The islands where you can see Russia from America.

[Fiori]

INT. DARREN'S CABIN - AFTERNOON

The camera shudders, the image blocked by a fuzzy close-up of a young man's beard as he makes some last minute adjustments to his tripod. It's not long however until the bearded face pulls away, revealing the rest of the camera's operator dressed in a tight-fitting black sweater, scratching his chin as he sits back on his bunk with a weary look in his eyes.

"Aaaaaalrighty, third time's the charm..." sighs Darren Decker, the young film student clapping his hands together and cracking his knuckles as he psyched himself up for another take. He had positioned himself to the left side of the screen, the right side occupied by a round window offering a misty view of the Bering Sea, a thin layer of Frost coating the outer layer but nevertheless presenting the best view one could hope for outside of the observation deck.

After a deep breath, Darren's expression would snap to a bright grin as he began to address his audience. "Hello, and welcome to Adventures in the American Wildlands! I'm three days into this arctic expedition, and I am VERY excited to share something special we passed by this morning!"

He would briefly glance towards the round window, rubbing his palms as he continued. "I, uh, had originally wanted to record this on the observation deck, but the conditions were... Um, not ideal, BUT I did manage to capture some misty footage of what I wanted to talk about today that I'll be cutting to throughout the video!"

At this point he reaches out for a bottle of water, taking a long glug as he caught his breath. It appears that there is meant to be a cut here before he continues.

"As of this morning, we are currently making our way through the Bering Strait, during which we passed by a pair of islands that hold a very special place in my heart known as the Diomede Islands."

"What's so special about these islands you ask? For that, I offer a simple question... What distance do you think Russia is from the US? A couple hundred miles, a few thousand maybe?" he asks, pausing for effect. "The answer: Two and a half. The reason for that being these two islands, found dead centre in the middle of the Bering Strait, one of which is considered Russian territory and the other part of Alaska."

He makes several geastures in the air as he speaks, suggesting that there is meant to be some visual representation onscreen to help illustrate the topic at hand.

"They are close enough that you can SEE Russia from US soil! Hell, because of these islands you could theoretically swim from one country to the other! Not that I'd recommend it, for the same reason I'm doing this talk in here and not outside!"

Darren laughs, reaching out and taking another glug of water, creaking his neck before jumping straight back into character. "Of course, this only counts if you include oversees territory, though even then the distance between mainland Russia and the US isn't actually that far either. In fact, they are close enough that you could theoretically build a tunnel connecting the two continents together, like how the Channel Tunnel connects Britain to mainland Europe!"

He coughs, a briefly irked expression on his face before he presses on. "Obviously, such a project is unlikely to happen anytime soon, especially given... Uh, recent events, but to think that with a few building projects, you could theoretically drive from Washington DC to Paris, France!"

He takes a long sigh, glancing back outside the window before returning his gaze to the camera. "Still... Geopolitics aside, given how significant a contributer traffic has been to rising CO2 levels, perhaps its for the best we don't have a busy mega-highway this close to the arctic circle. For now, if you're an aerophobic American who wants to drive to Paris... Well, you'll have to settle for the one in Texas."

After letting those last words linger in the air, he would lay back and stretch his arms, scratching his beard as he openly ponders to himself. "Hmm... Too Tom Scott again? Ah, to hell with it, not like anyone's going to notice..."

On that note, he reaches out and turns the camera off.