The Expert Vagabond is our last Free Spirits Friday guest. Sadness.

But it’s a big one.

Matthew has ages of travelling experience, and, as his name suggests, he is an expert vagabond. If you’re interested in anything related to adventure travel, travel photography, nomadism, backpacking or off-beat travel destinations, Expert Vagabond is the place to be.

It goes without saying that Matthew has a lot of expertise to share. So I asked him some questions about adventure travel, living as a digital nomad and settling down.

This is the story of Expert Vagabond.

Introduce yourself to us and tell us how you ended up travelling the world full-time.

Back in 2009 I was living in Miami working as a freelance photographer, but felt lost and wanted to do something new. I wasn’t sure what though. I began reading some books about long-term travel recommended by some friends who were backpacking around the world, and decided that if they could do this, so could I! So I spent the next year saving money, downsizing my life, and building a small online business selling ebooks.

In the fall of 2010 I flew to Guatemala and began backpacking around Central America on the cheap, and writing about it on my new travel blog, Expert Vagabond. After a few months, I realized I wanted to continue for as long as possible and began looking for ways to earn income from the blog. I’ve been working as a professional travel blogger ever since.

What is the one thing that attracts you so much about adventure travel?

Getting myself into challenging situations, and learning what I’m capable of (or not). Learning about the world through my own first-hand experiences and not reading about other people’s. Always meeting new people and seeing fascinating places.

What is the fondest memory you have about your time as a vagabond?

There are many. Some that come to mind:

• Spending a night cave squatting with Romanian gypsies in Spain. 
• Hitchhiking across America from coast to coast over 5 weeks. 
• Backpacking in the mountains of Afghanistan while staying with locals.
  

What made you eventually settle down in Italy?

After years of living out of a backpack, it was just time to settle down. Constant travel takes a toll, and I was burned out. I missed having a regular group of friends, chilling on my own couch with a good movie, owning stuff, and having a long-term romantic relationship. All of those things are tough if you’re constantly travelling.

If you had to choose between someone telling you “You helped me save money on my travels” or “You inspired me to travel the world”, which compliment would you prefer and why?

Both are equally wonderful to hear! Other people helped me with these things, I’m always happy to know that I could do the same for someone else.

Do you often travel together with your wife Anna or do you still travel solo more?

Anna and I travel together often, but we also dedicate time to travelling solo too. I don’t want to do everything she does, and she doesn’t want to do everything I do. I think it’s important to mix it up a bit and have some personal time to explore our own passions without the other always tagging along. She agrees!

Related: Making friends as a solo traveller

Did your wife’s blogging career have an impact on the way you travelled?

Sure. I’m spending more time in big cities than I used to, and she’s spending more time hiking mountains with me. But I think it’s good for both of us, and it’s definitely nice to share amazing travel experiences with someone you love. And we both help each other out when it comes to business tasks — like taking photos for each other or bouncing ideas off one another. She books travel stuff (which I hate doing), I lug photography gear around (which she hates doing).

How do you go about trying to convince friends and family that notorious countries like Afghanistan aren’t as dangerous as they think?

You really can’t until after the fact. I try not to scare my family too much and explain to them in detail why what I’m planning is actually safer than it might seem. Knowledge is power!

But some of my trips are still a little risky, like hiking solo anywhere remote for long-distances, or hopping freight trains, or wandering around Mexican cartel territory (still working on that article BTW). Sometimes they find out after the fact that it was kind of dangerous — but by then I’m back safe!

Have you used any skills you learned as a Miami nightlife photographer in your travels?

Sure! For photographing people. You need to interact with people and chat them up a bit before sticking a camera in their face. And ALWAYS ask permission for their photo if it’s a close-up portrait. Also, talking your way out of trouble. Haha. Miami nightlife is full of sketchy characters, and knowing how to interact with people like that certainly helped while travelling to sketchy destinations.

Why did you fly out to Guatemala after quitting your job in 2010?

Well, I’d already spent some time in Mexico, so my plan was to begin in Guatemala and try to work my way down to Panama from country to country via bus. Central America was cheap to visit, and so was the flight down there. I didn’t have much money to spend, so it felt like a good way to see many places on a budget.

Why didn’t you travel before heading to Guatemala?

I thought travel was only for rich people with company vacation time. All the travel marketing I’d ever seen was for fancy resorts and guided tours. It wasn’t until I started reading about budget backpacking that a whole new world and opportunity opened up for me. I didn’t know there were people out there travelling long term for less than $1000 per month! I didn’t know there were places called “hostels” where a bunch of people shared a room together. It was an epiphany!

What’s the one country you haven’t visited yet, but would love to visit? 

There are still so many, but Bolivia is high on my list right now. So is the Eastern European country of Georgia. I’d love to do some trekking in both soon!

I’d like to thank the man behind Expert Vagabond again for helping me out with this interview. Matthew, you’re great and I’m very grateful that you took the time to answer these questions.

You can check out the other Free Spirits Friday interviews here. If you’re wondering how an English woman moonlights as a dj in Spain or how an American couple lives in Korea, this is the place to be.

Thanks for reading!

-S