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“The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us.” David Foster Wallace, Kenyon College commencement speech, May 21, 2005
A urinal in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). Photo: Marcus Sortijas
Travel writers have it easy. They get to see the world, express their creativity through storytelling, have adventures–and their company pays for it all! How sweet is that?
Seth Kugel, the current writer of The New York Times “Frugal Traveler” column, bursts that bubble in his article, How to be a frugal traveler. He answers the most … Read more »
Over-organizing travel plans—where you’re in a different place each day due to a long checklist of things to see—can actually result in seeing less. Sure, you may get to all the monuments or museums you want, but while the checklist blinders are on, you could be missing out on a lot of local culture.
Recently, I was in … Read more »
Rice wine is a fairly popular staple of Asia. Its popularity, over history, has spread its way West and become a common enough spirit there. Rice wine doesn’t share the same fermentation process as fruit based wines, but rather undergoes a brewing method quite similar to beer. As with the brewing of beers, first the starch from the rice is processed into sugar, and then the … Read more »
Dina and Ryan
Age: Both 30
Hometown: Java, Indonesia and Ontario, Canada
Quote: “You can design your own life for yourself based on who you want to be.”
There’s a lot of you-go-grrl-empowerment articles on the web and in travel magazines about women traveling on their own, toting their own backpacks and having exciting adventures. The general themes of these articles usually has to do with being brave and feeling safe walking the streets at night, making friends with locals, avoiding singles supplements or suspicious glances … Read more »
“Like embassies, five-star hotels go to great lengths to isolate, and insulate, themselves from the host country. It is possible to spend many days at a five-star hotel engaged in all sorts of productive activities — holding meetings, eating meals, exercising, getting married, watching movies — without ever stepping foot in the actual country where you allegedly find yourself. This is no accident, of course. The hotel owners want you to stay put and spend … Read more »
We’ve mentioned several times before how common budget questions are when talking about long-term travel. Unless you’ve got a means for making money as you travel – whether through a web-based business or by taking odd jobs along the way – you’ll need to save up whatever you plan to live off of before you leave home. It’s not surprising this is a challenge for many people.
If you’re among the budget-challenged, then, does this … Read more »
“I have found out there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” –Tom Sawyer Abroad, by Mark Twain
Naturally, we put up a front when we’re dating someone. We hide our flaws and try to present our best selves. But what happens if both of you are outside of your comfortable environment?
In this New York Times article, the CEO of Lonely … Read more »
I just returned from a trip to Baja California Sur, Mexico, and the highlight of my trip was an hour-long boat trip to see the California gray whales in Magdalena Bay. Aside from a kayak experience when my little boat and I were just a few inches from a humpback whale, this was the closest I’ve been to a whale in the wild.
Magdalena Bay itself … Read more »