Every Thursday, A Dangerous Business will be shining the spotlight on a world nomad, travel blogger, armchair adventurer, or just someone really cool in the travel world. This week, the traveler is Matthew Kyhnn of Backpacking Matt. Matt hails from small-town Iowa and is currently exploring the world and writing about his experiences along the way. He’s on a working holiday in New Zealand at the moment, and has no idea where he is heading next. His blog is dedicated to offering advice and inspiration for the budget-conscious traveler or backpacker.
Matt catching some... waves in Raglan
1. How do you define the word “traveler,” and why would you consider yourself one?
A traveler is somewhat that chooses to get out and see the world. Whether that is a town twenty minutes down the road they’ve never seen before or a country ten hours away. A traveler is never satisfied after checking a destination off the list. They always want to see more.
I’m a backpacker. I’m a traveler. I’m a nomad. Call it what you want, I love venturing off into the unknown and experiencing everything this world has to offer.
2. What has been your favorite travel experience thus far?
I spent a couple months in 2007 traveling around Europe with a EuroRail Pass. I fell in love with train travel – I feel when you travel by train you feel that much more connected to the countries you’re traveling through. Whereas airplane travel drops you off in a new place, you slowly get to know that new place you’re traveling to when traveling by train. And falling asleep to the sounds of the tracks in one country and waking up in another is absolutely brilliant.
Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
3. How about your proudest travel moment?
My proudest travel moment has to be the day I decided to delay that ‘inevitable’ 9 – 5 and instead decided to move to Europe. I wasn’t ready to settle down, yet making a decision to relocate to a foreign country post graduation wasn’t necessarily an easy one.
I’d say it’s worked out. I’m really happy where I am at in life right now, and I can say for sure I wouldn’t be where I am now if I hadn’t made that decision to move to Europe.
4. Have you had any travel mishaps or bad experiences? If so, have these influenced how you view the place where they happened? Would you go back?
Touch wood, but all in all, I’ve been pretty lucky in my travels. Nothing serious has ever gone wrong – well, my campervan blew up a couple months ago, but with 422,000 kilometers on him, that was inevitably going to happen sooner or later!
One memory that does stand out is getting my iPod stolen from an Istanbul hostel I spent about three weeks in. It was towards the end of my stay in Turkey, a country that I fell in love with. I would spend days wandering Istanbul’s different neighborhoods just soaking up the foreignness of the place. I remember waking up in my hostel bed to calls to prayers and the sounds of old men walking the streets selling produce from their carts. The Turkish were some of the most welcoming and kind hearted people I had met during my travels.
Getting my iPod stolen from my hostel room was a bit of a wake-up call. As it turns out, we found out a friend of the hostel owner stole my iPod (which we ultimately got back). While it was a disappointing end to my stay in Turkey, I really brought it on myself in some respects. As a backpacker, you’ve got to shelter yourself from risks like that. The iPod shouldn’t have been on my bed, it should have been in my pocket or my day pack.
5. Name one thing you can’t travel without.
I can’t imagine traveling without my other half (and the pretty face behind many of the pictures on Backpackingmatt), Nicole. We’ve been together for almost two and a half years and have traveled together on road trips across the U.S., day trips into the Scottish highlands, city breaks to Prague and Istanbul, and, as of recent, a working holiday in New Zealand.
She makes me smile when I’m missing home, puts up with my constant lack of planning, and is in many ways the inspiration behind my blog — and for this and many other reasons, I love her. I can’t imagine traveling without her.
6. Name one thing you wish you COULD travel without.
I pack pretty light, to be honest. I think I’m at the point where I don’t bring anything unless it’s essential. Impulsively, I’d say my laptop. Yet my laptop is kind of my lifeline – with all the writing responsibilities I have, I couldn’t imagine myself traveling without it.
On the Franz Josef Glacier, NZ
7. What do you think has been the biggest thing you’ve learned while traveling (about yourself, a destination, a culture, travel itself)?
I’ve learned I have a passion for wanderlust – a desire to see more of this world. It’s a feeling of wanting to see more, to better experience and know this world we live in. I’m still terrified at the prospect of settling down as there is so much I’ve yet to see.
8. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I’m not sure I have an answer for this. I’m happy with where I am now. Traveling. I’m not ready to settle down, and I won’t be until I check quite a few more countries off my list. I love the thrill of traveling, experiencing the unknown – the way it heightens your senses and really makes the simplest activities exciting. Right now, traveling is good for me.
9. Name one place you’d like to see or one experience you’d like to have before you die.
This list is constantly changing – or should I say, growing. As of recent, one thing I’m dying to do is The Mongol Rally. A road race, or a road trip, for charity from London to the Mongolian capital of Ulaan Baatar. The thought of traveling through places like Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Mongolia is deliciously exciting.
10. If there was one thing you wish somebody would have told you before you started traveling, what would it be?
When I first moved abroad, I wrote a travel blog on a Blogger theme. My goal was essentially to keep friends and family updated about my travels – though I also enjoyed keeping a record of my experiences. I still write a travel blog, though its tone has changed drastically. I now write with the aim of offering advice and inspiration to other backpackers or budget-conscious travelers. I’m also now much more active in the travel blog community.
I wish I would have known the first time I went traveling about this community. It’s a great one that offers support, advice, and guidance – and it’s pretty bloody cool to be a part of.
Visit Matt’s site: Backpacking Matt
Follow Matt on Twitter: @backpackingmatt
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Are you a travel blogger who has something to say on these topics? Do you know of somebody really interesting in the travel universe that you’d like to see interviewed? Speak up! The Thursday Traveler needs some interview subjects.
