travelingmitch: Many would consider you to be the most famous travel blogger in the world. Was this something you aimed for, a childhood dream perhaps of travel-related career, or did things sort of unfold naturally before you?

Nomadic Matt: Being a famous travel blogger is not something I aimed for at all. I started my career as a high school history teacher. I went to Costa Rica in my mid-20s and that was my first foray into "really" traveling (not with my parents or on a family cruise).

The next year, I went to Thailand and I met some nomadic backpackers on the beach and I thought, "I want to live like this." How would I do that? I'd become a guidebook writer! And before I could be a guidebook writer, I figured, I'd need a writing portfolio. That's when I created nomadicmatt.com. I never wanted to be a travel blogger, but once I started showing up at conferences and people called me "Nomadic Matt", I knew I was on to something. The rest is history!

travelingmitch: Your site, in many ways, is really all about helping others get on the road and discovering the world. Why is this so important to you?

Nomadic Matt: I've seen how transformative traveling has been for me. If I look back at who I was before I began traveling and compare that to who I am now, I would have to say that travel has made me a better and more well-rounded person.

I’m way cooler now than I was at 25 when I first left to explore the world. Simply put, I’m a lot more awesome now than I used to be.

In fact, I think travel makes everybody a more awesome person. We end our travels way better off than when we started. I’m not saying this to be conceited or egotistical; I’m saying it because I believe that travel is something that makes you not only a better human being but a way cooler one too. The kind of person people gravitate toward and want to be around.



travelingmitch: You've produced an enormous body of content, including a New York Times Bestselling book. What's your proudest accomplishment thus far? What's the next big goal on the radar?



Nomadic Matt: Yes, my New York Times best-seller, How to Travel the World on $50 a Day was a great accomplishment. But I think two other achievements stand out as the ones that make me the most proud. In 2006, I spent a month on the Thai island of Ko Lipe. During those days, my friends Paul and Jane and I would talk about opening a hostel called The Greenhouse in New Zealand. We never did.

Though as the years passed, I never forgot about those conversations nor my desire to open a hostel. After having stayed in close to a thousand hostels since I started traveling, I’ve seen what makes a good (and bad) hostel…and I’ve also seen what makes for a truly mind-blowing one.

Then in 2015, I finally opened a hostel of my own in Texas called HK Austin. It quickly became the highest rated hostel in the US and I'm really proud of it. I love the feeling of bringing a good budget hostel to America. It's fun to get to build something for others that I would have definitely appreciated myself during my travels.

Secondly, I'm really proud of the non-profit I created not too long ago too. It's called The Foundation for Learning and Youth Travel Education. I noticed that traveling really does open your mind up to so many possibilities and you get such a broader view of the world around you.

My foundation sends high school classes from the US on teacher-led learning trips overseas . Most of the 66 people that have been to Cuba, Mexico, and Ecuador have never been out of the country before.

Most of them need to get their passport for this trip with their class. And all of them come back after their journey with a new, refreshing outlook on the world. I'm really proud to say that I've created the kind of project that I had hoped to see in the world.