How a man who moved to Taiwan to pay off his student loans turned traveling the world into a career

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matt gibson surfing

Matt Gibson

Matt Gibson, surfing in Jialeshuei, Taiwan.

When Matt Gibson left his native British Columbia in 2004, he wasn't looking for adventure.

He was looking for a way to pay off his student loans.

Gibson, now 36, graduated with about $10,000 in student loan debt, and had been working planting trees to try and earn some extra cash when he met a man whose girlfriend was in Taiwan, teaching English to pay off about $70,000 of her own student loans. His new friend quickly joined her.

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"At the end of the season I emailed him and he said, 'Come on over,'" Gibson remembers.

Over ten years later, Gibson is still on the move, working as an adventure travel writer and photographer.

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You can follow his adventures on his website, XpatMatt.com, or through his Instagram @xpatmatt.

Here's how he's made a career of traveling the world: