Vagabonding: The Art of Long-Term World Travel

When I first started thinking about traveling the world, I bought a book most of you have probably heard of: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts. It was a treatise on the personal and world benefits of travel, especially long-term travel. That book put into words all the thoughts and feelings I had about travel at the time and helped ease a lot of the fears I had about my decision to quit my job and travel the world.

In my view, if long-term travel and backpacking had a bible, this would be it. No book has ever come as close to expressing the philosophy of long-term travel as this one. I still have my original copy and occasionally thumb through chapters.

Since starting this website, Rolf and I have become friends (it’s cool being friends with someone whose words changed your life) and this month marks the tenth anniversary of his book. Rolf is re-releasing the book in an audio format (it’s also the first book in the Tim Ferriss Book Club) and, to celebrate the book turning ten, I wanted to bring Rolf back on the site to talk about the fine art of vagabonding (I first interviewed him in 2009).

Nomadic Matt:  O.K., first question: How do you feel that your baby is ten years old? What kind of emotions does that make you feel?
Rolf Potts: It feels great. Especially when, so far as I can tell, more people are reading it ten years on than did when it first came out. I had high hopes when the book debuted, but the response continues to exceed my expectations.

How do you feel about creating a book that people view as the bible of long-term travel?
It’s humbling. I remember all those months I spent alone in a room in southern Thailand, putting the book together sentence by sentence. In that situation it’s hard to know what will come of your labors, even if it feels like you’re creating something special. The initial response to the book was encouraging, especially considering that it came out around the time the U.S. military was invading Iraq and most news outlets were shying away from travel. It wasn’t until a couple of years after the book’s debut, when vagabonders started telling me about pirated copies for sale in the backpacker ghettos of Vietnam, that I knew it had caught on at a grassroots level.

When I first interviewed you in 2009, my site wasn’t even a year old and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. When you started writing this book, did you have any idea it would take you in the direction it has?
I think it’s hard to ever really know where you’re headed when you undertake a project like that. When I was first approached about writing the book I didn’t have grand ambitions to become a travel guru. The travel stories I’d been writing for Salon were reportorial and narrative, and rarely offered much in the way of travel advice. But Salon readers kept emailing and asking me how I was able to keep traveling for so long, and the suggestions I posted on my website tended to be philosophical in nature. At the time it didn’t occur to me to post budgeting strategies or packing tips, since I figured readers could figure that out on their own.

The most important motivating factors in my long-term travel career had been existential ones — factors that were rooted in cultivating a mindset that made vagabonding possible — so that’s what I detailed on my website, and that’s what caught the attention of an editor at Random House. Once I began writing Vagabonding the book took on a broad practical component, but its philosophical core is what resonated most with readers.

How did the success of the book shape your desires for being a writer? And is it hard to live up to the expectations such a big first book can create?
Because from the outset I was more vested in reportorial-narrative travel writing, Vagabonding has ended up being a nice complement to the rest of my career. In the introduction chapter of the book, I poke fun at the idea of creating a “Vagabonding publishing empire,” before going on to declare that I planned to write the book in such a way that it didn’t require sequels or spinoffs. So it’s been nice not to have to compete against myself. My second book, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, won lots of awards, but it hasn’t sold nearly as many copies as Vagabonding — and that makes sense, because it’s a more specialized, narrative book, less given to broad advice. Vagabonding is for anyone who’s ever dreamed of travel, whereas the Marco Polo book has been embraced by a more specialized readership, one that is already interested in travel and travel writing.

So, while my public speaking gigs still tend to focus on vagabonding, I’ve taken my creative life in new directions. Instead of trying to live up to in-the-box expectations, I’ve taken on video and graphic narrative projects, I’ve done long-form reportage for Sports Illustrated, I’ve taught writing at Penn and Yale and the Paris American Academy. I may never write a book that proves as popular as Vagabonding, but I’d reckon that allows me to follow my heart and do what interests me rather than try to re-create or outdo my first book.

Many of your experiences in the book happened when you were young. When you think back to the book and re-read, have any of your thoughts and feelings changed?
I think those early travel experiences are the best ones to draw from when writing a book like Vagabonding, since those are the experiences readers will identify with. As I’m sure you know, there’s a point at which a lot of the motivations and routines of long-term travel become internalized and intuitive. But you don’t want to rely too much on a voice that infers travel as something normal; you want to convey how exciting and intimidating and extraordinary travel can be, and that’s why you draw so much on those early experiences. Some of those experiences happened almost 20 years ago now, but they still resonate with me. When I was listening to working-edits of the Vagabonding audiobook a few weeks ago, I kept getting caught up in the same feelings of wanderlust I felt when I was just starting out as a traveler. So the thoughts and feelings I convey in the book haven’t changed; I’ve just grown a little older since I wrote them down.

How do you feel about how traveling and backpacking has evolved?
It feels like the prospect of traveling and backpacking gets less intimidating with each passing year. There is just so much more information out there, so many ways to get online and see how people are doing it in real-time, so many gadgets and apps that make the workaday details of travel easier. This in mind, there’s less excuse than ever for not traveling. In some ways, long-term travel has become so easy that I kind of miss the old difficulties and hardships that made travel so surprising and rewarding — yet I like to think that today’s vagabonders can get just as much from the experience as those of a generation ago.

This is often just a matter of embracing the present moment for what it is and not worrying about the presumed glories of some bygone era. A few years ago I was giving a talk at a university in Italy, and the students kept telling me how jealous they were that I’d been to Southeast Asia in 1999, when “real travel” was still possible there. I had to laugh, since in 1999 backpackers often complained about how they wished they’d been to Thailand in, say, 1979. No doubt the backpackers of 1979 also looked back with fantasies of an even earlier era. But of course all we really have is the present moment, and vagabonding can be amazing as ever if you allow it to be, regardless of how things have changed.

I feel too many travelers/potential travelers long for this “real” experience that is, in part, mythic fantasy based on humans’ innate desire to discover. We all want to unleash our inner Indiana Jones. As you said, the core philosophical nature of the book hasn’t changed. Do you think part of the reason why your book has done well is that it articulates that desire so effectively?
I spend a lot of time in the book downplaying fantasies and daydreams, and encouraging readers to embrace reality — since reality itself is what will deliver the complex and challenging and utterly amazing experiences that make the journey worthwhile. I also talk about how getting off the beaten path is a lot easier than it seems. One reason backpackers have always worried that destinations are getting “spoiled” is that they instinctively seek out other backpackers. Thus, surrounded by other travelers at a given hangout, they assume the whole world has been discovered. As I point out in Vagabonding, you don’t need to be Indiana Jones to discover something new and amazing; you usually just have to walk 20 minutes in any direction, or take a bus to a town that isn’t listed in your guidebook. So yes, I try to strike a balance between acknowledging the desire to experience something “real,” and articulating how simple and counterintuitive it is to find “real” experiences on the road.

In our first interview, I asked you what advice you would have for a new traveler. You said “slow down and enjoy yourself.” Four years later, is that still your number one piece of advice?
Absolutely — and for all the reasons we’ve just been talking about. Thanks to technology, it’s easier than ever to know what you’re missing in 100 other places and thus miss out on where you are. Moreover, the temptation is greater than ever to micromanage each step of your journey, to the point where you end up chained to the abstraction of an itinerary rather than trusting your instincts and responding to what’s right in front of you. Forcing yourself to slow down and improvise your way through each new day on the road is the best way to break out of the habits of home and embrace the amazing possibilities a journey promises.

The new audio version of Rolf’s classic can be found on Audible. In celebration of the re-release, he created some videos for the book and I want to share the below about why “someday” will never come:

That excerpt comes from the first section of his book and it sums up perfectly why I made the decision to travel the world: you can’t put off your dreams until tomorrow.

Rolf’s book was extremely influential in my development as a traveler. If you haven’t read it yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. Vagabonding will leave you confident that your decision to travel was the right one.

The Life of a Travel Writer: An Interview with David Farley

When I started getting involved in travel writing in New York City, one name came up in conversation often: David Farley. He was a rock-star writer who taught at NYU and Columbia, wrote for AFAR, National Geographic, the New York Times, and many other publications. I always wondered who this guy was. He was almost mythical. Did he even exist? He was never at any event! But one day, he turned up and we met. We didn’t hit it off right away. But, over the years and through many encounters, David and I became very good friends. His writing tips and advice have helped me immensely, and his impressive résumé and keen sense of story are why I partnered with him on this website’s travel writing course. Today, I thought I would interview David about the life of a travel writer!

Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone about yourself. 
David Farley: A few interesting facts about me: My weight at birth was 8 lbs., 6 oz. I grew up in the Los Angeles suburbs. I was in a rock band in high school; we played late-night gigs at Hollywood clubs, and we weren’t very good. I travel a lot, but I have no interest in counting the number of countries I’ve been to. I’ve lived in San Francisco, Paris, Prague, Rome, and New York City, but I currently live in Berlin.

How did you get into travel writing?
The usual way: by accident. I was in graduate school and my girlfriend at the time, a writer, proofread one of my 40-page research papers — I think it was on the exciting topic of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s — and afterward she said, “You know, don’t take this the wrong way, but your writing was better than I expected.” She encouraged me to write stuff other than boring history papers. I heeded her call.

One of the first stories that got published was about a pig killing I attended in a village on the Czech-Austrian border. After that, enough of the stories got published, mostly in travel publications, that by default I became a “travel writer.” I was cool with this designation. Who wouldn’t be?

I ended up breaking into Condé Nast Traveler, working my way all the way up to the features section, as well as the New York Times. Eventually, I wrote a book that Penguin published. I’m currently a contributing writer at AFAR magazine and still write quite regularly for the New York Times, among other pubs.

What are some of the biggest illusions people have about travel writing?
That you can peel off a feature story for a travel magazine just like that [snaps fingers]. It takes so much work for each story to get to the type of experiences we end up writing about — a lot of phone calls and emails to set up interviews and to get your foot in the door some places.

Sometimes, like in personal essays, things magically happen. But when a magazine is paying you to go to a place so you can come back with an interesting story, you have to do a lot of behind-the-scenes work to ensure that you’re going to have a good story. It rarely just happens on its own. Travel stories are essentially a fake or altered reality, filtered through the writer and based on how much reporting she or he did on the spot, as well as her or his past experiences and knowledge about life and the world.

What is your greatest personal accomplishment? 
I was deemed to have a “learning disability” when I was in grade school and had to spend some of my day in a special education class — which did wonders for my self-esteem! My best friend in tenth grade told a friend (who told me) that I’d “never amount to anything in life.”

I ended up going to a community college and, much to my surprise (and everyone else’s), I did really well: I graduated with honors and transferred to a good four-year university, where I also graduated with honors. A few years later, I got a master’s degree in history. Based on the expectations of me when I was, say, 12, I was never supposed to go that far, intellectually. So I’d say getting a master’s degree might be my greatest accomplishment if you put it into the context of my history of learning.

Also, having had a book — An Irreverent Curiosity — get published (and by a major publishing house) was a personal accomplishment. That it was made into a documentary by National Geographic was just the cherry on top of the whole experience.

If you could go back in time and tell young David one thing, what would it be? 
Don’t eat that hot dog in Prague! Also, I’d tell myself to take more risks, to let the spirit literally move me around the world more and for a longer period of time. If we let it, society and its norms really set our limit for us and keep us from taking chances, such as eschewing the ordinary office day job or life in the suburbs, etc. It’s really hard to break out of that, to overcome the entropy that is weighing us all down from doing what we really want.

I lived in New York for 13 years, and for the final four or five I yearned to move away, to live abroad again and open myself up to new experiences. But I became afraid, fearful of unattaching myself from the life I’d established there. I had to keep reminding myself of some aspects of Buddhist philosophy — about attachment and impermanence, especially — and that on my deathbed I’m not going to regret moving abroad for a while. I probably would, though, regret not doing it.

If you could go back in time and tell young David one thing about writing, what would it be? 
I would have taken more classes to both keep learning — one should never stop learning about writing — and to force myself to write when perhaps I didn’t want to. I think we can all learn from each other, and so putting yourself in that kind of instructive environment is helpful. I took one writing class — a nonfiction writing course at UC Berkeley — and it was super helpful.

What advice do you have for aspiring travel writers trying to break in? It seems there are fewer paying publications these days and it’s harder to find work.
I realize this is a hard one, but living abroad is really helpful. You end up with so much material for personal essays, and you gain a knowledge of the region that allows you to become something of an authority on the area. Then you have a personal connection to the place, and editors love it when you pitch a story and you’ve got that. It gives you a leg up on other people who are pitching stories about that place.

That said, you don’t have to go far to write about travel. You can write about the place where you live. After all, people travel there, right? Right. (I hope so.) You can write everything from magazine and newspaper travel section pieces to personal essays, all about where you’re currently residing.

As a traditional writer, how do you feel about blogs? Are most of them crap, or do you think it’s the future of the industry?
I hate that term “traditional writer.” What does that mean? I write for websites. I’ve written for several blogs. I even had my own travel blog back in 2004. Whatever the case, blogs and print media will coexist for some time until print becomes digital. Then what’s the difference? (That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.) So, no, I don’t think blogs, per se, are the future, but writing on a digital platform, be it straight-up journalism or whatnot, is the future for sure.

And no, not all blogs are crap. Not at all. But the travel blog posts that keep my interest are those that have a definite angle, that tell a story and capture a sense of place (and are more about the place and less about the person writing). I realize there’s a place for top-10 and roundup pieces, but they’re not always so interesting to read.

What are three things a writer can do now to improve his or her writing?
Read. A lot. And don’t just read, but read like a writer. Deconstruct the piece in your mind as you’re reading. Pay attention to how the writer has structured her or his piece, how they opened it and concluded it and so on. Also, read books on good writing. This really helped me a lot when I was first starting out.

For most of us, talking to strangers is not easy. Plus, our moms told us not to do so. But the best travel stories are those that are most reported. So the more we talk to people, the more likely other opportunities arise and the more material you have to work with. It makes the writing of the story so much easier.

Sometimes you’ll be right in the middle of a situation and think: this would make a great opening to my story. My good friend Spud Hilton, travel editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, says that the dirty secret to good travel writing is that bad experiences make the best stories. This is true, but please don’t put yourself in a bad situation just for your writing. You can write a great piece without having to get your wallet stolen or losing your passport.

Bonus tip: take a writing class. It’s important to have someone who has been there and done that to advise you, someone who can answer questions, either via email or in person. The media landscape is sometimes impenetrable and nebulous, and I think it is really important to have someone guide you through it. A travel writing Virgil to your Dante, if you will.

What’s your favorite travel book and why?
I’m not really a fan of those traveling-just-for-the-sake-of-traveling sort of books, the kind where someone like Paul Theroux gets on a train and we get to read about the odd characters he seems to meet every time he sits down in a train compartment. I like it when there’s an added twist, an actual story, if you will, to the narrative. A narrative arc. So, for example, David Grann’s The Lost City of Z, Bruce Benderson’s The Romanian, and Andrew McCarthy’s The Longest Way Home. Joan Didion’s Slouching Toward Bethlehem is a great short story collection. I also really like David Sedaris (particularly Me Talk Pretty One Day) and J. Maartin Troost (especially The Sex Lives of Cannibals) and anything written by Tom Bissell or Susan Orlean.

What’s your favorite destination?
This is the number one question I’m asked, posed by people sitting next to me on airplanes, at cocktail parties, and my mother’s friends. My standard answer is Vietnam. It’s inexplicable. I just like the place and keep wanting to go back again and again. I also have a deep connection — and keep returning again and again — to Prague, Rome, and Dubrovnik.

Where do you find inspiration? What motivates you?
I get my motivation and inspiration from unlikely sources. I think about the creative masters and wonder how I can tap into their genius. What did Austrian painter Egon Schiele see when he looked at a subject and then the canvas? How did Prince put out an album a year from 1981 to 1989, each one a masterpiece and each one cutting-edge and like nothing anyone else at the time was doing? Is there a way to apply this creativity to travel writing? I’m not saying I’m on par with these geniuses — far from it — but if I could somehow even slightly be inspired by their creativity, I’d be better off for it.

What’s the most difficult part about being a travel writer? 
The rejection. You really have to get used to it and just accept that it’s part of your life. It’s really easy to take it seriously and let it get you down. I know — I have done this. You just have to brush it off and move on, get back on that literary bike, and keep trying until someone finally says yes. Be tenacious.

I’ve taught for over a decade at New York University, and many of my students have gone on to write for National Geographic Traveler, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, as well as to write books. And those who were most successful were not necessarily the most talented writers in the class at the time. They were the most driven. They really wanted it.

Writing is a craft. You don’t have to be born with a natural talent for it. You just need a strong desire to become better at it. And by taking writing classes, reading books about it, talking to people about it, etc. you will become a better writer.

Lightning-round questions! First one: window or aisle?
Aisle.

Favorite airline? 
I don’t have one.

Favorite city? 
Usually it’s whatever city I’m in at the time. I’m in Skopje right now. So….Skopje?

Least favorite destination?
I don’t think I’ve ever been somewhere that I absolutely loathed. There are places I’ve been that I liked but realized I probably don’t need to go back to again. La Paz, Bolivia, mostly because I couldn’t handle the altitude sickness, is one of those places.

If you could time-travel to anywhere, where would you go?
Witnessing some world-changing events would top my list: Jerusalem in 33 AD, Hastings in 1066, and Paris in 1789 all come to mind.

Favorite guidebook?
I’m not much of a guidebook user these days, but when I was, I usually reached for Time Out, mostly because I thought the writing was better than in other guidebooks.

***If you’re looking to improve your writing or just start as a travel writer, David and I have a very detailed and robust travel writing course. Through video lectures and examples of edited and deconstructed stories, you’ll get the course David teaches at NYU and Columbia – without the college price. You’ll only learn the nuts and bolts of travel writing — from how to find a good story to pre-trip research to writing up a pitch for a story — all of the things David (and I) learned the through years of writing. If you’re interested, click here to get started right now. 

Announcing TravelCon: The World’s Premier Travel Event

At the end of 2015, I started a travel media school called Superstar Blogging. Since then, the community has grown to over 1,700 students learning blogging, vlogging, writing, and photography from some of the best minds in — and out of — the travel industry. I created the program so that people could learn the real, practical business skills needed to create a sustainable online business. Something that allows you to be your own boss, work from anywhere, and help people with over the long term.

For a long time, I’ve dreamed of organizing a conference in conjunction with the program. Something that would take everything we have online and bring it to life. I want to bring our students, other travel bloggers, and industry experts together to learn, network, connect, and, overall, have a ton of fun! I love the web, but in-person events are 10x better for learning and networking. This is where you can make the most lasting connections and relationships.

When I went to my first conference, I had no clue what to expect. I had this blog I’d been working on for a year and I wasn’t even sure if anyone cared what I was writing. There, at my first conference, I got to meet the fledgling travel community members in real life (back in 2008, it was a small community). Over a weekend, we formed business relationships and friendships. These connections have helped me countless times over the years as I turned my hobby blog into a full-time business. Their insight and support proved to be necessary in an industry that most people outside find difficult to understand. To this day, I count some of the people I met there as some of my closest friends.

I go to between 7-10 conferences each year to meet people, improve my website, and learn new skills. While I love the web, there is a real power in connecting in person. There’s something about meeting another person that bonds you so much more than if you’re constantly following their lives on social media or via their blog posts. I’ve met some of my best friends, co-workers, and mentors at conferences. I don’t think my blog would be nearly as big as it is today had I not stepped away from my computer and attended conferences and events in real life.

There are already some (very good) existing travel blogging conferences but I want to do something different. I want a conference that is less about “getting free trips to travel the world” and more about quality writing, branding, entrepreneurship, SEO, marketing, video production, and product creation — the things that help create a lasting business that delivers value to people and stands the test of time. I haven’t found one travel conference that really digs deep and makes all of this happen.

Enter TravelCon.

TravelCon is a three-day conference in Austin, Texas from September 20th to 22nd, 2018. It will feature keynote speakers, workshops, networking events, writing sessions, photography walks, and opportunities to pitch yourself to brands and tourism boards. This is a conference for people who want more than free stuff. This is the conference for people who are looking to get serious about turning their blog into a business.

With beginner and advanced sessions, we have tracks and tips for people at all levels of success. At this conference, you’ll learn what is currently working right now and what you can do over the long term to create the career you desire. I believe the best conferences have people of varying skill levels so everyone can interact and learn from each other. For too long, travel media conferences have been only geared toward newbies. This conference is really about leveling up, no matter where you are in your blogging journey.

After months of preparation, it’s time to open up the event! We’ve lined up some amazing speakers to lead our workshops, breakout sessions, keynotes, and panels! We’re bringing the best people in the industry to one place. I’ve taken so much care in selecting the speakers for this conference. There’s something special about each one. And they will be sharing their skills and what they’ve learned with you (Note: As we get closer to the event, this speaker list will grow and change):

Kristin Addis

Be My Travel Muse

Lola Akinmade

Geotraveler Media

Gloria Atanmo

The Blog Abroad

Alex Baackes

Alex in Wanderland

Glory Ali

Muslim Travel Rock

Derek Baron

Wandering Earl

Nathan Barry

ConvertKit

James Bradbury-Boyd

Singapore Airlines

Paul Brady

Condé Nast Traveler

Carol Cain

Girl Gone Travel

Liz Carlson

Young Adventuress

Edin Chavez

Shut Your Aperture

Chris Christensen

Amateur Traveler Podcast

Jason Cochran

Frommers

Dave & Deb

The Planet D

Brian Dean

Backlinko

Torre DeRoche

Writer, Love With a
Chance of Drowning

Julia Dimon

Freelance Writer

Jodi Ettenberg

Legal Nomads

David Farley

Freelance Writer

Rachel Friedman

The Good Girls Guide to
Getting Lost

Pat Flynn

Smart Passive Income

Brenda Gahan

Epic Signal

Lebawit Lily Girma

Sunshine and Stilettos

Stephanie Griest

Writer, Around the Bloc

Adam Groffman

Travels of Adam

Matt Gross

Digital Director,
Runner’s World

Brice Gump

Major Impact Media

Pete & Dalene

Hecktic Travels

Dani Heinrich

Globetrotter Girls

Spud Hilton

The San Francisco Chronicle

Ryan Holiday

Writer, Ego is the Enemy

Rob Holmes

GLP Films

Clint Johnston

Triphackr

Steve Kamb

Nerd Fitness

Anna Karsten

Anna Everywhere

Matthew Karsten

Expert Vagabond

Peep Laja

ConversionXL

Cory Lee

Curb Free with Cory Lee

Kristin Luna

Camels & Chocolate

Jaume Marin

Costa Brava Tourism

Liam Martin

Staff.com

Neville Medhora

KopywritingKourse

Chris Mercer

MeasurementMarketing.io

Angkur Nagpal

Teachable

Elena Nikolova

Muslim Travel Girl

Laurence Norah

Finding the Universe

Dan & Audrey

Uncornered Market

Stephen Oddo

Take Walks

Cailin O’Neil

TravelYourself

Angie Orth

Angie Away

Sam Parr

The Hustle

Rolf Potts

Vagabonding

Erick Prince

Minority Nomad

Mari Ramirez

CPA

Oneika Raymond

Oneika the Traveller

Kiersten Rich

The Blonde Abroad

Chris Richardson

Nomadic Matt

Annette Richmond

From Annette

Kristen Sarah

Hopscotch The Globe

Patricia Serrano

Fresh Traveler

Travis Sherry

Extra Pack of Peanuts

Claudi Sult

GreenMe Berlin

Thomas Swick

Writer, Unquiet Days

Nadine Sykora

Hey Nadine

Brent Underwood

Brass Check

Ryan Whaley

Greendoor Media

Ernest White II

FlyBrother

Amanda Williams

A Dangerous Business

Siya Zarrabi

Good News from
Around the World

Big conferences can often seem impersonal, which is why we’re focusing on small discussions, panels, workshops, and mentor sessions. We want you to walk away with actionable advice. We want you to think, “Wow! I learned so much!” We’re going to have writing, tech, video, and photography workshops were people will edit your work, solve your tech issues, and help you improve your photos and videos. We don’t want people to feel lost in the crowd.

TravelCon will be held at the JW Marriott in downtown Austin. The early, early bird ticket price is only $249 USD. Your ticket includes lunch each day of the event, coffee and tea, all keynote speeches, networking events, workshops, breakout panels, evening parties, and whatever other cool activities we add later!

You can get your ticket and reserve your spot by clicking here.

Our space is limited to 500 people so if you’re interested, secure your spot today (don’t worry, if your plans change, you can get a refund!). The early bird ticket pricing will last until February 28th, 2018.

You should come to this if you are interested in learning how to succeed in the travel industry, improve your craft, learn new skills, meet amazing people, brands, and tourism boards, and just have some an awesome time!

I’m really excited about TravelCon! I really feel this is the space to bring the best blogging minds together and create a conference that can draw in very experienced bloggers and speakers with advanced-level content while helping beginners learn from and interact with them. Plus, it’s going to be a ton of fun to meet and talk to everyone in real life. (We’re focusing a lot more on real-life events this year!)

There’s plenty of room in the travel sphere for an event where media professionals and bloggers can go to learn and share the nuts and bolts of the business — the real, nitty-gritty stuff that separates people from the pack and allows them to build sustainable, profitable, and impactful online travel businesses.

So let’s do this!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Matt

P.S. – If you have questions, email me at matt@nomadicmatt.com

P.P.S. – Here’s the link to getting a ticket again! Can’t wait to see you there!