TEN YEARS A NOMAD

How and why wanderlust kept a man traveling around the globe for a decade.

At age 23, Kepnes (How To Travel the World on $50 a Day, 2013) was on the conventional track—he graduated from college and got a steady job in the real world “at the bottom of the middle-class corporate ladder.” However, he found that he was dissatisfied: “The real world had things that college lacked: a place of my own; money; a steady relationship; the ability to go where I wanted; to do what I wanted; freedom. It was where I could finally start my life. Except the real world turned out to be as boring as hell.” He had reached a junction: Should he continue with the status quo or throw it all away and travel the world? Despite his introverted nature, Kepnes chose travel—and never looked back. In this candid memoir, the author examines how he was completely changed by the decade he spent on the road, living in hostels, working in foreign countries, and making friends in hundreds of cities and towns. He discusses how all his experiences—good and bad—have helped him be more in tune with others and become a better listener and friend. He emphasizes the importance of listening to your inner self rather than the skeptics and naysayers, both of whom he encountered often. Throughout his ruminations on how travel affected him, Kepnes interweaves his tales of friends, girlfriends, and great loves discovered among exotic backdrops and how starting a blog (nomadicmatt.com) about his adventures altered the way he traveled. His story is one of heartbreak, self-discovery, and the constant travel itch he had to scratch in order to become the man he was supposed to be.

An entertaining, quick read by a man who did what many of us only dream about.