Life in immigration

Posted: 1/16/2018 | January 16th, 2018 Last month, my mom told me she thought this blog was boring. “Where’s all the fun stuff? I want to see more photos of you traveling. I don’t care about these other updates.” “Mom, I live in Austin now. You know I’m not on the road that much,” I replied. “I know but still….I want to see more stuff. It’s just much more interesting, honey.” “Ok, Mom,” I say and move the conversation on. But you know what? She’s right (shhhhh, don’t tell her I said that). This website has gotten a little boring. There aren’t many new adventures, photos of exotic destinations, and exciting stories from the road being posted, because, well, I’m pretty non-nomadic these days. I spent more time in the US last year than I did abroad. I feel this way every few years, though. “It’s OK,” I think to myself, “I’ll be on the road again, and there will be new content, stories, and tips for my website.” But lately, as I’ve come to terms with my move from nomadic to more stati...

Updated: 07/8/20 | July 8th, 2020 Back in 2011, I wrote this post featuring some personal facts about my life. It was a window into non-travel me. Well, that was a loooooong time ago. Life changes. People change. Since a lot has happened in the last nine years (professionally and personally), I wanted to update this website so you can learn a little more about me and my interests. There’s more than just a writer and travel fanatic here. So, to kick off the second half of the year, here’s a little bit about me: 1. I hate flying. I love airports, lounges, and elite status, but the act of flying makes me sick. I don’t like heights and any turbulence makes me think the plane is about to crash. I’m not a good flier. (Ironic considering how often I fly!) 2. When I was younger, I was obsessed with Pinky and the Brain. I even had a T-shirt collection. I also had one of those bowl haircuts, but I prefer to forget about that fact. 3. I never traveled independently until I went t...

Posted: 3/25/21 | March 25th, 2021 Slightly more than a year ago, I flew home from Paris with the desire to do one thing: stay in place. I cleared my travel schedule, signed up for dating apps, and joined numerous social clubs in Austin with two goals in mind. I wanted to: (a) find a girlfriend and (b) expand my social circle and make new friends in Austin. I wanted to settle down and build a life for myself in the city. It was going to be a time when I planted some roots. Then the coronavirus hit, and though I was still not traveling, I couldn’t do any of that settling-down socializing stuff because, well, everything was closed because of COVID. Like most of you, in the past year, I’ve sat home a lot, read a lot, and cooked a lot — and was bored a lot. I’ve gone through bouts of “I’m going to make it through!” and sheer madness. It’s like this SNL skit (the video is only available in the US): I did “travel” some. I drove home to see my parents in Boston and had a few weeks ...

Updated: 8/5/2019 (Originally published 02/21/12. Updated for grammar and links) I poke. I push. I prod. I try to get people out of their cubicles and traveling the world. That’s what I do. Literally — that’s my job! I do my best to show people from all around the world that traveling doesn’t have to be expensive. That there is more to life than grinding the hours away at a job you hate. I do my best to make sure everyone can find a way to travel cheaper, better, and longer. I strive to show that your fears are unfounded. I try to be a living example of that. After many years of blogging, and judging by the emails I get from people, I think I’ve been relatively successful at getting people onto airplanes and into the world. But last month, I faced a fork in the road about what to do when my current trip ends: do I move to New York City right away or do I move to Sweden for six months? Once you go down a path, there’s no turning back, and I was very torn on what to direction...

Posted: 11/09/2011 | November 9th, 2011 “What would you like?” the lady asks me in her English accent. “Iced green tea,” I reply, unfazed by her accent, she unfazed by mine. We may be foreigners to each other, but nothing feels really foreign about us. I grab my drink and head out the door, making my way back into the busy streets of London. I’m a little lost but not worried. I am, after all, in the country that invented my language. I look at a few road signs, ask some directions, and I’m on my way. There’s no real confusion. There’s no sense of being truly lost. I make my way into the London tube, where I sit silently, looking at the stoic faces in front of me. You don’t speak on the London tube. Today is my last day in London, and I’m speaking at World Travel Mart about travel blogging. Twenty-four hours from now, I’ll be touching down in Hong Kong. The familiar will be replaced by the unfamiliar. After six months in Europe, I’m finally leaving. It’s gotten too easy to be here. Too ...

Last Updated: 7/1/2018 | July 1st, 2018 Here’s a secret: I love being a cheesy tourist. As much as I love getting off the beaten path and learning about local cultures, sometimes I love the artificial world the mainstream travel industry has created. I think a lot of people think too deeply about travel, as if every moment on the road has to have profound impact and meaning. They are too quick to write off mass tourism. I’ve always found travelers who shun anything “cheesy” to be some of my least favorite. By thinking of their travels as one long romantic novel, they tend to become snobs and can’t just enjoy the moment. Sometimes you just need to take attractions and experiences for what they are: a crowded, overrated, commercialized, mind-numbing, and/or enjoyable escape. Sometimes travel’s just about having a good time in a different place with new people. Last year I went on a cruise and partied at Señor Frog’s in Mexico. And I had a blast. So today, let...

Updated: 03/25/19 | March 25th, 2019 I was having drinks with a well-known travel writer and like two soldiers discussing battle wounds from the same war, we talked about the cycle of travel, being on the road for years at a time, the highs, the lows, and everything in between. As we wandered the battlefield of memories, we came upon the topic of friends and re-visiting places. I lamented to him my recent exit from Ios, a place I had fallen in love with and a place that pulls me back there even now. I keep seeing Facebook status updates from friends and it makes me depressed. But I can’t go back there. What I miss are the memories. In the end, what he and I were really talking about was how we were chasing travel ghosts. As travelers, we have many great memories. Once in a while, we are lucky enough to have life-changing moments on the road. That time and place where everything is magical and perfect and the people just go together like yin and yang. These are the moments we wish ...

Last Updated: 3/10/21 | March 10th, 2021 When I was growing up, my family didn’t travel. We were typical tourists. Like most modern, middle-class American families, if we went anywhere, it was because we were on vacation — short leisure trips with a fixed start and end, tied to the calendar of the working year, centered more often than not around visiting relatives: to Philadelphia to see my cousins or long road trips to see my grandmother in Florida. Long car rides, nights at big chain hotels, and visits to theme parks were par for the course. When I was about eleven (and too young to really enjoy it), we went to Bermuda for a couple of days. And, when I was sixteen, we did take a cruise. But that was the craziest we ever got. We “traveled” like middle-class Americans were supposed to. There were no backpacking trips, camping excursions, or jaunts to exotic destinations for us. My friends and their families followed the same routine. They vacationed the way society told them to. In my...

Last Updated: 03/16/20 | March 16th, 2020 The travel slump. It happens to us all. After months on the road, you wake up one day and feel a little off. Travel doesn’t seem as exciting as it used to be. You’re bored, tired, and uninterested. You start to think, “What’s wrong with me? I’m seeing and doing amazing stuff every day. Why don’t I love it anymore?” This is the slump — and it happens to us all. When you first set out, travel is exciting and new. You’re meeting different people from around the world, experiencing new activities, trying different food, and exploring exotic lands. There’s this perception—from both travelers and nontravelers alike—that travel is all excitement, all the time. Before I’d set off, I’d even indulged that perception myself. It’s natural, even if it’s not correct. Think back to some of the highlights from your past: how many of them include waiting in line at the grocery store, holding a pole on the bus, being stuck in traffic, fili...

Updated: 12/16/2018 | Posted: 04/06/2009 I was talking to a friend recently about life – and the road it leads us on. I was pushing her to travel the world (like I push everyone to travel the world) to overcome her recent funk. She was a bit lost on what to do lately and was looking for something to fill the void. “Go travel. You might discover the answer. If not, you’ll have a great time at least!” While talking to her, I realized that I didn’t know what I would do if I ever stopped traveling. What is life without travel? How else would I exist? I’ve been moving for so long that I can’t picture my life any other way. Travel has become a lifestyle for me. It has become my identity. Always moving, always on the road, always somewhere different. That’s my routine. It’s comforting. I have so many different destinations I want to visit before I become “Semi-Nomadic Matt” that I think I’d be 50 before that actually happe...

Updated: 04/10/19 | April 10, 2019 “I’m going to quit my job when we get back,” I said, turning to my friend Scott. “Really? I doubt that.” “No really, I am. I’m going to quit and travel the world,” I said, turning my face back into the warm Thailand sun. It was 2004, and we were in Ko Samui. We had just visited Chiang Mai, where I had met the five travelers who so inspired me to travel the world. Their world of no 401(k)s, vacations, and bosses seemed too good to be true and I wanted to be a part of it. I was determined to be a part of it. I even started to prepare for it while in Thailand before I had any real idea of what I was going to do. While on Ko Samui, I bought the Lonely Planet guide to Southeast Asia. I didn’t even know if I’d go there on my next trip. I didn’t know when my trip would be or for how long or what I wanted to see. But buying that guide made the whole thing seem more real. It was my commitment to travel. I had the guide; there was n...

Posted: 6/13/17 | June 12th, 2017 In 2013, I created a list of 19 things I wanted to do before I turned 35. This list was going to serve as a guide for all my travels until I hit that all-important (OK, not really) birthday. Last year, when I turned 35 and realized I wasn’t even close to completing it, I mentally tweaked the list title: it would now be 19 things to do through age 35. Today, I turn 36…and out of those 19 things on my list, I did a whopping FOUR. Yup, only four. In a sense, I failed pretty badly. I set out with a simple list of goals to accomplish over a three-year period and didn’t even finish a third of them. But, as I look back at that list and think about it, I realize I just don’t care. I often called it my “non-bucket-list bucket list.” You see, I don’t actually like bucket lists. I mean, I love lists and making plans, but to me, bucket lists convey this idea that only things on that list are worth doing and that accomplishing those things will somehow make yo...

Updated: 1/3/2020 | January 3rd, 2020 Nothing irks me more than people disparaging people’s travel choices. I don’t get why people do it. The whole “traveler vs. tourist” argument, talking about what makes someone a “real traveler,” and making fun of people’s routes — people waste so much energy trying to lift themselves up above others. Isn’t travel supposed to make you open-minded? I do this for me. This is all my journey. I’m not in a race for the most countries visited, street stalls eaten at, or festivals attended. I do what makes me happy, even if it’s some “touristy” destination. There isn’t a single “authentic” version of travel. Getting off the beaten path, finding some hidden island, or living with some guy in a yurt in Mongolia don’t make someone a better traveler than anyone else. It just means your itinerary and experience were different. I’ve been riled up about this for quite some ti...

Posted: 12/14/17 | December 14th, 2017 There always seems to be something bad in the news. If it bleeds, it leads right? Even if it doesn’t bleed, it is still there. And all that bad news seems to dampen the world’s spirit. The economy, climate change, politics, pollution, terrorism, nationalism, poverty, disease — the list of challenges and things to worry about seems endless. The future, while always uncertain, appears even more so lately. Will the planet be inhabitable in a few decades? Will some Jihadi get his hands on a nuke and blow up Paris? Will Israel go to war with Iran? Will there be enough water and resources to go around? Is the sky falling? Polls frequently show that people, while optimistic in general, are worried about the short and medium-term state of the world. Globalization, a force that forces us together, has accelerated change in the world. People don’t really like change. It scares them. But I’m optimistic about our future for two reasons:...

Posted: 03/26/20 | March 26th, 2020 As many of you know, I have the coronavirus. Well, had. I’ve recovered. Luckily, I had a mild case. It felt like a really bad cold. At first, I developed a small cough that I associated with allergies and my asthma. However, on the second day, I developed aches and a fever and that caused me to worry. I never get a fever. That’s when I decided to get tested and the results came back positive. Given how bad this virus can be — even for people my age (I’m almost forty) — I count myself very lucky. My fever lasted only a few days and then it just became a cough, which lasted until about day twelve. (Today is day fourteen.) (If you want to read about my experience, I posted about it here and here.) I hardly ever get sick so this was a scary experience for me. I was mostly worried by reports saying that between days eight and ten, patients could suddenly crash and end up in the ICU. I knew I was probably fine when the fever broke, but until day ten, ...