TL;DR
I’m 24 days into this trip now! Scandinavia was cool and Italy was HOT (and didn’t have AC 🫠)
I’ve been hiking in some really amazing places - and the Dolomites was mind-blowing for a lot of reasons (more below)
This week, I’ll cross two new countries off my list - Germany and Austria (countries #24 and #25 for me) - and I finally planned out the next two weeks
CURRENTLY
Documenting my journey
Organic Maps is fantastic
Here’s a video of the best way I’ve found to navigate hikes offline, whether backpacking or day-hiking
I had some fun making some silly little reels while hiking in the Dolomites - it was hard not to be in a great mood up there
TRAVEL GALLERY
Ratings and Highlights
I thought it would be fun to rate the cities I visit on this trip and share a few highlights from each of them. The new cities since last edition are:
🇪🇪 Tallinn, Estonia: 6/10.
Tallinn has a really beautiful historic downtown and an interesting mix of Scandinavian and Russian culture. Overall, I didn’t find that much to do other than walk around and play disc golf, but it was nice.
Never seen churches like this before
🇫🇮 Helsinki, Finland: 8/10
Absolutely glorious disc golf in Finland! Helsinki itself has a nice downtown with pools and saunas on the docks, nice cafes, really interesting architecture, and solid transit. It was just expensive.
A really fun tee shot
🇮🇹 Florence, Italy: 8/10
I could give the history and the beauty of Florence a 10. And I could give the weather conditions while I visited a 0. I’ll go for an 8, with the points docked due to the conditions (100ºF, no AC, tons of mosquitos). Some of the best Renaissance art and architecture I’ve ever seen. My 2018 Italy study abroad course skipped Florence, and so it felt great to go back to visit it.
This guy was taller than I thought he’d be!
🇮🇹 Cinque Terre, Italy: 9/10
This was a really fun day trip with my friends Justin and Carlie - to see these historic towns nestled into the cliff-sides, swim in the rocky ocean, and eat our way through the villages was a real treat.
I mean, come on
🇮🇹 Ortisei - Dolomites, Italy: 10/10
Some of the best views I’ve ever seen from a town, and certainly top-5 hiking views I’ve ever seen in my life. The others would probably be Banff, Yosemite, Zion, and the Tetons. Regardless, this place rocks. Makes me want to hit Mont Blanc and Switzerland next year even more!
Best pano I’ve ever taken, perhaps?
BUSINESS PULSE
I just launched a new landing page for Carolina Trimlight, and now I’m working on all five of their other territories’ sites.
The 14 websites I took on this summer are now 1/3 complete!
This month, we brought on a new health insurance client and will be running their full stack of digital advertising - our growth continues!
We’re hosting a virtual alternative investing summit next week - If you want to know more about alternative investments and cash flow investing, this will be the best time to join our community.
Though most of our members join for a year to get a nice discount on membership
FINANCES
Money and Investing Updates
$120. That’s the cost of two round-trip gondola rides up to the hikes I did in the Dolomites - they definitely have a captive audience! According to their filings, they make over $4 million each MONTH in the summer on the Seceda lift alone! Not bad, considering the ~$20 million cost to build…
$2 (Italy) vs. $7 (Scandinavia) - The differences in the price of a cappuccino - and I bet you can guess which one is better as well…
The answer is Italy lol
WHAT I’M LEARNING
Languages - In 3 weeks I’ve picked up words from eight different languages spoken in the cities I’ve visited. Many of the Europeans I’ve met seem to speak 3-4 languages each on average. I’d bet the average American speaks 1.3 or something.
WHAT I’M CONSUMING
Disc Golf World Championships
All the rounds of frolf I played in Scandinavia inspired me to check in on how the pro tour is going. I used to watch a lot of events years ago, but fell off. The World Championships just happened (in Detroit of all places, lol) - and there was some major controversy…
Basically, on the second-to-last hole, another player (a teammate of the player in second place) called a foot fault (penalty) on the player in first place, who happened to be a young player from Latvia who nobody knew - and who had been leading the tourney for days.
The foot fault was a very questionable call, especially in that moment, and Rainers, the Latvian player, ended up losing the tournament due to that call.
I’m happy for Silas, the player who won, but I think Rainers should’ve won the tournament. What’s done is done, but it’s probably the biggest controversy in years in the sport - and funny that it was the first tourney in a bit that I tuned in for 🤷♂️
DESK OF THE WEEK
📍 Florence, Italy
Photo taken moments before jumping in the pool at the hostel to attempt to cool off…
WHAT’S NEXT?
Next up - I’ve got Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Barcelona, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Madrid, Sevilla, Granada, Malaga, and Edinburgh.
Adventure is out there!
✌️ Matthew
SUPPORT
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Not financial advice. Just a guy sharing his journey. Thanks for being here!
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