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The New York Times has a great photo slideshow called Why We Travel 2008. It’s a collection of stunning photos with fun-to-read anecdotes. A perfect antidote for those who are currently not on the road (but long to get back on it!).
The stories range from the touching, like a woman who taught impoverished children in India, to the funny, an American talking about the people she would not invite on a hike again.
Souvenirs tend to be a big money trap for the traveler. Even if you’re staying away from the tourist gift shops, buying souvenirs can be hard on your budget especially if you’re traveling for a long period of time. You also have to consider the space they take up in your luggage. Also, note how many relatives and friends send you key chains and … Read more »
The results of the location independent survey we told you about earlier are in. We’ve seen the raw (anonymous) data and there’s some interesting things to learn from the numbers.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the survey courtesy of Free Pursuits which hosted it:
268 people completed the survey with about twice as many respondents aspiring to be location independent as those that … Read more »
As a writer who’s often trying to keep herself on track for stories, poetry, and whatever novel might be in the cooker, inspiring yourself to write while you’re traveling is sometimes hard. But if you’re always traveling, then you’re never writing…and then you can’t really call yourself a writer anymore, can you?
It’s easy enough to write in your journal about your thoughts or what you did that day or even some introspective navel-gazing (“The rest … Read more »
Every so often I share outtakes from letters and messages readers have sent me. From a recent sampling of emails, here are some of the ways Vagabonding has encouraged people:
To stop putting off lifelong travel ambitions
“I’m 31 and just planning to start my solo travels in January. A lifetime ambition that I have been, for a variety of reasons, putting off. Your book has inspired me to take action and finally stop … Read more »
A recent post at Matt Gross’s Frugal Traveler blog sparked a heated debate among readers. The post, entitled “Making Vacation Last for Months”, discussed the experiences of two long term travelers – Emerson Breneman and Sean Wallace. To my surprise, the article elicited the following comments:
Oh. I usually just called these people bums. But good for them. – Michael
Grow up fellas. … Read more »
If you’re not second-guessing yourself about making that trip, plenty of relatives and friends are ready to remind you just how dangerous it is to travel abroad.
This article on Brave New Traveler about Why Bad Things Happen to Good Travelers discusses the issue in detail. The author shares his personal perspective, in that he has been to some of the same places that were later hit by troubles. I appreciate that he doesn’t … Read more »
For most travelers, even vagabonds, hitchhiking is not something that normally enters into the list of travel options.
But for others, like Aaron Bell, who has been hitchhiking around the world for seven years, hitchhiking is more than an option, it’s the main way to get around.
To prove that hitchhiking doesn’t deserve the reputation for danger … Read more »
If forced to choose, I’d easily pick a trip abroad over a lot of things in my life. For some reason, it’s hard for me to remember that.
That’s what the TravelMuse Yaycations Calculator is for. It brings a reality check to the mix, calculating 20 expenses that you might consider giving up in order to save travel money. You’ll see what trips you … Read more »
Travel writer extraordinaire Pico Iyer recently published a thoughtful column in the New York Times about The Joy of Less. Iyer’s point is one that I think all vagabonds eventually embrace — the less you need the happier you will be. While there is no formula for happiness, voluntary simplicity certainly seems to be a big … Read more »