It's movie day at vagablogging. Two very cool videos have floated across our radar in the last week and we wanted to share them with you. The first is an incredibly well done documentary on the sometimes obsessive pursuit of frequent flyer miles. Even if you don't have an interest in frequent flyer miles, this...

“You should have gone to France.” These were the parting words offered to me as I attained the final in an obnoxiously long trail of signatures before finalizing my study abroad paperwork. “You should have gone to France.” Everyone, from the study abroad office recruiters to the French Department to my vapid friends, offered this...

In the immediate aftermath of natural disasters, one thing is certain: Help is always needed. For vagabonders who are drawn to giving back to the global community, especially when times are tough, this offers a wide variety of ways to get closer to a culture. But what happens when the media coverage dies down and...

No matter which continent they're on, fort cities will pour a cauldron of boiling wonder over your head. Fort cities are built on prime real estate--land that someone really, really wanted to hold onto. Whether the city proper is surrounded by walls or huddled at the foot of a fortress, there's likely to be winding...

“Measure travel inwards” is a quote by Henry David Thereau. I came across these three simple words several years ago and, taking them quite literally, they quickly became a sort of talisman to my personal travel style. One should never cheapen the thrill of seeing a place that they have until then only dreamed of...

Last month we posted a call for new bloggers here at Vagablogging — and we got quite a response. Now, after a little preliminary screening, we've decided to debut five new Vagabloggers. Jill K. Robinson divides her time between writing about travel, running a kayak business and trying to wring awe-inspiring adventure out of her...

"Sing, dance, beg, plead, whatever. Just make it good," proclaims the website soliciting entries for the Colorado Snow at First Sight competition. This contest is open to "snow virgins", people who have "never been in significant snow conditions" who can make time in their schedule for a three-month all-expenses-paid Colorado adventure this winter (starting in...

Traveling often carries with the image of travelers "cutting loose," doing things they probably wouldn't do at home. Whether it's the infamous party towns of coastal Spain, saturated with Brits on holiday, or student travelers taking in the full moon parties during their gap year excursion, for many, traveling and partying seem to go hand...

It has such a diabolically recognizeable shape: like a huge metallic marital aid, zipping along down the highway. Airstream RVs make us long for a nostalgic past that never was: the 50s and 60s as they should have been, with tiny fold-down couches. There aren't many recreational vehicles other than motorcycles that have spawned such...

Vagabonds tend to be less susceptible to travel scams than other travelers, if for no other reason than most vagabonds are on a tight budget to begin with, so unplanned expenditures are always going to set off alarm bells. That said, no one is totally immune to being scammed. Somewhere out there is a scam...

What is it about that magic moment that causes action? How is it that you're gathering information in one moment, and going for it in another? Yep, you could even call it the tipping point. I hope that whatever it is for you—whenever it sparks, however small it is—you'll listen to the inspiration and take...

Harry Rutstein spent 10 years retracing Marco Polo's footsteps, a spectacular voyage that he chronicles in The Marco Polo Odyssey . Rutstein spent four years planning the 13,000 mile overland journey which took him from Venice to Israel, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China, ending in Beijing This book is especially compelling because it weaves...

The greatest parts on a trip are the exciting moments of newness and inspiration. But is it realistic to expect that you'll have that every second of your trip? No. If you consider the realities of travel, you can manage your expectations—which usually makes for a better trip. A new post by Nomadic Matt looks...

Is travel writing a lie? That's a question The Guardian recently posed , looking at some famous examples of travel writers who exaggerated, embellished or even outright lied on occasion. The Guardian has some solid examples of travel writers' tendency to, well, exaggerate. Everything from sailors' tales of sea monsters, to Marco Polo's did-he-or-didn't-he legacy...

A lot of vagabonders are hardcore volunteer-ers and, often, tend to be more progressive and liberal with their politics. This doesn't mean that anyone who travels is a hippie pinko Commie rat, by any means...just that there tends to be a lot more support for giving your money away rather than saving it like Scrooge...

Just a reminder that the deadline to apply to join the team here at Vagablogging is fast approaching. If you're been putting off submitting something, head the nearest internet cafe and fire off an e-mail. We're looking for a couple of new contributors to post once or twice a week on vagabonding-related topics of their...

Part I: Rolf reads from Marco Polo Didn't Go There Over on my RolfPotts.com video page , I recently uploaded a two-part video of my July 2009 reading at Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore in Paris. I've informally read essays there in the past (alongside students from my annual writing workshop at the Paris American Academy...

If your goal is the journey and you have all the time in the world, how about traveling by freighter? I've only read of a few people who have done it—travel writer Jeff Greenwald being one of them. In his book "The Size of the World," he circled the world using every means of transportation...

How do you organize your travel materials? I don't mean your valuables -- passport, money, etc -- but less "valuable" though equally important stuff -- maps, guides printed from the web, pages torn from a guidebook, etc. We've written before about the value of a little research before you travel, whether it's browsing forums, searching...

So maybe you've been a Vagabonder your entire life and you're starting to feel less of a thrill when you hop off a plane somewhere new, or your feet hurt from never being able to carry the right pair of shoes...or you find a great gal/guy and want to settle down...or you're sucked in by...