The Vagabonding Field Reports series has been going strong! We've seen dispatches from all over the world! Such places as Guyana, Tokyo, Sydney, St. Vincent, Croatia, Dubai, Cape Town, Guatemala, Thailand, and New Orleans. Columbia, Champagne, Peru, Ireland, La Paz, Bosnia, and the Galapagos. And with some stunning photographs to boot! The series is even...

I’m sure you’ve heard the excuses. I know I’ve heard more of ‘em than I ever thought existed. I don’t have time I don’t have money I have responsibilities I would love to, but… In the end there are a million reasons not to live your dream, but all you really need are a small...

A young friend of mine is posting elated pictures from Amsterdam, and two days later, from Dubai. She’s just graduated from Berklee School of Music in Boston, no slouch accomplishment, and she’s treating herself to a couple of weeks of travel. The joy in her journey is palpable in the photos she’s posting. Of course...

So - you’ve decided to take off for an extended tour. What now? Most of us who have made the difficult decision to exchange what’s expected for a life on the road have visions of rainbows, gumdrops, and puppy dog tails. We may even expect grueling days, brutal weather, and everything going wrong. What we...

With the New Year upon us, thoughts naturally turn to new beginnings, the continuation of the adventure and living the next phase with intentionality and purpose. For those of us with tendencies toward the vagabond life, may I suggest three resolutions to guide your journey? From my family, on the fringe of the jungles of...

It’s 2013. Have you been drawing up your New Years Resolutions? Figuring out what you want to do in the new year? If you’re like most people, you’ve got a few items on the list. And like most people, you’ll fizzle out on those goals within about two weeks. The new year is as good...

Engineers at UCLA are working on converting an iPhone into a small laboratory. Weighting less than 2 ounces, the iTube attaches to your phone and analyzes a food sample in about 20 minutes using a colorimetric assay test. The user grinds up a small sample of food with hot water and places it in the...

Christmas this year find us on the edge of the jungle in Borneo. Hiking yesterday I found a pocketful of nutmeg and remembered making a Christmas phone call years ago, with my brother who was here in the Spice Islands while I was “at home” changing diapers. He told me about the orang utan he’d...

We’ve all been there. Receiving a holiday present that we didn’t really want or need. Something that will inevitably take up space in the closet or on a shelf, destined to collect dust until we throw it out. I’ll bet most of us have also been on the other end of the transaction, buying an...

This year we’re celebrating Christmas in Borneo. Last year we were on Cape Cod, in the USA, the year before that, Guatemala, the year before that, Canada, the year before that found us in Tunisia, camped in the cold on the edge of the ocean of sand. One of the most interesting parts of our...

“I was driving down the road the other day and saw some cyclists ahead. I braked and waited until I could get by safely, but I’m concerned about them – the other motorists who won’t do that.” “I saw a cyclist riding through my town last week, so I invited him over to my house...

Usually, vagabonding starts with a separation from our previous existences made up of obligations, 9 to 5 routines and homely surroundings. After the liberation, always generally, someone storms off to a different corner of the globe, makes experiences, meets people, open his perspectives and spends his hard earned money. And always usually, when this hard...

Daily activities, within a comfortable, familiar environment can be interesting enough with a disability. If you spend time in a wheelchair, you know how different surfaces, or slight inclines, can create an immense challenge. Well yes, they may pose a challenge, look at it this way; a world on wheels is a unique perspective. Not...

(Sydney - Harbor Bridge) Cost/day: $75-250 (depending on lodging and meals) Hello and g-day from down under! How are you going? That last bit, “how are you going” always trips me up - I never know whether to answer to “how are you doing” or “where are you going”. I’ve been living in Sydney since...

“Many people nowadays live in a series of interiors--home, car, gym, office, shops-- disconnected from each other. On foot everything stays connected, for while walking on e occupies the spaces between those interiors in the same way one occupies those interiors. One lives in the whole world rather than in interiors built up against it.”...

Cost: $130/day! What's the strangest thing you've seen lately? Diminutive, lean, weather-worn, mountain men carry immense packs stuffed with tents, cooking implements, sleeping bags and the like for tourists making the three and a half day trek along the official Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. These are the Chaski's . They charge up and down...

“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...

Fear. It’s a powerful thing. In some ways, fear is a good thing – it keeps us safe and prevents us from doing things that might harm us. It’s fear that keeps us from venturing into dangerous places and from doing things that we’re not prepared for. A healthy dose of fear is a wonderful...

Cost/day: $45/day What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? People still drive the Yugo here – commonly known as the worst car in history. I learned a few Yugo jokes while here: How do you instantly double the value of a Yugo? Fill up the fuel tank. Why are there rear-window heaters in the Yugo?...

I was chatting on Facebook one day with a fellow traveler. She made a comment that left me speechless, horrified, and quaking in my boots. Her daughter had not been immunized. Against anything. Ever. “People get sick because their immune system is weak,” she told me. “My daughter is very healthy.” Now here’s the thing:...