JOURNEYS TO REMEMBER | Sunsets Around the World by Romain Corraze “I strongly believe that the more you travel, the more you learn about yourself.”
When traveling, there are remarkable places to see, there are landmarks to visit, people to meet, cultures to live, amazing lavish resorts, exquisite and breathtaking palaces not to be missed, but the most poignant travel trip are the journeys to remember, timely, beautiful and for some, personally life-changing. Recently HAUTEOC had the privilege of meeting Romain’s World Tour founder Romain Corraze, a french citizen currently living in Lyon (middle-east of France) as a project manager for a national newspaper in Paris, whom after graduating with an international business degree and MBA in Luxury Brand Management, decided to leave France for an entire year to travel the world.
What began as a project to report his adventures through videos and pictures, ultimately became a journey of discovery of one’s own self. Featured here Romain shares his inspirational journeys to remember through a short-film titled ‘Sunsets Around the World.’ An emotionally moving portrait of Romain’s view of some of the world’s most incredible sunsets.
HAUTEOC: What inspired you to create this beautiful film ‘Sunsets Around the World’?
ROMAIN: I think I’ve always been passionate by sunrises and sunsets. The way the colors appear in the sky is one of the things I like the most in nature. To take some time to enjoy a beautiful sunrise / sunset is also a very efficient way to meditate or to chill out. I just used the incredible landscapes I’ve seen to illustrate my passion for this. And also to show that the simplest things are often the best ones !
HAUTEOC: Read this quote once “Too often we are so preoocupied with the destination, we forget the journey.” - Author unknown I think travelers on journeys like this, find the most compelling places and people to see and, often times, as they reach the end of the journey, they end up finding themselves. What realizations about yourself did you have from this trip around the world?
ROMAIN: I strongly believe that the more you travel, the more you learn about yourself. There’s a lot of things you learn when you try to reach your limits. It gives you the opportunity to be stronger, to better resist problems you face – to better analyze your acts. Traveling also gives you a better understanding of the world’s problems and crisis: to act better in the future; you must know what’s going on on earth. When I finished my studies in 2009 I decided to leave France for a year to travel around the world, I passed through more than 30 countries and was really lucky to discover how amazing our world is, especially when you’re only 23. This film features some of the best sunrises and sunsets I’ve ever seen, in the 365 days of traveling I captured sunsets in USA, India, Cambodia, Colombia, China, Russia, Thailand, Argentina, Chile, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Mexico, Hong-Kong, Australia, Vietnam, Guatemala, Belgium & France.
HAUTEOC: We imagine, it would be difficult to say your favorite or most memorable place you visited given the breathtaking sunsets you’ve captured in your film from so many beautiful countries, however do you have a favorite?
ROMAIN: Indeed, since every single country had its own charm, its own culture, it’s quite hard to choose only one favorite place. However, I really liked Guatemala and Nepal for their landscapes, Colombia and Vietnam for their inhabitants : people over there were just the nicest people ever. Talking about business, I really enjoyed Singapore : it seems really easy for foreigners to start making money over there.
HAUTEOC: Technical Carry-on? What type of camera/video equipment did you use to film? 
ROMAIN: During the World Tour project, I was using a simple Sony HDR-SR11 camera which is a really good digital video camera. Not that big so quite easy to carry along your travels. Some footage with the Sony Wide Conversion Lens VCL-HGA07 Edited with Final Cut Pro.
HAUTEOC: Nicely done. You captured each sunset beautifully. 
If you could do this all over again, is there anything you would do different?
ROMAIN: I don’t think so, but for sure I’d probably pass through Africa ! But to be honest, I’d love to do a similar trip with a close friend of mine.
HAUTEOC: And your current project?
ROMAIN: Well, I could probably go for one more world tour in few months…Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6faA-Vb89vI One year of party tour…This is the World Party Tour !”
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HAUTEOC TRAVELER Celebrates Journeys to Remember with a Special October Month dedicated to UCI Mind.
During the Month of October 2010, a percentage of Leisure Travel Bookings made through HAUTEOC TRAVELER and dedicated to UCI MIND, will be donated to UC Irvine’s Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders and dementia research. Mention UCI Mind when you book your travel memories with us. Your friends at HAUTEOC TRAVELER.
Dedicate your Journey to UCI Mind.
Share, Tweet and Dedicate “Sunsets Around the World” to help Spread the Word for the Preservation of our Minds and our memories.
Currently, despite our technological advancements, we are outliving our minds at tremendous rates that will adversely affect not only our families, but also our society. In fact, every 70 seconds someone develops Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S. so it is essential that we bring awareness of these facts to encourage the financial support for continued research to preserve our memories.
Help support the UCI MIND Memory Assessment Clinic on the UC Irvine campus. Be a part of our future because they are researching ways to make memories last a lifetime. www.mind.uci.edu.
