Update | Backpackingmatt.com

backpackingmatt February 22, 2011

The New Face of Backpackingmatt.com

2011 is going to be a banner year here at Backpackingmatt.com. As I explained in my January Update, I have a number of exciting initiatives planned in the coming months.

Each of these will ultimately result in a travel blog that is more beneficial to you – the budget conscious traveler or backpacker.

I’ve spent the last fourteen months working off this more-or-less unaltered Thrilling Theme. It’s been fantastic. Cody of Thrilling Heroics developed a user-friendly and slick looking theme – I’ve loved it, yet I’m ready for some changes.

First, you’ll noticed a newly designed header. This design focuses on Backpackingmatt.com’s tagline:

Life’s a Journey

While much of Backpackingmatt.com‘s archives are filled with my experiences and my travel advice, it’s my intention in the coming months to open this website up to your travel experiences and your travel advice.

The result? A travel blog that more effectively lives up to its moto:

Exploring the Unknown and Offering Travel Advice, Inspiration, and Ideas to the Budget Conscious Traveler or Backpacker.

I’m currently talking with a couple writers who are interested in joining Backpackingmatt.com as paid contributors – if you’re interested, please contact me.

Second, you’ll notice on the front page of Backpackingmatt.com I’ve added a featured post slider. I’ve been wanting this for some time – and many thanks (and virtual beer) go out to Chris of TheAussieNomad.com for helping me make this dream a reality.

This allows me to feature posts from my archives that very often get missed by new visitors to Backpackingmatt.com.

Lastly, I’m currently producing Backpackingmatt.com t-shirts that feature part of the new design from my header. I’m excited to wear my brand, and it’s my hopes you will be too.

It’s been almost four years since I fell in love with backpacking and experiencing the unknown and the tagline “Life’s a Journey” rings very true to me. Throughout my journey I’ve met unforgettable people and been exposed to unbelievable scenery.

The journey has taken me to some of the world’s most beautiful places – yet there is still so much to see. If you can relate, you might just want a Life’s a Journey Backpackingmatt.com T-Shirt.

To get things started, I’ll be giving away one t-shirt (with postage paid to anywhere in the world) to a randomly selected commenter on this post.

Simply leave a comment below – your thoughts on the new design, why you’d want a shirt, or perhaps your feelings on living your life as a journey – and I’ll be announcing the winner on the Backpackingmatt.com Facebook Page on Friday, March, 11th at 12:00PM – New Zealand time.

Happy Travels,

(Backpacking)Matt
‘Life’s a Journey

The header was designed by Griffin of TheTravelingDesigner.com – he was fantastic to work with and I’m over the moon with the final product we created together.

backpackingmatt January 27, 2011

January Update, Links, & The Next Step

Life Updates 26 Replies

As I write this monthly update, I’m on a US Airways flight from DFW – LAX (with a surprising amount of leg room). My 2011 is off to a fantastic start.

Fantastic, yet certainly chaotic. I’ve been balancing trips around the US to visit friends and family, with the day-to-day responsibilities of running a travel blog, along with a seemingly endless battle with an embassy to get a visa.

Though I spent longer in the US than I initially anticipated, it was an excellent refresher and break from living out of a backpack. A break that I feel is essential to successful long term travel. It’s trips home that remind me why I’m living the lifestyle I am.

I know I’m not ready to settle down permanently and will continue to make steps that will ultimately allow me to live a location independent lifestyle filled with travel and experiencing the unknown.

I’ve been humbled over the past weeks with the support I’ve received through comments, retweets, rising traffic numbers, and mentions throughout the travel blog community. It’s a rewarding community to be a part of, and anyone considering a long term backpacking or RTW trip should make sure to get involved.

Here are some mentions Backpackingmatt.com has received in the travel blogosphere over the past couple weeks:

Matt of NomadicMatt.com listed me as one of his Favorite Travel Blogs from 2010. A great mention from the guy that started it all. Matt recently wrote a book on how you can travel the world for $50 per day – an excellent read, check it out.
Johnny Vagabond listed Backpackingmatt.com as one of 10 Hot Travel Blogs to Watch in 2011.
Christine of c’ est Christine recommended my post 10 Fascinating Places I Traveled to in 2010 as an inspirational read for those looking to Travel More in 2011. Christine is off to Australia next month – stop by and wish her luck.
GoMadNomad.com featured a photo I captured in beautiful Raglan, New Zealand, in his Photo of the Week series.
My recent travel video, Exploring Bali, was featured on the new Travelfish.org Bali Blog.

The Next Step for Backpackingmatt.com …

I have a number of new initiatives in the works for Backpackingmatt.com.

I’ll be releasing these updates periodically over the coming weeks and months, so be sure to watch this space. I’m working on a minor redesign, seeking out a contributing writer, developing a partnering website, as well as adding an exciting new section to Backpackingmatt.com.

Follow me on Twitter, become a Fan on Facebook, and subscribe to my RSS feed to make sure you don’t miss out on any of these updates.

The Next Step for Me …

I’m on this US Airways flight to LAX, as once I arrive I’ll be catching a long-haul flight back to beautiful Aotearoa – New Zealand.

I’ll be returning to Queenstown on the stunning South Island where I’ll be running NZbyBike.com.

NZbyBike is the leading marketing company for cycle tourism in New Zealand – a one-stop shop for anyone considering a cycling holiday. New Zealand is one of the world’s top destinations for mountain biking and through detailed maps, ride notes, and a directory of cycle-friendly operators, NZbyBike.com promotes New Zealand as a bloody great place to cycle.

We’re based in the Queenstown Innovation Centre, and I’m honored to work alongside a brilliant group of guys who are experts in web design and well involved in the New Zealand tourism industry.

I’m looking forward to a 2011 filled with travel – around New Zealand, over to Australia, and hopefully a trip back to Southeast Asia as well. If you’re passing through New Zealand, please feel free to email me for advice and swing through Queenstown to say hello.

Happy Travels,

(Backpacking)Matt
‘Life’s a Journey‘

Do you have exciting travel plans for 2011? Let me know in the comments section below.

backpackingmatt December 8, 2010

December Update, Links, & Your Chance to Win $250

Life Updates 65 Replies

I have just lived a month of my life that I’ll remember forever. My experience backpacking in Thailand was absolutely fantastic – though drastically different than I expected.

I left beautiful Queenstown, New Zealand, hoping to ‘get away from it all;’ I wanted a place to clear my head, focus on Backpackingmatt.com, and determine what was next. Shortly after arriving in Bangkok, I began meeting fellow travel bloggers who helped to make my experience in Thailand what it was.

About one week ago, I boarded my first of four flights and 45 hours of travel that would land me back in the US of A. Despite two long-haul flights of 14 and 8 hours, it was a surprisingly painless experience (these tips on surviving a long haul flight surely helped). Since arriving back in US, I’ve been catching up with friends & family and readjusting to life in America.

In the coming weeks I’ll be trying to stay warm in Iowa while figuring out the details for the next step in my journey.

Mentions Throughout the Travel Blog Community

This past month saw Backpackingmatt.com mentioned in a couple places throughout the travel blog community:

Christine Gilbert of AlmostFearless.com included Backpackingmatt.com in The Best of 2010: 100 Inspired Travel Blogs. It’s a great honor as Christine runs one of the best-read travel blogs online. If you’re not following her and her fascinating story, you’re missing out.
Amanda of Dangerous-Business.com included my recent travel video Exploring Bali in her ‘Best Blogs of the Week‘ post.
The Never Ending Voyage recently hosted the Gen Y Travel Blog Carnival and selected my First Impressions: Southeast Asia post in the best of the month’s “Travel Stories” category.

Thank You & Your Chance to Win $250

It’s been quite the inaugural year for Backpackingmatt.com; I’ve been truly overwhelmed with the support I’ve recieved from the travel blog community & friends who have followed my journey. Be it a tweet, a comment, a shared beer, or a supportive email, I’ve enjoyed getting to know all of you.

In an effort to thank you for your support in the past 12 months, I’m giving away $250.

This $250 gift comes in two forms.

First, I’ve teamed up with HotelClub.com, and we’re giving away a $200 voucher that can be used at any of their almost 70,000 accommodation options worldwide.
Second, I’m going to send you $50 that you can use however you like. I considered an Amazon.com or equivalent voucher, but as many of you are on the road I know cold hard cash is hard to beat.

How to Enter:

First, simply leave a comment on this post telling us where you’d use your $200 voucher from HotelClub.com.
Second, tweet this: “Find out how to win $250 at Backpackingmatt.com http://su.pr/3GWLuy (cc: @backpackingmatt)”
If you’re not on Twitter, simply share the link to this post on your Facebook wall.

You can only enter once, and you have until 11:59pm (Central Standard Time, US) on December 21st, 2010 to do it. The winner will be chosen using Random.org, and then announced on December 22nd.

Thanks again for your support, happy holidays, and good luck!

About HotelClub:
HotelClub is a world leading global accommodation website offering hotel and accommodation bookings for up to 12 months in advance, listing hotels in cities big and small, from grand hotels in NYC to boutique accommodation in Madrid. Established in 1996, HotelClub provides consumers with over 69,000 accommodation choices in over 7,300 cities worldwide throughout 138 countries. HotelClub is a truly global offering with its services available in fourteen languages. The company operates three websites – HotelClub.com, RatesToGo.com and AsiaHotels.com.

backpackingmatt November 12, 2010

November Update, Links, & An Epic Trip to the Airport

Southeast Asia, Travel Advice, Travel Photos 7 Replies

I’m writing this November update on an AirAsia flight from Denpasar, Bali, to Bangkok; I’m covered in sand, my face is gray with road grime, but I’m unbelievably happy to be here, as three hours ago I was almost certain I wouldn’t be sitting where I am now.

I woke up just before sunrise this morning in the small, undeveloped village of Medewi on Bali’s West Coast. I hoped to surf for a couple hours before heading to Kuta to catch my flight. By 6:30, I was at Medewi Beach – instead of five star resorts and hawkers, the view from Medewi was intensely green, flooded rice paddies and grazing cattle.

This little corner of Bali has yet to be overdeveloped and it was a peaceful place to spend my final morning.

Though I had minimal luck surfing, it was a refreshing way to start the day – and a stark contrast to the mood I’d be in three hours later. Thanks to another meeting with the Bali Polisi, heaps of traffic, and some wrong turns, I was running extremely late. I didn’t think there was any way I’d make my flight.

Somehow, I did. It was an epic journey and you can read more about it here on my post at Flightster.com.

While you’re there, check out the post Meeting a Slightly Crazy (but wise) Shoeless Man in Bangkok. In this post I share my experience meeting a bizarre old man from American one afternoon in Bangkok.

Mentions Throughout the Travel Blog Community

It was another good month in terms of mentions to Backpackingmatt.com throughout the travel blog community. Check out these posts below:

Caz at the yTravelBlog enjoyed my 20 of New Zealand’s Best Views post and included me in her Best Travel Blogs of the Week list.
Scott & Christy at OrdinaryTraveler.com were shocked I ate crickets in Bangkok with AdventurousKate. Understandably. Yet the bugs were actually shockingly tasty. They mentioned me in their Biweekly Roundup of their Favorite Posts.
One of the few bloggers who loves New Zealand as much as me, Amanda from DangerousBusiness.com, mentioned my post on Kuala Lumpur in her Best Blogs of the Week. She said, “Matt writes this post in the first-person, and really makes you feel like you’re seeing/hearing/smelling Kaula Lumpur for the first time along with him.“
The Matador Network – the world’s largest independent travel magazine – featured my Franz Josef New Zealand Travel Video on their MatadorTV page.
Without a doubt, the biggest news of the month came when AsWeTravel.com listed me as one of the 25 Most Inspiring Bloggers of 2010. AsWeTravel included me with some of the biggest names in the world of travel blogs – the likes of NomadicMatt, Christine Gilbert of Almost Fearless, Anil of FoxNomad.com, and Gary of Everything-Everywhere.com.

Quick Week in Bali

I was in Bali visiting an old friend from Canada who I met while I was working in an Edinburgh Pub. It had been almost three years since we had seen each other last. I always enjoy reconnecting with friends in random parts of the world. Jess is from Canada, but we first met in Edinburgh, and she now lives in Australia. Who would have ever though we’d meet up again three years later in Bali? Not me.

Bali was fantastic.

While I’m not sure the country is ideal for quote, un-quote backpacking, it was an excellent place to spend a week. Friendly locals, beautiful beaches, thick jungle and relatively budget-friendly, Bali is someplace I’d return to in a heartbeat.

While I was there, I shot a lot of footage of my journey around the country on a rented scooter. Though the filming isn’t perfect as it was nearly all done solo, I’m really excited with how it turned out. Look forward to a Bali Travel Video in the next week as I have some serious editing to do first.

Sweet Mirror in a Seminyak (Bali) Restaurant

I think typically with videos, shorter is better. This one will turn out to be quite long unless I run it in a Part One & Part Two format. I think it flows well and works better as a 12 – 14 minute long video, but maybe I’m wrong.

As it’s you that will be watching it, what would you prefer?

One ten-minute + video, perfect for that morning cup of coffee, that escape at the office, or that evening beer or glass of wine? Or two shorter videos? Please leave your comments below.

I’ll be spending the next three weeks in southern Thailand. In addition to doing quite a bit of work, I’ll be exploring a couple Thai Islands, heading to the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan, and hopefully meeting back up with Adventurous Kate and meeting Cody from Thrilling Heroics to maybe do some rock climbing in Krabi.

Keep up to date with my travels by following me on Twitter or becoming a fan of Backpackingmatt: Life’s a Journey on Facebook.

Until Next Time,

(Bacpacking)Matt

backpackingmatt October 7, 2010

Update, Links, and The Next Step

Life Updates 25 Replies

Spring has finally arrived in Queenstown.

The days are getting longer, warmer, and it’s becoming very obvious that this would be an excellent place to spend the summer. Gone are the days of winter sports and I’ve been busy working with NZbyBike developing the preeminent marketing website for cycle tourism in New Zealand.

Two weeks ago I jumped head first into the world of mountain biking and rode the Rail Trail Classic – a 150 kilometer (100 mile) mountain bike ride that stretches across Otago on the Otago Central Rail Trail. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Training? Nope. I hadn’t been on a bike since wine tasting in Marlborough ten months ago. It was brutally painful – nine solid hours of pedaling with a nasty headwind for the final 30 miles. I hit the wall three or four times and somehow kept going.

It was an unbelievable feeling of accomplishment to finish.

It has been a busy month in terms of mentions and guest posts elsewhere on the web. Over the past month Backpackingmatt was featured in the blog posts listed below:

Adventurous Kate included me in her “Best Blogs of the Week“
CollegeScholarships.org named Backpackingmatt.com as one of the “Top 150 Travel Blogs for Students“
Amanda from DangerousBusiness.com listed me in her “Best of the Week“

Lonely Planet retweeted two of my posts and after only a couple weeks they’re now two of my Top 10 viewed posts of all time. It’s always great to see @LonelyPlanet pick up a post as it results in a quick increase of views, Twitter followers, and RSS subscribers.

New Zealand’s Top 5 Backpacking Destinations – 94 retweets & 1,427 page views
20 of New Zealand’s Best Views – 83 retweets & 1,012 page views

I also contributed two posts over at the Flightster.com blog:

The Next Step …

I’m going on 11 months in New Zealand. I’ll remember these 11 months for some of the greatest times in my life – and also for some of the most challenging. The last two months specifically have been extremely difficult and I’ve decided I’m in need of a change of scenery – a chance to clear my head, experience new places, and again be challenged by travel.

One week from Saturday I’m catching a series of flights that will ultimately land me in Thailand.

I have serious mixed emotions about leaving NZ, but I’m excited for the next step in my journey. This trip will mark a series of firsts – namely my first time in Southeast Asia and my first go at solo travel.

I have three quick nights scheduled across the Tasman in Australia. I’ll be in Sydney the night of the 17th and on the Gold Coast for the 18th and 19th. The Surf N Sun Backpackers has offered to host me for two nights and hopefully I’ll get to give surfing another go.

I’ll then be catching a cheap Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur where I’ll spend the night of the 20th before flying into Bangkok on the 21st. The plans end there. I’ll take the days and weeks as they come and see where I end up.

If you’ll be around any of these places, get in touch with me and we can meet up.

In the coming weeks look forward to fresh new content on Backpackingmatt. I’m excited to again face the unknown, be pushed out of my comfort zone, and experience the joys that come with traveling to new places.

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Tag Archives:
Update

The New Face of Backpackingmatt.com

Each of these will ultimately result in a travel blog that is more beneficial to you – the budget conscious traveler or backpacker.

Life’s a Journey

To get things started, I’ll be giving away one t-shirt (with postage paid to anywhere in the world) to a randomly selected commenter on this post.