Matt Harding has done it again.
I first learned of Matt’s website, www.WhereTheHellIsMatt.com, back in 2005 – long before he reached his current status as a Mega Internet Celebrity. His blog caught my attention because of his particularly amazing travels and his very unique/funny writing style. And, of course, his video.
Back in 2003, when Matt embarked on his first round-the-world journey, a friend mentioned to him that it might be funny if he videoed himself doing his little “jig” at all the places he visits. He agreed, and when he got home, edited the clips together and sent it to his friends and family. It wasn’t even posted on youtube. Nevertheless, it spread like wildfire – it spread so widely in fact that after not too long, Matt began receiving media coverage. And eventually, corporate sponsorship.
In 2006, the Stride Gum company contacted Matt and told him “If you’d like to make another video (with our logo on it), we’ll pay for you to go anywhere you want for a year.
WhereTheHellIsMatt 2006 was born. It took him from Galapagos to Easter Island to Antarctica. The video got nearly ten million hits on YouTube, and became one of the most viewed videos of all time. So a year later, with his email box literally overflowing with messages, Matt come up with another idea: what about taking a third round-the-world trip and inviting all his fans to dance along with him?
Stride said they’d pay for it.
The third video just came out three days ago.
I highly suggest giving them all a look – he’s been to some really amazing places, enough to make anyone jealous, and the dancing concept makes the shots quite humorous. I just wish I’d thought of the idea before he did! 😉
In my opinion, the videos are best viewed in order – but at the very least, make sure you watch the second. It’s got some of the best shots of all.
Here they are:
WhereTheHellIsMatt, 2005:
WhereTheHellIsMatt 2006:
WhereTheHellIsMatt 2008:
Been there….been there….been there (but not Nelli’s Airspace, Rwanda (what the…) or Antarctica (but I’ve been to South Pol(and))
fun stuff…..makes me want to take more pics of myself 😉
Looks like your comment got cut off there, El Pedro 😛
Andy: You should! AND START UPDATING YOUR WEBSITE with photos of China! heh 😉
Miss you…
Hi there,
My name is Stefan, and I’m from Romania.
I’ve been reading your blog for a long time (since your first public posts) and the reason I’m writing to you is this:
I’m planning a 2 week trip to Japan sometime in september. I’ve never been outside the border before (i know…) and first time out i want to go to a place that I’m sure i’ll be enjoying very very much. The problem is that i know next to nothing about Japan, how expensive it is and stuff like that. Also, I do have a tight budget, and i plan to stay at hostels and ryokans (if they’re affordable). I’m planning to visit as much as i can ( with a few days in kyoto and 2-3 days from one place to another ). For this purpose i’ll be getting a dice and leave it up to it where will my next destination will be (if you ever seen the Diceman show you know what i’m talking about). My japanese is next to nothing except a few words. What i’m asking from you ( you being virtually the single person i know with good knoledge about this country ) is for tips, advice, what you can share on this matter. If you or anyone who reads this have the time to drop me an e-mail at mistia at gmail dot com about this it would be greatly appreciated.
Also, sorry for my crappy english, i hope i made myself understood.
Hi Stefan,
Congratulations on your trip!
The first piece of advice I’d offer you is to NOT travel by “rolling the dice.” Especially if you’re on a tight budget, some careful planning will ensure that you get much more variety and enjoyment out of your money. Of course, this is coming from someone who obsessively plans everything – but I’ve just found that if you show up in a place without at least SOME idea of what you want to do and how you’ll go about doing it, you end up spending lots of time and money just figuring things out and getting settled. Wouldn’t it be better to just show up already knowing what you want to see so you make sure you don’t miss anything potentially awesome?
I wrote a post awhile back on how I go about researching a trip before departing. That post is HERE.
I also e-mailed you a few large documents that I’ve sent to various friends who’ve asked for tips on traveling in Japan.
Enjoy! 🙂
Thanks Justin for sharing. I can’t help but be touched by these – how no matter how big this world is, and how different we are as people – we are all united by the same sense of fun, dance, laughter. Peace on Earth.
Thank you very much, you’ve made my day! On the dice thing, i agree with you. BUT, using the dice is not THAT of a random thing 🙂 I was thinking of giving the dice the honor to choose from 6 predefined routes, places to see, things to do. Because i’ll be short on money/time, i won’t get to see everything i want to see, so i thought it was best to leave it up to it.
Additional hilarity: