Around the World in 80 days: A  novel by Jules Verne about a bet to travel around the world.

“\ 0 8 0”: quasi-octal representation of the number of days I will be traveling (64) to make the allusion to the Verne novel. (However, a) 64 in octal would actually be \0100 in this representation, and b) my trip actually extends into the 65th day measured door to door.)

Travelling Matt: A character from Fraggle Rock, who explored outer space beyond the rock and studied the behaviors of humans, i.e. the Silly Creatures.