Owner: Nomadic Matt's Travels URL:http://www.nomadicmatt.com Join Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:24:42 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A blog dedicated to one man's long term travel, photos, travel news, travel advice, and travel tips. Site statistics:Click here
Are Round the World Tickets worth it? 2008-04-02 07:20:00 Round the world tickets (RTW) can be a convenient way to fly around the world. They can get you where you want to go without having to worry about booking flights. I am ambivalent about them. I think they can be good for some people but personally, I think it's better to pay as you go. Paying as you go gives you more flexibility and allows you to catch cheap tickets on sale.RTW tickets tend to fly you into major airports. A typical RTW ticket is LAX-LONDON-BANGKOK-SYDNEY-FIJI-LAX. Typically you get a set number of destinations and stops on either the Star Alliance or Oneworld air carriers. Depending on how many stops you want, tickets can be between $2400-4000 USD. That's not including any other flights you might take to other cities in the area you want to go. This can be good if you want Read more:Tickets
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Not So Home Again 2008-03-29 08:07:00 I was excited to come home. In Brisbane, I told my friend Scott, that after months on the road, I was ready to call it quits. I love to travel but it had been a long time since I rested and the allure of hostels had worn off. I simply had traveled myself out. It was a chore now more than anything. New cities were boring and I didn't care to really meet any new people. Scott, having been in my situation before, agreed- you need to mix life up, he said, because, just like work can get boring, travel can too.I came home to a myriad of phone calls from friends asking when I would come out. I was tepid at first. I wasn't really keen on going out and seeing them not because I didn't want to but because I was afraid I wouldn't know what to say. Being home was a weird feeling. After so long away, Read more:Again
A Brave New World 2008-03-28 10:46:00 It's been a few months since I last wrote but I'm back in Boston now. It's been a busy and cold winter here as I've been working a lot to save for my upcoming trips as well as trying to see all my friends.Now that I have the created this website, I will be updating the blog more often. Next month, I'm writing a series of articles about my travels for Lonely Planet, which I'll link here.Next month, I am also going to The Netherlands for awhile as well. In July, I'll be leaving home again for Europe and then I'm moving to China for awhile before I spend the holidays in Thailand again. I miss Thailand a lot!Besides just what I do, I'm going to start blogging about travel related subjects and stories I read!I'm excited about having a whole website to myself! Feel free to comment about it- I'm Read more:Brave
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Things I learned while in OZ... 2008-02-13 09:56:00 Men there like mullets. Mullets of all types. No one else likes them but Aussie men and all classes of Aussie men. I can't figure out why but for some reason, Aussie men love the mullet, which is fine, because I like laughing at them so it is a win win situation.The Chasers War on Everything is one of the best things Aussies have on television. It's a political comedy show that really rips into their politicians.A bottle of water is 3 dollars.They aren't called operating hours but trading hours.And, for some reason, businesses stop "Trading" around 6 pm. I know Aussies love to be slackers but why close a store at 6? What about the after work people? This is true for not only small towns but also big cities like Sydney. I tried going shopping at 7 to find everything closed!Aussies love to g
Sydney 2008-01-13 09:52:00 Originally, I was going to be in Sydney
for New Years but my plans fell through and I ended up in the rainy weather of Surfer's Paradise again, where because of a cyclone there were no fireworks. Though I did party hard, it wasn't the best New Year's I've ever had. But I digress, for I am finally in Sydney. And I love it.It's an amazing city. I can't quite put my finger on it but there's something about Sydney. It has charm, class, it's beautiful, and exciting. In short, amazing. Besides Perth, it is my favorite city in Australia. If I was moving back to Australia, I'd live in one of these two. I came to city and meet up with some people I've been traveling with on and off throughout Australia. In OZ, everyone goes the same way making meet ups real easy. It was with those friends that I fi
Holidays Down Under 2007-12-27 09:42:00 Happy Holidays
from Byron Bay!For the past few weeks, I've been traveling south towards Sydney on Australia's Gold Coast. There are 300 days of sun here but apparently, they don't spread them out because since I've been here, I've only had 1 day of sun. It's not doing wonders for my tan. It's not dong wonders for my liver either- The Goldie,as it is called, is pretty much the party place of Australia and I've been doing my far share.Brisbane, my first destination on Eastern Australia, wasn't that thrilling. It was a big city with nothing really to see in it. It had some good restaurants and clubs but I preferred Melbourne over it. I spent about 5 days there. I got to see some friends of mine (even one from Thailand!) but I was glad to leave.I headed down to Surfer's Paradise, heart of the
Fun with Immigration 2007-11-30 09:36:00 Australia is known for being tough on immigration. Unless you are Kiwi or British, they don't really like people here. I'm not sure why but the Aussie governemnt tries hard to keep people out, even when they are allowed to come here. In fact, they just love to harass people at airports.Tons of my friends have experienced the annoyance of being stopped and questioned for no real reason.When I landed in Perth, I went through passport control and, after getting my stamp, I walked off to pick up my bag but not before an immigration officer stopped me. "Can I see your passport?" she asked. "Sure" I said and gave it her. "Do you have your airline tickets for Australia?" "I have one printed out." I gave her the ticket to Broome to Dawrin. "Well, how are you getting to Broome? "Bus" I said. "W
The Northern Territory 2007-11-30 09:35:00 Usually on a holiday, people tend to sleep in past dawn, relax, and stay out late enjoying the freedom they worked for. Apprently, I missed that memo. Since I've left Western Australia (actually, even in WA), the latest I have slept til is 8am. The cause of this catastrophe has been the relentless camping I have done.Since I last wrote, I spent 4 days camping out in the Bush. (No, not that kind of bush!) After Broome, I flew to Darwin to go camping in the world heritage park of Kakadu. This park is famous for waterfalls, gorges, Aboriginal rock art, and, of course, crocidiles. Despite waking up everday at dawn by flies and loud birds, I throughly enjoyed the park and it has been a highlight of my OZ trip so far. I saw stunning gorges filled with cool, clear blue watering holes and waterfa Read more:Northern
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Western Australia (or Western America?) 2007-11-19 09:30:00 I'm in love with WesternAustralia
. (and WA women!) This is what I thought OZ would be like. A vast expanse of densely populated red earth with endless miles of deserted beaches. I'm currently in Broome, up north in the outback. Currently, it is 120 degrees and very humid, though I don't mind the humidity since I'm used it to because of Asia.I've spent the last week going up the Western Coast, covering the distance between NY and LA. (Australia has 36,000km of coast line!) I would have liked to have spent longer going up the coast but because of how my schedule works out and how the bus worked, I couldn't. However, I am going to come back to Australia and just spend the whole visa here in Western Australia! It is that good.I took a backpacker bus up to Broome since Greyhound is just a bit Read more:America
The Accidental Teacher 2007-11-04 09:25:00 Before I left the states, people often asked me if I planned on teaching while away and I swore I never would- I didn't want to be a teacher, I certainly didn't want to work, and I certainly had no desire to spoil an uninterrupted 16 month holiday. Yet here I am writing about Bangkok, a city I have only come to love because I stopped and became a teacher. It was an accident I became a teacher in the first place. Like all major decisions in my life, this one was made with little thought- I just did it on a gut feeling. It may sound silly to make such major decisions without much thought, but for me, it's never really turned out bad. (Traveling the world, getting an MBA, switching University- all made in split second). So my one month stay in Bangkok to learn Thai turned into an 8 month adve Read more:Accidental
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Thailand 2007-10-28 09:17:00 I first came to the land of smiles in 2005. I was planning a little trip with my friend. I had wanted to go to the Galapagos islands but he said how about Thailand
? It's cheaper. Sure I said.That little change brought much larger change into my life. During that trip, I decided I was going pick and roam the world. I couldn't wait to come back to Thailand in November 07 for a few months of beach fun. I never intended to stay as long as I have but, after returning for what I thought would be just a few months, I find myself only now leaving…some 10 months later.I've never liven anywhere besides Massachusetts so living abroad has been a real eye opening experience for me. I learned a lot about people, culture, and myself. One of things that I love most about Thailand, and especially Bangkok
Running Down a Dream 2007-10-07 09:01:00 Life in Bangkok has had its share of ups and downs. For awhile now, I have thought about leaving. My original intent in staying in Bangkok was to learn Thai but then I stayed longer to teach. Yet in July, I had problems with my job but thought to myself "I haven't done much but work I can't leave yet!" So, as my last post made clear, I went out and partied. I found friends, I'm dating a girl- life is good. For the most part. My job irritates me. My boss is a major asshole and my hours are slowly being cut away. My schedule changes weekly (sometimes daily) and it is hard to have an normal social life or even get to the gym! With less money, I'm needing to save more- an impossible task now that I got out more. Combined with my psych ward style room, I'm irritable and wanting to leave. It's n Read more:Dream
Life in Bangkok: The Ex-Pat Scene 2007-09-13 08:58:00 Bangkok is a city of 12 million people. It sprawls out for miles from the city center. It lacks a concentrated public transportation system leading to huge amounts of traffic- a ride that would take 15 minutes in no traffic can take over two hours during the day time. All of these cars lead to poor air quality and a hazy skyline. Yet somehow in this chaos, the ex-pats of Bangkok all seem to find each other.When I first moved to Bangkok, I assumed ex-pats were either generally rich old men or teachers with a few people working for big companies. I figured that especially if they were young, they were probably a teacher. Then I started to get friends. I found out that that wasn't the case. A surprising number of people WEREN'T teachers and instead worked for many, many international or local Read more:Bangkok
Australia: The Packing Begins 2007-08-16 09:09:00 With only 3 more weeks left before I head to the Southern Hemisphere, I've been getting myself ready. I've got my things to do list in hand and have been slowly checking it off- visiting sites, eating at my favorite restaurants (or place I've wanted to try), buying stuff, and going out and partying. This week I also may just head down to the islands to go learn to scuba dive.The closer it gets, the more excited I'm getting. I am going to do a grand tour of the continent country. I fly into Perth on Nov. 8th and head up the west coast to Darwin, then down the center to Melbourne and up the coast through Sydney for New Years and finishing in Cairns before I head to New Zealand. I figure, it will be years before I even have the chance to come back and who knows what can happen in that time- A Read more:Australia
Life in Bangkok: Stay or Leave? 2007-08-03 08:48:00 I'm at a crossroads- do I stay or do I leave? I dislike my job (teaching test prep sucks!), friends keep wanting me to join them in Australia, and I'm restless after being in one place for 5 months.Yet at the same time, I'm not really ready to leave Bangkok
. I have a nice gym membership here, I'll just be coming back here again in December for new year's, and, well, I haven't done anything here. The first 3 months I spent just with all my travel friends who kept passing through, and the other months were spent working 60 hr weeks. (Today is my first day off since May 7th. Almost 3 months of straight working!!) So if I leave now, I have no real fun memories of Bangkok. But the thought of working, even at less hours, for another 4 months? BLAHH. For now, I've decided to cut loose a little bi Read more:Leave
Life in Bangkok: Moving Up! 2007-06-13 08:44:00 I am officially now a Bangkok
ian.After 3 months living in a guesthouse, I have finally moved out of the tourist ghetto and into an apartment. I had always been weary of making this move because I didn't like the idea of committing to contracts and deposits. Plus apartments downtown are muy expensivo. But mostly, I didn't like the idea of being "settled." I liked my vagabond ways and didn't want to be tied down.But now that's changed. My friend told me his apartment block rents without contracts and is cheap. So I went and checked it out. It was small but it is right downtown by the subway, has air conditioning, and my friend lives there too. So I took the plunge and made the move. All that is missing is the internet but I'm sure I can sneak onto someone's wireless!I also am opening a Read more:Moving
Life in Bangkok 2007-05-07 08:31:00 It's been about two months since I've started working and I am already worn out. It's going to be tough goings for the next 8 months. Come to think of it, it will be tough goings when I get home and have to do this for 40 years…..I shudder at the thought.So I quit my job. Well, one of them. I am now just doing corporate training because that is where to make bank. The other job was nice and all the married English men (yes, of course to Thai wives!) were pleasant enough to talk to but the pay was shit. It would be fine if I was living here on a more permanent basis but when you are saving for another year of travel, you need an above average salary. Doing corporate training, I'll make double and work less. As an added bonus, I no longer have to make my own lessons because the company pro Read more:Bangkok
Life in Bangkok: Songkran 2007-04-22 08:29:00 I never would have guessed that when I left America I would be away for 3 years. I expected one year but now it has been three. Thos years have flown by. The year of the pig was only 3 months! Confused about what I am talking about? I'm talking about how it is another new year- welcome to 2551! Last week, was the Thai new year, marking the 3rd new year's celebration I've had since I've left home. It was also by far the best. While I had considerable fun ringing in the Western New Year, I have never seen anything like Songkran, the Thai New Year. It's hard to describe the sheer craziness that is involved during this 3 day (yes, 3 days!) celebration. Songkran is about renewing yourself for the New Year and washing away the sins of the past. So for 3 days everyone has a huge wat Read more:Bangkok
Life in Bangkok: A Creation Story 2007-04-11 08:25:00 In the beginning, there was the word. And the word was God and so God created all the people and he cooked them. Some of them came out too raw (whites), some of them came out too burnt (dark skinned Thais), but the rest came out a perfect golden brown (everyone else)- a color everyone should aspire too. Or so goes the story taught here (and I do mean taught in schools here!).Thailand is a nation that has never been conquered by anyone. They gave away a lot of land in order to prevent that from happening. This history of independence has given the Thais a superiority complex. If the Japanese are the snobs of East Asia, the Thais are the snobs of Southeast Asia.As a tourist who spent nearly 3 months here between two visits, I learned quite a bit about Thai culture. It's hard not to when y Read more:Bangkok
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Life in Bangkok, pt2: Settling In. 2007-04-03 08:22:00 I'm not very happy about it- the realization that my travels are over for now. I've been here a month now and it's finally hit me that I'm here for awhile. I'm pretty depressed about it. It's not that I don't like living here or that this won't be an interesting and fun time, it's just that I'm sad to be in one place for awhile. I don't think I realized how tough it would be to stop traveling. It's even worse that I live in the traveler area of Bangkok
and am reminded of all things traveling all the time as I watch people go to and from places, meeting exciting fellow travelers, and still living free. Then there is me who sits there and thinks..shit, I have to be at work in the morning. If I feel like this now, I wonder what it will feel like when I finally stop traveling next year. This
Life in Bangkok, pt 1 2007-03-22 08:17:00 Before I get into Bangkok
, let's first by saying I took a little holiday to Ko Phi Phi, one of the resort islands of Thailand to visit the Swedish girl and her friends. It was a great, albeit expensive trip. I waited to long to book my flights and paid double what I should have. These Swedish girls are really only wanna be backpackers! They spend money like it is going out of style and buckets of alcohol are expensive. But, no worries, because now I have a job, Uncle Sam gave me back 600 extra dollars, and I just found 300 dollars in an account I forgot I had. So no worries. Phi Phi was great. Basically I spent 5 days on the beach, in the ocean, watching football (Manchester destroyed Bolton. Aresenal still sucks. and Liverpool are still wankers), and drinking buckets of alcohol. I ran i
Life in the Big City 2007-03-08 08:13:00 Since my last post, I've been settling into Bangkok. I've had my first week of classes and my head is swirling with new Thai phrases. Pom mi Puat Hua!! (I have a headache!) But, I'm getting the tones down even though MAA said 5 different ways still sounds the same to me. Say one word the wrong way and you insult someone. Speaking of which, I know how to call people ugly, stupid, and tell them to fuck off. I'm picking the language up and that is cool. I have class all this month and by the end, I hope to have a good enough base to be able to understand and say most things. Since I'll be here for awhile, I'll get practice.I found myself a guesthouse in a predominetly Thai area. Incidently enough, the hotel I stayed at 2 yrs ago on my first trip to Thailand is down the block. I guess everythi
Angkor Wat 2007-03-03 22:43:00 Nothing I write here will do Angkor
Wat justice. It is so magnificant, so amazing, so stupendous that any words I write will fall short and the only way to really see what I'm talking about is to show you lots pictures. Alas, I don't have them up yet. I'll be posting them in a few days (along with lots of other pictures) so for now, my words will have to do.Angkor Wat is the massive ancient Khmer capital in western Cambodia. Active from the 9th to 12th century, it was the center of Khmer civilizaton. It ruled Cambodia, Laos, parts of Thailand, and Vietnam. It was massive. So is the capital- it has hundreds of temples. One of them required 80,000 people to maintain it. I thought Tikal was great but Angkor Wat makes Tikal look like it was built by children. Angkor Wat has over 100 temples
The heat is on in Saigon 2007-02-12 09:11:00 Good Morning Vietnam,Here's a quick travel lesson for those who ever go to Vietnam: No matter how many copies of your passport you own, how much backup ID you have, without the real thing, never leave where you are without the original. Right now, I should be cycling around the Mekong Delta. I was going on a nice four day trip with some cycling friends of mine but instead I am back in Ho Chi Minh City. Why? Because I lack a real passport. The real thing is at the Thai Embassy getting a visa stamp on it so I can stay there until June. (I used all my visa's on arrival.) No problem right? Usually, copies of your passport are fine anywhere I've been. So after biking 77k from Saigon
to our first stop, I found no hotel would let me book a room or share a room without the real thing. A copy of th
How I do it 2008-04-04 07:33:00 In the week I started this blog, I've been asked a plethora of times on how I do it. How do I travel so much? What's my secret? So here it, the big secret that lets me travel so much:DESIREThat's it. No secret trust fund. No illegal activity. No pimping myself out for Eliot Spitzer. Just simple desire to do it. After my first trip to Costa Rica in 2004, I got bit with the travel bug and have been doing it every since. I live to travel. I make the time, I budget for it, I revolve my life around it right now.Everyone seems to suspect I have some big secret....that I must have found something out to life that they didn't. Sorry for the let down but there is no secret to travel. Anyone who tells you so is a liar. All you need is the desire and passion to go.So often I hear from people that tr
Planning my next trip... 2008-04-06 12:12:00 At the end of the month, I'm finally going on a holiday. It's been a long, long winter and I'm looking forward to getting away, even if this trip is only 10 days.I'm off to spend a weekend in England before I go to The Netherlands for Queen's Day. It may seem odd to head to England for only a weekend but my flight was going through London and decided to spend a few days to visit somebody. I've never been to England before and I think this will be a good practice run for my trip in the summer. It will give me an idea as to just how expense England really is and how much I need to budget for my month long trip there this summer.What I'm really excited for is Amsterdam. I first went there in 2006 and loved it so much I stayed for 6 weeks in the city. I meet great Dutch friends and had such
Couchsurfing 2008-04-10 09:44:00 Accommodation can eat into any budget. I'm sure many backpackers would sleep in a barn if it was the cheapest accommodation around. Some people will stay anywhere as long as its a roof. I always had some standards when it came to accommodation but I've definitely stayed in some dumps while I was away.One of the best ways to get free accommodation while you travel is by staying with someone, especially someone you don't know. This is where Couchsurfing can come in. Couchsurfing is now a hugely popular phenomenon. Couchsurfing.com connects travelers with people around the globe who offer them free places to stay. Sometimes it's a bed, sometimes it's a couch, sometimes it's literally just space. Whatever they give you, it can save you a lot of money and it's a great way to meet local people.
Calling Cards vs Cell Phones 2008-04-11 09:47:00 Recently, someone submitted a question about cell phones and calling cards to the Ask Me! page. I thought the question deserved a little bit more attention than just a short blurb and was a good topic to blog about.When I first traveled overseas, I used calling cards. I figured it was more convenient than scouting out a cell phone, especially since I was in each country for a only few weeks at a time. I only ever really needed to call my parents and wanted to remain unconnected from the greater world. Having a cellphone just didn't seem like I was getting off the grid. It was bad enough I was at an Internet cafe all the time! Wasn't the point of travel to get away from the trappings of modern life?So I used calling cards but, in the end, I ended up spending a lot to call home and, since th Read more:Calling
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