It is really an audio transcript of the FT Weekend podcast episode: ‘Nomadic Matt’s travel hacks’
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Lilah Raptopoulos
Hi FT Weekend break listeners. Delightful to the ultimate episode of our own mini-series on travel.
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This 7 days, I speak with Shiny Kepnes. He’s better generally known as Nomadic He. That’s the his popular travel blog. He offers been visiting the world for the purpose of almost two decades on a budget. He’s written about it in his guide How in order to Travel the World upon $50 a Day, and their memoir, 10 Years a Nomad . And I actually invited him on to the last episode simply to talk tips. All of the tips, ways to get good offers on plane tickets, how to get factors, how to choose the destination, exactly how to spend less when venturing. It’s full of great things. So this particular is FT Weekend, the particular podcast, particular travel edition. I’m Lilah Raptopoulos. Let us go.
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Matt, welcome to the particular show. Say thanks to you just for being right here.
Matt Kepnes
Nice getting me.
Lilah Raptopoulos
So you would be the keeper of many best-kept travel secrets. I might love in order to learn your own ways. But first, prior to we start, you find out, this really is such as a large question, yet why need to we journey?
Matt Kepnes
It simply exposes a person to lots of new concepts. But I think more importantly, it shows an embraced humanity. A person know, everybody is like, oh, I actually wanna proceed to, you know, Berlin is to do what the locals do. OK. Nicely, do you know what the particular locals perform? They get up, they eat breakfast every day, they proceed to work, they come home and grab their dry out cleaning watching Netflix plus go in order to bed. Everybody around the particular world is actually the exact same. And so i believe it really offers a lot of perspective. But the just how and the exactly why change it out, right? You understand, exactly how people function, how people construct meals and romantic relationships and the emphasis on leisure time, you find out, work-life balance, dinner. In the event that you consider the world a puzzle, vacation allows you to put the pieces collectively a lot easier compared to you might if you simply never left your home town.
Lilah Raptopoulos
So if you are taking a look at the particular year forward and you, like, understand you wanna have a couple of trips, exactly what could you suggest as a great way to consider it?
He Kepnes
Okay, I would certainly think about when you want to go, and then move the opposing of everybody else. Correct? (Laughter) The main way in order to obtain an inexpensive deal is certainly to proceed where individuals aren’t going when these people aren’t heading. Like, if you really, you’re dead set. You are a teacher. You can only go to Europe in the summer time, right? OKAY, well, you know, don’t go to Paris. Go to a smaller city somewhere otherwise. I might furthermore consider that will putting more stuff in your timetable is planning to deter from the particular overall encounter. Travel is definitely really in its best when you just sort of let serendipity take over. When you say, FINE, I like, I actually have a handful of things I want to do these days. Let me personally start along with wine and then notice where the particular day requires you with out stressing a lot of about it. Therefore i think want to know the best part of our vacation is taking it gradually, being a little contrarian or in other words that will you move where people today aren’t heading. And then just getting this sense that you do not have to obtain all.
Lilah Raptopoulos
It reminds myself of the time which i went to Stockholm in the center of the wintertime. And really it had been, like, a real pleasure. Whenever you claim, “Be contrarian, ” can you provide a couple samples of what which means?
Matt Kepnes
We’ll get back to that sort of Europe, right? You want to go in Europe in the summer time. OK. A person wanna move to England. You’ve normally wanted to visit Paris. I can not stop a person from going to Paris, france. Right? (Laughter) To point out it’s extremely touristy is to say that one part of that city is really touristy. So if you take a look at huge cities, the touristy stuff is usually all of the in 1 area. And that’s where the hotels tend to be. That is where the crowds are usually. If you pick a portion of the city that’s only a small off centre, you’re likely to arrive at encounter Paris like the local people do, far from the throngs. In reality you’ll have that will Parisian experience without having to be like, oh, Paris, france is so touristy.
Lilah Raptopoulos
That’s a really great idea. Exactly where do you consider people make the biggest spending errors on trips? Do you know the unwanted travel expenditures that, like, many of us are losing money about?
Matt Kepnes
For me personally, I might state accommodation, along with the stipulation that this really depends on the type of vacation you’re going on. If you really desired just in order to sit close to the holiday resort, more power for you. Yet if you might be gonna have a very active, you’re-gonna-be-out-all-day trip, you know, you’re sightseeing, dinners and everything that things, yeah, you need a nice, comfy bed plus a decent spot, but you don’t need several resort or maybe the Ritz.
Lilah Raptopoulos
Correct.
He Kepnes
You’re not likely to be within the area almost all day, thus you’re not necessarily gonna, such as, get the particular advantage of the particular luxury. Also i think individuals really get it wrong with foods. They’re kind of like, also, we’re on this city, let’s try everything. But these people have simply street food culture within a lot of spots, right? You know, you go to Mexico Town, get road tacos designed for $1. fifty. You find out, standing around that road stall, eating with the locals is probably gonna be simply as memorable as obtaining all these reservations on fancy restaurants. Plus, I think where people fail with your meals are they’re not willing to be bad.
Lilah Raptopoulos
Right. I think versatility is good when, I actually mean, I actually tend to underplan, but I think versatility is good when you’re visiting.
Matt Kepnes
Yeah. Therefore if a person are, say, 1 week in Sydney, a person want every single meal to become great. Yet what in case it isn’t really? In case it’s not, you’re gonna sense like an inability.
Lilah Raptopoulos
But it is impossible.
Shiny Kepnes
It’s impossible, correct? And so that which you really have got to perform is be prepared to claim a few of these accidental places I actually go into may suck. And in this information age, all of us obsess over where the, you understand, take the leading role rating upon Google, you understand, how many Yelp reviews proper drainage .? We research. It is like, a person know what? Just stroll down. In case it looks interesting plus there’s individuals inside, try it. And when it’s bad. Oh, properly, whatever. That is section of traveling.
Lilah Raptopoulos
Yeah. OKAY. Very well. So let’s talk about reserving an airline flight. You’ve declared that one associated with the greatest items that a person can perform to obtain a great deal would be to kind associated with go the opposite method that others might end up being going, or even not kind of taking the trip that everyone’s using. But is usually there whatever else we should learn about exactly how to get very much upon an airline flight, how in order to get improved?
Matt Kepnes
I’ll reply to the following question initial — how to get upgraded.
Lilah Raptopoulos
OKAY.
Matt Kepnes
Every write-up you ever read online about the secret hacks in order to get upgraded from economic climate to business are many lies. A person can’t have upgraded. Until you have position, you’re not likely to obtain upgraded.
Lilah Raptopoulos
And having position comes from just having a great deal of flights on the same airline.
Matt Kepnes
Yeah. Today planes are actually full plus there’s plenty of elites on the market. And so really with out elite standing, it’s really hard to get an upgrade. Inside terms of finding cheap flights, there are consistently flight deals, OK. Usually. An excellent website out there is Scott’s Cheap Plane tickets, and then there is one called HolidayPirates, which focuses more on the particular Europe market. Each time they kind of track all these types of flight offers, right? Airlines you know will drop prices for, a person know, an hour or so, flash sales. So a legitimate lot about how do you get a good deal? One, end up being ready possibly a good deal.
Lilah Raptopoulos
Therefore just grab it.
He Kepnes
Just jump on it, yeah. Because a single good thing that happened out of Covid for take a trip was that airlines dropped their own cancellation costs. If you publication a great deal on United in order to Cape City, you can not make it, they will give you that since an e-credit for next time. But it is better in order to get the deal than not get the offer and then simply maybe make use of an airline flight credit inside a different period.
Lilah Raptopoulos
Yeah. Yes. Matt, thank you. I have got one very last question. My last issue is all about factors. I am talking about, individuals have different knowledge levels about points. And because kind of maybe a typical individual, Excellent few bank cards. These people give myself different amounts of points. I’d sort associated with cash them in for flights sometimes. This seems to become working great, but You will find this feeling that there are people who know a lot more than myself that are usually like residing luxury lives free of charge. (Laughter) And I just, you know, don’t know something that they know. Is the fact that true or is that a myth?
Matt Kepnes
I would consider myself over average in the knowledge of travel hacking, because they call it. And am watched some of my close friends do almost all these crazy things plus I’m such as, wow, you are living this particular, as a person said, like, luxury way of life for free. Yet whew, it takes a lot of time. (Laughter) I am talking about, they state it’s the hobby factor, but I’m like, I feel like you’re working, like, more upon that compared to your full-time job. (Laughter) Kind of like couponing, right?
Lilah Raptopoulos
Right. (Laughter) Right.
Matt Kepnes
It’s like, the people, like, who are really into couponing, they spend a lot of time performing it as well as, yeah, these people save a ton of money but it borderlines on obsessive. Therefore i is an enormous advocate of points providing you’re not likely to get into credit card debt.
Lilah Raptopoulos
Right. Plus you’ll save more money the more obsessive you get. But that depends on exactly how you want to spend your own time.
Matt Kepnes
Yeah. I’m very obsessive about it. But if you’re just, you’re average, you understand, solo person, couple, family having one to two vacations a year, carry out, just your everyday spending in, making sure you’re benefiting from all the particular category bonuses for dining out or even groceries or even gas, you’re gonna type of earn enough points to truly get you there and back on the free trip. For the majority of people, they will don’t actually need more compared to that.
Lilah Raptopoulos
Yeah.
Matt Kepnes
I mean, my friend was like, I had, like, all these points. She doesn’t really, you know, travel that will much, but she keeps racking them up. And I’m like, they do not expire. Simply use them when you need it. You are buying all those Christmas offers regardless of what. May as well acquire some, a person know, free of charge travel from it.
Lilah Raptopoulos
Totally. He, this provides been so useful, so informative. Thanks a lot a lot just for your time.
Matt Kepnes
Well, thank you for having me. I frequently like talking about journey.
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Lilah Raptopoulos
That’s the show. Thank you for listening to FT Weekend, the podcasting from the Financial Moments. I’ve propagated links to get making it possible to find Matt inside the display notes. That’s also this for the take a trip mini-series, plus I actually wanna thank you for listening. We might love in order to hear exactly what you think. You can email us all at [email protected]. com. You can say hey there on social media and adhere to us. We are on Tweets @FTWeekendPod. And am is on Instagram and Tweets @LilahRap. In the event that you missed the some other episodes, you can find them on our give food to. There’s tips on how to travel like a local from our friends from FT Globetrotter. There’s exactly what it’s want to visit every country on earth from Jessica Nabongo, as well as a great show on the particular latest styles in tourism with the journey editor Jeff Robbins.
This show was produced by Zach St Louis, executive produced by Topher Forhecz and sound engineered simply by Breen Turner, with original music simply by Metaphor Music. Special thanks to Cheryl Brumley and Alastair Mackie.