Working online delivers privileges and freedoms that seem almost too good to believe. In fact, many days I pinch myself at how lucky I am to be able to make a living sharing my stories and advice from the road to fellow travelers and backpackers on my travel blog. Here are ten reasons why I...

"It was time for something different," says Jacqui Rickard. "Our kids are getting older so it was a good time." Thus began their adventure. Jacqui and her husband, James Rickard, hit the road with their six children (ranging in age from two to 12 years old) to spend four weeks biking Tasmania and Australia. That...

I bolted through the airport, dodging slow moving people dragging rolling suitcases. My flight left in thirty minutes. Plenty of time to get my boarding pass and navigate airport security in the quiet of an early Friday morning. The lines to the flight check-in counters were empty. I ducked under each fabric line divider and...

The open road has a mystical quality that cleanses my mind. Snarls in my thoughts loosen as the road unspools in front of my car's nose. Ribbons of blacktop connecting sea to shining sea, linking deserts and mountains and fields of waving corn. I yearn to grab my keys, jump behind the wheel and let...

Since I've traveled to (and at times lived in) Thailand every year since 1998, I'm occasionally asked to recommend a Buddhist meditation retreat for long-term travelers. I can easily recommend some specific starting points for practicing meditation in Thailand (and if you keep reading, you'll find a few recommendations below), but over time I've found...

Over the last decade, I have traveled with both, friends and tour groups; however, the majority of my travels have been solo. Solo traveling is exciting . There is no greater buzz than standing in an airport preparing to board a plane to a far off country all by yourself. The thrill of adventure and...

When I'm in the States, sitting on my parents' couch in the normalcy of the world in which I grew up and my mind begins to wander, it wanders to a moment when my shoes were caked in dust and the Kenyan heat beat on my shoulders. A young Masai boy hung by our side...

If there is one thing about long-term travel that is underestimated, it is the challenges that come with it. Living indefinitely on the road is not always wonderful. Sometimes it requires choices that are painful and challenging. Do not get me wrong. I love long-term travel, but in all honesty it is not a lifestyle...

When I first became interested in traveling, airfare and accommodations were the two most daunting expenses. Both such expenses can add up quite quickly. For example, these days $420 may not seem like enough to pay for airfare and accommodations for two people visiting the Middle East. But when you are willing to combine a...

While I already have quite a few posts about what travel hacking is , I think ultra-beginners to the topic can benefit from hearing about it in a context of what it ISN'T as well. Because to be honest, the media has picked up on bits and pieces of the travel hacking hobby and...as is...

We long-term travelers sometimes get caught up in the length of a trip. We advocate taking a year to backpack, using a summer break to explore the far corners of the earth, and digging into a new culture for longer than the average winter break from school. There is a reason we do this- long-term...

We’re sneaking up on our fifth anniversary of full time travel with our kids. When we left on our bicycle trip around Europe and N. Africa they were five through eleven years old. They are now ten through sixteen, and as comfortable in the livestock market in Tona Toroja as they are in a department...

Packing for long-term travel is unique because you have to consider what you may need over a long period of time rather than what you can do without for a few weeks. Questions arise, like Will I need allergy meds? How many books should I bring? How many tank tops do I really need? Is...

Veterans’ Day in the US and the UK is replete with ceremonies (concerts and parades in the US, red poppies in the UK) to commemorate those who served their country in uniform. Aside from a great opportunity to thank those that fought in foreign lands, it’s a great opportunity to remember some of the historic...

Google Cardboard I just spend the last 3 and a half days trying to get from Rapid City to Bangkok. Due to the Polar Vortex (or whatever they're calling it this year), massive storms blew through RC and Denver, dropping off a foot of snow and plummeting the temperatures. Flights were canceled, delayed and connections...

One afternoon late last year, I went out for lunch at a restaurant not far from the south Thailand guesthouse where I’d been staying. My landlady ran the place, and on this day she seemed particularly pleased to see me. “We have new English menu!” she exclaimed, presenting me with a glossy list of entrees....

The other day a reader told me she had saved up for a gap-year of travel. She said that she hadn't yet decided whether or not to do some remote contract work while traveling or not. In my opinion, she was right to think decisively about the matter, because there are two very different types...

We spend a lot of time waiting on things: Planes, trains, buses and more. We’ve gotten good at waiting over the years. Our secret weapon? Games. We play games while we wait. We always have. When the kids were little we played “I spy” and sang nursery rhymes and told jokes while we waited. We...

Travelling might be all about discovery and abandoning our comfort zones. But at times, when your comfort zone is a club with some loud music, well, it's nice to know where to find it when you are abroad. As a resident of Malaysia, I feel it is time to give justice to my acquired home...

Eating healthy is important to us. I’m a relentless “do it myself” sort of girl. I was raised freezing and canning a lot of our own food. I make most things from scratch. It’s really important to me to feed my family healthy things so that the children grow properly and so that healthy eating...