We’re 75% off completing this mission! Help us get to 100%!

Dear fabulous reader,

I was in the shower (where I do some of my best thinking), pondering all the political fighting and social media outrage that seems to happen every week. Well, ok every day!!

Each day, people yell into the echo chamber.

I don’t know about you, but I have slight “outrage fatigue.” I can’t get up in arms anymore about a single speech or tweet, or what someone is wearing. I’m tired of it, and real problems don’t get solved that way.

They get solved by getting out there and doing something.

I recently read a great book called The Death of Expertise, which talks about how study after study has shown that people online tend to wall themselves off from opinions they don’t agree with because it’s easier than ever to just find information that confirms what you already believe.

But as travelers, we meet people from around the world. We experience cultures and values different than our own. I think is why travelers tend to be more open-minded than most. We have a broader perspective. We’ve been outsiders ourselves. We travel because we want to see the differences in the world, not hide from them.

Which is why, thinking about this topic, I am glad we have FLYTE, our community charity that raises money to send high school students on international trips to help expand their minds and put their education into practice. FLYTE aims to show kids that the world is much bigger — and full of more possibility — than they could ever imagine!

So far we’ve raised $26,000 to send these kids on a volunteering trip to Guatemala:

These are the students from the Victor School in Victor, Montana, a small town of only 800 in rural Montana that is 96% white. Living so far outside a metropolitan area makes it hard for them to interact with a diverse range of people. Ten days in Guatemala isn’t a lot of time for us, but for these kids, it represents the start of a bigger, more important journey.

But we need another $7,000 more to make this trip happen!

And I’m asking for your help to help us get us to the finish line! On bended knee!

This trip is their chance to get out (even if only for a moment) and see the world, experience new cultures, and see the possibilities that exist beyond their small town. It’s a chance to spark an interest in the world and in education.

It is a chance to turn these kids — who, thanks to FLYTE, now have passports — into travelers and global citizens.

It is a chance for them put their schooling into practice.

It is a chance for them to see a world completely different than their own and develop empathy. To broaden their horizons and not just listen to what cable news or a curated social feed tells them.

It’s never been more important to broaden people’s perspective.

And it starts with these kids.

Because they will soon be the adults of the future.

For as little as $1, you can help us get there. If everyone who reads this website gave a dollar, we could make this – and many more like it – happen right away!

We can be the change we want to see in the world. Travel has done so much for us. So many people have been strangers in unknown lands.

If you’ve been wondering how you can pay it forward and get involved in building a better world, this is your chance.

I know this is a budget travel website and most of us don’t have a lot of money but for the cost of a few drinks, you can pay it forward and help great a new generation of responsible travelers!

• $10
• $25
• $50
• $100

$

• • One time
  • Monthly

NOTE: We are a 501(c)3 charity so your donations are tax exempt. (US residents only)

These kids, their teachers, and their parents will be forever changed by your generosity.

If you’re the type of person that believes love trumps hate, help us help these kids.

If you’re the kind of person that is looking for a way to spread the power of travel, help us help these kids.

Let’s pay all our travel kindness forward and send these kids from the small town of Victor to Guatemala!

Thank you so much for any support!

Sincerely,

Nomadic Matt

P.S. – Please help us share this organization and cause by forwarding this blog post to your friends and family or sharing it on social media! Let’s change some lives!

Why this Family Took Their Teens on an Epic RTW Adventure

Yesterday in Buenos Aires, I had lunch with a family of digital nomads. They’ve been on the road since 2008 working on software and app development all over the world (their son was born in Mexico). The wife, Kelli, asked if I met a lot of families traveling on the road. “Of course! These days, there are a lot,” I said.

When I started traveling the world, taking your kids out of school for a year away was weird and social suicide. Now, I think there is a big support community online and hundreds of blogs to provide encouragement and help families make the leap.

It was funny she asked that because today we are doing a family profile on the blog. I want to share the story of Staci, Mason, and their kids. They’re a middle-class family from Iowa that set out on a round-the-world trip. Today, they tell us how they did it and share their advice for other families out there!

Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone about yourself.
Staci: We are the Schwarz family. My name is Staci, my husband is Mason, and our kids are Ian (19) and Lily (16). We live in Des Moines, Iowa, and are traveling the world together for about 4½ months. (It’s the first time out of the country for my husband and kids!) In our previous lives, I was a pricing analyst and Mason was a printing press operator.

Why did you and your family decide to do this trip?
Four years ago, I read the book One Year Off by David Cohen about how he and his wife sold their home and took their three children on a one-year trip around the world, and I could not get over it. I told my husband I wanted to do something similar, and with NO hesitation, he said yes. His mom died unexpectedly [when she was] not much older than we are now, and that really affects the decisions we make to not put things off, assuming we have plenty of time to get around to doing them.

How are you funding this trip?
We saved for almost four years by doing basic things like cutting back on entertainment and eating out. We went through our house and garage and sold a ridiculous amount of stuff that we didn’t need or use — we had a book sale where we sold 700 books. 700! We also used some of our retirement savings. We have found that this seriously freaks people out, but we look at it this way: we are young and have a lot of time to work. We firmly believe that investing our money in a life-changing experience is a far better use of it.

What did your friends and family think?
There were some mixed responses. Because we talked about it for so long, I think there was a sense of doubt about whether we would really follow through, but once we quit our jobs and booked tickets, all of our friends were incredibly excited and supportive. We couldn’t have asked for a better support system. Our parents were concerned about some of the places on our itinerary (namely Turkey), and we do have a couple of family members who think that it was downright stupid and irresponsible for us to quit our jobs to travel. And that’s OK. Not everyone is going to understand or support every life decision we make.

Did you change anyone’s mind now that they see you’re traveling and just fine?
Well, the couple of people who thought we were stupid when we left still think we are stupid. I think my mom has had the biggest change of heart. She was really worried about the places we were going and just fretted about our safety, but as we’ve been traveling and posting pictures and blogs about our experiences, she has gotten really excited about traveling the world and has started a list of places she wants to see. She was so inspired by our day at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai that she wants to go volunteer there for a week. My parents have never left the US, and I love seeing her so inspired and excited about traveling.

What did you do about school? Are you doing classes remotely?
Ian was able to take a training program at a technical school in welding and finished his certificate a few weeks before we left, but Lily’s school offered to let her take her junior year online. We were really relieved about this, since we were all a little concerned about homeschooling on the road. This was a big concern for Lily — probably the one thing that initially kept her from getting really excited about the trip — so once that fell into place, she was able to stop worrying and get excited about the travel. She has been able to work at her own pace through the coursework, which has been great, because we don’t always have good, reliable Internet connection everywhere we have been.

What’s been the hardest part so far?
There have been a few hard parts. Our first few days were really difficult. Just simple things like finding food or figuring out how to get around was a challenge. Lily and I did not adjust well at all, and we both cried a lot. We look back now and it’s amazing how comfortable we have become with moving to new places. I’ve seen so much growth in my kids in their confidence and ability to figure out new environments and situations. It’s really cool to see.

Also India. India was HARD — so many people, so much pollution, so much poverty. Garbage everywhere, people up in your space all the time. We were ill prepared. A friend told me “India isn’t for everyone, but give it a little time.” It was good advice. I’m still not sure India was for us, but we’re glad we went. It was definitely unlike anything we have ever experienced. We were completely overwhelmed the entire time we were there.

What advice do you have for other families doing this?
If you want to do it, you absolutely can make it happen. People make all sorts of excuses about why they can’t travel, but if we could make it happen, then really anyone can. It’s just a matter of deciding how badly you want it and then making it a priority. The time we have spent together on this trip has brought us so close as a family, and watching my kids discover the beauty and magic of travel has deepened my own experience and made it so much richer.

People will say to us, “You are so lucky to be able to take this trip.” I don’t believe this is true. We worked really hard toward this goal. We made it happen. And if we can do it then, seriously, anyone can. That’s not to say it was easy — we aren’t the most disciplined people in the world. It just means if you want it bad enough, you’ll do what it takes to make it happen.

What’s been your favorite moment so far?
This will vary depending on who you ask in our family. Lily says that she really loved the cooking class we took in Chiang Mai. In Varanasi, Mason sat down and talked with a group of kids playing cricket and had a really cool moment just connecting with them. For me, I would say the temples at Angkor have been the most moving, but if I am being honest — and slightly cheesy — my favorite moments are when we are all sitting around talking about what we did that day or where we are going the next day and we are completely undistracted by the overstuffed schedules and obligations we have back home. This time together is precious to me.

Why do you think fewer families do this? Were there any big obstacles that got in your way in the beginning?
I think a lot of families are concerned about the cost and the amount of time spent together. Cost was always an obstacle for us, and we ended up postponing the trip for a year so we could save more and have a better budget to fund our travel. The kids got a lot of astonishment from their friends along the lines of “how will you spend that much time with your family without killing each other?” We haven’t found this to be an issue. Other than some moments where we are a little grouchy with one another — which happens at home too — we have gotten along great.

That being said, if you don’t enjoy each other’s company at home, long-term travel might be difficult. But we’ve had to learn to work together as a team to handle things like travel days. And once we got stuck on a mountain for 12 hours, so we had to take care of one another, and those things have brought us closer as a family. Although admittedly, we were a pretty tight family to begin with.

What do your kids think about this experience?
Well, I asked them right now and this was their reply:

“It’s been eye opening. It’s hard to take it all in while you are doing it, and it just seems like ‘this is my life today.’ We think people expect us to say it is life changing, but we don’t feel that yet. It’s too hard to explain to people at home what it feels like to sit on a temple and listen to Buddhist prayers for an hour and explain that experience in a way that people will understand.”

When you were planning this big trip, what were some of the fears you had?
I am a big fat worrywart. I fret about EVERYTHING, so I would lie in bed at night and think of all of the possible things that could go wrong to the point where I was making myself crazy. Safety was my biggest fear. If you believe the news, the world is a horrible, awful place where everyone is trying to kill you and nowhere is safe. We have found the truth to be so fundamentally different. People are full of kindness and hospitality, and we have been well taken care of in our travels by perfect strangers.

What are two things about travel you’ve learned that have made you go, “Wow, it’s that simple, huh?!”?

1. The vast discrepancy between what we are told on the news and what is actually happening on the ground. Everyone was terrified of us being in Turkey, but Turkey was where we had the most positive experiences with people. People went far out of their way to make us feel welcome, safe, and cared for. They definitely have impacted our hearts and our trip in the most positive way, and we look back on our time there and are so moved by the people we met.

2. How many people speak English and how well. We thought communication would be a huge obstacle for us, but it has literally been a nonissue. Everywhere we have gone, people have spoken great English, and we have never had an issue arise due to miscommunication.

****When I speak at consumer shows and at conferences, the feasibility of a family traveling the world always comes up. Is it safe? Is it affordable? How do you educate your kids? I hope stories like this show that family travel is a feasible and inspire you to

When I speak at consumer shows and at conferences, the feasibility of a family traveling the world always comes up. Is it safe? Is it affordable? How do you educate your kids? I hope stories like this show that family travel is a feasible and inspire you to start planning your own trip

Unusual Place of the Month: The Cathedral of Junk in Austin

The Cathedral of Junk is just what it sounds like: a bunch of junk built into the shape of a cathedral. It was started in 1988 by Vince Hannemann and has grown over the years through donations from people around both the city and the world. Nowadays, it contains over 60 tons of junk. A number of years ago the city of Austin, Texas, tried to shut it down, saying it was too much junk and a safety concern. (The neighbors thought it was an eyesore.) So Vince and an army of volunteers pared down the structure and brought it up to code so the site could stay open.

Last month when in Austin, I decided to visit because, well, Austin is weird, and what better to do in a weird city than see something weird?

It doesn’t take long to explore the Cathedral, and I found I spent most of my time talking to Vince, asking questions I’m sure he is sick of hearing and just watching people play with the junk. This site definitely lends itself to some fun for those with an active imagination.

Here are some pictures of the cathedral:

During my visit I found out that a lot of people come here with their kids; many were running all over the place and having a merry time playing make-believe. I found out that this place is really popular with locals because your kids will stay occupied for an hour or two.If you’re in Austin with your family, come here. Your kids will love it.

And if you are traveling without kids, come here anyway. You’ll still love it. I did.

You can visit the Cathedral of Junk at 4422 Lareina Drive, Austin, TX. Admission is free (donations are accepted), there are no set hours, and he isn’t open every day. With a set schedule, Austin would consider him an “official business” and then he would have to follow all sorts of rules, so you just have to hope for the best when you go.

Do You Give to Beggars Overseas?

“Now, if I buy all your flowers, you’ll go home, right?” said the Aussie girl next to me.

“Yup,” said the little girl selling roses as she handled the bundle to my friend.

We were in Bangkok and I was watching my Aussie friend take pity on a little Thai girl selling flowers to drunk backpackers on Khao San Road in Thailand. She bought all the flowers, feeling good about herself and confident that she had kept a little girl from staying up all night, sending her home to get rest for school tomorrow.

“Oh, what the hell!” I heard her say about 30 minutes later. I looked up and there, across the street, was the little flower girl, selling a new batch of flowers. She avoided us this time.

My Aussie friend was clearly disheartened. She felt as though she had done some good, only to realize a cruel reality of Thailand: kids don’t go home until their parents say so. After spending many years in Thailand, I knew this was going to happen. My other friends and I had warned her not to buy all the flowers, that the little girl’s parents would just send her out again. But she didn’t listen.

And now that I’m back in Thailand and I see beggars and little kids again, wandering the streets asking for money, I wonder if giving is doing any good or just supporting a flawed system. In much of the developing world, you see kids selling trinkets and flowers to Westerners. You see parents begging with a kid “asleep” in their lap in order to gain sympathy. After all, the parents know what we know: it’s hard to say no to a kid. You automatically feel bad for them. You think about the poverty they live in, the life they lead, and think, “Well, I’ll give a little bit and help out.”

If people weren’t giving, those kids wouldn’t be there. And as much as people protest and shoo the kids away, many other people open their wallets in hopes of doing some good. We look at the woman with the baby in her arms, reach into our pockets, and go, “OK, just a little bit.”

When I see these beggars on the street, I’m often torn on what to do. On the one hand, I don’t want to perpetuate the system. I don’t want the children to be out selling trinkets instead of learning in school. I don’t want parents using their children as a shortcut to quick cash. I don’t want kids to be used as emotional blackmail. I want them asleep at 10pm, not dealing with angry, drunk tourists who are annoyed at them.

Yet I know that many poor families often do this out of necessity. They simply need the money. I often think about Bangladesh. Back in the 1990s when child sweatshop labor became the cause du jour, the focus was on Bangladeshi sweatshops. There were boycotts. A crying Kathy Griffin. An uproar. Legislation. Clothing manufacturers cracked down on suppliers who hired children. Child labor decreased, and Westerners could sleep easy.

Yet years later I remember reading a newspaper article on a study that followed up on what happened to the children in Bangladesh. Turns out, they didn’t go to school. They ended up on the streets as beggars. The families needed the income for food. And if they couldn’t work making clothes, they could work on the streets.

The need for food trumps all other needs.

I remember once walking past this guy and his kid in a part of Bangkok I went to often with my friends. The man sold some junky stuff I didn’t want. But one day I walked past him, and the desperation, the pleading in his voice just made me stop.

“Just look. Please. Please,” he said.

I’d never seen such a sincere look of desperation on someone’s face as I did that night. I don’t know if it was all part of the “get money” game, but I just couldn’t look at that guy with his kid and stuff no one wanted and not be moved. I pulled out my wallet and handed the guy 1,000 baht (a little over $30 USD). He was dumbfounded by the money, but I just couldn’t walk past him anymore without helping. The sadness in his eyes was just too real…just too palpable.

Giving money to beggars often represents more than a black-and-white choice between supporting and not supporting a flawed system. Many of these people lack any real social support structure that can help them out of poverty. Thailand has no social assistance program. (Neither does most of the developing world where you see such abject poverty and so many beggars.) They’re on their own.

And so despite hating the system, I usually give. If there’s change in my wallet, I give it to the homeless and beggars of the world. It’s simply too hard to say no. My heart breaks for them.

And I know that’s sort of the point. They feed on your sympathy. It’s hard, especially with the kids.

What do you do? Do you give? Do you not give? What’s the answer here? Is there one? I’m interested to know how you deal with this situation as you see it unfold around the world.

10 of the Most Over-the-Top Flight Amenities Available in First Class

Airlines are one-upping each other in order to attract first and business class passengers who demand one-of-a-kind inflight service, high-end amenities, and cuisine from award-winning celebrity chefs. And that’s just the beginning.

Take Etihad, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. For travelers with deep pockets, it offers The Residence, a three-room suite including a living room, a separate bedroom with a double bed pristinely tucked in Pratesi fine linens, and a private bathroom complete with an en-suite shower. If that weren’t enough, the cabin comes with your very own personal chef—meals will be served on 24-karat gold-plated tableware as well as crystal glassware designed by Vera Wang for Wedgwood—and a dedicated butler. Said butler will be in constant contact with a concierge team on the ground that can book tables at top restaurants in London or hard-to-get theater tickets in New York City. If you’re traveling with kids, the Flying Nannies program—entertaining kids with crafts, magic tricks, and more—is sure to appeal.

Read on for 11 more airlines that make flying something to be enjoyed, not just endured.

Celebrity Kids Who Have More Passport Stamps Than You Do

Princess Charlotte turned one year old May 2, marking another milestone for the royal family this year. In honor of her big day, mom Kate Middleton and dad Prince William released several photos of the tot walking with a toy stroller at her parent’s home in Norfolk. And though she was enjoying some playtime at home, the youngster has already started racking up air miles with a recent trip to the French Alps.

If her big brother Prince George is any indicator of how many passport stamps she’ll soon have, then Charlotte could be a jet-setter before her next birthday. At just six months old, George enjoyed a tropical getaway to the Caribbean island of Mustique and later joined his parents on a royal tour of Australia and New Zealand—all before he turned one.

Of course, Charlotte and George aren’t the only tots with frequent flier miles that could rival any businessman’s. Many of Hollywood’s offspring have traveled around the world before they were even out of diapers.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s daughter North has been to St. Bart’s, Mexico, Vail, New York, Thailand, and even Israel.  North’s pal Blue Ivy has traveled to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Paris, and Spain with mom Beyonce and dad Jay Z. Likewise, Suri Cruise has traveled France, Italy, Spain, and Brazil with parents Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise in her few short years on this planet.

And who could forget the Jolie-Pitt kids? Members of that six pack can check off London, Australia, the Galapagos, Turks and Caicos, Tokyo, and New Orleans—just to name a few.

So, in honor of Charlotte and her globetrotting future, we’ve rounded up the most well-traveled celebrity kids who have likely already crossed off most of your bucket list destinations.

Click through to see these jet-setting tots.