As someone living a mere ferry ride from the coast of Japan, I’ve been hearing a lot of debate among ESL teachers as to whether they should leave the area or not. Italy has offered a free flight home to their citizens living in the area, and other countries have issued warnings to leave at one’s own discretion.

It takes a certain amount of planning and effort to find and secure a job … Read more »

I regularly fly through Houston’s IAH airport when I’m returning from travel to Central and South America, and lately, I’ve been running into brochures for the Global Entry Trusted Traveler Program. Enrolling allows members to speed past those horribly long immigration lines, and check in at a kiosk instead, currently available at 20 airports in the United States and Puerto Rico.

So far, because I’m … Read more »

As you may have noticed, Rolf is currently in the midst of traveling around the world with only what he can carry in his pockets.  He’s got a toothbrush, a change of underpants, and an iPod Touch to do his blog posting from, as well as some presumably bulging cargo pants pockets.  I did see one blog post on his round-the-world-as-a-lightweight diary, pointing out that replicating the experience for women would be majorly worth a … Read more »

I got stopped by the police last night because my flashlight was at half-power. Specifically, my car had a headlight out. I couldn’t see the whole road, and the road couldn’t see much of me.

The officer wanted to make sure I knew, because people often overlook their lack of illumination. It’s easy to do. You can get by with one headlight, streetlamps mask the outage, or it’s … Read more »

After a year of collecting suggestions from over 32,000 people, the U.S Dept of State has unveiled a completely revamped source for travel information, travel.state.gov.

While most Americans may only interact with the Bureau of Consular Affairs when they obtain or renew their passports, their charter also includes assisting citizens who fall victim to … Read more »

With the current war on Mexico’s drug traffickers erupting into violence in certain border towns, some folks with travel plans to Mexico are confused about whether to keep them. Here are some tips on how to study up on the current situation and the likelihood of events affecting you on your travels.

Check travel warnings from the United States Department of State’s Bureau of … Read more »

After the 8.8-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck central Chile on the morning of February 27, the country is focusing on cleaning up, getting aid to affected regions and attempting to return to functionality. What do you do if you’re traveling or scheduled to travel in the country?

Citizens of the United States are encouraged by the U.S. State Department to register with … Read more »

The recent Machu Picchu rescues succeeded admirably, but in most emergencies there won’t be a helicopter ready to whisk you to safety. Whether at home or abroad, you have to be prepared to rely on your feet.

Be prepared to walk to the nearest gas station, through a pitch-black subway tunnel, or down the fire escape. Through waist-deep monsoon rain in Trivandrum, out of New … Read more »

Apart from time, some money, and an open mind, the act of traveling doesn’t really require much from the traveler. Still, there’s always an incident where I find myself saying “I wish I knew how to do that”. Here are some skills I wish I learned before I started traveling:

Tying knots. I used to think that knots were mostly for … Read more »

While many intrepid backpackers talk up the joys of traveling to “dangerous” countries, it still pays to be exercise some good sense.  New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristoff assembled an excellent list of safety tips.  Some of the humor is very tongue-in-cheek, such as his advice on dealing with terrorists.

One tip I would add is to have a copy of your travel insurance policy on hand, with the policy number and international … Read more »