 Michael Tieso- Art of Backpacking |
| Michael Tieso of Art of Backpacking travel blog |
Meet Michael Tieso, the friendly guy behind Art of Backpacking andnull. Michael’s an American corporate drop-out, who started his long-term nomadic lifestyle with a one-year RTW trip in 2009. Since then he’s become an avid travel blogger, expat, and indefinite world nomad. In this interview we find out how Michael turned to this great life of nomadic travel and what he’s been doing since hitting the road back in 2009…
 Michael Tieso- Art of Backpacking |
| Michael at Tiger Leaping Gorge in China |
Q1. In May, 2009, you kicked off your nomadic travel life with a 1-year RTW trip. At some point you realized you wanted to continue your world travels much longer. Did that realization hit you suddenly, like an ‘ah-ha’ moment? Was there a specific event or situation that lead to your decision? Or was it a more gradual dawning? In short, how exactly did you decide to become an indefinite long-term nomadic traveler?
I had come home from a year long trip around the world. I was low on money and needed a solution quick. I was going to drive myself crazy at my parents house. I contacted a hiring agency and despite the job market being horrible, I managed to nail an interview. The interview ended up being the same weekend as the Travel Blog Exchange conference in New York City. This disappointed me since I was so much looking forward to attending the event.
I gave it a lot of thought whether going back to what I hated so much and left was a good idea. I knew I wanted to travel and would have to lie again in corporate America in order to keep the job. I just couldn’t do it. I remembered how unhappy I was with my old job that I knew I couldn’t go backwards. So I declined.
Travel Blog Exchange came and I felt alive again. It was great meeting so many like-minded travelers and bloggers that it was really that conference in June 2010 where I made the final decision to live indefinitely on the road.
I still needed a plan though to make this happen. Art of Backpacking was picking up and income was growing but it wasn’t enough to make a living out of. I looked into jobs abroad and fell into a random Google search result for teaching English in Xi’an, China. I picked up a teaching gig for a full year in Xi’an. During that time in China, I expanded and grew Art of Backpacking as much as I could.
 Michael Tieso- Art of Backpacking |
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Q2. What countries did you visit during your first year of travels?
China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay (for a day), Paraguay (for a day), Brazil (for a day), Bolivia, and Peru.
I went quite fast through Asia and Australia but I stayed in Buenos Aires, Argentina for 4 months where I volunteered and traveled between the surrounding areas. Then I traveled north into Bolivia and Peru and finally going home out of Peru to New York City.
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| Michael at Australia’s Great Ocean Road |
Q3. Do you have any favorite places from that trip? If so, where and why?
China was my first destination and so it made a big impression on me. In fact, so much that I went back to live for a year! It’s so completely different in culture than what I’m use to. I loved that. When I was a kid, I imagined that digging a hole to the other side of the planet would bring me to China.
Q4. What are the most important lessons you learned from your first year on the road?
Independence, self-reliance, and communication for sure. I went for the furthest away I could possibly go as my first destination. I just dove right in. It taught me a new way of taking care of myself. Not only was I traveling but I was also meeting people from all over the world. I knew nobody and the only way I could possibly manage to travel in China was to socialize with others and be independent. The self-reliance bit came into affect when I was sick on the road and there’s nobody to pet my head to tell me it’s okay.
Another is that travel has opened my mind to question everything I’ve ever thought of the world. Suddenly it seems big yet small. I’ve discovered that there’s so much to see and although it’s all relatively easy to get to, there’s no possible way to actually see every part of the world.
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| Michael working online |
Q5. You started your travel blog, Art of Backpacking, in Dec. 2008, a few months before heading off on your world trip. Nowadays, Art of Backpacking is a kind of community website, with several travel writers contributing articles to the site. Did it start out that way from the beginning? Or did it start with just you and then evolve into a community site?
Art of Backpacking started out with me just writing about the planning of my trip and where I wanted to go. It was meant to provide information to my family and friends about the world of backpacking. They knew nothing about it and I thought it would be a great idea to put everything I had been learning into a blog and document it along the way. It was a message to basically say I wasn’t crazy (not too crazy anyway).
It picked up over the months before the trip. As time went on though, I was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of articles that were required to keep the audience flowing. I took in a few guest posts and ease the workload. It was a huge success and I liked the idea of having other writers that had the same mind-set as I did.
I’ll be the first to always tell you that I’m not that great of a writer. So I decided to concentrate on things that I was good at like the back-end of managing the blog, the design, programming, the business aspect, video, and now photography. I hired a few part-timer writers and now have a steady flow of writers contributing to Art of Backpacking. I still have a strict policy as to what is published on Art of Backpacking though.
I still enjoy writing about my travels and do my best to publish my own work at least once a week.
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| travelers playing around in Vang Veng, Laos |
Q6. A lot of travel bloggers, like myself, have only their own travel articles, tips and experiences on their site. Why do you prefer having a collection of travel writers presenting articles?
I haven’t traveled everywhere and I like the different angles other writers can hit that I’ve never thought of. I want Art of Backpacking to be a collection of inspiration to those who want to travel and also provide information to those who are already on the road.
Q7. You have a self-declared dream to travel through Japan. Why the great interest in Japan?
I’m going to sound super geeky with this statement but I’ve been watching Japanese Anime for the last dozen years. I learned so much about Japan through watching hundreds of hours worth of Anime that I feel as if I’ve been there. I know the geography of Japan very well and a lot about their culture. I would love to put this all together and actually visit someday.
Q8. So, have you made it to Japan yet? If so, please tell us about your trip: when, how long, where did you go, what were your impressions? If not, when do you think you’ll go? Have any set plans yet?
Not yet!
I would love to do a full 3 months or more trip all throughout Japan. I have a whole lot of travel plans setup for the next year so I’m not quite sure when I’ll make it to Asia again. It’s so expensive and my current budget doesn’t put Japan on the list unfortunately. Someday I’ll make it though.
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| Michael in China |
Q9. You recently taught English in China for nearly a year. Why did you chose China rather than other popular Asian ESL countries like Korea, Japan, Taiwan or Thailand?
I had been to China before when I backpacked through it on my first year of traveling. I loved it so much that I wanted to go back to learn more about the culture and tackle the challenge of learning the language. Remembering how good the food was also got me to return.
Q10. What did you like best about China and teaching there?
The food in China was incredible. I loved exploring different foods.
One of the best parts of teaching in China though was the hospitality I received. As a foreigner, I was like a celebrity. The students absolutely loved me. I was teaching at a university level where 95% of my students were females. The attention I received was sometimes overwhelming and super flattering. I don’t think I’ll ever be that famous again but it felt damn good for that time in China.
Q11. Anything you especially dislike about China and/or teaching English?
Oh I could make a huge list of things I disliked. It was mostly because of cultural differences because everything I would get upset about, the others seem to not really care. The school system was unorganized and corrupted. I had a few classes where students just simply did not care. My grading (sometimes grades were not required), did not matter. Any grade I gave them would just go in as a passed grade by the schools administrators. It was corrupted to give the inflation and impression of high averages in the school system.
For many of the schools in China, foreigners are there more for image than to actually do anything. It’s to say “Hey, look at us. We have foreign teachers.” and it worked.
The contract also meant nothing. They changed rules as they felt like it and declared things that made no sense. They couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t want to work more hours when my contract had a limit.
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| Bogota, Columbia |
Q12. So, what are your upcoming travel plans for, say, 2012?
Half of 2012 will be filled with more of South America. Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. The plan is to go home for the summer and spent a few months before heading out. I have no idea where I’ll be at the end of 2012 though. In 2013 however, I’ll finally have my Italian citizenship processed and I hope to spend most of 2013 in Europe. My grandma is Italian which makes the process simple but just time consuming.
Q13. Besides Japan, are there any other places you’re just dying to visit? If so, where and why?
I would love to discover more of the USA, my home country. I have this image of road tripping all of the west coast from north to south. Then of course the rest of the world. So much to see, so little time!
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Thanks Michael for telling us all about your travels, teaching in China, and Art of BAckpacking. I hope to you see you out on the road one day! cheers, Lash
Follow Michael and join his travel community:
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Art of Backpacking: Backpacking Independent International Traveler – It’s cutting travel costs, but not cutting the exciting elements of adventure. Our mission is to help you travel in style; to distinctive places and to have fun doing so!
Twitter: @artofbackpackin
Phone: +1 (718) 395-9555
Hi! I'm Lash, an American nomadic world traveler who's been traveling solo since 1998. I’m passionate about traveling the world nomadically and then sharing it all with you. I hope to inspire you to travel the world, to entertain you with tales from the road, and to help you reach your travel dreams. Welcome! 
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