About

Hey I’m Jon! I’m the writer and photographer behind the Global Viewpoint travel blog!

Welcome to my travel blog! This is a site where I share my adventures from around the world, as well as travel tips, guides, photos, videos, and much more.

I’m a full-time travel blogger from Boston (Cambridge, to be exact). But mostly, I’m just a guy with a passion for traveling and dreams to make a living out of it. So far, it’s been working out pretty well, but I still have a long way to go. The journey never really ends.

In case you were wondering, I’m 6′ 3″ tall, my last name is Lithuanian (though I’m also of Swedish and English descent), and I never held a camera until I was 24 years old. Now I’m 26, and I just found out what a starburst effect is. (That’s what you get for not taking any formal courses).

Some other fun facts about me:

– In college, I got a degree in Finance with a minor in Politics.

– I used to run Track & Field in high school and college, but I don’t run anymore.

– I speak some Spanish and German.

– I’m happily married to the love of my life, who happens to be from Vienna (hence why I know German).

– I think that Mini Oreos taste better than the big ones. (I swear they do!)

Ok…now that I got all the fluff out of the way (I’ve never been a big fan of ice breakers), I can begin telling you about my story through life and travel.

The beginning of my “Global Viewpoint” story

*Clears throat*

You’ve been forewarned, this will get a bit rambly. If you’re not interested in my full story and want to skip onto the Global Viewpoint of today stuff, I won’t be offended. But this is an “about” page, so I think you deserve to hear the full story.

Since I was boy, I’ve always been the biggest nerd. I’ve been fascinated with history, science, politics, animals, languages, international relations, architecture, geography, and up until somewhat recently, strategy video games (gave that up when I was 20ish).

Back when I was in high school, I was quiet about each of these things, for fear of being labeled by what I was: a nerd.

It wasn’t until I was a junior in high school when I built up the confidence to face my nerdom, thanks to my history teacher Mrs. Lopez. I had many great teachers growing up, but she was the most enthusiastic of them all. Mrs. Lopez, if you’re reading this, thanks getting me out of my shell during those formidable teenage years!

Thereafter, I wrote essays, including for the World War II Memorial that had just been established in my hometown. I delivered speeches as the captain of my high school Track & Field and Cross Country teams, quoting a philosopher, famous runners, and even Sir Winston Churchill. “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

Just before I graduated from high school, I remember writing a long-winded and heartfelt Facebook post about how talented my Senior Class was and how much I would miss them. That’s who I was then, and it’s who I am now.

Passionate, sensitive, curious.

Global Viewpoint goes off to college

I got the Business Department award in high school, so it made logical sense that my next move in life would be just that. I was accepted to the college of my dreams, Bentley University, one of the best business schools in the area. Though I enjoyed my studies in finance and business strategy, I somehow knew then that it wouldn’t be my full story.

My alma mater had a student body with 15% international students. This was really my first time making meaningful, long-lasting friendships with people from other countries.

One semester, I got really close with a group of Germans who were studying on an exchange semester. We engaged in philosophical conversations about different governments, cultures, and economic systems, and bantered about which country had the best food. I also met my wife to-be, who speaks a slightly different German dialect than these other friends, though she insists people in Vienna speak the purest form of German.

I also studied abroad for a semester in Barcelona, Spain, making more friendships, creating new experiences, and drinking way too much Don Simon sangria. That semester, I visited 12 countries on a backpacker’s budget. I managed to save money by staying in hostels, using some travel hacks, and not eating out too much. This semester in the fall of 2014 is when the travel bug inside me began to fully take hold.

Having grown up in a homogeneous, suburban Massachusetts community, these Bentley years were an an eye-opening experience for me. It was during this time that my love and passion for travel – and the world as a whole – grew ten-fold.

Entering the workforce

I graduated university with a degree and a promising full-time job with a public accounting/consulting firm. I did business advisory work, a hodgepodge of management consulting and internal audit, but mostly the latter. It wasn’t the sexiest job, but I was making decent money and gaining valuable life experience. I liked who I worked with, and some of my clients too.

One thing I learned: it’s good to test things out to discover what you don’t want to do.

I ended up quitting that job after just over a year, only to find myself doing something more or less the same, for a company that was more or less the same. So…I left that job too after about a year, again liking most of the people I worked with, but not the nature of the work itself.

As you can probably tell by now, I was never really cut out for corporate or consulting desk jobs. There’s something more out there; and I was dying to find out what that was. (Update, January 2020: I’m still trying to figure it all out. It’s not just you who’s trying to figure it out. That’s just how life is. We change, and what we enjoy changes. Anyone who tells you they have it all figured out is either lying or naive IMO).

Anyway, back to my rambling session. If you came here to learn about my story as a travel blogger, and not necessarily my long, drawn-out history, thanks for hanging in there. The stuff you’re looking for is coming right up.

Global Viewpoint: the travel blogger and Instagrammer

Simultaneously during these two jobs, I was slowly but surely building a future for myself. A future filled with new challenges and new opportunities; new faces and interesting places; and new life experiences that will lead me to look at the world a little bit differently. This is the world of travel.

I worked nights and weekends. Not on work, of course, but on my passions for traveling and learning. I learned how to start a travel blog, gain traction on social media, and foster a passionate and purposeful community of global-minded citizens.

Through countless hours of research and trial and error, I learned that you could live a life of passion, adventure, and continuous learning, and make money from doing so.

Whether it’s collaborating with brands and tourist destinations, writing content for other platforms and publications, leveraging advertising and affiliate marketing, selling photos and videos, and coaching people on how to change their mindset and achieve their dreams, this digital age has given people like me an opportunity to make a living out of a passion. The vocation is now the vacation; there’s no need to escape my job any longer.

I’ve never worked any harder or for longer hours than I am right now, but even still, every day feels like Christmas.

The story behind the name: Global Viewpoint

The reason I chose Global Viewpoint as the name for my travel blog is because this isn’t about me. It’s about a mindset. Something that each of us share. I still believe today, as I did when I was sitting on my couch in May 2017, pondering whether or not to make a travel Instagram page, that the world can get better through travel. It opens up our minds, hearts, and souls to the unfamiliar and the uncomfortable.

We’re all the same. We may look a little different, speak a little differently, and even wear different clothes and pray to different gods, etc., but there’s more that unites us than divides us.

We’re united in our needs, hopes, and dreams. We ought to take the time to learn about and appreciate one another, and the best way to accomplish this is by traveling. If more people travel purposefully, our world will be better for it. That’s what Global Viewpoint is all about.

I hope that my content inspires you to travel and learn about our beautiful planet. I hope I’ve been able to spark your inner explorer, and encourage you to think about the world a little bit differently.

Through my travel guides, blog articles, and photo and video content on social media, my goal is to help make you a better, smarter, and more purposeful traveler. I hope I’m succeeding in doing so.

Global Viewpoint in 2020

Today, across all Global Viewpoint channels, we’ve cultivated a global-minded community of over 300,000 travelers, including 20,000+ monthly visitors on my blog. This community would not be what it is today if it weren’t for all of you. Each day, I am inspired by your messages, words of advice and encouragement. Your energy, engagement, and passion makes me grateful to wake up every morning and create content on social media.

The focus of my blog is value travel. In other words, I want to see as much of the world as possible while paying as little as possible to do so.

Sometimes I like to travel on a budget, staying in hostels to save cash and meet interesting people. Other times, I enjoy staying in fancier properties where the hotel is the destination. It really depends on the type of trip and what I’m feeling like at the moment. I will never partake in activities or stay in accommodations that are overpriced and not worth the money. When I create travel guides and itineraries, I only include things that I genuinely believe are a good value to my readers.

Personally, I don’t like the idea of classifying bloggers as either budget backpackers or luxury travelers, because I think we ought to be a little bit of both (after all – which backpackers wouldn’t fantasize about an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean?). Even though I tend to prefer budget accommodations when I’m on the road, I think it’s okay to treat myself every once in a while. Over time, tastes change and what we enjoy changes. What won’t change, however, is my commitment to discovering the best possible value from travel.

Thanks for hanging tight and reading my About page

Thanks for following my journey, reading and sharing my articles with family and friends, sending kind messages and words of encouragement, and just being awesome. I feel blessed that social media and the internet has brought us all together with a similar passion for traveling and continuous learning. I deeply value each of the friendships I’ve made on the road and on here.

I’d like to end my long and wordy About page with one of my favorite travel quotes: “Don’t quit your day dream.” It’s been one of my guiding lights through this journey as a travel blogger.

Thank you for sharing this lifelong passion for traveling and fostering a global viewpoint.