Matt Gibson

Okinawa: The Secret is Out

December 7, 2015December 3, 2015 by Matt

okinawa-lead

You’ve probably heard of Okinawa before, and there’s about a 99% chance that the first time you heard about it was in Karate Kid 2 and 3. It’s the place in Japan where Mr. Miyagi is from, and where Daniel travels with him to trim bonsai trees and beat up bad guys.

Beyond that, few people know much about Okinawa. So, I’m going to tell you about it. This post is about two things: 1) Why I’d love to visit Okinawa and 2) The recent Okinawa video series that the Be Okinawa has launched called Okinawa: The Secret is Out.

StoryBy: What It Is And How It Works [VIDEO]

November 22, 2015 by Matt

StoryBy is a new social platform quite similar in function to Reddit, but that also has a lot of additional features and promises to share revenue with its users. In this video I give a tour and some commentary about what I think the goals of this social network are. Go and try StoryBy for … Read more

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TripVerse: A Simple Travel Planning App

January 21, 2016November 16, 2015 by Matt

light-road-nature-iphone

Disclosure: I was paid by TripVerse to try out their app, write my opinion of it, and include their giveaway in my blog post. As always, our agreement was that they were paying for my time, not my recommendation, and this post includes only my genuine opinions.

Online travel planning is big business. Online flight bookings, hotel bookings, car rentals, and tour bookings are worth billions of dollars each year. So, there’s a huge race to create the next big travel app.

TripVerse is a travel planning site and application that helps travelers create itineraries for trips of all kinds, from month-long road trips to a single day in a city. As a traveler who has a hard time planning more than one day (or a few hours) ahead of time, this app makes a dreadful process much less painful, despite a bit of the glitchiness that tends to come with early-release apps and software.

Is StoryBy A Viable Income Stream for Bloggers?

November 11, 2015November 6, 2015 by Matt

StoryBy says it will pay users for their contributions to the community. Is it worth signing up?

Have You Heard Of Workations? Apparently They’re A Thing Now

November 2, 2015October 18, 2015 by Matt

Hard at work at a mountain lodge in Bhutan

This blog post is was created in collaboration with Pullman Hotels to help promote their #PullmanWorkation contest, but all opinions expressed are own and I am in no other way connected to this contest or Pullman Hotels.

There’s a lot of talk about digital nomads, but few people really understand what our lives entail. This is partly the fault of the media, which usually glosses over the challenges faced by entrepreneurs who run online businesses while traveling as well as we digital nomads who also highlight glamorous aspects of our lives while downplaying the difficulties.

5 Surprising Reasons I Want to Visit Suzhou, China

October 16, 2015 by Matt

suzhou_tong_li_lead

This blog post is was created in collaboration with Visit Suzhou to help promote their #TravelSuzhou contest, but all opinions expressed are own and I am in no other way connected to this contest or Visit Suzhou.

Suzhou, China isn’t a city that you hear travelers speak of often, but it should be. This ancient city, dating back to 514 B.C., is known as the Venice of the Orient for its abundance of ponds, streams and canals. In fact, nearly half of the city is covered by water.

The Josambro Taiwan Bicycle Adventure

September 28, 2015 by Matt

Taiwan bicycle tour Greetings, XPATMATT readers

As my friend and fellow Nomadic Adventurer Matt Gibson has been kind enough to allow me to hijack his blog for a few hundred words to tell his readers about my new venture, I suppose an introduction is in order.

I’m Joshua Samuel Brown, author of 13 Lonely Planet guides, and like Matt, a long-time wanderer, writer and global adventurer. The place I’ve lived the longest is Taiwan (It’s a great place for an extended adolescence, as Matt I’m sure will attest), becoming an expert on the land, its people and culture. After a few years away from my beloved island, I’m heading back next month for a new adventure.