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Open in new tab He’s the lucky lottery winner who’s already blown £80,000 on a booze-fuelled around-the-world jaunt.
And Matt Myles isn’t planning to stop there. After travelling to a lifetime of dream locations in just eight months, Matt is splashing the cash in the millionaire’s paradise of Dubai – where he’s already spent £8,000 in a day. He reveals: “Barasti Beach, Blue Marlin Beach Club, quad biking in the sand dunes, Zero Gravity Club, shopping in the malls. That’s where the cash has gone!”
the cash has gone!” Rewind to April this year and Matt was working night shifts in a factory in his home town of Hereford when the second Euromillions ticket he’d ever bought netted him £1million. Immediately he vowed to drink his way around the globe. “I spent £25,000 for fi ve days in Ibiza, £10,000 for a few days in Bali, and £15,000 on the World Cup in Rio,” says the 27-year-old. “Some days I spent up to £5,000 boozing and enjoying myself.
“Bali was the most insane. I went to a nightclub called Single Fin, a surfers’ hideout. “It’s in thick jungle overlooking the sea with loads of people in vests and shorts. “We got ridiculously drunk and went home on the backs of mopeds with totally inebriated drivers.” But his dream could have easily turned to tragedy. During a stop-off in Thailand, Matt spent the night drinking and partying with another British traveller, David Miller – who was brutally murdered in the same spot.
Tragic David, 24, and fellow backpacker Hannah Witheridge, 23, were killed in Koh Tao in September. Two Burmese migrant workers have been arrested over the horrifi c crime. But Matt, who was travelling with brother Pete, believes it could have easily happened to him. “I was at the bar with David Miller all night laughing and joking,” he said.
“We all knew the locals out there are really dangerous and try to take advantage of you. “Days later Pete almost got stabbed. If he wasn’t such a good sprinter he could have had his throat cut. “He got a lift with a local who drove him to the middle of nowhere and pulled a knife to his neck demanding money.
Escape
“Pete knocked him down and ran for his life, and fl agged down a Westerner who drove him to safety. “We could have been killed out there just like David Miller and the girl he was with. “I honestly believe that if us lads hasn’t stuck together, and had gone off alone with a girl on the beach, we could have ended up slaughtered. “As it is Pete was nearly murdered. If David Miller had been with another guy instead of a blonde girl that probably wouldn’t have happened to him. I think we had a narrow escape. It could have happened to me.”
The brothers also became embroiled in a brawl with a group of drunken Brits. Matt says: “A group of Brits had rented a Thai girl and Pete was innocently there. But because they were drunk, they thought that Pete was trying to come on to this girl and punched him in the face. “It almost turned into a mass brawl, with locals getting involved, about seven of them and only three of us. “All this suddenly made you think: ‘What the hell are we doing here thrown into this Thai madness with knives and death?’” After his close shave in Thailand, shaken Matt headed home to take a break from his jet-set lifestyle and spend time with mum Vivienne – who still works as a £6-an-hour cleaner in a local care home.
“I’ve paid off her debts and pleaded with her to stop cleaning but it’s something she likes to do,” he says. “She enjoys interacting with the people at the care home, many of whom don’t have family to visit them. “Mum was so worried about me just living for the day, boozing, having fun, going to clubs with the money, that she lost a lot of weight, stayed up worrying all night, and feared I would go off the rails. “It was obviously diffi cult to call her from Thailand because of time differences but we tried to keep in touch as much we could to put her mind at ease.”
Former Army corporal Matt is now planning to use his fortune to make this Christmas one to remember for his family. “I’ll be getting my family and friends the presents of their dreams,” he explained. “A fi ve-star holiday for mum and my stepdad Simon, because they have never been away together by themselves. “I’ll take everyone out to dinner and buy them up to £5,000 of presents. My mum hasn’t got a watch so I plan on getting her something like that. “People think I’ve been stupid with my money, but I really haven’t. I have got enough that the percentage I pay myself each month from the interest more than looks after me.”