Where Matador Wants To Travel in 2013

Ireland

I’m hoping to head across the pond to track down my distant family in Cork…I already have some names, and it only took one email. In 2013 Ireland is having a year-long event called The Gathering, where basically everyone’s invited to come back to find their roots. Hope to get some good stories about it.

– Candice Walsh, Lead Writing Faculty for MatadorU

Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras

This place has been tapping me on the shoulder for a year now. It’s meant to be cheaper than nearby Roatan and very scuba friendly. A backpacker-friendly island stocked with beer and chill times? I’m there.

– Tom Gates, Staff Writer

Juan Fernandez Archipelago (Robinson Crusoe Island), Chile

Off the coast of Chile, it’s supposed to have spectacular plant life, it gets almost no tourism, and I think it’s hilarious how even when you go to far-flung parts of Chile, they know Santiago (where I live). Also: lobster.

It’s a 1.5-hour flight (though one went down recently and all 21 people on board died, so not so amped about that), or about 1-1.5 days on a navy ship from Valparaíso, but they only leave about once a month. The flights are chartered, only leave when they have enough people, weather is right, etc.

Also, not sure how the infrastructure is. They had some significant losses with the tsunami.

– Eileen Smith, Contributing Editor

Slovenia

Because apparently real estate there is super affordable and the idea of living abroad is starting to feel attractive again. This would be a reconnaissance mission.

– Hal Amen, Managing Editor

Blackrock City

For my 3rd burn.

– Josh Johnson, Dean of Education for MatadorU

Iceland

Because I’ve always wanted to go and because I just watched this incredible documentary, Investigation Into the Invisible World, about Icelandic mythology. Swoon.

– Nina Mashurova, Staff Writer

Allahabad, India

Kumbh Mela is a massive Hindu pilgrimage and festival, considered the largest religious event in the world. The upcoming one in Allahabad is the Maha Kumbh Mela, which only happens every 144 years. It’s next month through February — let me know if anyone is interested in going!

– Scott Sporleder, Lead Filmmaking Faculty for MatadorU

Namibia

I’ve wanted to go there for years now and they have this new initiative where a whopping 47% of the land mass of the country is protected. It’s the only country in Africa where large groups of mammals are all growing across the board. Not only is that awesome for seeing wildlife, but I’d like to support a countrywide initiative like that.

– Ross Borden, Founder of Matador

Croatia

I’d love to start from Zagreb and fly out of Dubrovnik. I’ve just heard a lot of great things about Croatia — food, culture, and beaches.

– Noah Pelletier, Staff Writer

Socotra Island

Socotra is an island off the coast of Yemen in the Arabian Sea. It’s a very isolated place with almost no tourists and incredible biodiversity. A third of its flora and fauna is not found anywhere else in the world. Needless to say, it’s a photographer’s dream destination.

– Daniel Nahabedian, Photography Faculty for MatadorU

Burma

Fortunately, I am working there in 2013.

– Colby Brown, Director of Photography for MatadorU

A ‘Great American Road Trip’

For some reason this morning it doesn’t occur to me to fly anywhere. It just seems like all my friends right here in the US have reached points in their lives and families where visiting them on some kind of extended road trip would be a more soulful story than anything else. We’d start heading west from Asheville, stopping in at Austin. Continue north to Ward, Colorado. Some backcountry missions in the Indian Peaks. West from there to the Sierra via Wyoming. Mammoth Lakes. Bishop. Los Angeles. Surfing spots northward to the City. A link up at Berkeley. Back out to Stinson Beach, Bolinas, the “Patch.” Up to the Lost Coast. Beyond that to Camel Rock, Arcata, Portland, Seattle, the Olympic Peninsula (Port Orchard), La Push.

Then the long eastern blaze across to Missoula. Checking out Moscow. Across the Northern Route. Maybe a side trip to follow our recent favorite kids’ book Paddle to the Sea. Checking out the Ottawa River Valley. What are flows like in winter time. Eventually into New York, then on up to Vermont, Craftsbury. Some cross-country skiing. Then back to the South via Appalachia. Stopping at the right pockets. Morgantown, WV. Richmond. Eventually back down to Athens, Georgia. Out to Savannah. It would take 3 months and a Sprinter loaded with boards and stoke.

– David Miller, Senior Editor

Jamaica

Ever since I saw the opening shot in the “Marley” documentary (heli footage flying low over these crazy little clumped hills covered in jungle), I’ve been really wanting to explore Jamaica. I’ve never been and I feel like it’s a place where most people make the mistake of spending all their time at ‘Sandals’ and other all-inclusive resorts, leaving plenty of unexplored awesomeness for people like us.

– Ross Borden, Founder of Matador

Kenya or Ethiopia

To see the solar eclipse on November 3, 2013.

– Carey Groleau, Layout Design

The ‘non-countries’

I’ve pined for a long time to start seeing some of the countries-that-aren’t-countries. I’ll be in Germany from April, so Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh are the two that I would most like to try and find a way into over the summer. They are close enough to Russia that I assume they are far too cold to enable frolicking in the winter months.

– Richard Stupart, Staff Writer

British Columbia and the Western US

I’d like to kick it local, do more exploring in the Kootenays region of BC (hiking, biking) and hit up more climbing spots in the summertime, especially some of the bigger ones south of the border: Red Rocks in Nevada, Moab in Utah, Joshua Tree in California.

– Carlo Alcos, Managing Editor