A Return to Where It All Began

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Welcome to another edition of The Matt Viera Newsletter.

The newsletter with the goal to inspire you to invest in life experiences.

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I recently returned from a weeklong trip to Germany.

A trip that turned out to be one of the most meaningful experiences I've had in a long time.

It was meaningful for three very different reasons.

First, it was the “Inaugural Boys Trip" for my best friend and me. We've talked about doing one for years, but life always seemed to get in the way. This time we made it happen.

Second, I was able to spend the day in Munich (at Oktoberfest) with a friend I met twenty years ago in Miami when we started law school together. We don't see each other often, and we hadn't seen each other in a few years. Yet the moment we met up in Munich, it was as if no time had passed.

And third (and perhaps most personally significant), Germany was the first country I ever traveled to and lived in outside of the U.S. It's where my love for travel and adventure first took root. And a country I will always have a fondness for.

The Boys Trip That Finally Happened

My best friend currently lives in Scotland.

Back when he lived in Brooklyn, it was easy for us to grab dinner, go for brunch, or spend the day pubcrawling.

But a few years ago, he met someone in Dubai who would later become his wife.

And since she was from Scotland, he relocated there.

We've stayed close despite the distance.

Every time I take a mini-retirement in Europe, he and his wife make it a point to join us.

They've joined us in Barcelona, Budapest, and Bologna.

And each time they join us, my friend and I carve out a day just for the two of us to catch up, talk about life, and laugh like we always have.

But those single days were never quite enough.

This year we finally changed that.

We chose Germany as our destination, in part, because another close friend (my former law school classmate) was heading to Munich for Oktoberfest.

We needed to experience Oktoberfest.

The plan was simple: meet up and spend time in Frankfurt, take a day trip to Bamberg to visit the brewery that makes my favorite beer of all time (Schlenkerla), and spend a day at Oktoberfest.

An added bonus was that my friend from Scotland got along great with my friend (and his wife) from law school.

It couldn't have gone better. We caught up, swapped stories, and made new memories. It was one of those trips where everything just clicked.

A Sentimental Return

Beyond the fun and the friendship, returning to Germany stirred something deeper in me.

Frankfurt was the first city I ever landed in outside the U.S. I didn't live there (I lived in Nuremberg). But returning to Frankfurt felt like returning to the starting point of my adult life.

The sights, the sounds, even the scent of the air.

All of it brought back memories of a younger version of myself, full of curiosity, ambition, and possibility.

It made me realize how much time had passed and how many paths I've taken since that first arrival in Germany years ago.

It's a rare feeling to return somewhere that represents both who you were and how far you've come.

This trip reminded me that sometimes the most meaningful experiences aren't about exploring new places, they're about returning to old ones with new eyes.

When you revisit a place that once shaped you, you get to measure growth in ways you can't through reflection alone. You see how much you've evolved. You remember where you started.

And if you're lucky, you reconnect with people who've been part of that journey all along.

What's the Point of All This?

The point of all this is to remind you that life moves fast. Relationships drift. Places fade into memory.

It's moments of traveling with close friends, reconnecting with people who knew you before your current chapter, and standing once again in a place that formed part of your identity that remind you of the importance of life experiences.

You don't always need to look for what's next.

Sometimes it's worth looking back.

Because you may find that what's familiar still has something powerful to teach you.

The Final Point

Germany gave me more than a great trip.

It gave me perspective.

It was a reminder that even as we move through different chapters of life, there's value in revisiting where the story began.

I returned to the country where my love for travel was born, spent time with two friends who've been a part of my journey for decades, and created new memories in a place that already held so many old ones.

And that's the beauty of experiences like this: they remind us that the best trips aren't just about seeing the world…

They're about seeing yourself in a new light.

Quote that caught my attention:

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

—T.S. Eliot

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