Recently I’ve been reading, “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed . When the author was in her mid-twenties she solo hiked the Pacific Crest Trail . Her book unfolds as she treks north, nursing her blistered feet and cumbersome heavy pack along a majority of the 2,663mi (4,286km) trail. It initially begins at the Mexican border, passes...

Loco2 launched not long ago. A site dedicated to train travel throughout Europe. I’ve exchanged emails with its founder, and “the team” has the vision of creating a source of online train booking “as easy as flight booking”—it appears to be well on its way. The site has a video short that explains how to...

Dancing in the Fountain how to enjoy living abroad written by Karen McCann Now available in print and on e-reader, August 2012 “Living abroad is an opportunity to reinvent yourself that rarely exists outside the witness protection program.” ~Karen McCann From their first date, Karen and her husband-to-be, Rich talked about living abroad. Instead--after getting...

In travel writing, I've often found that it's better to capture the soul a neighborhood of a city than try to describe an entire metropolis. A city, after all, is just a collection of neighborhoods, and the best ones are distinctive. An example: A few scenes of my novel-in-progress take place on Lisbon. Rather than...

When writing a novel involving places that actually exist, you need to get the details exactly right or the boat won’t float. And the details aren’t just in the names and locations. It’s the sensory data that pulls the reader in. I’m currently in the process of writing such a novel. The story takes the...

Can you imagine being woken up at a hostel at 7:30am to chop fire wood or complete your chores before breakfast? Chore detail had fizzled-out before 2009 when I hostel hopped for several months; spending anywhere from three nights to two weeks at various places. Personally, I enjoyed seeking out the odd ones, like old...

Cost/Day: $50 It's not everyday that you can visit the medieval section of Zagreb to see the cathedral, turn a corner, and find yourself at "The Museum of Broken Relationships," winner of the 2011 "Most Innovative" European Museum Award. At first I thought it was a joke, but it's an actual museum and judging by...

On the left, just inside the main door of the Lund Cathedral is a wooden astronomical clock built around 1424. Tangled within a euphoric stare five years earlier, I’d marveled at the intricate details, inhaled the aged wood, and relished the silence which filled the air. The experience rooted such a vivid impression that I’d...

A fellow traveler recently asked me for some advice, and it sparked a thought I wanted to share. She’s in her twenties, interested in Croatia, and likes to have fun in the sun. So, I suggested Pag and Havar, two lovely islands off the Dalmatian coast. I recall describing them as “Ibiza in the Balkans”....

This article is the fifth in a series of posts explaining how to bring your music on the road and get to travel with it. Read the series’ introduction , Post#1 , Post # 2 , Post #3 and Post #4 In the past article of this series I gave a spotlight on the major...

Cost/day: $35/day This includes $27/day for rusbank.net living and exploring, plus an additional $8/day to maintain full connectivity with my business remotely. What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? Dozens of giant statues and chapels made completely out of salt. Yes, I licked one. And yes, it was salty. The Wieliczka (pronounced Viel-eech-ka) Salt Mine,...

The picturesque little city of Beaune, nestled in the fertile green vineyards of Burgundy, is a handy home base for exploring the region. While the surrounding area holds tiny hamlets and ruined abbeys, I’ve found Beaune to be a good option when in need of a historic place to stop, wander, and spend a few...

Cost/Day- 60 euros After a few months on the road, it takes something fairly odd to catch a vagabonder off-guard, but seeing a man herding sheep from the back of a scooter certainly threw me for a loop. The sheep didn't seem flustered by the portly man zipping in and out of the herd, hurrying...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_yTphvyiPU&ob=av2e When you look over your travel photos, do you linger more on the people shots more than the location pictures? I know I do. It's an experience that's happened to me over and over again. I go to a place excited to see famous landmarks. Yet after the trip, it's the new friends and...

It's that time of year again when STA travel picks this summers World Traveler Interns and the two lucky candidates have been announced. The 2011 interns are Brigette Muller and Dutch Simpson. You can read more about who they are and what inspired them to apply for the position here , on the STA website....

A 1972 Monty Python sketch called " Travel Agent " contains a classic scene where the Eric Idle character goes on an over-the-top rant about package tourism, at the expense of Michael Palin's travel-agent character. Many of the references are dated now -- and the whole scene is drenched in hyperbole -- but many of...

One of the most eye-opening moments when working abroad is finding about all the differences between your host culture and home culture. For example, a Japanese salaryman might accept unpaid overtime as business as usual. A French worker, on the other hand, might disagree with staying beyond normal business hours. Salon.com did a detailed comparison...

More and more it is becoming popular to forgo the pricy North American continuing education degree and opt for the cheaper alternative by enrolling directly in one of the public universities in Europe. Some students limp out of their 4-year degree, swearing to never undergo the same financial atrocity in graduate school and begin searching...

Most travelers are familiar with Couchsurfing at this point. That great nonprofit initiative that connects travelers from all over the globe, providing them with a couch to crash on, some great company and events around the city, or simply a local’s advice. As someone with a decent number of couchsurfing experiences under her belt, I...

Living in France I’ve taken a lot of flack from my European friends. I don’t know how many countless cathedrals and towers and old ruins I’ve dragged them to, bearing their complaints and whining all the while. Why, they wondered, was I so intrigued with these old buildings and towers? It’s different when you’ve grown...