By Wangui Wokabi
If you had asked me a few years ago where life would take me, I’m not sure aviation would have been the first thing that came to mind.Actually, I’m not sure I would have predicted most of the life I’m living now.
And maybe that is the perfect place to begin this blog.
Hi, I’m Wangui.
Some of you reading this have known me for years. Some of you may know me from social media, school, work, aviation, or somewhere along the way. Some of you may have followed my journey from my YouTube days.
And if this is the very first time you’ve come across me, welcome. I hope you’ll stay.
Either way, I’m glad you’re here.
This is Abroad Eye.
And before I start telling stories here, I think my first one should probably be about how we got here.
Before the blog, there was YouTube
Long before I thought about starting a blog, I had a YouTube channel.
And I loved it.
I loved picking up a camera and bringing people into little pieces of my life. I loved filming, editing, sharing experiences and, more than anything, connecting with the people who subscribed and kept coming back.
Some of you were already friends and family. Some of you found me through YouTube, became familiar names, and eventually felt like part of the community too. And somehow, many of you have stayed connected to me through completely different chapters of life.
Then life happened.
Adulting happened.
School happened.
Work happened.
Life became busier.
And somewhere in all of that, I became a little more private and, if I’m being fair, probably a little more introverted too.
Creating videos also began taking more time than I had. Anyone who has ever edited a video knows that a few minutes on YouTube can somehow represent HOURS of sitting behind a screen.
So slowly, I stopped posting.
But I don’t think I ever stopped loving storytelling.
I still take pictures.
I still take way too many videos.
I still tell stories to the people close to me, and every now and then, I come across one that makes me think:maybe this story deserves a bigger audience.
I still travel somewhere and immediately think about how I would tell the story.
I still learn something fascinating and think, Wait, other people need to know this.
And I still miss the community that came with sharing those parts of life.
Maybe this blog is my way of finding my way back to that.
Not necessarily back to who I was then, but back to sharing and back to storytelling in a different way.
So, why Abroad Eye?
Actually, Abroad Eye isn’t a new name.
It goes back to my YouTube days.
And even then, “abroad” wasn’t necessarily about living abroad or moving to another country.
It was about experiences.
Seeing new places. Meeting different people. Experiencing different cultures. Trying something unfamiliar. Traveling. Learning. And sometimes simply looking at something from a perspective you hadn’t considered before.
That was always the idea behind Abroad Eye.
An eye beyond what is familiar.
Because I have always been curious about the world outside my immediate surroundings.
What does life look like somewhere else?
How do other people experience something I know?
What happens behind the scenes of places we pass through every day?
What can someone else’s culture, profession, journey, or story teach me?
And over the years, the things I’m curious about have changed and expanded.
Travel introduced me to places.
Education introduced me to ideas.
Aviation introduced me to an entire world I hadn’t known much about before—the aircraft, airports, history, security, operations and, especially, the people behind all of it.
Life itself has introduced me to perspectives I probably wouldn’t have understood a few years ago.
So Abroad Eye isn’t about me being abroad.
And it isn’t a Kenya versus America blog.
It’s about experiencing the world with curiosity and being willing to look beyond what you already know.
Sometimes that will take us to another country.
Sometimes into an airport.
Sometimes into a classroom.
Sometimes into history.
Sometimes into somebody else’s story.
And sometimes we may not have to go anywhere at all.
Because sometimes the most interesting thing about going “abroad” is simply discovering another way of seeing something.
That’s the Abroad Eye I started years ago.
This blog is simply giving it another life.
Somehow, aviation became part of the story
Going back to school wasn’t initially about deciding that I needed one specific title waiting for me at the end.
I wanted to learn.
I wanted to explore.
I wanted to experience a different kind of learning environment.
And somewhere along the way, aviation completely fascinated me.
The aircraft, obviously.
But also the airports.
The people.
The history.
The operations.
The security.
The tiny decisions happening behind the scenes that most passengers rarely think about when they walk onto an airplane.
Most of all, I became fascinated by the stories.
I’ve met people in aviation who have been doing this longer than I’ve been alive, and I’ve met classmates who are only beginning to discover where aviation might take them.
What I’ve especially enjoyed is learning alongside classmates who bring completely different interests, experiences, and perspectives into the same classroom.
I’ve listened to classmates, instructors, pilots, mentors, volunteers, and other aviation professionals whose experiences and stories have made me curious enough to go home, look something up, and keep reading.
And every time I learn something interesting, that old instinct comes back:
Someone else needs to hear this.
So yes, you’ll definitely find aviation here.
But this isn’t only an aviation blog.
Because aviation is part of my story.
It isn’t my entire story.
Going back to a four-year college
Education is another big part of this chapter.
Going back to school and continuing toward a four-year degree has been an experience of its own.
College life looks very different when life is happening alongside it.
There is work.
There are responsibilities.
There are deadlines.
There are sacrifices.
There are 7 a.m. classes.
There are late nights.
There are days when you’re incredibly motivated and days when simply opening the laptop deserves recognition.
But there is also something special about choosing education again when you’re a little older.
You know yourself differently.
You ask different questions.
You understand sacrifice differently.
You understand resilience differently.
And perhaps most importantly, you realize that education and life in general doesn’t have to follow one perfectly straight line.
Sometimes people stop.
Sometimes they change direction.
Sometimes they come back.
Sometimes they discover something completely different.
Sometimes the thing you were absolutely certain you would become isn’t where life takes you at all.
I’m living some of that right now.
And instead of waiting until everything makes perfect sense before talking about it, I want to document what it actually feels like while I’m in it.
The good parts.
The confusing parts.
The funny parts.
The things I’m learning.
And probably a few what exactly am I doing with my life? moments too.
Maybe this is YouTube… in writing
Maybe that’s the easiest way to explain Abroad Eye.
It has some of the same spirit as my old YouTube channel.
Except now, instead of always reaching for a camera, I’m reaching for words.
I’ll still share places.
I’ll still share experiences.
I’ll still tell stories.
I’ll still probably take far too many pictures and videos along the way.
But writing gives me something video sometimes didn’t: the space to slow down, think, reflect, and tell a story differently.
And in many ways, it feels like returning to something that was part of me long before YouTube ever was.
What you’ll find here…
Travel will probably take us somewhere new.
Aviation will take us behind the scenes.
Education will take us back into classrooms and into the strange experience of figuring things out as we go.
Life and culture will probably take us everywhere else.
Some stories will be personal.
Some will be historical.
Some will introduce you to people I meet along the way.
Some will simply begin with something that made me stop and think, Wait, I need to know more about this.
And that is really what I want Abroad Eye to be:
A place to stay curious!
So, come along
If you knew me from YouTube, welcome back.
If you’re a friend or family member who has been around through different versions of my life, thank you for still being here.
And if this is the very first time you’ve come across me, welcome. I hope you’ll stay.
I don’t know exactly where every story on Abroad Eye will take us, and I think that’s part of what makes this exciting.
There will be places I haven’t been yet.
Things I haven’t learned yet.
People I haven’t met yet.
Stories I haven’t heard yet.
And perspectives I haven’t considered yet.
That’s the point.
I’m not starting Abroad Eye because I have everything figured out.
I’m starting it because I’m still curious.
Still learning.
Still becoming.
And still very interested in what might be around the next corner.
And as we go,I’d love to hear your thoughts too, so don’t be a stranger in the comments.
So Karibu. Welcome to Abroad Eye.
Let’s see where this takes us.
WANGUI WOKABI
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