Matthew Eley is a native of Gambier, Ohio who didn’t leave the country until he was 22. Having caught the bug, he didn’t stop leaving the country for four years, working as a marketing consultant while living in France, Lebanon, Britain, Qatar and Australia. He’s settling down — for a spell — in San Francisco, from which he intends to focus more in stateside travel while working and living in Nob Hill.
Believing thoroughly that “tourists see what they came to see; travelers see what they saw,” Matthew has strived to always see his surroundings as a traveler, whether staying there for days or years. Initially pitching guest columns to his regional paper as a student, he saw the light as an opinions editor for his college newspaper and still believes that the most interesting travel essays are ones that tell as much about the travelers as they do the destination.
Since his first published piece in 2013, “Home Turf Under Snow Melts Heart During Visit,” Matthew has written travel pieces for publications ranging from the philosophical society publication Gilbert! to the hip, Bay Area-focused Bold Italic. What he cannot convince editors to publish, he publishes in a personal blog, the 21st Century Yankee, or puts in his novels, of which he has written two (the most recent, referencing many of his travels, is entitled The Late Occidental). Being accepted into the Bay Area Travel Writers Association is probably the best thing to happen to his ego since college, when he founded his own drinking and adventuring club called “The Quills.”