So as I dot the I’s and cross the T’s on my book, I would like to include you in it.

If you have used this website and it has helped you to travel better and cheaper, I would like a quote from you about how my website had helped you.

If you have used any of the companies I’ve recommended in this book (tour companies, hostels, backpacks, booking sites, etc.), and liked them as much as I have, I would like to hear from you.

I’m going to create a section in the book quoting readers who have used any of my advice to improve their travels and I really hope that is you!

If you send me your thoughts, you’ll get a credit in the book for contributing. If you have a website, I will list your website too.

If you are interested in providing me a quote (and I really, really hope you are), e-mail me at:

nomadicmatt@nomadicmatt.com

Please title your e-mail “Nomadic Matt Book Quote”

I don’t often ask for things from you all but if you have used my website, it would mean the world to me to get a quote from you. I will be forever grateful.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

- Matt

P.S. – Penguin Books requires you to sign a release giving me permission me use your quote in the book. Apparently, it’s a legal thing.

As I’ve come to that realization, the other city that most appeals to me in Europe is Stockholm. Paris pulls me with its mystique but really, Stockholm is more a realistic option. I have many friends there, the city is one of my favorite in the world, and I love and want to learn the language. (Plus, Swedish girls aren’t too bad on the eyes either!) The thought of living there over the spring and summer really excites me. Sweden in the summer is bursting with life and energy. After all, they don’t get a lot of nice weather up there so when they do, the Swedes take full advantage of it.

But the fork in my road is not between Paris and Stockholm. It’s between Stockholm and New York City. Or as my friend Jason has told me, it’s a choice between a veiled attempt at extending my trip and coming to terms with finally settling down.

And, in a way, he is right.

My soul burns for the Big Apple. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about it. When people ask me where I call home, New York bursts out of my mouth without thinking. There’s nothing I don’t love about New York City. Seeing status updates from my friends and events I’m unable to attend makes me homesick for it even more. As I write this now, I can’t help but feel sad not being there. I belong there and when all my journeys do end, it is there I will reside.

But you don’t get do-overs in life. Opportunity knocks once. Doors open and close all the time but when a door closes, it locks itself. As Robert Frost once wrote in the The Road Not Taken, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” Once you go down a path, there is no turning back.

If I move to NYC and skip Stockholm, will I ever get another chance to live in Europe as a (semi) young, carefree guy? Will I end up settling down, finding a girlfriend, putting down roots and then missing my chance to, just for a bit, be wild and carefree in Europe? Will I regret the missed opportunity?

Or will I move to Stockholm and hate it? Will I long for New York while I am there? Will I resist putting down some roots because I know Stockholm wouldn’t be forever? And would that become a self-fulling prophecy where it’s not forever because I resist making it that way?

As the clock ticks down to zero, I wonder if I’m really just trying to prolong my trip. Maybe I just want to be Peter Pan forever. When I go out, I see young backpackers, wild and carefree, and I think to myself, “Can’t I just stay in this world a little longer? Just one more month won’t hurt.”

After all, when my book comes out next year, I’ll have to come back to America anyway. Stockholm would just be temporary. Is spending 6 months in Sweden just a way for me to spend another 6 months living out of my backpack, trying to be Peter Pan a little longer?

I know I want roots. I want to have a gym. I want friends to call. I want restaurants where I can become a regular. I want the local hangout.

But as the end nears, I’m afraid. Travel is all I know. It’s part of who I am. I haven’t settled in one place since I started traveling. Even when I stop for awhile, I always know I’ll be moving on again. While I’ll never stop traveling, I’m worried I won’t deal well with being settled in one place and having roots.

Maybe Stockholm is my “bridge” from traveler to semi-nomadic.

I had hoped that as I wrote this article, I might come to some conclusion. I’ve agonized over this post for weeks but as I write this, I’ve realized I’m just as lost, unsure, and confused as ever. Writing out my thoughts and feelings didn’t help to decide which road I want to wander down.

As I weigh both options, I want them both. I wish I could create a clone!

But I know how way leads to way, there’s only one road I can take.

As January rolls into February and February rolls into my flight home, I’ll have to decide soon which road I want. I just haven’t figured out which road that is yet. I guess I’ll just stare out at the fork in the road a little longer, waiting for a sign.

I really enjoy traveling with my friends because it’s my chance to share my love of travel with them. I especially love when they visit one of my favorite destinations in the world. I feel like I am showing them a special part of my life that not everyone gets to see. I’ll show them my favorite eateries, have them try amazing food, frequent my local hangouts, and hopefully make them fall in love with the destination as much as I have.

Today, three friends of mine arrive in Thailand for the holidays. I met Jesse and Joel in 2009 during La Tomatina and we’ve remained close friends ever since. (I spent Thanksgiving with them last year.) Jesse’s girlfriend will also be joining us. It will be their first time in Asia. It will also be Jesse’s girlfriend’s first time out of America. Amazing, huh? I imagine this will be quite an experience for all of them, especially Michelle, Jesse’s girlfriend. The chaotic streets of Bangkok are nothing like Portland, Oregon.

As excited as I am for their visit, I’m extremely nervous.

They have left the whole trip to me. Every detail of every day. While I’m excited since you know how much I love Thailand, I’m worried. What if I screw up? Their experience depends entirely on my ability to plan and organize a great trip. I’m responsible for their happiness.

I know Thailand. I lived here, explored most of the country, and come here every year. I know what they need to see and do but what if it’s not perfect? Sure, we’ve discussed the trip and what they want, but there is still this burden on my shoulders.

While I’ve planned city outings and such for friends, I’ve never been in charge of an entire visit before. No one has ever tossed me the keys and said “you drive the whole the way.”

At times, I’ve dreamt of being a tour guide. It must be so much fun, I would think to myself. To share your passion with someone else in hopes of getting them as excited and hooked on it as you are. I have visions of leading excited groups of people through historic cities in Europe, explaining the history, and introducing them to great food. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t an overly romantic image.

Now, I’m about to lead a 25 day private tour. I have to organize the logistics, take care of the accommodation, arrange hotels, and plan the itinerary. It’s nerve racking but I’m dealing with the anxiety by being thorough, booking everything in advance, and calming my nerves with a few beers.

If it goes well, then maybe playing tour guide is something I’ll do again in the future.

If not, I think I’ll just stick to giving budget advice, drinking beer, and letting my friends plan their own trips in the future.

“Yup” said the little girl selling roses as she handled the bundle to my friend.

We were in Bangkok and I was watching my Aussie friend take pity on a little Thai girl selling flowers to drunk backpackers on Khao San Road. She bought all the flowers, feeling good about herself and confident that she had kept a little girl from staying up all night, sending her home to get rest for school tomorrow.

“Oh what the hell!” I heard her say about 30 minutes later. I looked up and there, across the street, was the little flower girl, selling a new batch of flowers. She avoided us this time.

My Aussie friend was clearly disheartened. She felt as though she had done some good, only to realize the cruel reality of Thailand – that kids don’t go home until their parents say so. After spending many years in Thailand, I knew this was going to happen. My other friends and I had warned her not to buy all the flowers, that the little girl’s parents would just send her out again. But she didn’t listen.

And now that I’m back in Thailand and I see beggars and little kids again, wandering the streets asking for money, I wonder if giving is doing any good or just supporting a flawed system. In much of the developing world, you see kids selling trinkets and flowers to Westerners. You see parents begging with a kid “asleep” in their lap in order to gain sympathy. After all, the parents know what we know – it’s hard to say no to a kid. You automatically feel bad for them. You think about the poverty they live in, the life they lead, and think, “Well, I’ll give a little bit and help out.”

If people weren’t giving, those kids wouldn’t be there. And as much as people protest and shoo the kids away, many other people open their wallets in hopes of doing some good. We look at the woman with the baby in her arms, reach into our pockets, and go, “OK, just a little bit.”

When I see these beggars on the street, I’m often torn on what to do. On the one hand, I don’t want to perpetuate the system. I don’t want the children to be out selling trinkets instead of learning in school. I don’t want parents using their children as a shortcut to quick cash. I don’t want kids to be used as emotional blackmail. I want them asleep at 10 p.m., not dealing with angry, drunk tourists who are annoyed at them.

Yet I often know that many poor families do this out of necessity. They simply need the money. I often think about Bangladesh. Back in the 1990s when child sweat shop labor became the cause de jour, the focus was on Bangladesh sweat shops. There were boycotts. A crying Kathy Griffin. An uproar. Legislation. Clothing manufacturers cracked down on suppliers who hired children. Child labor decreased and Westerners could sleep easy.

Yet years later I remember reading a newspaper article on a study that followed up on what happened to the children in Bangladesh. Turns out, they didn’t go to school. They ended up on the streets as beggars. The families needed the income for food. And, if they couldn’t work making clothes, they could work on the streets.

The need for food trumps all other needs.

I remember once walking past this guy and his kid in a part of Bangkok I went to often with my friends. The man sold some junky stuff that I didn’t want. But one day I walked past him and the desperation, the pleading in his voice just made me stop.

“Just look. Please. Please,” he said.

I never saw such a sincere look of desperation on someone’s face as I did that night. I don’t know if it was all part of the “get money” game, but I just couldn’t look at that guy with his kid and stuff no one wanted and not be moved. I pulled out my wallet and handed the guy 1,000 Baht (a little over $30 USD). He was dumbfounded by the money but I just couldn’t walk past him anymore without helping. The sadness in his eyes was just too real….just too palpable.

Giving money to beggars often represents more than a black and white choice between supporting and not supporting a flawed system. Many of these people lack any real societal support structure that can help them out of poverty. Thailand has no social assistance program. You are on your own. Neither do most developing world where you see such abject poverty and so many beggars.

And so despite hating the system, I usually always give. If there is change in my wallet, I give it to the homeless and beggars of the world. It’s simply too hard to say no. My heart breaks for them.

And I know that is sort of the point. They feed on your sympathy. It’s hard, especially with the kids.

What do you do? Do you give? Do you not give? What’s the answer here? Is there one? I’m interested to know how you deal with this situation as you see it unfold around the world.

“What would you like?” the lady asks me in her English accent.

“Iced green tea,” I reply, unfazed by her accent, she unfazed by mine.

We may be foreigners to each other, but nothing feels really foreign about us.

I grab my drink and head out the door, making my way back into the busy streets of London.

I’m a little lost but not worried. I am, after all, in the country that invented my language.

I look at a few road signs, ask some directions, and I’m on my way.

There’s no real confusion. There’s no sense of being truly lost.

I make my way into the London tube, where I sit silently, looking at the stoic faces in front of me.

You don’t speak on the London tube.

Today is my last day in London, and I’m speaking at World Travel Mart about travel blogging.

Twenty-four hours from now, I’ll be touching down in Hong Kong.

The familiar will be replaced by the unfamiliar.

After 6 months in Europe, I’m finally leaving.

It’s gotten too easy to be here. Too natural.

I move almost too effortlessly between countries.

I know how to make myself understood, even to those who speak little English.

I debate the Greek bailouts like they affect me directly.

I get Europe.

It gets me.

I look at those faces on the tube again.

Soon, they’ll be gone. Replaced by a culture I don’t know. A people I’ve never experienced.

Soon, I’ll be back wandering unknown streets, trying to figure out an unknown language, and bargaining in unknown markets.

I’ll meander down dim alleys lined with street vendors as I take in the smell of new spices, soups, and dishes.

My stomach will pull me in different directions.

I’ll wonder if that taxi driver is really giving me a good price.

I’ll marvel at the unknown.

Hong Kong may not be an undiscovered place.

It may not even be semi-undiscovered.

Its roads have been traversed by thousands of travelers before me.

It has been written about by hundreds of writers better than I.

But it will different.

And it will be new.

And it will be exactly what I need.

“I do wonder after so many years of travel you don’t seem to have been to that many places, and I would have to say also that many of your destinations are pretty “safe”, well tred places.”

I told him we all go where we most desire to go and my destinations are based on that. This turned into a debate about giving travel advice, what makes an authentic traveler, and a few other subjects. In one of his last comments, he said:

“I’m not saying you aren’t a traveler, but you are a boring traveler…and I do wonder why you make all this fuss about yourself. And yes, there is more authentic travel, and then there is safe, boring, gap year circuit travel. Do you think Marco Polo would have been as revered a traveler, if instead of crossing the silk route into China, he instead hung out in backpacker hostels for years, hitting on young, impressionable girls and drinking beer in the sun.”

I’ve met a lot of travelers who disparage the route others take, and I can’t stand it. Yes, I’ll give you my suggestions and tips on what to see and do in Berlin. I’ll give you tips about how you can travel cheap based on my experience. I’ll think out loud about the nature of travel and my personal thoughts on it as a way to help ME hash out my feelings. If you want to read along and comment, all the better.

But I’ll never make accusations about where you decide to go. That’s your own personal choice. I find it extremely condescending when travelers talk down to others because of their destination choices. I see this all the time on the backpacker trail. I don’t believe there is anything as must see or do when you travel.

Because you travel for you and I travel for me.

I go to destinations based on the order in which I want to see them in.

I skip towns and countries to stay somewhere because it makes me happy.

I hang out in hostels with other travelers because I enjoy it.

I eat sushi around the world because it brightens my day.

I don’t go to countries because I don’t feel like it.

Travel is a highly personal experience.

I don’t care where you go or what you choose to see or skip.

I don’t care if you went away for a year but never got past your first destination because you simply fell in love with it or someone there.

I couldn’t care less if you boozed it up all through Southeast Asia and the closest you got to seeing a local was the guy serving you beer.

It’s not what I would do and I may write a post about why I think you shouldn’t either. But if you do so anyway, good for you.

Why?

Because the only thing about travel that matters is that it makes YOU happy and brings YOU joy.

As Mark Twain said “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Even if to you that just means spending a week drinking in Cancun.

Because your journey is your own.

This is simply mine.

And so it’s time to sit down, relax, sleep, and do some work. I have dozens of articles floating in my head that I want to write and put out there.

And just like I did last year, as I sit down and work on improving this website, I would love your feedback on the site and the content. I want to make sure that you are getting the budget tips you want and would love to know what brings you back to this site, what you like, don’t like, etc.

I created a short survey that you can fill out. It’s 5 questions long and will take about 1 minute to do. Click the link below to fill it out:

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/659356/Nomadic-Matt-s-2011-Reader-Survey

Or, you can simply leave a comment below giving me feedback on the site. Tell me what I can do to help you travel better and make this site more useful for you.

I have seen this attitude expressed on my site when I share my cost of traveling posts. There are always a few people who say things like, “Well, I think you overspent, because I did it for half the price.”

I’ve never understood this cheapness competition. To me, being a backpacker or budget traveler has nothing to do with how much money you spend. Rather, it has everything to do with how you spend it. Just like how you don’t have to have deep pockets or a trust fund to afford to travel, you also don’t have to live on a shoestring to call yourself a budget traveler.

One of my biggest pet peeves is this obsession with cheapness that I see among a lot of travelers. I’ve never understood why a person would live like a pauper while saving money for a trip, only to then go on that trip and still live like a pauper. If you only have a small amount of money to spend, better to take a shorter trip doing all the activities you want than constantly saying, “I would love to do that but I can’t afford it” on your longer trip.

To me, traveling is about being frugal – not cheap. It’s about not wasting money on frivolous stuff. Not snacking or buying a million tacky souvenirs or going out and getting drunk every night. It’s about knowing when and where to spend your money, no matter how much you happen to have.

Can places be visited for dirt cheap? Sure. You can be like this guy who mooched off Europeans for 12 months and thereby only spent $5,000 USD. He spent hardly any money by squatting, hitchhiking, never going out, not visiting one museum, and getting free stuff from people. That’s a great way to travel cheap. I’m sure the locals really appreciated him giving back to the community the way he did. But beyond that, if you camp, cook all your own meals, don’t drink, or never do anything extra that costs money, you can always go somewhere and spend very little.

But to me, I don’t see the point.

Whenever I visit a place and then do a budget guide for it, I always admit that I overspent. Without a doubt, you can always visit a place cheaper than I did. I overspend because travel is my everyday life, and I like to treat myself once in a while. It’s why I include not only what I spent but also discuss why I overspent and how much that country should really cost.

But my guides reflect my idea of what a budget traveler is: someone who spends money smartly, not cheaply. They are for the traveler who wants to go away, perhaps doesn’t have a lot of money, but still wants to enjoy lots of activities.

To me, I didn’t visit Italy to skip the nice meals and gelato. I didn’t go to Bordeaux to turn down a wine tour. I didn’t spend over a year saving money so I could cook cheap dinners every night in a hostel kitchen. I didn’t go to Australia dreaming of the Outback to turn around and say, “No, that trip is a bit out of my budget. Maybe another time.”

I remember when I first went overseas. I did everything as cheaply as I could. I skipped doing a lot of things I would have loved to do in the name of “budget travel.” I never took that cooking class in Italy, I skipped diving in Thailand when I first went away, I never did a wine tour in Australia, and I never went inside the Tower of London.

I regret those decisions to this day.

I said I’d do them next time, when I had money. But you know what? Next time has yet to come. Other things have gotten in the way.

Everyone has his or her own view of what a budget traveler is. To magazines like Budget Travel, Travel and Leisure, or even writers like Rick Steves, “budget” means $120+ USD per night hotels and $40 USD meals. I read those magazines and look at their prices and go, “How is THAT budget travel? That is expensive!” But I guess, for their readers who have a bit more money and are most likely solidly middle to upper middle class, those prices are budget.

At the same time, some people will look at my budget guides and say, “How is THAT budget?” There are always ways to do places cheaper if you are willing to make the sacrifices. Personally, I love camping, tenting, and cooking my own meals – when I’m in the wilderness. But as part of a day-to-day travel lifestyle? It’s not for me. And based on my experience, I don’t think it’s realistic for the majority of travelers out there.

One of my biggest budget tips is to know what you want to spend money on before your trip, and then use that as a basis for forming your budget. That way, you don’t overspend while on the road, because you prepared as much as possible. You won’t come home early because you got blindsided by costs.

If you are aware of your costs, you can better plan your budget and then be frugal with your money – without being cheap. Because you won’t get a second chance as often as you think you will. Spend your money on those great activities that you have dreamed about instead of skipping them just because they come with a price tag.

Travel isn’t some race to the bottom. You aren’t a better traveler because you went to France and decided not to spend any money. That doesn’t make you a budget traveler. I think that just makes you cheap. I think the conversation needs to shift from “cheapness” to “frugality.” A traveler who spends his money wisely, no matter how much he spends, is a budget traveler.

Because frugality is cool. Cheapness is not.

People think traveling full-time is a vacation in itself. But it’s not. It’s actually a lot of work, especially when you throw in running a blog. I’m always so busy.

Ironically, a vacation for me is usually the exact opposite of what it is for most people. Instead of going away, I go home, eat at my favorite local restaurants, watch TV, and sleep, all the while catching up on the work I didn’t do while traveling.

I haven’t been able to even digest this trip home. It’s been somewhat of a whirlwind tour. I was in NYC for two days working out the details of my book deal, a friend from Australia passed through Boston, there was a big night out with high school friends, and now I’m in Mexico. I fly back to Europe for Oktoberfest on the 12th.

My peaceful “vacation” turned out to be busier than the last few weeks on the road!

But it’s been good not having to “travel.” It’s been good being in a place where I know where things are, where to eat, and what to do. I can relax a little bit. I don’t have to go out and sightsee. I’m not in a hostel dorm room. I’m not being asked the typical travel questions by others.

The only time my camera even came out was when I played tour guide to my Australian friend who was in town and wanted to see historic Boston. We did the Freedom Trail, ate some good food, and went out to enjoy the nightlife.

We travelers don’t often play tourists in our own cities. In fact, the last time I explored Boston was 2008. But I really loved it. I took my friend on a guided walk of the Freedom Trail and learned so much about my city myself. I should do this more often.

As travelers, we like to go out and learn about the world “outside.”But we often forget to take advantage of what’s right in front of us in our home towns or states or countries. We have great chances to learn about the history of where we are from, as long as we’re willing to play tourist both abroad AND at home.

Takeaway: If you are sad you can’t travel right now, go be a tourist in your own city. I bet you’ll see and learn a lot.

I was hoping to be able to get way ahead on writing my book and some blog posts while I was home, but that hasn’t happened at all. I’ll need another “vacation” somewhere soon.

Once I’m back in Europe on the 13th of September, I’ll be touring Germany and dressing up in lederhosen during Oktoberfest. I’m there for five very beer-fueled days before it’s off to explore Central Europe and then Japan before returning to one of my favorite places on earth – Thailand.

Until Thailand, it will be non-stop. But I’ve charged up the travel batteries over the last 10 days, and am ready once again to explore the world.

Before I went overseas, I had saved up $20,000 USD for my time abroad. I spent that money long ago.  For the last 2 ½ years, I have lived off nothing but the money I make online. 

Over the last few weeks, a number of people have e-mailed me and asked, point blank, if they could have all my books for free because they didn’t have the money to pay for them. I give away other information for free, can’t I just give them those too? Another person yelled at me because, as some of you might have noticed, I have put a few more ads around my website.

So, with all these questions and concerns, I’d like to take a little time to do a short PSA about this website.

I know I give a lot of free travel information away. From the blog, to the travel guides, to the tips section, you can pretty much get most everything for free here. I don’t think there are a lot of ads on my website. I turn down 90% of the ad offers I get because I only advertise products I use myself and can actually vouch for. But, with all the recent questions, I think now is a good time to address this subject:

Why do you have ads at all?
Many years ago, I quit my day job to travel the world. The money from that job ran out years ago. The ads and books I write pay for my entire life. It’s how I earn a living, pay rent, eat food, go to the movies, and afford the travel that creates the stories that you read on this website.

Well, you’re just a sell out then. Nothing is from the heart if you’re just doing it to make money.
I could get a job doing lots of other things, but I do this because I love to travel and I love to convince other people to travel and prove that you can do it without spending a lot of money. To say that commercializing anything makes it bad is to say that everything people do is sinister. Just like you read magazines with ads, you’ll find blogs with ads. If you think I do this as some sort of insincere way to make money, I think you’ve found the wrong website to read. I love what I do and the ads help me do it just like the ads help keep National Geographic running.

Don’t you just get all your travel for free anyways?
Actually, I don’t. I could and I have received free stuff in the past. Sometimes, I may take a free trip or a free hostel bed, but I pay for 99.9% of all my travels. I don’t really take press trips. I find them too constricting. I like having the flexibility to do what I want. Most of the time, if I get something for free, it is simply a city tourist card for attractions. If I do take a free trip, it is a solo trip so I can keep the flexibility I love. (My recent trip to Norway was paid by the tourism board but I went alone and made my own schedule.) Yet the free trips add up to about 3 weeks per year. Flights (which cost me a lot), food, accommodation, drinks, etc. for the other 49 weeks are all out-of-pocket expenses.

Why put up more ads? You probably make a lot of money already.
I wish! I make a nice living, but I wouldn’t say it is “a lot,” especially after paying website and travel expenses, an assistant, and, very recently, an editor to help make the writing better. I put up more widgets and ads to try to better cover all these expenses.

So you just put up anything to make a buck?
No, as I said, I only put ads up for companies I use and like. Every ad you see on this website is for a company I have used or have a lot of respect for. I am only going to recommend companies I would use myself. I know from emails people use many of the companies I recommend so I want to be able to vouch for every company on this website. I don’t think of money when I put up ads. I think, “Is this company useful to my readers?” I turn down more ads than I accept. If it was just about money, I’d could make a lot more.

I just like reading your blog. If I need more information, I’ll just Google it for free.
Great. I’m glad you are reading this blog and I hope I can help you travel better. That’s the main reason I run this site. But keep this in mind:

For people like me who blog for a living, it is really hard to make money and it requires a lot of work. I spend more time trying to put bread on my table than I do anything else, and often it really takes away from being able to just travel and enjoy where I am. I’m the guy in the hostel corner doing work while everyone else is going out to the beach. But the money keeps me traveling and the traveling keeps this website going, which keeps you informed… for free.  So when you think “all information should be free” and get in a huff about me putting ads up or charging for a book, you make it harder for me (and others like me) to provide all the free content that you enjoy and find useful. Because when no one buys the books or companies don’t think they get a return on their investment, the money stops and then one day I find myself broke and having to get a cubicle job again.

I want to offer as much information as possible for free. If I simply wanted to do something for a paycheck, I’d find something that was a lot less work. I wish I had a trust fund that could pay my bills and never had to worry about money and advertising. But I don’t and bills need to be paid and plane tickets need to be bought in order for me to keep doing the stuff that brought you to this website in the first place.

The advertising does that. I would love it if my books funded this whole website, but they don’t. So the ads help make up the difference, and therefore are going to stay.