Hello! It's nice to meet you
We Are Matt & Heather...
And we are the people behind this website. We are active, and young at heart adventurers. Our goal is to inspire you to find ways to infuse adventure into your life and your travels!
Our Story
1996-2001
Young and Free
First Trips Together
We met many years before, but 1996 was the year that we finally admitted to ourselves that we should be together! Jobs and university had us living apart but we both nurtured our wanderlust together and apart.
We travelled together to Mexico and spent time exploring S. America, Australia and Nova Scotia independently.
2001 - 2004
The Alaska Years
The Contract Life
We both worked with youth guiding outdoor trips in beautiful South East Alaska. In between contracts we would hop on a plane and explore what we could, when we could.
Travel Included Venezuela, Peru, the 3 Guyanas, Brazil, learning to sail, and Disneyland!
2004
The man
We bought a house
We moved back to Calgary and bought a house. We each found full time jobs and settled into the routine of being a grown up. Sigh.
The good news is that stability and consistency meant that we could re-establish important friendships, and make new ones. Matt learned how to run marathons and ran his first one in Hawaii!
2005-2010
Short leaves of Absences
The Wanderlust was too strong
It didn't take long for us to feel the pull of travel again. We were fortunate to negotiate short leaves from our jobs and we took advantage any chance we could.
Trips included Southern Africa, Florida Everglades, Destination Marathons (Greece, France, Ireland, United States, Portugal), Road Trip in Mexico, and India.
2012-2013
The year off
Long term travel
6 weeks was just not enough! Again, on leaves from our jobs we set out for a year of travel. The first version of this blog was created.
We started with a canoe trip in Northern Canada. We bought a one way ticket to Russia and the rest we figured out as we went. Destinations included: Eastern Europe, walking the Camino in Spain, the Middle East, Eastern Africa, S.E. Asia, Australia and Disneyland.
2013-2017
Let's make this happen
Can we retire?
Many nights of contemplation, budget development and dreaming occurred. We returned to Eastern Africa, and headed to Argentina with friends. We returned to Mexico for some short breaks and we paid off our mortgage.
We became more serious about the blog and decided to invest time and energy into helping others infuse adventure into their lives and travel.
2018 - 2023
& Beyond
We Are Travel Bloggers!
We sold most of our stuff, and rented out our house and headed out on our adventures in April of 2018.
Our plan when we left our jobs was to spend 1/3 of any year backpacking (hostels) and exploring new destinations and returning to old favourites. 1/3 of any year backpacking (camping), bike touring, or canoe camping and the other 1/3 of the year house-sitting and/or on a workaway.
As you can imagine, Covid changed a lot of things for us. We managed to travel throughout some of the Covid years, but our 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 plan isn't going exactly as planned. Mostly the last 1/3 - we haven't slowed down enough to stay put in any location for very long. Maybe we will slow down at some point, but it sure doesn't look like it will happen anytime soon!
To see some of the adventures we got ourselves into, check out these Year in Review Posts below.
2023 Year in Review
This could be the first time we have written a year in [...]
2022 Year In Review
Long time no post! Blogging post Covid is still something we are [...]
A Long Look Back and Looking Forward (Part 2) 2021-2022
This is the second of two posts about how two long term [...]
A Long Look Back And A Look Forward – 2020 – 2022 (Part 1)
You have not heard much from us recently. Yes this has been [...]
2019 Year in Review – Looking forward to 2020
The New Year is the perfect time to reflect on the past [...]
2018 Year in Review / Looking forward to 2019
This post contains affiliate links. If you click on any of these [...]
What to Expect from Reason2Roam
Our goal is to inspire you to find adventure in your lives and in your travel. This doesn’t have to mean flinging yourself off a bridge, or whitewater rafting the Zambezi – although those are both super fun. It can mean trying something new or different, meeting new people, travelling with less of a plan than you normally do, or pushing your boundaries. The sky is the limit!
You will find stories of our adventures in the hopes that they inspire you to infuse adventure into your life. We also offer tips and tricks to help you make the most of your travel dollar and time. You will find product recommendations only for things we use, or trust.
Our travel style is cheap and cheerful, but we recognize everyone has different standards. We believe that regardless of how you travel (budget, luxury, international, local adventures, cruises, etc..) it has a profound impact on you and it will help you grow as a person.
A lot of our time is spent outside and living simply. We look for experiences that allow us to hike, canoe, kayak and camp and our stories reflect that. You are unlikely to find much information from us on the best fashion or shopping for this reason.
We believe strongly in sustainable and ethical travel. We recognize this is not a black and white concept and may not be defined the same for everyone and that is OK. In general we try to be good to the planet and not impact negatively vulnerable people when we travel. We don’t give money or things to anyone while travelling except in exchange for services and we don’t purchase from children on the streets.
At the core of everything, we believe that people are good regardless of where they live, how they pray, who they love, and who they voted for. People will help you when you ask (and sometimes when you don’t). The world is NOT a dangerous place and people are not out to get you.
What People say about us
Matt and Heather were a fabulous source of info (and food!) when we met so they could chat with my 16 year old son before he ventured off to Kenya. Makes such a difference to talk with those who have been there and relate so well to young people. We so appreciated their support.
Kelly B
I am looking forward to living some life through you 2 – enjoy and be sure to keep us posted – this is a fabulous site.
Jane B
…it is so exciting and interesting and informative to follow your happy travels. The pictures posted are beyond beautiful and interesting. Your excitement is contagious. The detail is fabulous and we look forward to your every blog.
Gord S
