Nomadic Matt on travel as a way to reinvent yourself

Matthew Kepnes is best known as Nomadic Matt, the name of his eponymous website dedicated to traveling smarter, cheaper and longer. He tells us in the first few pages of his new memoir that he has spent more than 3,000 nights in a thousand different cities in 90 countries so Debbie figured he would be the perfect guest to talk about travel as a way to reinvent yourself.

Now 38, Matt recently settled down in Austin, Texas after over 10 years of longterm traveling in Asia and other parts of the world. We talk about the emotional aspects of travel, the courage it takes to detach yourself from societal expectations (keep a steady job, stay in one place), the difference between travel and a vacation and the importance of journaling or writing while you are on the journey. Only by recording what you are thinking and feeling while in the midst of it can you look back later to truly understand the experience.

Matt also shares his encounters with older travelers and the common fears that he hears in people 50 and older who want to travel on the cheap.

Mentioned in the episode

• Nomadicmatt.com is full of resources for traveling at any age

• Ten Years a Nomad by Matthew Kepnes (part memoir and part philosophical exploration of why we travel)

• Vagabonding by Rolf Potts (the original book about the art of longterm world travel)

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Credits:

• Host: Debbie Weil

• Producer: Julie-Roxane Krikorian

• Podcast website

• Music by Manuel Senfft

Connect with us:

• Email: thegapyearpodcast@gmail.com

• Twitter: @debbieweil

• Insta: @debbieweil

• Read Debbie and Sam's blog: Gap Year After Sixty

Thanks to our Media Partners!

• Encore.org, an ideas and innovation hub tapping the talent of those 50+ as a force for good.

• Modern Elder Academy Navigating mid-life transitions: Grow Whole, Not Old.

• Next For Me Rewriting +50 life through new work, a new purpose, or a new social contribution.