You’re living in a city abroad, and you have a free weekend coming up.  Where to go?  Trazzler, a website by the people behind Twitter and Blogger, sets out to answer that question.

A combination of social network and travelogue, it contains user recommendations of where to go and what to do. Trazzler is a cross between Facebook and Lonely Planet. In fact, they already have a Facebook application. They create a traveler profile of you and try to recommend trips you might be interested in, like art museums or adventure treks. The descriptions are a bit light on logistical details (addresses, prices, etc.) because the focus is on the travel experiences. You can also write your trip ideas and post them online.

I think Trazzler is a good place for would-be travel writers to hone their craft, as you’re supposed to capture the feel of a place in fewer than 140 words and provide a good photograph. Some of the pieces on the website are so well-written, they should be in guidebooks.

As the website itself says, you’re free to take your particular obsession, whether it’d be restaurants, hiking spots, etc. and create your own “beat.” Instead of stressing out over pitching topics to a travel editor, you can just do travel writing on your own terms. Trazzler wants to know about the cool places that you’d recommend to your friends. Trazzler’s Writing Guide also makes for an excellent primer on travel writing.

On a recent trip to Bohol, an island in the Philippines, I found myself riding at the back of a motorcycle in the mountains of Sevilla and Sikatuna. The roads were steep, stony, and unpaved. But the view held lush shades of green and the mountain breeze felt cool running against my legs. Knowing that an accidental move of a few inches would cause me to plummet to my death, I thought “This should be in the guidebooks.”

Many travelers have had similar experiences. When they research a destination, everyone tells them about the monuments, museums, restaurants, and the beaches. No one tells them about the lesser-known adventures that are waiting to be discovered. But they’re there. With a little effort, the diligent traveler can find them.

The easiest way to find uncommon routes and activities is by taking public transportation and, occasionally, getting lost. While there are some places where you shouldn’t take this risk, such as areas heavy with gang wars and armed conflict, there are many places where you can do this without feeling vulnerable. Look at your map and find the small towns that no one is talking about. Odds are, you’ll find something worthwhile there, something more fulfilling than yet-another-monument.

I find that it’s also useful to look for someone who isn’t new to the place, but isn’t native to it, either. Someone who is new to the area might not have the information you need, while someone who has lived there all their life might see everything as mundane and ordinary. You need to find the person in between – someone who has explored the place well, but with an eager perspective.

In-depth historical research also comes in handy. It’s always interesting to visit caves where revolutionaries hid, obscure cafes where famous people stopped by, and small rivers where early settlements flourished. Herds of tourists usually don’t visit these places, especially if they’re out of the way.

It may be easy to assume that just because a guidebook doesn’t mention a place, there’s nothing to see or do there. I actually find the opposite to be true. If you commit a little time and diligence to less popular destinations, they can lead to the most pleasant surprises you’ll encounter on your trip.

How do you find new and out of the ordinary places to visit?

Many vagabonders have at least dreamed of running a business that can be managed from anywhere with a reliable internet connection. Whether in the jungles of Borneo, the vast Gobi desert, or the ancient city of Petra, it’s business as usual. However, these road warrior venturists have one unique struggle: how to drum up new business while on the road?

In September, Alison conducted a fascinating interview with Ingo Fast, discussing how he takes his illustration business on the road. He mentions the difficulty of marketing while on the road, saying, “I simply couldn’t focus [as] well on promoting my work as I usually do…” However, there are solutions to this problem.

Internet marketing companies such as AdPropel and Spot Runner can help increase online exposure for vagabonders on the road or business leaders sitting in their corporate offices. These sites are an excellent solution for someone who is on the road because they require relatively little maintenance from the advertiser and work to effectively increase internet traffic and business promotion.

Of course, there are still other strategies to drum up new business. Lea covered some of these in May, including resources such as: industry forums,Twitter, blogs, and LinkedIn.

Combined with professional conferences, a quality website, and of course word-of-mouth advertising, a business can grow and flourish, even when a small business owner is shark diving in South Africa or trekking off into the great unknown.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a time when families gather together to argue drunkenly about politics, morals and all the other fine points of life over plates of bland turkey, over-cooked vegetables and tasteless mashed potatoes.

Okay, maybe it isn’t that bad at your house, but my family seems to span an alarmingly large portion of the political spectrum which makes holiday gatherings, uh, colorful.

Normally I try to lessen the political debates, not fuel them, but last night, at a little pre-Thanksgiving gathering, I got sucked into a hot-button issue for travelers — cultural relativism. Naturally thought I should give my fellow vagabonds a chance to weigh in (or add a little bit of controversy to your own Thanksgiving table if you’re into that sort of thing).

It’s all Wade’s fault really. The perpetual vagabond behind Vagabonding Journey recently posed the question: Are Some Cultural Practices Wrong?

Here’s how Wade frames the question:

Do you feel as if certain traditional and cultural practices can be called wrong? Do you feel that one culture should interfere with the actions of another because they feel their traditions are immoral? Do you feel that one culture has the right to extinguish the long-honed practices of another because they think it is wrong?

Or do you believe that all cultures and their traditional practices are relative? Do you think that certain practices only seem wrong or abusive because outsiders misunderstand them? Should all cultures be allowed to practice their traditions even if they hurt or kill themselves, animals, or the environment?

On the surface it seems pretty easy, obvious even, if you just consider the fringe cases. Most of us would tend to agree that certain cultural practices — forced female genital mutilation, Chinese foot binding, the death penalty for adultery, the old Hindu practice of Sati, to name a few — seem rather horrible even inside their cultural context.

The problem is, as always in moral debates, where do you draw the line?

If you believe that some cultural traditions shouldn’t be continued because they are, regardless of context, “wrong,” then where and by whom is the line between acceptable and unacceptable drawn?

And that’s where things get heated.

As a former philosophy major I can make my professors proud by arguing both points of view with pretty much equal conviction. In the end though I don’t actually think there is an answer. No one wants to be a cultural imperialist, but no one wants to condone some of the world’s more abusive cultural traditions.

Since vagabonds tend to miss holiday gatherings, think think of the comments form below as your invitation to the always-heated Thanksgiving table. I’m curious to hear from both side of this controversial issue.

If you find yourself in Chile, on the South American circuit between Machu Picchu and Buenos Aires, you’ve already gotten past the major hurdle—the airfare to Chile. Need some ideas for getting more bang for your peso while you’re there?

Stay a while: Rent an apartment, and get the best of both worlds—get a better feel for the area and save money. In the capital city of Santiago, you’ll only pay about US$300-400/month. A house on the beach in El Quisco rents out for US$30-$60/night (low season/high season)—notice the extra pesos in your pocket when you split it among a group of friends and cook at home.

Befriend nature: Go rustic when you’re somewhere like Torres del Paine, a national park that just begs to be hiked. Thankfully, the decent number of campsites and refugios (rustic shelters) offer cheap and close-to-the-earth alternatives to hotels. At Las Torres, camping goes for US$6 (add a few more dollars to rent equipment) and the refugio is US$30 (full board), while the hostería is a whopping US$255.

Take the slow road: It’s a long country; bus it, when you have the time. If you compare options from Santiago to Punta Arenas, taking the ferry (from Puerto Montt) and flying (from Santiago) are about the same price, while taking the bus is much cheaper.

Remind them you’re a foreigner: Lucky you! As a foreign traveler you waive the 19% IVA tax on hotels. Just show them your passport and pay with foreign currency or a credit card.

But think like a Chilean: Book internal flights like a native Chilean would—through LAN’s Chilean website, instead of the US version. For example: rather than paying US$742 for a round-trip Santiago-Punta Arenas flight, you get it for US$113! And even when the ticket category is considered the same on both websites (“Flexible”), the ticket is a heck of a lot cheaper (US$406 instead of US$742).

Most of us probably have a healthy fear of common traveler nightmares — missing your flight, losing your passport and other such mishaps. I’m that guy that has to double check every ten minutes on the way to airport just to make sure I still have my ticket, my passport and the rest.

Strangely this paranoia doesn’t seem to affect other forms of transport. I’ve missed more buses, boats and trains than I can count. My logic is pretty simple, I generally only fly to a particular area and then use ground transport, and I’m all for the flexible approach to ground transport. But my greatest fear is missing the opportunity to get out of my home country, hence the paranoia about flights.

Of course that doesn’t mean I haven’t missed some flights (actually only one), but more often I find myself spending long periods waiting in the airport. But as all long term travelers know, there’s no such thing as “down” time, there’s just extra reading and writing time.

But it turns out that many travelers aren’t as paranoid about missing their flights as I am. Since it’s a holiday week here in the U.S. and no doubt many of you will be waiting around airports today, I though I’d point out a highly entertaining tale of travel mishaps — missed flights, lost passports and a powerful oil sheik who comes the rescue.

The story can be found over on the I Keep A Diary blog, where the ever-entertaining Brian Battjer Jr recounts the trials and tribulations of going from New York to Thailand via Dubai. After telling his boss that he’s taking a month off of work, subletting his apartment, and arranging to stay with a friend in Dubai, Brian and his girlfriend speed off to the airport, where they are informed that their flight actually left the day before. Whoops. And it gets even more complicated from there, be sure to read the whole thing.

If you enjoy that story also check out Brian’s trips to South Korea, Japan and more.

Oh and if you’re traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, be sure to get to airport plenty early, not all misadventures have a happy ending like Battjer’s tale.

[via Kottke, Photo from I keep a Diary]

As you read this post, I’ll be somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea on my way to India.

About two months ago (when I planned those last two months in Spain), I foresaw myself being super busy. Teaching, doing 5 hours of intensive Spanish as a build-up to an exam (scheduled 2 days before I fly!), and blogging. Between that, I wanted to make sure I spend time with people close to me here. The thought was a bit overwhelming and it left me a bit low, thinking: I don’t have “quality” time to spend before I leave, I’m just too busy. But, oh my God, what a blessing in disguise.

If I wasn’t that busy, I think my last few weeks here would have been tragic. Too much time to think about moving (and packing at the same time) can get you down and sad, very sad. Being genuinely busy has kept my mind off the fact that I’m leaving and helped me skip, or better said, put aside, the “tragic” part, because I’ve had no time to be sad. Whatever little free time I’ve had, I’ve spent with close friends doing things we always do, and have been able to enjoy them.

I won’t deny that the last few weeks had lots of intense emotions floating around. My closest friends and I, had a couple of breakdowns together. But they only reassured us that this is not a goodbye, it’s merely a ‘see you later’, and that we must have all the giggles and laughs we can before I leave.

So, when / if you choose to make changes like mine, I cannot emphasize enough the importance to stay busy and keep living like you always have been, till the last minute.

And don’t have a farewell party! If you have a party, have one a week or so before you leave, and don’t call it a farewell! Make up a reason; in my case it was the end of my Spanish exam. The point is to have friends together to have fun, not to tear up. And besides, it’s not a farewell!

Sometimes you feel like you’re at the mercy of train or bus timetables or, if you’re driving, scarily numbered streets or terrifying directions.  Even with a GPS to help pinpoint your location, you may not know where you are or where you want to go.

So enjoy it!

Here is a short reading list (beyond Vagabonding, of course, which I still consider the very best reference for nomadism, and I’m not just saying that ’cause I work here) of books about getting lost:

• “Getting Lost: Mishaps of an Accidental Nomad,” by Dave Fox (haven’t read it, but looks intriguing)
• “A Field Guide to Getting Lost,” by Rebecca Solnit (very lyrical and “literary”, but a fun exploration of beauty in the everyday)
• “Getting Out: Your Guide to Leaving America,” by Mark Ehrman (excellent planning guide for the part that comes before getting lost…)
• “Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer,” by Chuck Thompson (this is probably one of the funniest books about travel writing I’ve ever read, so is more anecdotal than how-to, but well worth a read and I wanted to cram it in here.)
• Vanishing Point (a fascinating and supremely useful guide to disappearing in America — changing your identity and fading into the background)

American Pilgrim

Just a quick heads-up to let everyone know that “American Pilgrim,” my TV hosting debut for the Travel Channel, will debut tonight at 11pm EST, 8pm PST. This traditional, Thanksgiving-themed show, which I briefly described for my Marco Polo Didn’t Go There book tour diary at Gadling, is listed on the Travel Channel schedule with the caption, “Host Rolf Potts explores the journey and the legacy of the Mayflower and the Pilgrim Fathers.” Oddly enough, I’ll miss the TV debut myself, as I’ll be reading at 7:30 tonight at Distant Lands books in Pasadena, CA.

Speaking of my book tour, this Los Angeles-area event means the tour is almost over! After a brief return to Kansas later this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, I’ll return to the West Coast on December 6th to appear at Bootsnall.com’s 10th anniversary party in Portland, Oregon. Come on out and join me for this very cool event!

On a final book tour related note, my apologies for the above-mentioned book-tour diary at Gadling, which petered out after the London entry. While I enjoyed writing it from the road, I frequently found that I didn’t have enough time to focus on it properly — and since one only goes on book tour every five years or so, I decided to spend my spare time having fun and meeting friends and readers instead of sitting indoors in front of my laptop. Later next month, I’ll post some belated book tour dispatches here and/or at Gadling, so everyone can get caught up on what I’ve been up to.

In the meantime, don’t forget that Marco Polo Didn’t Go There and Vagabonding both make great Christmas presents for travel-happy friends and family!