Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

Ten years a nomad : a traveler's journey home / Matthew Kepnes.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : St. Martin's Press, 2019Edition: First editionDescription: x, 226 pages ; 22 cmISBN:
  • 9781250190512 :
  • 1250190517
Other title:
  • 10 years a nomad
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 910.4092 B 23
Contents:
Introduction -- Stepping out the door -- Taking the leap -- The pressures of home -- The planning -- The start -- Finding your kindred spirits -- Life as an ex-pat -- Love on the road -- Burning out, coming home -- Going back out -- You can only "run away" for so long -- The light -- Home.
Summary: "New York Times bestselling author of How to Travel the World on $50 a Day, Matthew Kepnes knows what it feels like to get the travel bug. After meeting some travelers on a trip to Thailand in 2005, he realized that living life meant more than simply meeting society's traditional milestones, such as buying a car, paying a mortgage, and moving up the career ladder. Inspired by them, he set off for a year-long trip around the world before he started his career. He finally came home after ten years. Over 500,000 miles, 1,000 hostels, and 90 different countries later, Matt has compiled his favorite stories, experiences, and insights into this travel manifesto. Filled with the color and perspective that only hindsight and self-reflection can offer, these stories get to the real questions at the heart of wanderlust. Travel questions that transcend the basic "how-to," and plumb the depths of what drives us to travel -- and what extended travel around the world can teach us about life, ourselves, and our place in the world. Ten Years a Nomad is for travel junkies, the travel-curious, and anyone interested in what you can learn about the world when you don't have a cable bill for a decade or spend a month not wearing shoes living on the beach in Thailand."--Amazon.com.
Star ratings
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Shelving location Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Phillipsburg Free Public Library Adult Non-Fiction Adult Non-Fiction 910.4092 KEP Available 36748002470047
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Part memoir and part philosophical look at why we travel, filled with stories of Matt Kepnes' adventures abroad, an exploration of wanderlust and what it truly means to be a nomad.

New York Times bestselling author of How to Travel the World on $50 a Day , Matthew Kepnes knows what it feels like to get the travel bug. After meeting some travelers on a trip to Thailand in 2005, he realized that living life meant more than simply meeting society's traditional milestones.

Over 500,000 miles, 1,000 hostels, and 90 different countries later, Matt has compiled his favorite stories, experiences, and insights into this travel manifesto. Filled with the color and perspective that only hindsight and self-reflection can offer, these stories get to the real questions at the heart of wanderlust. Travel questions that transcend the basic "how-to," and plumb the depths of what drives us to travel -- and what extended travel around the world can teach us about life, ourselves, and our place in the world.

Ten Years a Nomad is a heartfelt comprehension of the insatiable craving for travel, unraveling the authenticity of being a vagabond, not for months but for a fulfilling decade.

Introduction -- Stepping out the door -- Taking the leap -- The pressures of home -- The planning -- The start -- Finding your kindred spirits -- Life as an ex-pat -- Love on the road -- Burning out, coming home -- Going back out -- You can only "run away" for so long -- The light -- Home.

"New York Times bestselling author of How to Travel the World on $50 a Day, Matthew Kepnes knows what it feels like to get the travel bug. After meeting some travelers on a trip to Thailand in 2005, he realized that living life meant more than simply meeting society's traditional milestones, such as buying a car, paying a mortgage, and moving up the career ladder. Inspired by them, he set off for a year-long trip around the world before he started his career. He finally came home after ten years. Over 500,000 miles, 1,000 hostels, and 90 different countries later, Matt has compiled his favorite stories, experiences, and insights into this travel manifesto. Filled with the color and perspective that only hindsight and self-reflection can offer, these stories get to the real questions at the heart of wanderlust. Travel questions that transcend the basic "how-to," and plumb the depths of what drives us to travel -- and what extended travel around the world can teach us about life, ourselves, and our place in the world. Ten Years a Nomad is for travel junkies, the travel-curious, and anyone interested in what you can learn about the world when you don't have a cable bill for a decade or spend a month not wearing shoes living on the beach in Thailand."--Amazon.com.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • Introduction (p. 1)
  • 1 Stepping Out the Door (p. 7)
  • 2 Taking the Leap (p. 19)
  • 3 The Pressures of Home (p. 39)
  • 4 The Planning (p. 53)
  • 5 The Start (p. 65)
  • 6 Finding Your Kindred Spirits (p. 79)
  • 7 Life as an Expat (p. 93)
  • 8 Love on the Road (p. 113)
  • 9 Burning Out, Coming Home (p. 135)
  • 10 Going Back Out (p. 151)
  • 11 You Can Only "Run Away" For So Long (p. 173)
  • 12 The Light (p. 183)
  • 13 Home (p. 203)
  • Acknowledgments (p. 219)
  • Appendix (p. 221)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Travel blogger Kepnes (How to Travel the World on $50 a Day) recounts his decade traveling the world and outlines the lessons he learned along the way. Bored by the postcollege life, Kepnes booked a trip to Costa Rica in 2003 because it looked "different." He returned from that trip a "nomad," he writes, and from there, his globe-trotting adventures continued for the better part of 10 years, and his passion for travel became a career when he founded budget-travel website Nomadic Matt. He visits Bangkok, Rome, and Prague, where he realizes that "hostel life forces you to confront the years of conditioning so many of us have endured about what we 'need' from our lives." Throughout, he falls in and out of love with a number of women, including Samantha, an Oregonian he meets in Thailand, and Charlotte, a Chicagoan he meets in Laos; his wanderlust compels him to keep traveling and leave both of them behind. Eventually burned out by his rootless lifestyle, he settles in Austin, Tex., where he continues to run his travel website and write travel guides. Though Kepnes's epiphanies aren't exactly world-shaking ("My elsewhere had arrived"; "The world has a funny way of always keeping you in your place"), his stories will have readers plotting trips of their own. Fans of Kepnes and travel enthusiasts will enjoy taking this adventure with a reliable, amiable guide. (July)

Booklist Review

It started with a trip to Costa Rica. Kepnes, in his early 20s and spending most of his time at his job, at the gym, or in front of the TV, took advantage of his vacation to go somewhere new. And then, right after the new year began and his vacation time renewed, he went somewhere else new, trekking in Thailand. Then he decided he could just keep going. When he announced his plans to quit his job and travel, his parents were incredulous; his friends, indifferent. For 10 years, Kepnes traveled the world, learning that guidebooks aren't everything, that friendships can be quickly made and then fade on the road. He shares what he's learned about escaping the daily grind and opens up about the highs and lows of the nomadic life in this frank and fun memoir. With hard-won experience, wide-open eyes, and the spirit of a dedicated wanderer, Kepnes encourages his readers to find their own adventures, and his story provides a road map for anyone opting to follow their dreams, wherever they may lead.--Bridget Thoreson Copyright 2019 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

How and why wanderlust kept a man traveling around the globe for a decade.At age 23, Kepnes (How To Travel the World on $50 a Day, 2013) was on the conventional trackhe graduated from college and got a steady job in the real world "at the bottom of the middle-class corporate ladder." However, he found that he was dissatisfied: "The real world had things that college lacked: a place of my own; money; a steady relationship; the ability to go where I wanted; to do what I wanted; freedom. It was where I could finally start my life. Except the real world turned out to be as boring as hell." He had reached a junction: Should he continue with the status quo or throw it all away and travel the world? Despite his introverted nature, Kepnes chose traveland never looked back. In this candid memoir, the author examines how he was completely changed by the decade he spent on the road, living in hostels, working in foreign countries, and making friends in hundreds of cities and towns. He discusses how all his experiencesgood and badhave helped him be more in tune with others and become a better listener and friend. He emphasizes the importance of listening to your inner self rather than the skeptics and naysayers, both of whom he encountered often. Throughout his ruminations on how travel affected him, Kepnes interweaves his tales of friends, girlfriends, and great loves discovered among exotic backdrops and how starting a blog (nomadicmatt.com) about his adventures altered the way he traveled. His story is one of heartbreak, self-discovery, and the constant travel itch he had to scratch in order to become the man he was supposed to be.An entertaining, quick read by a man who did what many of us only dream about. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Phillipsburg Free Public Library
200 Broubalow Way
Phillipsburg, NJ 08865
(908)-454-3712
www.pburglib.org

Powered by Koha