bold presence. She has eyeliner on but mascara incomplete, red lipstick and tight blonde curls; explaining she is halfway through doing her makeup for a night out. As is the case in her videos, where she often has wet hair, no makeup, or is in her pyjamas; it’s clear there is no filter to the way Ellie presents herself wholeheartedly to her followers.
Ellie first started making YouTube videos eight months ago with her boyfriend, documenting their life travelling in a van. She recalls: “I always wanted to make videos. In terms of documenting travel, they’re so nice to look back on. I started watching van life videos years ago and was inspired”. She adds: “I was lucky since a young age always going on cool holidays… and I think my initial wanderlust came from wanting to visit cool places with my parents and then wanting to do it on my own.”
Despite breaking up with her boyfriend three months ago, Ellie is positive and recounts: “I was back in Cheltenham, thinking what am I going to do now? I had some money from selling the van, so thought obviously I want to travel. I was looking on work away for things to do and came across a job near South Korea as a nanny. The listing appealed to me…so I thought screw it and reached out to them. We agreed I was going to stay with them for a month. Ten days later I booked my flight, I barely gave it a thought.”
Whilst for some being alone may be a daunting prospect, Ellie describes it as something which has always come naturally, having travelled solo since she was 16. “I love being on my own, I love my own company, I think independence is so important, especially young women in your early twenty’s. I think that’s the best time to be on your own…and to not be held back by anything”. She continues: “I think I’m just an introvert. People throw that word around but what it really means is you don’t seek energy from other people. I can still be sociable, but when I am around big groups of people for a long time it drains me. My energy is replenished and recharged when I am on my own and I think that’s why I’m okay with it.”
For this reason, Ellie found her two-week quarantine upon arrival in Seoul due to Covid, a surprisingly positive experience: “I think it was so needed for me. It was such a good de-stress and reset…such a good opportunity to just mentally chill.” But despite her introversion Ellie assures me: “travelling solo pushes you to go outside your comfort zone and to meet new people.”
She admits: “It terrifies me a bit, but otherwise you may never do it, and it’s always worth it…I have met so many people in South Korea, more people than I have in the last two years and that’s because I’m on my own… When I lived in the van with my ex-boyfriend, we hardly met anyone else”.
Ellie describes Seoul as a beautiful city she has “fallen in love with” and tells me: “there’s so much to do here, I’m so desperate to stay and live here full time”.
But sadly, as is the reality with most things for women, travelling solo isn’t perfect and comes with its dangers. Ellie herself has been a victim, experiencing rape in Australia when she was 18.
“I’m a very different person now to the person I was when I was 18. I honestly didn’t have a very good understanding of consent back then, really in that moment and the time period after I didn’t even know that I was raped,” Ellie recalls.
It wasn’t until Ellie went to an organisation called 100 women, a sexual assault charity that she realised.
She pauses. “There was this woman who read a poem and described her rape and it was like exactly the same as me, and in that moment, it really rang true… I remember turning to my friend and saying, “oh god, that’s just made me realise that what happened to me wasn’t okay””.
Ellie stresses: “I would never judge a woman for changing her behaviour because of something like that happening, but for me personally that’s not an option. I want to carry on living my life to the fullest.” She adds: “it’s hard to find any woman that hasn’t been sexually assaulted in some form or sexually harassed...if I could I would change the mind-set of the way women are viewed across the world”.
Ellie emphasises: “I care a lot about social justice, like Black Lives Matter, animal welfare, feminism... that’s a huge part of my personality I don’t share a lot on YouTube.” The reason for this, she explains: “until recently my audience was mostly male over the age of 50, I think that’s just the van life audience… but now it’s majority female aged between 18-25, which is what I want to appeal to”. She pauses. “I want to create content I’d want to watch…I think it’s important to stay true to myself so it doesn’t come as a surprise to people”.
In terms of 2021 Ellie reveals: “I have no idea where I want to be but I’m quite impulsive like that. The South Korea thing I basically didn’t give any thought. I want to go everywhere it’s just figuring out when.” So, with Covid still looming, let’s just hope that It is possible.