LYNN — A Lynn couple is using their engaging personalities and video blogging skills to showcase the city as a future travel destination.
Lynn residents Ferns Francois and Danielle Trainito’s slick production highlights several prominent places in Lynn. From their favorite restaurants, to the best cuisine places to try on a budget, and to their favorite hangout spots, it’s all covered in the two-minute travel guide video posted to YouTube on Sunday night.
“Lynn has helped me see and explore culture a lot more than I ever have before,” said Trainito, who was raised in Revere. “When I first moved here I was worried about walking to the store by myself, but now that I’m a resident here I really have never experienced any problems.”
The creative duo has been blogging for the past two years, but a last-minute job contest inspired the video that highlighted their favorite things about Lynn. Francois was scrolling through his Facebook newsfeed and came across a contest being offered by WOW Airlines, an up-and-coming Icelandic low-cost carrier. The couple followed the contest guidelines and immediately began brainstorming concepts for the video submission.
“We had guidelines to follow based on the application so we got together and brainstormed the best ways to bring it all together and bring it to life,” said Francois, who has lived in Lynn since he was 4 years old. “Being from Lynn, I’m like, well, here are the places I like to hangout at, the places I know very well, and the places I’d love to see flourish.”
Their blog is a two-person production show with 31-year-old Francois and 28-year-old Trainito doing everything themselves, from coming up with video blog concepts, running their website and various social media accounts, to even filming and editing their own content. The self-taught creators learned everything they know from years of practice and watching boat loads of tutorials uploaded on YouTube.
Francois and Trainito met over three years ago while working at The Bank of New York Mellon’s former location in Lynnfield and they quickly bonded over their shared love of traveling. Their first trip together was to New York City, which is where the idea for their travel blog was born. Now, over two years later, they have 95 videos uploaded on their YouTube channel and about 1,200 blog subscribers and all they want to do is showcase their favorite city.
“Lynn actually has a lot to offer and my big thing is the cuisine, the food here is amazing and underrated,” said Francois. “With a lot of different people, when they first hear about Lynn they always think of it being the city of sin and how that reputation can sometimes proceed us, so I want us to have a rebirth and gain a new reputation.”
WOW Airlines will announce the contest winners this Friday, May 18 and those behind the winning video will spend the summer in Reykjavik, Iceland with all expenses paid and a stipend of $4,000 a month, per person.
“We decided to do a travel guide through Lynn because we are big about community, he is very involved in this one, and we wanted to take the small businesses around here and highlight them,” said Trainito. “We’re hoping this video helps the people who live here to open their eyes and see their city with a fresh perspective.”
Whether or not the Lynn couple wins the video contest, they said they’ll continue to upload content on their website, TravelBugsss.com, and on their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat accounts. Their travel guide video of the city can be viewed on YouTube.
“We’d love to know what the people of Lynn want to see from content creators like us, so we’d really like to get their perspectives as well as the perspectives of the small business owners here,” said Francois.
