My nephew Matt Parker is a grad student at Loyola University in Chicago. In January 2014, he will be doing some global traveling for a class called Comparative Consumer Behavior and Marketing in Emerging Southeast Asia.
About 20 students will be accompanied by their professor to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam; Siem Reap, Cambodia; and Bangkok, Thailand. Matt and a friend are also expanding their trip for a few days in Hong Kong.
Matt is part of a media team that will be taking pictures, capturing video, running a daily blog and posting daily social media updates on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. This will culminate with a documentary video and commercial video to promote this trip in the following years. In addition, Matt will be writing a journal about his experiences on the trip.
This is a fantastic opportunity for Matt to expand his world. He has already done more traveling than I had done at his age but nothing as adventurous as this trip. I applaud his enthusiasm and spirit.
I like to think my association with Global Traveler has rubbed off a bit on Matt. Certainly 10 years of reading GT has made an impression on him. At the very least, I know he contacted GT‘s publisher and CEO Fran Gallagher about some suggestions and tips for the trip.
Family, friends and I will be following Matt’s trip through the various forms of social media listed above. Sometime after he returns, you might even see his recap right here.
— John Wroblewski, online contributor
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