HOW I CARRY ON >>>
MATT WAHLGREN
HOW I CARRY ON
WORDS / ANDREA SEDLACEK
FROM THE PEACE CORPS TO PUERTO VALLARTA . Matt Wahlgren
Owner of Matt Travel
Matt Wahlgren , owner of Matt Travel , didn ’ t start out with his heart set on working in the travel industry . His story starts in the mountains of Bulgaria , with a jaunt in Puerto Vallarta , Mexico , to where he is today : building his network outside of the industry while helping his clients travel thoughtfully .
The toughest job he ever loved Wahlgren ’ s first step after college took him to the Peace Corps , as he felt the calling to do something more before settling down into what he thought would be the 9-to-5 office life .
“ It was my senior year of college and I was like , ‘ Wow , after all these years of going to school , from kindergarten all the way up , school is finally ending . It ’ s finally going to be over ,’” he says . “ And I felt like I was about to accomplish something big here by graduating college , but I also kind of felt like I didn ’ t do anything . And now I ’ m going to get a job , and I guess I ’ m just going to go sit in a cubicle for the next 30 years . Something just didn ’ t feel right . I thought I needed something else before I settled down .”
After hearing about the Peace Corps from a professor , Wahlgren joined on a two-year assignment . He was invited to work in Bulgaria and just a few months after applying , he was there . “ And that was the first time I ’ d ever been abroad ,” he says .
“ I lived in this little tiny village ; it was very picturesque . It had cobblestone roads and the Rhodope Mountains right there . The town was nestled right under those mountains ,” he remembers .
The Peace Corps ’ slogan is “ The toughest job you ’ ll ever love ,” something Wahlgren definitely learned , along with learning how to speak Bulgarian and how to live in a culture and community that was totally new to him .
“ The first year was kind of slow . You need to get your bearings ; you need to get relationships built . But that second year , it really
LALS STOCK / SHUTTERSTOCK . COM
Matt Wahlgren , owner of Matt Travel , has traveled to Istanbul multiple times .
exploded ,” he says . He was assigned to community and organizational development , which encompassed work like applying for grants , building a wood and metal workshop , building a youth health center , starting a Meals on Wheels program , building a home for at-risk youth and teaching classes on international cooking , English and ceramics . “ I wanted to accomplish something ,” he says . But it wasn ’ t all work and no play for Wahlgren . He managed to work in traveling as much as he could .
“ That ’ s where I got the travel bug . I just fell in love with traveling ,” he says . “ I got a few weeks of vacation time , so I traveled all over the country . You couldn ’ t leave the country unless you were on your own vacation time but you could visit around different parts of the country , so I would go around and visit other volunteers to see what they were doing .”
22 / THE COMPASS / S�MMER 2021 vaxvacationaccess . com / thecompass