It takes a village to operate this website. From technology and coding to design and bug fixing to get books from readers when downloads fail to schedule social media or run forums, I have a lot of help. I just couldn't manage the website, write, travel, eat, sleep or anything in between if I didn't have the support and help of an incredible group of people.
It's not just me who writes and posts about my travels. I have a large group of full-time employees who help juggle everything.
I realized that many of you didn't realize it, so today I wanted to introduce the team to you.
So, without further ado, here they are:
Erica
Erica has worked for me for almost six and a half years and is the events director of The Nomadic Network, our travel community. It keeps this community thriving. In his own words:
I grew up in Connecticut and went to school in Virginia. During a quarter-life crisis at 21, I chose to finish my last year of college on an adventure in Qatar! From that moment on, my life revolved around traveling inexpensively with the money I earned from the waitress. This budget allowed me to teach English in Isaan, Thailand and South Korea; farm in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean and Costa Rica; and volunteer in rural Zambia. At 26, I returned home to Connecticut, determined to find a job in travel. Shortly after, I met Nomadic Matt at a travel meeting in New York, and the rest is history.
I wholeheartedly believe that traveling makes friends of strangers, and the more friends there are in the world, the more peace there is in the world.
Chris O.
Chris joined the team as a part-time forum manager in 2015. Since then, he has moved on full-time and diversified into the Superstar Blogging program and helps me in all of our different administrative tasks. In his own words:
I grew up in a small town in Ontario, Canada, and spent my training years listening to punk rock, reading Star Wars novels, and not getting up. After abandoning my life as a lawyer, I decided to try the trip. I headed to Costa Rica on a whim and have never looked back! It wasn't long after this trip that I took a break from college (where I was studying history and theater) to move to a monastery in Japan in 2007. I have been walking more or less since. Some notable adventures include crossing the Trans-Siberian Railway through Russia and Mongolia, the Camino de Santiago twice, and a 10-day trip to Iceland with complete strangers.
When I'm not traveling, I live in Sweden and can be found reading, writing or hanging out with my rescue dog, Grimo.
Chris R.
Chris, aka The Aussie Nomad, is a (somewhat) former blogger who does all of the technical and development work for the website. It keeps it running, corrects any errors you find and responds to my ever-changing design desires. In his own words:
I live the good life in Western Australia near the beach with my amazing family. I entered the blogging world after quitting my job, hiking through Europe and, like all Australians, going on working holidays in the UK. Like all of us who travel and fall in love with it, no one wants to go home afterwards.
This adventure led me to create a travel blog many years ago, that's how I got to know Matt for the first time. I have since redirected my IT skills from my old life and started my own business to help other bloggers with their websites.
- I love Belgian beer (and I even married a Belgian).
- I have worked with Matt the longest of all here. (Take this team!)
- I left in Europe backpack at 29 years old.
- I am an advocate of Vegemite and believe that all visitors to Australia should try this national treasure.
- One of my favorite activities is to take a long road trip, especially with family and friends.
- I do not know how not all four-way stop signals in the United States end in accidents.
- I don't drink Fosters. It's a terrible beer. No one in Australia really drinks it.
- I like to consider myself an amateur photographer.
- I failed kindergarten because I didn't want to say goodbye to the teacher.
- My first job was in a supermarket.
- I cannot sleep on an airplane, regardless of the duration of the flight.
- I can name each Thomas the chariot character thanks to my son.
- I don't drink coffee or I don't like it. Tea all along!
Raimee
Raimee does all of our social media and content marketing. She schedules posts, adjusts my awful photos to look great on Instagram, builds our content calendar, analyzes data, edits videos, creates digital marketing campaigns and designs our social media graphics! In his own words:
When I was just 14 years old, I made my first international trip to Honduras and Belize with my family. Since then, I am addicted to experiencing new cultures, connecting with people from all walks of life and learning about myself and the world through the power of travel! After obtaining a degree in advertising and marketing from Michigan State University and four years as a digital marketer, I realized that business life was not for me. My insatiable need to explore the world beyond an office led me to seek travel-related employment. I've been following this blog for many years, and now I can work on it remotely while strategizing, managing and reporting on social media accounts - and I love it every second!
- I'm obsessed with Harry Potter. I have read each book at least 10 times. If I told you how many times I watched the movies, you probably wouldn't believe me.
- Once I spent time with Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter!) At a Red Wings game in Detroit, and in fact I kept calm all the time (note: he's a really nice guy !)
- Visiting the Harry Potter studios in London was one of the best days of my life.
- My mother was obsessed with the 80s horror film evil Dead directed by Sam Raimi, so she gave me her name.
- After visiting thirty countries, Iceland is still my favorite.
- My biggest travel dream is to take a road trip to New Zealand!
- I try to read 1-2 book (s) EVERY week!
- I played the saxophone (and I would have liked to continue!)
- I overcame my fear of heights by jumping off a cliff in Croatia - twice!
- I love languages and was close to speaking German fluently during college.
- I played in a few independent short films and in some network TV shows (I even have an IMDB page!)
- In another life, I would have been a film director / producer. Maybe one day!
- My favorite number is 13.
Carmela
Carmela is the executive director of our non-profit FLYTE which makes travel accessible to underserved youth across the country. She takes care of everything and nothing, fundraising, collaborating with our partner schools to plan student trips abroad, connecting with our incredible community of donors and managing our team. of volunteers.
Born and raised in New Jersey, I had the privilege of making my first international trip when I was 3 years old to visit my family in the Philippines where I refused to ride local jeepneys because they didn't had no seat belt! Since then, my love for travel has evolved. In 2012, my husband, Raymund, and I went on a honeymoon around the world that was supposed to be itchy from the itch of the trip (lol). We returned home to New York for a few years before making the leap to become full-time remote workers, and have lived all over the world since.
When I am not running FLYTE, I like to plan trips (even if they are not mine), practice yoga, hike, climb, read, eat and eat cookies (which are their own group) food, in my opinion).
Nomadic Matt
And finally, there is me. You probably know a lot about me after twelve years of blogging (sometimes I forget how long it lasted), but here's a quick refresher:
Having grown up in Boston, I have never been a great traveler. I only made my first trip abroad in 2004. This trip changed my life and opened up the possibilities that the world had to offer. A year later, I went to Thailand, where I met five backpackers who inspired me to quit my job and travel the world. In 2006, I went on a year-long hiking trip - and I've been "nomadic" ever since.
***So this is it! The Nomadic Matt team! It's weird to think that this blog, I started out as just an online CV for freelance jobs, now requires eleven people. I always thought that the more I put in place systems, automation, products and passive income, the easier it would be. I could just sit on a beach. But it seems that the more we do, the more we create, the more projects I tell the team that we are undertaking, the more we need help. I guess it's the nature of the beast but I wouldn't have it otherwise. I love what we do here. We help a lot of people to realize their dreams.
And a guy couldn't ask for better colleagues to help get there.
P.S. - We launched a new Patreon where you can get stories and tips that I don't share on this blog, a private Facebook group, phone calls with me and the team, live Q&A, road postcards, signed copies of my books and much more! Click here to access!Book your trip: logistics tips and tricks
Book your flight
Find a cheap flight using Skyscanner or Momondo. These are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the world, so you always know that no stone is left behind.
Book your accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com, as they always offer the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels. I use them all the time.
Don't forget travel insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft and cancellations. It is complete protection in the event of a problem. I never go on a trip without it, because I had to use it several times in the past. I have been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that provide the best service and value are:
Are you looking for the best companies to save money?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when traveling! I list all the ones I use - and they will save you time and money too!
