Who Am I & What Is This?
Hello.
If you responded with your own hello, or your own variation on the word hello (options include but are not limited to: hi, howdy, hey, etc.), even though you know I couldn't hear you say it, you are my kind of person.
If you responded with "etc." then get the hell out.
My name is Matt, and I go exploring. Specifically on June 10th I'm going exploring all over the world. That's going to be the main focus of this blog. Daily updates on my travels, experiences, and thoughts. If that sounds like something that interests you, bookmark the page and/or put your email in the subscription box down below to get notifications about each post as they are published.
Fun fact about me: I am a fan of the ampersand*. I also believe it should be "amprisand" because that's how everyone says it and it looks way better that way. This is probably not the fun fact you expected me to lead with, but let that be your first lesson of this blog. Expect the unexpected.
I graduated from Emerson College one year ago with a degree in creative writing. I have since worked part time in grocery stores and lived in my parent's house. So you know, also expect the expected.
On slightly more positive notes, writing has been a passion of mine since middle school*, so it is a dream come true to be able to pursue it as a career. Traveling is another of those dreams. I haven't dreamt of traveling as long as writing, but I know I'm going to have a great time combining the two.
My obsession with traveling took off two years ago when I took a summer screenwriting class in Greece. This was my first experience traveling without being surrounded by family. Don't take that the wrong way family. Traveling has always been amazing, no matter who I'm with, but I think it is important (at least for me) to try this on my own.
I leave in twenty days. The reality of that hasn't quite sunk in yet. It still seems far away. I don't think I'll really realize it until I'm standing in Dublin with a backpack and hours to kill before I check into my AirBnB.
I'm nervous, but I'm not letting that overwhelm the pure excitement I feel.
So here's the current travel plan: Dublin (brief stop in Galway) --> Rome --> Zurich --> Munich --> Prague --> Vienna --> Budapest --> Tokyo --> Sydney --> New Zealand.
Two months abroad. Three to six days per city, and the final three weeks in New Zealand so I have plenty of time to soak up all the glory that is the Lord of the Rings film sites*.
On other smaller notes, check out my Instagram @mattgoesexploring, link should be in the top right of this page, just click the camera icon. There should also be a YouTube link right next to that one, which will take you to my channel where I will have some fun travel videos coming out once the trip gets going.
Also I'll probably put some music in each post. The song might have to do with where I am or what I'm doing, but it might also just be something I'm enjoying at the time. I like sharing good music and since SquareSpace lets me put songs in here I'm gonna take advantage.
Also, ice cream is a food. Just in case you were wondering.
- Matt
*Secondary fun fact about me and ampersands: Despite it being largely useless I taught myself how to write an ampersand just because I enjoy them so much.
*Middle school: In middle school I had notebooks that I would fill with pages of stories. One of them I got to over 100 pages into. Of course they were all epic fantasy stories. Hence the next asterisk.
*Lord of the Rings: Look forward to the future post of my experience in Hobbiton. Most likely sometime in mid July. I might be more excited about this than anything ever. But I also might be exaggerating.
