where are you going?

My favorite kind of adventure stories don’t feature daring escapes from wild animals or treks into distant jungles. I am more drawn to ordinary people who take risks to follow their dreams, and if those dreams involve a few lovable dogs, all the better. Shirley Harman lives with a pack of seven dogs, and in 2016, at the age of 58, she embarked on a remarkable journey with Tina, a nine-year-old mixed-breed terrier, and Lyssa, an 85-pound German Shepherd. First, they drove 3,500 miles from California to the Canadian/Vermont border. Then, they trekked 275 miles on the Vermont Long Trail from the northern border to Massachusetts. The Long Trail is America’s oldest long-distance hiking path and was completed in 1930.  Shirley began her trek on September 2, 2016, and spent three weeks putting one foot in front of the other, through quintessential New England mud, torrential rain, and glorious autumn sunshine, and then spent the next two years writing about her adventure. He...

Posted: 6/19/2019 | June 19th, 2019 Last month, I announced the release of my next book, Ten Years a Nomad: A Traveler’s Journey Home . It’s about how I became a traveler, my life as a backpacker, all the lessons I learned, and what those lessons mean for travelers. It features stories I’ve never told and goes deeper into my philosophy on travel than I ever have on this blog. This book follows the “emotional” journey of a trip around the world: getting the bug, the planning, setting off, the highs, the lows, the friends, what happens when you come back — and the lessons and advice that come with all that. And the early reviews have been pretty good! “In his heartfelt explanation and exploration, Matt runs through just why he’s been out there, backpacking the world for 10 years. By the end we’ve definitely realized, like Matt, how important travel is and how getting out there, on the road, can make you, me and the world a better place. It’s a great pi...