Nias, Indonesia Surf Travel VLOG

I filmed this vlog an entire year ago… and honestly, I almost never posted it.

This footage has been sitting on my computer ever since my trip to Nias, Indonesia. At the time, I was trying to edit everything myself on my 2020 laptop, but it could barely handle the footage. My editing software kept crashing, I got frustrated, and eventually I just gave up on the video.

Fast forward one year, and I’m back on YouTube and taking this channel seriously again. I LOVE creating videos and documenting this crazy journey of learning to surf, traveling the world, and seeing where it takes me — so I knew I couldn’t let this footage sit on a hard drive forever.

Getting this vlog finished has honestly been a PROJECT. It took about three weeks, working with an editor and eventually jumping back in myself to finish the final touches and tell the story the way I remembered experiencing it.

And watching this footage a year later has been WILD.

Part of me gets the ick watching my surfing 😂 because all I can think is, “OMG… I surf so differently now.” Since this trip, I’ve spent another year surfing around the world — from Indonesia to Hawaii and now Mexico — and I can see such a huge difference in my surfing.

But that’s exactly why I decided I needed to post this.

This was me THEN.

And I want this channel to document the entire journey — not just the polished parts or the waves where I think I look good. I want to be able to look back years from now and see the progression.

Nias was also such a monumental trip for me. I almost didn’t go. It was a completely last-minute decision, and somehow it ended up changing the trajectory of my content and opening doors I never expected. The videos I shared from this trip reached millions of people and introduced so many new people to my journey.

So one year later… here is the vlog that almost never made it to YouTube.

It might be late, my surfing might make current-me cringe a little 😂, but I’m really happy this chapter finally gets to live somewhere other than my hard drive.

And if you stick around, you’ll get to watch the surfing progress in real time. 🌊

Thanks for being here and following the journey.

♡ Abbie

Follow my travels + surf journey:
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