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It started with a trip to Costa Rica. Kepnes, in his early 20s and spending most of his time at his job, at the gym, or in front of the TV, took advantage of his vacation to go somewhere new. And then, right after the new year began and his vacation time renewed, he went somewhere else new, trekking in Thailand. Then he decided he could just keep going. When he announced his plans to quit his job and travel, his parents were incredulous; his friends, indifferent. For 10 years, Kepnes traveled the world, learning that guidebooks aren't everything, that friendships can be quickly made and then fade on the road. He shares what he's learned about escaping the daily grind and opens up about the highs and lows of the nomadic life in this frank and fun memoir. With hard-won experience, wide-open eyes, and the spirit of a dedicated wanderer, Kepnes encourages his readers to find their own adventures, and his story provides a road map for anyone opting to follow their dreams, wherever they may lead.--Bridget Thoreson Copyright 2019 Booklist

Publishers Weekly
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Travel blogger Kepnes (How to Travel the World on $50 a Day) recounts his decade traveling the world and outlines the lessons he learned along the way. Bored by the postcollege life, Kepnes booked a trip to Costa Rica in 2003 because it looked “different.” He returned from that trip a “nomad,” he writes, and from there, his globe-trotting adventures continued for the better part of 10 years, and his passion for travel became a career when he founded budget-travel website Nomadic Matt. He visits Bangkok, Rome, and Prague, where he realizes that “hostel life forces you to confront the years of conditioning so many of us have endured about what we ‘need’ from our lives.” Throughout, he falls in and out of love with a number of women, including Samantha, an Oregonian he meets in Thailand, and Charlotte, a Chicagoan he meets in Laos; his wanderlust compels him to keep traveling and leave both of them behind. Eventually burned out by his rootless lifestyle, he settles in Austin, Tex., where he continues to run his travel website and write travel guides. Though Kepnes’s epiphanies aren’t exactly world-shaking (“My elsewhere had arrived”; “The world has a funny way of always keeping you in your place”), his stories will have readers plotting trips of their own. Fans of Kepnes and travel enthusiasts will enjoy taking this adventure with a reliable, amiable guide. (July)

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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 trackhe 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 traveland 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 experiencesgood and badhave 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. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.