EP 16: STARTING OVER, LEAVING CORPORATE & TAKING A GAP YEAR TO TRAVEL WITH MATT WILD

Matt Wild is a lifelong adventurer who spends most of his free time outdoors... from hiking, backpacking and camping, to trail biking, all the way to kayaking, and even surfing. When it comes to travel his preference is always a good old fashioned road trip to somewhere new and exciting. His mission over the past decade has been to find the balance between managing the demands of day to day life with exploring the wild and to help others do so as well.

Show Notes:

00:00 Intro to Matt - Matt reads an excerpt about the beginnings of his love for the outdoors

1:06 Drea reads Matt’s bio 

1:53 Matt explains the excerpt at the beginning that he read

3:02 Matt says that he lost his love for the outdoors when he got older but the Canadian show “Departures” about two guys who decided that were going to quit their jobs and travel the world for a year inspired him to change his own life.  He walked away from corporate in 2012 and took a gap year.  He hit 21 states starting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and didn’t really have a solid plan. 

6:27 Drea talks about her love for loose plans and admires Matt for being able to do that. Matt discusses the sporadic trip to Italy and the fun loose plans that ended up happening. 

9:12 Matt shares the most valuable thing he learned traveling loosely within the United States.  He talks about the infrastructure for road trips in the US being much easier than Canada.  Drea and Matt discusses in detail the highway infrastructure that lends to the American Road trip lifestyle. 

14:19 Drea asks Matt which state was his favorite and his answer was Oregon.  Matt explains his reasoning why he chose this gorgeous state

16:46 Matt tells us why he’s passionate about travel and what it means to him  

19:02 Matt shares his love for the Pacific Coast Highway

19:59 Shares his favorite tip for the CA-1/Pacific Coast Highway

20:28 Matt shares with us why he decided to choose the mountain and outdoorsy lifestyle - He talks about living in Vancouver and the outdoor lifestyle that is so prevalent in the area.

22:46 Matt shares his most challenging thing he’s faced as a hiker which is the high cost of gear.  Matt also shares some tips on how to mitigate those costs

28:17 Matt shares his current hiking boot.

29:14 Matt shares the importance of trying on gear 

31:06 Matt discusses how he prepared for the GAP year and the steps he took to go

35:23 Matt shares his favorite moment during his GAP year

36:13 Matt shares his most fulfilling moment during his GAP year - He was inspired by a Jackie Chan quote and shares it 

37:40 Matt shares his most dangerous moment when he went to Winnipeg and was driving back to Thunder Bay, Canada.  He saw a bunch of moose all over this highway and they needed to stop for the evening to camp. 

42:44 Matt shares the most important people he’s met during his travel.  He talks about finding his best friends on the trails in Vancouver. 

47:25 Talking about spending time on the mountain during sunset and sunrise

50:45 Matt shares his favorite hike - Mount Garibaldi in Canada. He talks about jumping in the glacier fed lake.  He also shares a few tips on how to do this hike. 

59:00 Lake Lovely water is one place that Matt wants to go to via helicopter

1:36 Matt shares his piece of life advice he would give to himself which is that he should do this sooner. 

1:02  

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