Matthew Kepnes

“Inspiration porn” only goes so far.

I am a nomad at heart, designed to travel, a vagabond who’s most happy when roaming unknown lands.

The secret to getting the most out of your travels is inversely connected to the speed in which you travel through it. The faster you go and the more you do, the less you experience.

In order to have great time, foster positive social exchange, get the most out of travel, and be awesome, I say we take the following pledge, so we can be the people other travelers want to know and locals don’t hate.

On the road, long journeys require good books. Off the road, there’s nothing like a good book to inspire you to set off to some unknown land. Books inspire, transform, and educate us.

After months on the road, you find yourself back home and excited to resume old friendships. You plan dinners, get-togethers, and nights out.

If you wake up today and tell yourself, “I’m too poor to travel or that you can’t because of X reason,” you’ll never look for ways to start traveling.

Here are my seven rules to avoid being an annoying, inconsiderate tourist and just an overall better human being.

Are you young? Unemployed? Underemployed? Up to your eyeballs in student debt? Crying yourself to sleep at night?

Today might not be the perfect day – but neither is tomorrow.

No matter where you are in the world, we are exactly the same.

29. “There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.” – Jack Kerouac

People always ask how travel has changed me.

As I made my way up to my friend’s apartment on that initial walk, I couldn’t help but notice the graffiti, and the abandoned buildings everywhere. Half the buildings are broken down with boarded up windows and look as though they would be filled with squatters.

And this is an often overlooked fact – the vast majority of sex tourism in Thailand comes from locals. Western sex tourism pales in comparison to this massive industry. The difference between Thais and Westerners? Thais are more discreet.

Travel is transformational. It changes who you are to your very core.

Don’t let money get in the way of travel. If you are creative and flexible about what you want to do, you will find work.

Travel is not a contest. It’s not a race to see who can travel cheaper. It’s someone’s personal route around the world. Don’t take that away from someone.