Meet Philip & D’monica Neal | Travel Content Creators

We had the good fortune of connecting with Philip & D’monica Neal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Philip & D’monica, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
We were both born and raised in Houston, Tx. Growing up, the seed of travel was planted in Phil at a very early age. Every summer and spring break, he and his family would take a trip whether it was by car, plane or cruise ship. However for me (Dee), she and her family would only travel to visit other relatives who lived outside the state of Texas. When we met, Phil took it upon himself to share his joy of travel with me and now we have been to a numerous amount of states and countries. Phil has always told me that because of his previous experiences of traveling with family, he wanted to create new life long memories of traveling with a family of his own.

What should our readers know about your business?
What sets us apart from others is that we enjoy many methods of travel. We enjoy cruising, all inclusive resorts, staycations, visiting new attractions within and outside the state of Texas. We are most excited about sharing these journeys with our family and friends and to demonstrate that it is possible to travel with a young child. It has also been fascinating to see how much our son PJ has grown with each travel vlog that he’s in.

The creation of our YouTube channel started by Phil watching a variety of travel vlogs to prepare for trips of our own. Then one day, he jokingly said, “We could do this.” Shortly after, I bought Phil a GoPro for his birthday and used it to vlog our experience at Walt Disney World in February of 2022.

Initially, it was not easy. We had never vlogged before and had not developed a style that worked for us. We soon learned that we were not perfect and that the perfect vlog doesn’t exist, so we resorted to just being our authentic selves. It was then, that our channel began to take off and we started to develop a loyal YouTube community of friends and supporters.

Some lessons that we’ve learned along the way is how to properly back up our media files. We use both a google cloud and a hard drive. On our very first cruise that we vlogged together, we lost some very good footage because it wasn’t properly saved or backed up. It was a very hard pill to swallow, but was definitely a lesson that were were glad we learned very early. Another lesson we had to learn was to find a balance. Yes, creating content is work, but you cant let it consume you. We pay for each and every one of these trips out of our own pockets. It is important to make sure we enjoy ourselves and one another while on vacation.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Houston is a huge metroplex with so many exciting things to do here. We can guarantee that there is something for everyone here. If you are planning on visiting soon, there are many places to visit for Sunday Fundays and brunch including: Kamp, Adore, Jupiter, The Savoy and The Address, just to name a few. We are also huge sports fans so we’d recommend attending a professional sporting event by going to watch Astros, Texans, Rockets, or Dynamo game. The city is also houses several educational venues such as the Museum of Natural Science, The Children’s Museum, The Holocaust Museum, The Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts. If you enjoy bars like we do, we recommend visiting Midtown, Rice Village, or Washington Ave. Lastly, we also enjoy the performing arts, the Miller Outdoor Theater provides a vast amount of free entertainment throughout the year, or you could also visit other venues such as Jones Hall to see the Houston Symphony, or the Wortham Center. There is never a dull moment in Houston and there is always something happening here. Houston will also be hosting the college football playoffs in 2024. We would also encourage guests to visit the NASA Space center which is just south of Houston. With Galveston, Tx being 45 mins away from our home, we often take cruises from there, attend Mardi Gras, go fishing, or just to relax on the beach.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would like to send special shoutouts to the many content creators that we have come to watch, vacationed with and even become friends with. We would also like to send a shoutout to our family members who supported us, helped watch PJ and our dogs when we are gone, or have even been in vlogs with us. Last, but not least, we’d like to give a huge shoutout our subscribers. We wouldn’t be as successful as we are without any of them. They are the reason that we have been able to turn our hobby of traveling, into a business.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philanddeetravels/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@philanddeetravels