Business travelers, also known as “road warriors,” are some of the most experienced trip hackers around. Although here at Vagabonding we espouse slower wandering, these hard-core types have streamlined the process to a science. Their advice appeared in this New York Times article: How the tough get going: Silicon Valley travel tips. Prominently featured in the article is Tim Ferriss, known as the author of … Read more »

We often think of the Internet as existing in the ether, not a physical, tangible place. Wired magazine writer Andrew Blum flipped that notion on its head by visiting the Internet we don’t get to see: the data centers, the underwater cables, the “series of tubes” as the late U.S. senator Ted Stevens described it.  Visit the author’s website for more details.

Here’s an excerpt on how Blum’s journey to the … Read more »

Savvy travelers probably know these things, but I know some who are still behind the curve and going abroad soon. So here’s an update: Though many report having no problems at all using their US mag-stripe cards and ordinary ATM cards abroad, make sure your credit or debit card has a smart chip. The global standard is … Read more »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjY_hJL3nxY

Planning a trip can be a logistical tangle.  At any one time, I’ll have more than half-a-dozen tabs open in my web browser, each a different website.  For example:

Wikitravel – Get general info. Air Asia – Find cheap flights in Asia. Hostelworld – Book hostels. Urbanrail – Look at subway maps. Travelfish – Read hostel and guesthouse reviews in Southeast Asia. Facebook – Find friends who live there. Gmail – E-mail friends for … Read more »

Are you a digital nomad?  Chances are, you wrestle with dodgy Wi-Fi, electrical adapters, and figuring out what apps could help you travel more efficiently.  You don’t care which startup just had a big IPO or the latest viral meme.  What you’d like is a convenient guide to what gadgets you need.

Enter Too Many Adapters.  A site by digital nomads, for digital nomads.  They cover all the different types … Read more »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCWvnp7-ikI&feature=player_embedded Intro video for inbed.me

Over the years, there have been several attempts to combine travel and social networking.  The latest on the scene is inbed.me (that name is just asking for double entendres).

The idea is to solve the problem of that first-night loneliness in a new hostel.  You’ve just arrived, and all the previous guests have formed their cliques, so you don’t have anyone to talk to.  With inbed.me, you can connect to … Read more »

The media lit up with commemorations of Steve Jobs, the legendary CEO of Apple who passed away on Oct. 5, 2011. While talking about his full impact on technology is beyond the scope of this blog, we can talk about how his products changed our trips: How Steve Jobs helped make Apple a major disruptor in travel.

The iPhone was not the … Read more »

Many of my best travel experiences have come about through recommendations from friends. The Taiwanese guy who took me to a stylish lounge bar in Taipei with the hidden entrance; the Australian expat who showed me his favorite ramen restaurant in Tokyo; and the list goes on.

Thanks to the Internet , old-fashioned word-of-mouth is now exponentially more powerful. Instead of being limited to our own circle of friends, we can tap a website’s entire … Read more »

Since I’ve written quite a bit about how electronic technology is transforming travel, I enjoyed reading “GPS and the End of the Road,” Ari N. Schulman’s essay in the Spring 2011 issue of The New Atlantis. In the essay, Schulman posits that GPS devices, along with “location awareness” apps like HearPlanet and Layar, … Read more »

Social networks have made a dramatic impact on travel. During my first backpacking trip in 2004, I relied on e-mail addresses to stay in touch with the new friends I was making.  I once met a girl in Paris. Later into my trip, I was shocked to run into her at my hostel in Edinburgh.  What a small world!

That kind of thing would not have happened today.  We’d have added each other as friends … Read more »