Planes, trains, and buses. These are the modes of long-haul transportation that vagabonders are most familiar with. However, every continent save Antarctica has a great river running through it.

Yangtze River, via stephgum32807 on Flickr

The shortest is the Murray River in Australia at 1,476 miles, with the longest being the river at the heart of civilization, the great Nile at 4,132 miles. The Yangtze and the Amazon are both a close second at around 4,000, with the Mississippi and the Volga being around 2,300.

All of these great rivers offer river boat cruises, which can be a unique way to spend a week or more, living aboard a boat and watching the shore drift by. One resource is rivercruise.com, offering deals on all but the US and AU rivers. eWaterways has almost 200 cruises listed. While cruising is generally a more expensive way to travel, depending on the location and the time of year, there can be deals found that make river boats a worthwhile option for traveling along the arteries of the world.