About Travels With Matt
Hey, I’m Matt.
I’m a solo traveler and the person behind Travels With Matt, a travel blog built around firsthand experiences, practical advice and the parts of traveling that do not always fit neatly into a traditional guidebook.
Japan is at the heart of this site.
I first traveled there alone in 2017, arriving with plenty of excitement and almost no idea how comfortable I would eventually become navigating the country. Things that seem routine to me now — using the train system, walking into a small restaurant alone, figuring out where to stay or simply knowing what to expect after landing — once felt completely unfamiliar.
That experience is a big reason this blog exists.
Travel Advice From Someone Who Remembers Being New
There is no shortage of information online telling you where to go in Japan.
Travels With Matt approaches things a little differently.
I try to write for the person who is sitting at home planning their first trip and wondering what the experience is actually going to be like.
How difficult are the trains?
How much money should you realistically budget?
How many days should you stay?
What happens when you walk into a restaurant and cannot read the menu?
Is traveling Japan alone intimidating?
And what are you supposed to do with the inevitable feeling that there is simply too much to see?
Those are the questions I remember having myself.
After multiple trips to Japan, including extended time exploring Tokyo, Osaka and destinations beyond the major cities, I have learned that good travel advice is not only about knowing where the attractions are.
It is about helping someone feel prepared enough to actually enjoy being there.
That is what I want this site to do.
More Than Travel Guides
Not everything on Travels With Matt is meant to tell you what train to take or where to spend the afternoon.
Some of the most important parts of travel are harder to put on an itinerary.
The nervousness before your first solo trip.
The confidence that slowly develops when you realize you can navigate somewhere completely unfamiliar.
The restaurant door you almost did not open.
The city that begins to feel strangely familiar after returning several times.
The quiet walk back to your hotel when you know the trip is almost over.
I write about those experiences too.
That means you will find two different kinds of travel writing here.
There are practical guides designed to help you plan and navigate a trip, especially if you are visiting Japan for the first time.
And there are personal stories and reflections about what traveling alone actually feels like once the planning is over and the trip becomes real.
I think both matter.
The First-Time Japan Manual
If you are planning your first trip to Japan, the best place to start is the First-Time Japan Manual.
I created it as a step-by-step resource for travelers who want more than a list of attractions.
It covers the entire planning process, including when to visit, how long to stay, building a realistic budget, creating an itinerary, choosing destinations, booking flights and hotels, transportation, technology, cultural expectations and eventually what to expect once you actually arrive.
The Manual continues to grow as new chapters are added.
My goal is simple:
By the time you leave for Japan, I want you to feel excited about the trip instead of overwhelmed by it.
Who This Blog Is For
Travels With Matt is especially for people who:
- are planning their first trip to Japan
- are considering traveling internationally alone
- want realistic advice from someone who has actually made the trip
- prefer independent travel over heavily scheduled tours
- want to understand what traveling somewhere feels like, not just what attractions exist there
- enjoy slower, personal travel writing alongside practical guides
You do not need to travel exactly the way I do.
You do not even need to agree with every opinion I have.
The goal is to give you useful information, share what I have learned and hopefully make unfamiliar places feel a little easier to approach.
Why Travels With Matt
I am not a full-time traveler.
I do not live permanently on the road.
I am not trying to visit every country as quickly as possible.
I travel around a normal working life, save for trips, plan them carefully and then try to experience as much as I reasonably can without turning every day into a race.
That perspective shapes everything I write here.
Travel does not have to become your entire life to become an important part of it.
Sometimes one trip can change how you think about yourself, another country or what you are capable of doing on your own.
That happened to me with Japan.
Years later, I am still going back.
And I am still writing about it.
