No, I’m not telling you, my loyal readers, to go away; however, I am recommending that you take some time to get lost – in nature. Go for a hike! I’m not talking about a forced death march up and down some mountain trail, gasping for oxygen and being chased my bears, but if that’s your thing, go for it! If you aren’t an adrenaline junkie, just an hour or two walking at a comfortable pace in a natural setting every few days can do wonders for your health and peace of mind. Admittedly there are many days when from the comfort of my recliner the idea of taking a walk is not anywhere close to the top of my to-do list, but usually my inner parent “makes me” go and without exception, once I get out on a quiet trail in a rural setting for a couple of hours, I never regret it.
As I welcomed in 2024 watching a truly impressive fireworks display over downtown Providence, Rhode Island, I decided that one of my New Year’s resolutions needed to be paying more attention to this website and creating some new blog posts for the new year. As I’ve shared in earlier posts, during the last few months of 2023 I was preoccupied with finally getting my book published and trying to promote it.
At Home in the World: Reflections of a Travel Addict is for sale in both paperback and e-book formats at Amazon.com. While it’s not likely to crack the New York Times Best Seller List anytime soon, it has received a dozen 5-star reviews on Amazon and I’ve had a lot of very positive feedback about it. If you’ve purchased it already, thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you’ll take a couple minutes to post a review of it on Amazon. I’ve noticed that even a single purchase or the addition of one review can boost the book’s sales ranking on Amazon considerably, so every little bit helps.
Little Emma wishes she were old enough to read my book; luckily it has lots of photos to keep her interest until then!
If you haven’t gotten the book yet, I hope you’ll consider buying a copy. For anyone living close to southeastern Massachusetts, I’ll be doing two public Author Nights/Book Signings this month. The first, hosted by Friends of the Millicent Library in Fairhaven, Massachusetts will be Wednesday, January 10 from 6:30 to 7:30PM. Next, the main branch of the New Bedford Public Library in my hometown of New Bedford, Massachusetts will have me as a guest on Wednesday, January 17 from 6:30 to 7:30. Books will be on sale and available for me to sign at these events.
A candid shot of me at a book signing in November; I must have just noticed that all of the brownies on the refreshment table were gone!
In November I turned 65 years old, a landmark birthday. My dear friend Judy sent me a set of Roman numeral birthday candles, allowing me to replace the 65 individual candles that could have potentially started a house fire with a simple L, X and V. Now that I am officially a Massachusetts resident, what better birthday cake to place the candles on but a Boston Cream Pie from Flour Bakery in Boston. It was a memorable birthday, and I’m gradually adjusting to the shock of realizing I’m now on Medicare.
Roman numeral birthday candles: what’ll they think of next?
Now that my birthday and the holidays are behind me, I have a couple of blog posts I’m working on that I’ll be posting soon, so please stay tuned. I’ve also started pondering some ideas for another book, but that is a bit further off. Meanwhile, I hope that all of your holidays over the past two months were joyful, bright, and merry and that the new year will bring all of us good health, peace of mind, time with loved ones, and of course, more happy travels.
My first trip to Iceland was in June of 2008, and it was among my most favorite travel destinations. The scenery was other-worldly, the peace and quiet appealed to me, and the food, though expensive, was top-notch. Unfortunately, my travels over the years never seemed to bring me back to Iceland, but as I began to plan a European getaway for this fall, the new Icelandic airline called Play offered fares so low that it made my trip entire trip feasible. Since all of Play’s flights pass through Reykjavik, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to revisit Iceland for a few days after visiting Italy and London.
I just returned from my first trip to Europe in several years. My primary destination was Italy, but given how easy it is to “hop” around Europe fairly cheaply once you’re across the Atlantic, I decided that while I was in “the neighborhood”, I simply had to go to London to see ABBA’s innovative concert/show/spectacle, and so I planned a two night stop-over in London for that purpose.
Thanks to the gigantic monkey wrench that COVID threw into all of our lives, I haven’t traveled abroad since the summer of 2019. To some, this may not seem like such a big deal, but for me, who was once described by Diletta, my former Italian teacher, as someone who “goes to Europe the way some people go to the grocery store,” this hiatus from international travel was a huge change in my life. Ambiguous and ever-changing COVID restrictions that varied from country to country, uncertainty about the economy and my own finances, and the threat of a larger war developing in Europe all made me wonder whether I would ever get back to Europe, and especially to my beloved Italy again.
Autumn. It’s that time of year again when New England achieves its highest level of “New Englandness.” The days begin to shorten, the air has a slight, but noticeable chill in the early mornings, the leaves start turning to a palette of all of my favorite shades of red, orange and yellow, and the smell of cider donuts and “pumpkin spice everything” assails the nostrils. I’ve always loved fall, and in my humble, native New Englander opinion, there is no better place to be in late September and early October.
Today is September 11, 2022, 21 years since the horrible day that changed our world forever. Back in October of 2001, I actually made a pilgrimage of sorts to Lower Manhattan, as I simply had to see what had happened to New York after the events of the prior month.
One of my favorite songs has always been Bon Jovi’s Who Says You Can’t Go Home. I can relate to the lyrics, which talk about coming full circle in life: from wanting to break away from your hometown to explore the world, but ultimately realizing that home is where you really want or need to be. As so often happens with music, this song has taken on new significance for me over the last few months.
Recently, in a desire to find some peace and solitude and to avoid the ever-increasing prices of even a modest hotel room, I spent a week in the mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.
After a few weeks of exploring the panhandle, south Florida, and the Gulf Coast I’m now based on the Atlantic side of the state in Ormond-by-the-Sea, a quiet beach community just north of Daytona.
Today is September 11, 2022, 21 years since the horrible day that changed our world forever. Back in October of 2001, I actually made a pilgrimage of sorts to Lower Manhattan, as I simply had to see what had happened to New York after the events of the prior month.
MATT: AT HOME IN THE WORLD 