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- [00:02]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Ladies and gentlemen, we are now boarding Group A, please have your boarding passes ready to scan. If your phone is cracked old or was chewed up by your Chihuahua travel companion, please refrain from holding up the line and instead simply go to Verizon and trade in any phone in any condition from one of their top brands for the new Samsung Galaxy S25 plus with Galaxy AI on Unlimited ultimate and a watch or tab. Also on now. Service plan required for watch or tab. Trade in and additional terms apply. See verizon.com for details.
- [00:30]
Matt Kepnes
My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do. Get a $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the Place to Be to Be.
- [01:03]
Unknown Host
So Money Episode 1784 how to travel the world on just $75 a day.
- [01:10]
Farnoosh Tarabi
You're listening to so Money with award winning money guru Farnoosh Kharabi. Each day get a 30 minute dose of financial inspiration from the world's top business minds, authors, influencers and from Farnoosh yourselves. Looking for ways to save on gas or double your double coupons. Sorry, you're in the wrong place. Seeking profound ways to live a richer, happier life. Welcome to so Money.
- [01:36]
Matt Kepnes
One of the ways I love to find a destination to go to is I just look for what's a flight deal right now? You know?
- [01:43]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Yeah, you know what is a flight deal right now? Matt? I am trying to find something over spring break. It's not happening.
- [01:49]
Unknown Host
Welcome to Sew Money everybody.
- [01:51]
Farnoosh Tarabi
I'm Farnoosh Tarabi.
- [01:52]
Unknown Host
If you're like me and dreaming of your next adventure but you're not sure about prices, you've come to the right place. All this week on the podcast we're div diving into travel tips, tricks and money saving strategies. Earlier this week we heard from Brian Kelly, founder of the Points Guy on how to maximize travel rewards and cut costs on flights and hotels. Today we're keeping the momentum going with Matt Kepnes, also known as Nomadic Matt. His New York Times best selling book how to Travel The World on $75 a day is now in its fourth edition. We'll talk about everything from affordable travel destinations, hidden local gems, travel logistics and finances overse to minimize your ATM and credit card fees abroad. Whether you're planning a short vacation or a long term journey, Matt's got practical advice for all of us.
- [02:42]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Matt Kepnes, welcome to Sew Money. How are you doing? Can I ask you, where was the last place you traveled?
- [02:48]
Matt Kepnes
Well, first off, I'm doing great. Thank you for asking. Yeah, I went to Peru over Thanksgiving for two and a half weeks.
- [02:55]
Farnoosh Tarabi
First time.
- [02:56]
Matt Kepnes
First time there. Loved it. Everything people say about Peru is totally true. It's an amazing country. Great scenery, friendly people, incredible food scene.
- [03:06]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Did you go to Machu Picchu?
- [03:08]
Matt Kepnes
Yeah, I did that hike too.
- [03:10]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Oh my gosh.
- [03:11]
Matt Kepnes
Bucket list.
- [03:12]
Farnoosh Tarabi
When I was getting married, I had this moment. I heard someone explain they climbed Machu Picchu and it was life changing. And I was like, that's where we should go for our honeymoon. And he was like, do you want to break up? If we do this together, one of us might or both of us might not make it spiritually and or physically. I don't know if this is how we want to start our marriage. We're not equipped. We don't do things like this. Like we just aren't hiking a Machu Picchu size land people. I would like to get there someday though. Did you get. Did you do it on $75 a day, Matt?
- [03:44]
Matt Kepnes
I did not do it on 75 a day. The. The tour is slightly more expensive than that. I did average pretty good for it.
- [03:52]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Let's talk about how to travel the world on $75 a day. This is the fourth edition of your New York Times bestselling book. Travel is something I think a lot of us have on our bingo card in 2025. We really want to get out there, do things. It feels like a stretch for a lot of us because when you add up the plane tickets and the lodging and when you're there all the activities, it really does add up. It becomes quite a financial commitment. My first question is, you wrote this book, this is the fourth edition. $75. Even in the fourth edition, even with inflation, this is still possible. Is it?
- [04:29]
Matt Kepnes
You know, the first edition was 50, so I have raised the price a little bit.
- [04:33]
Farnoosh Tarabi
A little bit.
- [04:35]
Matt Kepnes
This book is about people who take long term trips or backpack the world. And so that number really comes for people who are long term overlanding, maybe staying in hostels, doing shared free stays, eating local food, that kind of stuff. That said, the emphasis on the book is less about the number and really more about finding ways to lower your cost while not lowering Your experience level. And so knowing how to find the cheapest plane ticket, knowing how to use points and miles and that whole system for free accommodation and free air travel, and knowing all the ways post Covid Facebook groups have become a great way to meet locals who can show you around for free tours and as a new way for accommodation sharing. And so there's a lot of methods out there to lower your cost. A lot of this book is about knowing how to find that.
- [05:33]
Farnoosh Tarabi
What have you found to be some of the big shifts as you were writing this fourth edition versus the first in terms of the different ways that people can stay on a budget while traveling and maybe even some of the new constraints that you're helping readers meet.
- [05:47]
Matt Kepnes
Back in the day you used to have these around the world tickets. You'd buy this sort of travel pass for an airline alliance and you use it to get around the world. That doesn't really exist these days. Now with the just the whole shift with airline alliances and the rise of budget airlines that can take you around the globe, you don't really need to do that as a traveler. Additionally, there used to be all these travel discount cards and organizations out there pre Covid that don't exist now on the flip side of that, you know you have the rise of the sharing economy where people are home swapping through sites like Home Exchange, couch surfing, using Facebook groups to lower accommodation costs. Free tours have really exploded like free walking tours of cities. They used to be really primarily in major European cities, but now you can find them pretty much anywhere.
- [06:39]
Farnoosh Tarabi
I want to get into some of the like financial tools or ways that you recommend we save and also afford the trip. Whether it is like where to park, the savings, how to like when we're traveling, if there are different kinds of cards or programs that we can opt into to save while we're traveling. But what are some of the misconceptions people have about the cost of the kind of travel that you're talking about? Backpacking, longer term travel. You yourself are like self. Do you consider yourself a self described. Are you a nomad? Would you say Matt, you were for a while? All right.
- [07:12]
Matt Kepnes
I'm more semi nomadic these days, but I still consider myself a nomad and budget traveler at heart.
- [07:19]
Farnoosh Tarabi
So what do you think? You want to really inform those prospective budget travelers? They don't think they can do it. They don't think they may even have the time to do it.
- [07:28]
Matt Kepnes
I always tell people, travel like you live in your day to day lifestyle. You're not spending a ton of money. And I get the idea that when you're traveling, you want to live a little larger because you're on this vacation, but there's so much you can do. Say take Paris for example. People aren't doing expensive meals every day. They're also looking for free things to do in their city. They're looking for how are we going to spend the weekend. So if you take that premise of like, how do you live your normal day to day life? And then you do that when you travel, you are naturally going to take more public transportation, which will lower your cost. You're naturally going to find the free and cheap things to do. The holiday market that's going to happen that locals are going to go to. Rather than big expensive package stores, you're going to gravitate toward local cuisines and hole in the wall places. I always tell people that you can get an expensive steak anywhere in the world, right? So like, why have that as your like treat meal?
- [08:28]
Farnoosh Tarabi
You know what I'm hearing is more of that localized experience, the more authentic experience. What are the ways to do that? Because I think when people are traveling, they first go to maybe the travel websites or they go and ask their friends and they might get a list of more like been there, done that, more generic or more like, oh, obvious places to go. But how do you actually find these holes in the wall?
- [08:52]
Matt Kepnes
So I do love going to local tourism offices. When I land, they're usually at the airport or the center of the city. Google Maps can tell you and they can let you know what's going on that weekend that's free or inexpensive. Or maybe there's a special museum exhibit that's again free or inexpensive. But they're also sat by people that live there. So you can ask them, hey, what neighborhoods are really cool in your city to visit? Where do you go eat with your friends right now? Where should I eat? I always tell people, don't ask where I should eat, ask where you should eat. So if you say where should I eat? Most people are going to think about where do tourists go? Where do the popular, like the big name places. But if I say where do you eat? You're going to think about all the places you go with your friends that are the hole in the walls local favorites, not where tourists go. Because locals tend not to want to be around crowds of visitors. So I think those are great places. Facebook groups are also great places. There's usually a Facebook group for any local community. If you type into Instagram search, say you're Going to Lima, you type in Lima food, you're probably going to get a local who talks about the food scene in their city so you can look at their content and maybe just send them a message. Hey, I love this type of food. Can you recommend places? And they probably will send you an article. And so there's so many good resources online these days that allow travelers to tap into all this.
- [10:20]
Farnoosh Tarabi
You've traveled the world and you've organized your book in such a way where if someone is interested in doing this, $75 a day in Japan or in China, in Southeast South America, Southeast Asia, that you have dedicated chapters to these regions. What is your opinion on some of the places that are the less beaten paths or the not so obvious destinations that people should be considering this year? Particularly because you're seeing prices for flights or the dollar is strong that we should consider?
- [10:54]
Matt Kepnes
One of the ways I love to find a destination to go to is I just look for. What's a flight deal right now? Yeah, yeah, you know, what is a.
- [11:02]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Flight deal right now? Matt? I am trying to find something over spring break. It's not happening.
- [11:06]
Matt Kepnes
You got to go where people don't go, you know? So if you're trying to go over spring break, take the kids to Florida, so is everybody else kids somewhere else. One good tool for this is Google Flights. Google.com backslash flights. You type in your home airport and then you type in everywhere, and it will literally show you a map of the world, of all the prices anywhere in the world from your home airport. So you can just scan around to see what's the lowest numbers. But some destinations I find are very underrated and undervisited. Taiwan, I think, is an incredible value place. Not a lot of people go there. Really affordable, great food, beautiful natural scenery. They have beaches, like a lot of history, incredible destination. I love countries like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Albania is another wonderful place. I think everyone does go to Peru, but it also is very affordable when you get there. And so there's a lot of places around the world where people can go to. I think even in a country like France, everyone goes to France, but everyone's going to a few places. So if you're like, I really want to go to the French countryside and you just throw in a map, like, you can go to that place. They're going to have a tourist infrastructure and people aren't going to go there. You know, everyone goes to Bordeaux. Everyone's going to the French Riviere in Paris. But very few people are going north of Paris or They're going to Brittany or in the center, Loire Valley. And so if you just go a little bit off the vegan path, tourists stick to the same area. So just a little bit off the path, you're get a whole change in scenery, vibes and prices.
- [12:56]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Makes sense. You talk about Japan in your book and my son is super into Japanese culture. He is begging to go and I'm like, we are not going until I am certain you will remember every second of that trip because he's only 10. And I'm like, we should go when you're like 17. Like you point out in your book, this understanding that it's so expensive in Japan and you are, you definitely want to dispel that myth. You have been there, you've been to Japan. This is something that you also believe before you got there. And it turns out it can be an affordable trip. So let's double click on Japan. Walk me through that country and how to do it affordably.
- [13:32]
Matt Kepnes
Yeah, everyone thinks of Japan is very expensive, but when you get there you find out that what's expensive is high speed rail, Western hotel chains like Hilton, Marriott, any kind of importers from. But you can get a very nice Japanese owned hotel for 50, 60 bucks a night. You can have a whole meal for 20, 25 bucks. There's these hundred yen stores which now at the exchange rate is basically like I guess 75 cents. A lot of people eat at these food courts and train stations and you might think, oh, a food court and a train station. But you're going to get world class food there because everyone's commuting in and out of these train stations. And so they really need just like a really great inexpensive meal before they go to work or after they go to work. And so you'll get these really it's filled with locals having, you know, an incredible ramen for five bucks. Especially now with the exchange rate at this time it's 150 yen to a dollar. And so you four or five dollars for like something good, you can go to a sushi restaurant, spend 20 bucks, decent meals, like a really nice meal. 50 bucks if you want that. Best world famous omakase. Yeah, you're gonna spend 200 for that or 250, but that's so cheaper than you can in the States. Where people go wrong is really like they want to stay at the Hilton and then they want all these, they want Wagyu and they want these expensive omakases and then they get the high speed train and they do that in Tokyo. And they do that in Kyoto, they do that in Osaka, which is the main kind of people take. And they're like, oh, we spent so much money.
- [15:13]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Right. Speaking of money, I want to talk about how to prepare your finances before you go. You suggest maybe even switching banks if need be. Talk about some of that money logistics stuff because it's not only important for just your ease of travel and accessibility to your money when you're traveling, but to avoid fees. What are your recommendations in terms of things like checking accounts and savings accounts and you know, how to minimize your fees and penalties?
- [15:42]
Matt Kepnes
I think the first thing people need to do is audit their finances. You cannot know how much you need to save if you don't know how much you're spending. And so I don't think a lot of people really probably have a good handle on their day to day spending on average. So I always recommend people start with tracking all your spending and then see where your money is going and see what can be cut from there. I do recommend putting your money into a different bank account, put it consistently into a nice high yield savings account. Interest rates are like 4% and let it grow there.
- [16:14]
Farnoosh Tarabi
And do you go to an ATM often when you're overseas or you're just swiping and dipping your card? For the most part.
- [16:19]
Matt Kepnes
So in Europe now it's very heavy on credit cards. Peru, there's still a lot of cash only parts of Southeast Asia, Latin America. So it varies by country. But you do want to have an ATM card just in case.
- [16:34]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Yeah. And what about exchanging your dollar?
- [16:38]
Matt Kepnes
So I always recommend people never to exchange cash unless it's an absolute emergency. So if you do need money while you're there, you do take money from the atmosphere. I always take a small amount because I'm using a card that won't charge me any fees. It doesn't matter if I go once a day or once a week.
- [17:02]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Right.
- [17:02]
Matt Kepnes
So I would just recommend leave with an emergency hundred dollar bill in case you have to exchange it. But ATMs are at every airport everywhere. Only take out cash if you need it and just take out a small amount. So like you said, you don't end up having a bunch of currency that you then have to reconvert to the dollar on your way out back home.
- [17:26]
Farnoosh Tarabi
You also recommend having at least two separate bank accounts and this is mostly to protect yourself against theft and fraud. How prevalent is this when you're traveling? Is it, how safe is it? And you obviously bring this up, so.
- [17:42]
Matt Kepnes
It'S important that varies by region, but it's definitely something that you want to safeguard against, right? I've had my credit card duplicated in the us. I've had my credit card duplicated in South Africa. I've had my ATM card duplicated in Europe. I had it duplicated in the UK twice. This does happen. I like having money in two separate bank accounts. If one gets your ATM gets lost and your cash gets taken out, that account gets locked. But you're going to need money. Two bank accounts, two credit cards. That way, in case something happens to one, you always have a backup. And then I always put limits on my ATM cards. Like 500 or a thousand dollars, whatever you want. But like nowadays in the world where credit cards are so prevalent, why are you taking out thousands of dollars cash per day? So the only person that's really going to do that is probably someone who's trying to drain your account.
- [18:39]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Mm, yeah, fair point. I didn't actually realize you could put a limit on your debit card withdrawals. But that's because I don't really use my debit card. I have it in my wallet, but I rarely use it just because I know that against things like fraud protection, it's I don't want to get skimmed at an ATM that I don't know about, blah, blah, blah. I just try to avoid it all together. But that's. Yeah, when you're traveling, sometimes you have to use cash.
- [19:02]
Unknown Host
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- [21:16]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Ladies and gentlemen, we are now boarding Group A. Please have your boarding passes ready to scan. If your phone is cracked, old or was chewed up by your Chihuahua travel companion, please refrain from holding up the line and instead simply go to Verizon and trade in any phone in any condition from one of their top brands for the new Samsung Galaxy S25 plus with Galaxy AI on Unlimited ultimate and a watch or tab also on them. Service plan required for watch or Tab trade in and additional terms apply. See verizon.com for details.
- [21:45]
Unknown Advertiser
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- [22:19]
Farnoosh Tarabi
I want to go back to talking about families you mentioned. If you're traveling for spring break, maybe go somewhere that is not the typical island or Florida. Get that. But I think it's more layered for families, especially if you have kids of different age groups there's three generations, they're all trying to travel together. It's a little bit harder to contain the costs. What have you found works for families who want to stick to a budget.
- [22:44]
Matt Kepnes
Your websites like Airbnb and VRBO Home Exchange, these are good places to get a combination if you're traveling in a large group or with a family. Because it's expensive to get 10 hotel rooms. Right. So a house makes more sense. Or a large apartment for families for accommodation. I do recommend one of those house websites for flights. This is where points really come in. So earning credit card points to lower the cost of airfare, economy flights, you can get 20,000 points to Europe. Right. And a credit, credit card will have a 60 to 80,000 point signup bonus. So that can really cover a lot of those tickets. Additionally, thinking about, okay, what group tour discounts, you know, travel agents are really good for families. I know, I'm an independent budget traveler. If you're going with a big group, getting a travel agent can sometimes really be beneficial because they can get group rates that you might not be able to find just searching on hotels.com or booking.com or Tor website. Get your guide because they're not going to be listed.
- [24:01]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Yeah, makes sense. Let's talk about the future of budget travel. Have you already been thinking about your 5th edition and what that may look like? Or what are the some of the things you're learning as you just came back from Peru, you probably have some travels on your calendar this year. What are the things that you're learning more recently about travel that you're like, I wish I'd put this in the book or this will go in the next edition.
- [24:22]
Matt Kepnes
I think the book is pretty up to date now since I just. It was a quick turnaround time from writing to editing. But I think the future of travel, you'll see a lot more apps. There's definitely, especially among Gen A and Gen Z, but they use a lot more apps to find services. So I think you'll see more apps for like micro niches like campsites or car parks or there are ones for public toilets and things like that of that nature. Additionally, you'll just see AI people will have customizable AI. Bots will be like, hey, I really want to go see this and that. What should I do?
- [25:04]
Farnoosh Tarabi
And you mentioned the travel agent, but I'm like, maybe there's a chat GPT agent. They can't maybe go as far as to book the travels for you, but they can get you pretty far.
- [25:13]
Matt Kepnes
Yeah, I, I would caution at this moment in time for these chat bots for travel because a lot of times I try to mess with them and I, I look at them and they're. Some of the information is pretty out of date. So it does take a lot of like verification since you're like doubling the work or versus a Google search. But I definitely feel as if there will be a point in time in the next couple years where you'll be like, hey, Chatbot, find me something similar to that in Rome. Back a few things. And then it'll be like, okay, I like that one. Book it for me. I think that is probably a few years away, but I see that on the horizon and I think there will be a moment in time and next couple of years where you'll be able to create your own AI version of yourself as a travel expert. Maybe I'll have one. Or a finance expert. Maybe you'll have one and people can ask the experts rather than a generic chatgpt.
- [26:16]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Yeah, that kind of scares me. I don't like that. I want people to come to me. Although I like. I guess it's a way to clone yourself. Oh my gosh. But to not undermine also the value of like still listening to a live podcast or picking up your book. Right. We don't want these assets to be diminished because now we have maybe the portable version of the robot Farnouche or the robot mat.
- [26:41]
Matt Kepnes
Yeah, I agree with that too. Yach.
- [26:43]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Fine line.
- [26:44]
Matt Kepnes
Yeah.
- [26:44]
Farnoosh Tarabi
I want both worlds in balance.
- [26:46]
Matt Kepnes
I think it might be a way to minimize the questions that get sent to your inbox.
- [26:52]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Right. If it's like, where's the best place to bank? I don't.
- [26:57]
Matt Kepnes
Here's the article I wrote.
- [26:58]
Farnoosh Tarabi
Matt Kepnes, thank you so much for hanging out with us. We're doing a whole week on travel, in fact on this show, so we're happy to spotlight you. And congrats on this fourth edition of your book, how to travel the world on $75 a day. Maybe in 10 years it'll be like $100 a day. Inflation fast forwarded things a little bit, but yes, still a great deal.
- [27:23]
Matt Kepnes
It's a way to travel. I would just like to mention again that there's a lot of tips in the book for whether you're traveling for two weeks or two months or two years. It's about knowing where to find the deals, knowing how to spot a good deal, and being able to know the strategies and ways long term travelers save money. So you can do it too.
- [27:45]
Farnoosh Tarabi
All right. Save travels for everybody out there. Matt, thanks so much for hanging out with us.
- [27:50]
Matt Kepnes
Thank you for having me.
- [27:53]
Unknown Host
Thanks so much to Mat Kepnes for joining us. His book again is called how to Travel the world on $75 a day. I'll see you back here on Friday for a fresh episode of Ask Farnouche. I hope your day is so money.
- [28:19]
Unknown Advertiser
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