I’ve been following the world-wide travels of Matt Harding since early 2005 when he posted his first YouTube video. One of the items on my bucket list (as yet unreleased) was to meet someone made famous by traveling to more than 80 countries. Today I checked that off my list when I had lunch with Matt Harding of www.WhereTheHellisMatt.com. There’s a lot of background as to why I put Matt on my bucket list, but I am sure you’ll get a better idea if you watch a couple of his videos.

In 2012 I missed Matt because I couldn’t fly over to Oahu and meet there. But I never gave up hope that one day we’d meet because I knew that Matt is fond of Maui. At one point somewhere between discussing the best options to get decent smartphone reception in South-East Asia and Leoda’s amazing Banana Pie, I was talking with Matt about the tourism draw to Maui. I explained that Maui has been the highest rated island to visit in the world for more than a decade, and Matt said, “I believe I can say with authority that that is true”. Because Matt has visited more than 80 countries since 2003, I think he’s got plenty of credibility with regard to travel.

Here’s the video we did after lunch:

Sure was a great time. Matt’s book about “Dancing Badly” which I purchased in 2011 was finally signed today.
I was happy that many of my local friends were there to enjoy lunch with Matt as well (Darren McDaniel, Jill Mayo, Peter Liu, Kevin Bates, Chris Norberg, Julie Yoneyama & Jon Maui).

This is Matt’s 2005 video that got me hooked on his adventures:

And in 2006 Matt did this video:

In 2008 Matt released his next video:

And finally, the newest video was released in 2012:

It was a pleasure to meet Matt, his family and friend Elan Lee. I’d like to give thanks to Darren McDaniel of Honua Kai Resort for making this meeting possible.

The lesson I learned from Matt over the years is that you can create a path to your dreams as long as you’re willing to dance outside the box now and then.