Just three weeks before I’d planned to leave for Guatemala, the first country on my itinerary for my first long-term trip, a friend forwarded an email from her Guatemalan friend regarding my upcoming travels: “My advice is that if she has her heart set on going to Guate, do the volunteering thing and keep travel...

Lauren had never eaten rice. Yet she had just purchased a one-way flight ticket to Eastern Europe. Maybe you've dreamed about traveling the world. Ideas of where you'd go, what you'd see, how you'd pack, and those pristine white beaches fill your quiet moments. But the thought of leaving your comfortable life and its solid...

Nearly nine years ago, I made the most drastic decision of my life. I walked away from 36 years of corporate life to pursue a career as a travel writer and photographer. I remember very clearly the day I left the U.S. I was exhausted from years of working 70 hour weeks and excited to...

I struggled down the narrow aisle of the rattletrap bus to my seat near the back, where the stench of gasoline permeated the air. Concerned that other passengers would not be able to get by, I stuffed my backpack on the floor behind my feet and my suitcase in the aisle next to me. I...

I stepped from the dimly lit terminal into the parking lot at at Havana International Airport. Blinking to let my eyes adjust to the brilliant sunshine, I marveled at row upon row of classic cars, their rounded silhouettes a chorus line of humpback whales. I knew about Cuba’s classic cars, but had not expected to...

Last weekend, I landed at Miami International Airport after spending a week in Cuba. My tour-mates, tired and bedraggled from a week crammed with activities, dutifully queued up behind a long line at Immigration. I breezed through Immigration, collected my luggage, took the Green lane at Customs, and was checked into my airport hotel room...

The day that smart phones became available, travel changed forever. Immediately, my smart phone became my watch, my alarm clock, calendar, address book, notebook, mirror, and even my flashlight, lessening the number of devices and the weight I needed to carry. As more and more travel apps became available, my smart phone quickly became my...

A record 23 million passengers are expected to take cruises around the globe in 2015, according to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which recently made the projection in its annual State of the Cruise Industry Report. Admittedly, I have never been a fan of ocean cruising. As a long-term, independent traveler who immerses in the...

In the wake of recent terror attacks in Paris and an article in an Al Qaeda magazine that provided instructions for making a bomb that is undetectable by current airport security technology, the U.S. State Department issued the following travel warning for Americans traveling abroad: “Recent terrorist attacks...serve as a reminder that U.S. citizens need...

Not long ago I was asked to write an article about the differences between traveling independently as a senior and a twenty or thirty-something. Admittedly, I bristled. I replied that the essence of travel was the same regardless of our age. We all visit new places to satisfy our curiosity, to experience something different, and...

Nine years ago, bedridden with a debilitating case of chronic Lyme disease, I examined my life. For 36 years I’d slaved away in jobs I detested because they provided me with a good living, but despite having all the material things that money could buy, I was miserable. In that rare moment of clarity, I...

Last weekend I was in NYC, meeting with Rolf, among other things. It was mentioned, in passing, to a girl I met over dinner one evening and she got so excited: "I've read his book!! It literally changed my life!" She gushed. Her enthusiasm for travel was palpable, and she agreed to let me film...

In 1885, a young lady just 21 years old read an article titled “What Girls are Good For” in a Pittsburg newspaper. Her written response to the paper impressed the editor so much, that he offered her a job as a writer, with the pen name “Nellie Bly”. Nellie went on to prove that women...

“But you’re just going to leave!” Although I hated to admit it, who said that was right. At the time I’d been seasonally migrating as a guide for four years. And had no intention to confine my adventurous spirit in domestic American life, then—if ever. The catch though was he was not American; Swedish born...

Flying with your Service Dog takes a bit of pre-planning. Most airlines require 48 hours advance notice about your canine partner. Initially tickets can be booked online through a collective search website like CheapOair . Before purchasing tickets, check out the Airlines direct website for Service Animal rules. Under Federal Law airlines are required to...

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...

Cost/day: $200 Chartering a boat isn’t cheap. If you are lucky and know the right people you could however, get a job as crew, stewarding, cooking or being a deck hand if you don’t have sailing qualifications. If you are not working then watch out for hidden costs such as moorings, docking, water and tips...

Warning for men: if talk about female cycles makes you uncomfortable or queasy I’d suggest you skip this post! ************* Ladies, we can’t all live in the remaining hunter-gatherer cultures where ones menstrual cycle is a sacred celebration. Nor are we still band from our own households for three days like the old laws in...

Cost/day: $10 The Caribbean isn’t really that cheap. However, if you’re creative and have some skills, anything is possible. Most of my money went on beer and bus tickets. What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? Three men waving a live lobster, barracuda pizza and and an Ugly Man competition. A recent day typical of...

Cost/day: $0.8/day Guyana isn’t really that cheap. However, if you’re creative and have some skills, anything is possible. I worked at Dadanawa Cattle Ranch for two and a half months in exchange for food and board. Most of my money went towards toiletries, insect repellant and beer. Being frugal was easy because the nearest town...