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When it comes to travel on a shoestring – my favorite style – the amount of money you spend or save on accommodation becomes a serious matter. There was a time when travelling to China was very, very cheap, and accommodation options where everywhere. Unfortunately, with China experiencing the economic boom, things have changed … Read more »
We just finished up a long, slow, six month wander New Zealand. I have to say, it’s been one of the pleasantest places we’ve had the privilege to travel. It definitely falls near the top of our “easy to travel” countries list.
Even if you’re a very new traveler, or have special needs, you’re going to … Read more »
“First, goals for travel should be both generally related to abstract life goals — like becoming a better person, not accumulating stamps in a passport — but those abstract goals need to be broken into concrete steps to make them easier to accomplish. …Similarly, vacations are more effective if you use them to seek “desired states” rather than avoiding “undesired states.” In other words, hitting the Caribbean to get away from stress at work is … Read more »
Picture credits: Flickr/Travel Aficionado
It’s been in the air for a while, buzzing among the Southeast Asian traveler’s enclave, and making the day of many resolute overlanders. We all knew that the Golden land of Myanmar was changing. After the liberation of Aung San Suu Kyi, punk rockers storming the streets of Yangon, and everyone turning their … Read more »
Cost/day: $50
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? While touring a Balinese family’s compound, a thin old man came wandering through the home. He didn’t live there, and he didn’t speak or ask for money. He just stood there, vacant-eyed, with a bag on his back and no shoes on his feet. … Read more »
We loved Samalona Island…
It’s a tiny speck of an island off of the coast of the bigger island of Sulawesi, in central Indonesia. If you find yourself in Makassar, it’s well worth a few days of your time, or even a few hours if that’s all you’ve got, to retreat to this little isle and … Read more »
“Prejudice is not a European monopoly. My travel writing, for instance, in Pakistan and Afghanistan is really shaped by my childhood memory, common among small-town lower-middle-class Brahmins, of Muslims as threatening to “others” — and there are moments when I lapse into these inherited fears. I can’t write about China without discussing our nation’s image of the “devious” neighbor who stabbed our backs in 1962. And I can’t write about Israel without bringing in the … Read more »
“You really have to want to do this, don’t you, Dear?”
Ann’s words have echoed in my mind as her sweet, octogenarian face has pleasantly haunted my afternoon walks. We wandered slowly through the natural bridge outside of Waitomo, NZ, with her and her husband, Ross. I quietly got the kids’ attention and encouraged … Read more »
“The act of writing organizes how I spend my time when I arrive in a place. It gives me information, concentrates my thoughts, and opens doors I wouldn’t otherwise be allowed to knock on.” –William Zinsser, “The Road to Timbuktu: Why I Travel,” American Scholar, Winter 1997