Do you remember what travel was like before the internet? Me either. I have some fuzzy memories of a time before discount airfare searches, hotel finders, route planners, Lonely Planet forums and Bootsnall guides, but I try to block out the dark days. Of course while all that stuff is incredibly handy, I find the...

Most online activity amongst traveling youth is restricted to the US or Europe. It is not common to find vagabonding adventurers 1) who are Indian, 2) in India, 3) Indians in India. So when I found a really cool initiative born in India that involves traveling and making a difference, I was excited and had...

One of the most sought after exploration routes in history, the fabled Northwest Passage, may soon be open to both explorers and vagabonds alike. Of course Roald Amundsen "found" the northwest passage way back in 1903, but the ice pack surrounding the North Pole has traditionally meant that it was navigable for only, at most,...

Globespotters , the urban travel blog by the International Herald-Tribune, did a 3-part series of posts about riverside dining in Bangkok. The photos are stunning and make for a great culinary travelogue. It also showcases a unique aspect of the city, as residents still rely on an active system of river ferries for transportation. There's...

This post , written by Sol of Solbeam, a long-time blogger/backpacker (and so much more) resonated deep with me, as her posts often do. I started reading her blog in 2005 and spent hours reading through her archives of adventures and insight. Her travels have been inspired by the Paulo Coehlo book, The Alchemist ,...

I was watching the news the other week and there was a segment featuring a family, two parents and two children, who had to give up their home because of foreclosure. Also, the father was recently laid off from his job and now works as a freelance consultant. Because of this, they now live in...

Lose your flashlight, book, or toothbrush and it's a cinch to pick up a replacement. But lose a camera and the details of your favorite travel memories are all but gone. But cameras don't just disappear completely, right? If they haven't been stolen, they end up being found by someone. I now know where they...

A laptop has become a common must-have travel item for many vagabonds. While the wisdom of carrying a laptop is something worth debating, for many it offers a way to extend your travel time by providing a means of income on the road. If you're a freelance, well, anything really, these days you don't necessarily...

I've decided to wrap-up my 2.5-year living abroad stint. At the end of next month I head back to Dubai where I start working, get a "real" job, and all that stuff. I wonder how long I will last. While living in Spain and traveling around Europe, I have collected at least 4 dozen books....

The Lonely Planet blog has an interesting post musing on whether or not the backpack is the best luggage for, well, backpacking. Anyone who's done an extended trip with a backpack has undoubtedly gazed with envy at those rolling their luggage along without a care in the world and probably wondered -- why do I...

It's frustrating to research a trip sometimes. Information is incomplete, incomprehensible, or downright incorrect. Like when I was trying to find a cheap, clean guesthouse in Hong Kong that wasn't in the infamous Chungking Mansions . Almost impossible. I ended up staying at the Causeway Bay Guest House , which was just okay. But sometimes...

Photographs of places you've been and people you've met have the ability to communicate what words often can't. Share these images online and now sell them through imagekind.com and start making money to help fund your travels. I have yet to try it out but it seems easy enough and it's a great way to...

Sometimes when I discover a really cool place, whether it'd be a temple, a bar or a local restaurant, I get tempted to not tell my friends. I'll admit that at times I'm selfish and want the fun venues to stay a secret. The next time you find an interesting town or city, it might...

Last Sunday, October 12, video game mogul Richard Garriott left for the International Space Station on a Soyuz spacecraft. He docked the station Tuesday morning. Garriott is the latest addition to the list of six "space tourists", still a controversial term , whose trips were facilitated by Space Adventures . With efforts such as Virgin...

A friend of mine has confessed her dream to me: to motorcycle around the world. I tell her 'go for it' but that's an easy thing to do, in comparison to the life changes and research that she faces. It makes me think about the leap from dream to reality—unfortunately it’s not always as easy...

Like many people the recent and alarming economic headlines may have you rethinking your travel plans. However, extended travel might actually be one of the better ways to survive a recession or, if it comes to that, a full-blown depression. Think about the basic math -- traveling in Asia for a year I easily lived...

Being an Indian, I always get asked for travel tips in India. I can help on the general stuff, but when it comes to routes and places to stay, I have no idea. Whenever I do trips in India, it's normally with family (a lot of family!) and we book a large guesthouse. The routes...

There's an eye-opening write up over on the National Post about traveler Charles Veley, who is on a quest to visit every country, state and territory on the planet . Let's be clear from the start, Veley is not a vagabond, he's a dot-com millionaire with the free time pursue such a goal. It's worth...

Can you be a vagabonder and stay in your own home country? Some people might argue that this defeats the purpose of vagabonding -- seeing unusual sights and hearing strange sounds, experiencing bizarre forms of transportation and even more bizarre gastronomical trials -- but there is a lot to be said for picking up and...

One of the most fun parts of travel is sampling street food. Cheap, delicious and ubiquitous, I can't think of a more enjoyable way to get into a culture. There's also the added convenience of being able to point at things, rather than wrestling with a menu that doesn't have English or pictures. Here's an...