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Matthew Lightfoot

Goodreads Author

Born

Leeds, The United Kingdom

Website

https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Matthew-Lightfo...

Twitter

2WeekTraveller

Genre

Travel, Biography, Humor and Comedy

Member Since

September 2019

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Matthew Lightfoot is the UK Based author of five travel books which track a progression through the 'Two Week Traveller' , visiting 150 countries while negotiating the limitations of annual leave restrictions; to a career break round the world journey which opened up his eyes to new possibilities as he reached his fifties; and finally, to his retirement from the corporate world and an introduction to the world of longer term, slower travel on a budget.

Born with an insatiable wanderlust and inspired by an addiction to travel writing, but restricted by the demands of a full time job, Matthew Lightfoot set out to explore the world using his annual work holiday allowance. His first book, The Two Week Traveller, tells the tales of his adventure Matthew Lightfoot is the UK Based author of five travel books which track a progression through the 'Two Week Traveller' , visiting 150 countries while negotiating the limitations of annual leave restrictions; to a career break round the world journey which opened up his eyes to new possibilities as he reached his fifties; and finally, to his retirement from the corporate world and an introduction to the world of longer term, slower travel on a budget.

Born with an insatiable wanderlust and inspired by an addiction to travel writing, but restricted by the demands of a full time job, Matthew Lightfoot set out to explore the world using his annual work holiday allowance. His first book, The Two Week Traveller, tells the tales of his adventures. Often described as ‘one of those people that things just happen to’, he lives up to his reputation with a collection of humorous, hair-raising and thought-provoking travel tales that span the entire globe over a period of 30 years. Being chased by rogue elephants and robbed at gunpoint by a stoned policeman; accidentally cycling down an airport runway and getting trapped in a voodoo ceremony are the sort of anecdotes Lightfoot vividly recounts in the Two Week Traveller.

Matthew's second book, Snapshots, describes a career break round-the-world journey during which he wrote his first book, using thirty years of travel snapshots to jog his memory. His present day adventures take us on a campervan journey across New Zealand, to being castaway on a Fijian Island, then from the mysterious nation of Paraguay, across the countries of the high Andes by bus to South America's Pacific coast. Along the way, a series of long forgotten images lead us on a photographic exploration of the author's past adventures around the world. Lightfoot attracts incidents and his tales embark on a fast-paced tour of the people, history, cultures and eccentricities of cities around the globe, as memories are rekindled through photos appearing randomly on a laptop screen.

Matthew's third book 'Out of the Cage' was published in 2024. After 38 years of employment, the author escaped the confines of corporate life with the intention of travelling the world. Instead of adding to his adventures in 150 countries, he found his movements restricted by the lockdowns imposed in response to the Covid pandemic. Nearly three years after leaving work he finally set forth again to discover whether it's still possible to travel independently and unplanned in a post-Covid world. Whether travelling through Europe in a motorhome, or South East Asia and India by dilapidated buses, overnight trains and slow-boats, Matthew continues to attract the incidents and adventures featured in his first books. This time though, he must adapt to travelling as a retiree on a budget and the travel style is slow, long term, unplanned and on a budget...what could possibly go wrong?

The author's two other books are a departure from the format of his other work. The Arts of Part Time Travel and Retirement Travel are guides to making the most of your time away, whether that's a short break from work or longer term travel as a retiree. Not so much what he did, as how he did it, and now you can too! Matthew utilised every possible trick and hack to maximise use of his travel time and now he shares that knowledge gleaned over 30+ years of travelling the world.

Matthew Lightfoot's books aim to inform as well as to entertain, and combine richly detailed story telling with evocative descriptions which take the reader to off-the-beaten-track locations around the globe. They also detail the life of a working traveller through the various stages of a career, from office junior right through to retirement.

You can read excerpts from Matthew's work on Substack - @matthewlightfootauthor
Twitter and Instagram @2WeekTraveller.
Facebook page -The Two Week Traveller Book ...more

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Matthew Lightfoot’s books

Average rating: 4.21 · 174 ratings · 21 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Two Week Traveller (Matthew Lightfoot Travel Books) 4.06 avg rating — 122 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Snapshots (Matthew Lightfoot Travel Books) 4.65 avg rating — 26 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Out of the Cage (Matthew Lightfoot Travel Books) 4.38 avg rating — 16 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Art of Part Time Travel (Matthew Lightfoot Travel Books) 4.60 avg rating — 10 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Art of Retirement Travel 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Matthew Lightfoot…

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Matthew Lightfoot's Blog

New Book!

My new book, the Art of Retirement Travel is now available on Amazon-

Matthew Lightfoot's travels took him to over 150 countries on every continent. He utilised every possible mode of transport to travel to the farthest corners of the world and had countless adventures along the way, using only his annual work holiday allowance. The title of his first book was obvious - The Two Week Traveller.

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Published on July 07, 2026 06:57 • Tags: retirement-books, retirement-travel, senior-travel, senior-travel-book

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Series by Matthew Lightfoot

Matthew Lightfoot Travel Books (4 books)
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Matthew Lightfoot (Goodreads Author)

4.21 avg rating — 174 ratings

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Matthew Lightfoot wrote a new blog post New Book! My new book, the Art of Retirement Travel is now available on Amazon- Matthew Lightfoot's travels took him to over 150 countries on every continent. He Read more of this blog post »
Jul 07, 2026 06:57AM · like
Matthew Lightfoot wants to read The Travelling Ape: What Travelling (Nearly) Everywhere Taught Me about Humanity, Geopolitics, and Happiness by Michael Mackay Richards (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 22, 2026 03:53AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Travelling Ape by Michael Mackay Richards. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Travelling Ape by Michael Mackay Richards <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Matthew Lightfoot made a comment in the group Goodreads Authors/Readers — 2 Minute Travel Tales! topic " I've recently started using Substack to promote my 4 travel books via excerpts added to the site which I then share on my Twitter account (@2WeekTrave ...more "
Apr 22, 2026 03:43AM
Matthew Lightfoot joined the groups Goodreads Authors/Readers and Shamelessly Promote Your Books
Apr 22, 2026 03:40AM
Matthew Lightfoot made a comment in the group Shamelessly Promote Your Books — 2 Minute Travel Tales! topic " I've recently started using Substack to promote my 4 travel books via excerpts added to the site which I then share on my Twitter account (@2WeekTrave ...more "
Apr 22, 2026 03:28AM
Matthew Lightfoot made a comment in the group Around the World in 80 Books — 2 Minute Travel Tales! topic " I've recently started using Substack to promote my 4 travel books via excerpts added to the site which I then share on my Twitter account (@2WeekTrave ...more "
Apr 22, 2026 03:17AM
Matthew Lightfoot rated a book it was amazing The Two Week Traveller (Matthew Lightfoot Travel Books) by Matthew Lightfoot (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 22, 2026 01:42AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Two Week Traveller by Matthew Lightfoot. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Two Week Traveller by Matthew Lightfoot <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Matthew Lightfoot rated a book it was amazing The Art of Part Time Travel (Matthew Lightfoot Travel Books) by Matthew Lightfoot (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 20, 2026 02:27AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Art of Part Time Travel by Matthew Lightfoot. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Art of Part Time Travel by Matthew Lightfoot <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Apr 20, 2026 02:27AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Out of the Cage by Matthew Lightfoot. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Out of the Cage by Matthew Lightfoot <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">