For McCool Travel’s 149th travel interview, I am thrilled to present Matthew Karsten of Expert Vagabond. I was going to say that Matthew is one of those massively influential travel people who I really want to meet but I just met him about 10 hours ago. Perfect timing.
Matthew Karsten‘s bio: “Matthew Karsten is a full-time adventure junkie, travel writer, and photographer. He’s been exploring unusual & beautiful locations around the planet for the past 7 years, visiting over 50 countries including places like Iceland, Nicaragua, Fiji, and Afghanistan. Sharing wild travel stories, useful tips, entertaining videos, and captivating photography from the road on his adventure travel ”
Matthew Karsten
HOMETOWN …
Campton, New Hampshire
ALWAYS IN MY LUGGAGE …
earplugs & eyemask
3 FAVORITE HOME-AWAY-FROM-HOME PLACES …
- Playa del Carmen, Mexico
- Bozeman, Montana
- Honolulu, Hawaii
A FAVORITE TRAVEL MEMORY …
Hitchhiking across the United States for 5 weeks
3 FAVORITE TRAVEL BRANDS …
3 MONEY-SAVING TRAVEL TACTICS I USE …
- using cheap hotels/guest houses
- eating street food
- avoiding organized tours
3 WAYS THAT I HAVE FUN WHILE TRAVELING …
- waking up before sunrise to beat crowds
- hiking off-the-beaten-track
- trying to spend more time learning from locals
8 WORD (OR LESS) TRAVEL MANTRA …
“To travel well, you need patience.”
FAVORITE NON-TRAVEL WEBSITE …
Reddit
MOST MEMORABLE SOUVENIR …
A headscarf from Afghanistan (I really don’t collect souvenirs)
FAVORITE CHEAP EAT …
Tacos al Pastor!
Thank you so much, Matthew, for sharing your travel inspiration and tips. Any guesses for who travel interview number 150 will be with?
Follow Matthew Karsten on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Expert Vagabond.
McCool Travel presents tips from travel experts in our 5 Minutes travel interview series—featuring travel industry giants, super frequent travelers, and adventurous persons. Check out McCool Travel’s previous travel interviews. Previous 5 Minutes travel interview: Matt Gibson.
Follow McCool Travel on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Flipboard, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Bloglovin.
Awesome that you got to meet Matthew just before publishing, huh? I love that shot of him hiking around what looks to be a glacier? Thanks for sharing this interview, Charles. He’s one of many people who’ve listed Montana as their fav place. Definitely need to do something about it and get up there.
Well, yes, you should visit Montana. Super cool place. Indeed, crazy coincidence.
I am so jealous of Karsten hitchhiking across the U.S. for 5 weeks. I think I could deal with the slow internet while doing something so cool. He’s right that a great way to save money is to eat street food, and it’s delicious.
It is so easy to think of epic trips but a whole other thing to do them. Impressive.
Cool guy! Hope we could try long-term backpacking like him. Unfortunately, we can’t (at least for now) due to our careers and familial responsibilities.
I hope you can also some day. Travel happy!