I misunderstood this book when I requested it and thought it was about cheap vacations. It is not. It is designed for people who want to sell their belongings and travel the world long term. It’s thorough and interesting but after reading the book it’s not something I could personally do. He says you can do this for as little as $28k a year, which is not an amount very many young people would be able to afford. And he recommends camping, walking, farm jobs and hostels to be able to afford it, which is going to be hard for older people. He says a lot of regions are much, much more expensive, so places that I would like most to visit seem impossibly expensive for our family budget. And he recommends all of this as a young, able bodied white man, seemingly absolutely unaware that a lot of the ways he recommends traveling and living would not necessarily be safe or feasible for others.

If you are a relatively young, healthy, well off person who is yearning for serious international adventure, this will be a fantastic resource. It is still helpful if you are not all of those things, but the title figure is definitely not realistic if you are not. Still a great guide.

I read a digital version of this book via netgalley.

As someone who loves the idea of traveling, especially for cheap, I just couldn't get into this book. I honestly don't understand how you need over 300+ pages to do so.

Nomadic Matt is a pioneering travel blogger. One day, we'll call him the grandfather of travel blogging during the Golden Era of travel blogs.

He's not known for his travel feats but rather for the extensive tips he's provided on his popular website, which focuses on budget travel.

In 2025, he refreshed his bestselling book, which is now called How to Travel the World on $75 a Day.

It used to be $50/day, but inflation and a post-COVID world forced Matt to update his book or watch it fade into irrelevance.

His book is packed with tips. Here are my favorite ones. 

The best websites to keep track of the latest credit card deals

BoardingArea
FlyerTalk
The Points Guy
View from the Wing

Pay your rent and get frequent flyer points with Bilt Rewards

Matt's top three airline booking sites 

My favorite airline website is Kiwi, and use this link to get $10 off. He doesn't mention Kiwi in his book.

Instead, his favorite flight booking sites are:

Skyscanner
Momondo
Google Flights
For insurance
Safety Wing
World Nomads
MedjetAssist
IMG
InsureMyTrip for comparison shopping

Sell your old clothes to raise money for your trip
Vinted
ThredUp
Poshmark

Online Garage sale to raise funds and downsize
VarageSale
OfferUp
Swappa for electronics
Gazelle
Decluttr

Anytime Mailbox starts at $6 and has several locations.

Lodging Sites
LateRooms
Last Minute
Hotel Tonight
Priceline
Hotwire
Roomer allows you to buy someone else's hotel reservation at a steep discount
Agoda excels in East Asia

Food

Matt is a foodie. I am not. Here are some of his favorite sites:

EatWith with 5000+ hosts in over 130 countries
WithLocals
Traveling Spoon

Ride-sharing or hitchhiking for the 21st century

Search for "ride-sharing" and the name of the region/country where you are traveling. You'll usually find options. I've used BlaBlaCar in Europe, for example.

Tourism Cards

Nomadic Matt sold me on the tourism cards that give you access to popular sites and public transportation. Although that can save you nearly half the price, it's only suitable for those doing a whirlwind, fast, and comprehensive tour. If you want to see the British Museum, don't get the London Pass. But it makes sense if you're going to see most of the significant sites.

Why is Africa left out?

The first half of the book offers general, practical advice. The second provides specific guidance to various regions. For example, he has a section about Australia.

You'd think a book that helps travelers live on $75 a day would encourage tourists to visit Africa. Like Southeast Asia, parts of Africa have a low cost of living.

For example, in 2013, in Benin, I rented a two-room place with a shower (but a shared outhouse for a toilet) for $10 per month! Ten years later, maybe the price has doubled to $20 a month!  

Still, Nomadic Matt confesses, "I had to make trade-offs and omit the lesser-visited countries and regions..." (Kindle Location 1434).

I won't quibble with his decision or logic.

Conclusion

When I got an advanced copy of Nomadic Matt's book, I expected to be bored out of my mind. I figured it was a book for beginners or intermediate travelers, not hyper-experienced travel studs like me. 

As usual, I was wrong.

Nomadic Matt pumped me with many ideas I was oblivious to. Although I shared my favorite ones on this page, buy How to Travel the World on $75 a Day to get all his excellent advice.

There are a lot of useful tips in this book. I hope you be able to travel more in the future to test them.

this book was pretty condescending. It felt like a pyramid scheme, and it was just felt like the author lacks a lot of information about the real world, pricing, and that other families or travelers have different budgets, needs, and wants. It really felt like it was a man who wrote it, I will not read anything from this author again

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!