Almost everyone who’s planning a round-the-world or other long-term trip comes upon one part of the process that serves as their stumbling block. For some, they’re paralyzed by the different options for multi-stop tickets and can’t figure out which one suits them best. For others, settling on just one itinerary and knowing they’ll skip some places is too much to bear. It’s not that people don’t get past these hurdles, it’s that for each person … Read more »

The next time you’re in a forest, imagine a building hiding in the earth just steps away from where you’re walking.

According to National Geographic, a 2009 survey using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) equipment revealed images of an ancient Mayan city stretching over 68 square miles in western Belize. Presented at the recent International Symposium on Archaeometry, in just four days, the … Read more »

Among expats in Asia, having access to high-quality, affordable health care is one of the biggest advantages of living overseas. For retirees, it’s often the first consideration in choosing where to relocate to. Travelers are now looking outside their own borders when they need treatment.  The main reason is because it’s so expensive to go to the hospital in America, according to this info graphic: U.S. health care spending vs. the globe.

CNN had … Read more »

East Jerusalem

It was one of those blow-in-the-solarplexis travel moments. I had just been robbed, and among the loss were interviews and notes from Tibet, a camera, and more than $1300 in cash.

This happened in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2004, and I remember keenly the anguish I felt, almost … Read more »

One of the most common pieces of advice for would-be independent travelers is to save all of your disposable income for the journey. Spend only on experiences! So what to do when, mid-trip, you fall in love with an object?

Just like spontaneous experiences, the act of travel is peppered with spontaneous items we can’t prepare for. Curios that blur the line between experience and thing. Items that … Read more »

A friend from Italy is in the process of planning a road trip around the United States and recently e-mailed me to ask where he could find cheap food on his trip.

I’m also planning a trip around the States this summer and have been thinking about the same thing. Sadly, I’ve come to the conclusion that in the U.S., cheap food is bad … Read more »

Pretty much every winter, Australia’s vast network of outback roads fill up (as much as they can, which means you occasionally see more than two) with camper vans and caravans, driven by happily silver-haired people cruising the country to see the Giant Prawn.  Australians call them the Grey Nomads, and that sounds like a much more interesting way to spend your retirement than taking up shuffleboard in Boca Raton.

The website Grey Nomads is … Read more »