Why I Never Stop Traveling and Exploring the World

I’ve been running cityHUNT for 25 years. And if there’s one thing that’s kept me inspired, kept the ideas flowing, and kept me genuinely excited about the work, it’s travel. Not a vacation. Not a break. Travel as a way of seeing, creating, and staying alive as an entrepreneur.

My Happy Place

This year alone I’ve already been to New York and Miami, and I’m just getting started. Every time I land somewhere, something shifts in me. I start noticing things, a piece of street art, the way a neighborhood has changed, the energy of a new hotel lobby or a hostel common room. My brain turns on in a different way.

That’s not an accident. That’s why I do it.

Both Worlds

Here’s something people don’t expect me to say: I love staying in high-end places AND I love staying in hostels. There’s beauty in both. Sometimes a client puts me up somewhere incredible, and that’s its own kind of inspiration. Other times, I want the backpacker vibe, the energy of a hostel, the mix of people from everywhere.

Ramit Sethi, who’s actually been a cityHUNT client, once talked about how he spends a lot on clothes but drives a Honda Civic because that’s what brings him joy. That hit me. I started asking myself: what do I spend my resources on that truly brings me joy? The answer, every time, is travel and experience.

Street Art to Storefronts

When I’m walking around a city, I’m always working, even when I’m not “working.” I’m taking pictures of street art. I’m clocking a cool alley or a weird storefront. I’m thinking, that would be a great clue. That corner would be perfect for a challenge.

My trip to New York this January, even though we got snowed in, was still amazing. I’ve been going in and out of New York since I was 18. Watching those neighborhoods transform over decades, that’s a living classroom for what I do.

When You’re Stuck

There’s a specific feeling I get sometimes as an entrepreneur. A low hum of self-doubt. Does this still work? Are we still relevant? Is the game still good?

Every time I travel, that feeling goes away. I go to Miami, I watch a team from a San Francisco tech company playing cityHUNT on South Beach, people laughing and competing and being creative, and I think: yeah. Still works. After 25 years. Still works.

Getting out of the office, getting on the ground, seeing how people are living and what they’re building in cities, that’s what breaks through the noise for me when I’m stuck.

Freedom and Exploration

I know not everyone is like this. A lot of people in America never leave their county, let alone their state. I get that. But for me, freedom and exploration are core values. They’re not hobbies. They’re who I am.

What’s wild is that I built an entire company around those values without fully realizing it at the time. I loved exploring cities, I loved connecting with people in cool spaces, and somehow I turned that into a business that does exactly that for thousands of people every year.

Travel doesn’t just inspire me. It reminds me why I started.

Conclusion

If you’re an entrepreneur feeling stuck, burnt out, or like the spark has gone a little quiet, here’s what I’d say: get out. Go somewhere. It doesn’t have to be far or expensive. Stay in a hostel. Eat the quality inexpensive local food AND the nice dinner. Look at the street art. Watch how people move through a city.

You’ll come back with more than photos. You’ll come back with ideas.

That’s what travel does for me, and it’s what cityHUNT was built on. If you want to experience that energy firsthand, explore what we do at cityHUNT and see what happens when a whole city becomes your playground.