The joys of an open-ended journey

Often readers write in to ask my advice about purchasing round-the-world plane tickets. I usually tell them to forgo buying RTW tickets, since your vagabonding travels will be more flexible and spontaneous (and often much cheaper) if you just make your way around the world on a series of one-way buses, boats, planes, and trains. A few weeks ago, a reader from Colorado took time from his travels to write and tell me how well this strategy has been working for him:

“I remembered sending you an email about seven months ago when I was still planning my post graduation travels. I had asked you for advice on where to buy a RTW ticket. Your response persuaded me to go another route and buy one-way tickets, which I have been traveling with for four months now. I am having such an amazing time, and a large part of this is due to my complete flexibility and freedom. I was in NZ, tramping and fly fishing for three months, and now I have been exploring the big island of Hawaii with a group of local kids who just graduated from Hilo. Soon I will be on my way to Europe. The plan is to make it to Latvia for the summer solstice festival called Jani. I am a full blooded Latvian who speaks the language, but was born in the USA and have never seen more than 35 Latvians in one place at the same time. How I will get there, when I will go there, how long I will stay, and where I will go before, during, and after my visit there is a mystery. And I love it!”

As today is the summer solstice, I hope he’s having a good time in Latvia, and that he’s continuing in his open-ended travel strategy!