London’s bibliophile landmark, The Travel Bookshop — probably best known as a plot point in some Hugh Grant movie you may or may not have had the misfortune of seeing — is celebrating its 30th anniversary next month. To get in the spirit of things The Guardian UK asked owners Saara Marchadour and Julian Mash to list their top ten favorite travel books.

If … Read more »

Everyone has a piece of writing that just speaks to them: poetry, music, a book (maybe Rolf’s book).  Some people remember exactly where they were when they read Atlas Shrugged, for example, and others, when they first heard a tinkling piano introduction.  Words aren’t just meaningful for themselves; they also bring back who you were when you met them for the first time.  not just “where you were” in physical space, but where you were, … Read more »

Last summer the Italian newspaper La Repubblica asked me to spell out five travel tips, as well as five travel “don’ts” for the coming year. This is what I told them:

Five tips for going on vacation

Travel to cheaper parts of the world, like Southeast Asia or the Middle East. Your money will go farther in these kinds of places.

Travel in the local economy instead of using international corporate hotels and restaurants. … Read more »

[Note: Each Saturday this month, Vagablogging will feature self-published travel books reviewed by self-published travel authors. We start with Robert Downes’s review of Two Laps Around the World.]

Review by Robert Downes

A book of ideas as well as adventure, Two Laps Around the World by Bob Riel offers the sort of insights that spring from the traveling life — particularly for those … Read more »

August. For years, the word “August” conjured up images of the last gasps of summer – those proverbial “dog days” spent savoring the good weather and those final days before school started up again. Then in my post-school years, August was just another month like all the rest, only a little bit warmer. This year, however, I’m doing something I haven’t done in years – actually taking an August vacation.

Now, it’s no big round-the-world … Read more »

With all the travel websites offering good deals, which ones really deliver great value?  Matt Gross, writer of the New York Times Frugal Traveler blog, put them to the test in a battle royale, Travel Websites: A Click-On Showdown.

The contest pitted old favorites like Kayak with relative unknowns, like Dohop and Bing.  The results?  You can find out in the article.

The trouble with so-called “aggregator” websites is … Read more »

Another inspiring story of a family on extended travel comes from Condé Nast Traveler. Wendy Perrin writes about Sue Sandford and her four kids (ages 14, 13, 10, 8), who set off last week for a year abroad. First stop? Russia. Still ahead of them: 33 other countries.

Rather than look at it as a vacation, Sue sees it as the educational opportunity that it is. Along the way, they’ll be visiting schools … Read more »

I realize that I read abnormally fast (mostly because all of my friends say “Hey, Claire, you read abnormally fast!”) but I surely can’t be the only one who occasionally dreads long flights, train rides, or car trips because I absolutely know I’ll finsh my book before I get there and be stuck with the in-flight magazine.  There’s nothing worse than having to pack a whole library just to stay amused.  Now, the easiest solution … Read more »

This month at the RolfPotts.com Travel Writers page I interview guidebook writer Robert Reid, who has updated 21 Lonely Planet guidebooks, created his own experimental free guidebook to Vietnam, and written articles for the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, World Hum and Wanderlust.

Here some outtakes from our interview:

“Getting started is easy as looking around you — your home may be … Read more »