by Silvia Meave
Editor-in-Chief for BazarLatino® Magazine and CEO at TribuAmericas Media Contents & Entertainment Co., a nonprofit program by Wings of Love, Inc.
"Shut up and go after what you want in life. Stop making excuses, just do it," Jo Franco advice to BazarLatino® readers. Jo is an international travel vlogger who along with her best friend Damon Dominique is broadcasting the Shut Up and Go channel in YouTube, to show audience how to have great vacations without being millionaire.
Damon and Jo's adventure on vlogging began in 2012, when both were studying in Paris. They started to film their trip experiences to show their friends and family at home how they were actually traveling without being rich. Up to date, Damon and Jo have near 158,000 subscribers in YouTube.
Damon and Jo come from working class families. Jo is a Brazilian immigrant who grew up cleaning houses in Connecticut, and Damon lived a trailer park in Indiana. However, they have traveled to Europe, Africa and throughout North America with no site of stopping anytime soon.
Damon and Jo are two multilingual twenty-somethings who believe traveling should not simply be a luxury for the rich.
All people use to see on television are luxury cars, five-star resorts, and high-speed private jets, but let us face it, how many of us can really live that life? These two travel vloggers are gaining momentum on Youtube and other web platforms just because they know how to travel on affordably.
Why Shut Up and Go?
Shut Up and Go is what Damon and Jo randomly said in one of their Mexican videos.“It came from the heart,” said Jo. "Our names are Damon and Jo, and we’re telling you to shut up and go." BAM! - it became our mission statement.
Jo explained that Shut Up and Go is a website too: "We write blogs on our site, shutupandgo.travel, on those topics whereas our videos mostly reflect our friendship and travel."
Damon and Jo have traveled worldwide, but they're experts on low cost trips to Mexico, since they have been traveling extensively beyond the southern border. They love Playa del Carmen, where they lived for a month and learned Spanish.
Jo thinks Playa del Carmen is an amazing place: "For the entire month, we spent about $400 each on food and activities, or less to be honest because of the dollar/peso conversion rate. For a weekend, you can get away with $100 for food and activities. It depends if you’re trying to go all out, but if you’re doing it the Damon and Jo way, you’ll be eating quekas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to save your money for excursions like to Mayan ruins and cenotes that will change your life.
Quekas, also known as quesadillas, are folded tortillas usually filled with cheese and a variety of traditional food. Jo also suggests to try fondas and natural juice stands in Mexico. Fondas are traditional clean, low cost restaurants.
"Also don’t be afraid to bargain your way to cheaper rates for tours. We cut the price that was offered in half when seeing Chichen Itza because we asked in Spanish. Little tricks like that will save the day," recommended Jo.
Damon and Jo have a large list of videos about the best ways to travel anywhere in the world on a budget. Don't miss them. It may be a wonderful brainstorm for your next vacation. 🛒