I had some snippet of poetry floating around in my head the other day and couldn't figure out what it was from. Then I (naturally, being a child of the Millennium) Googled it and realized that it came from the lush traveler's anthem, Tennyson's Ulysses. For those of you who might have had to write...

Some of us have vagabonging etched so tightly into our DNA it could be considered a heritable trait. I certainly plan on introducing any children that I would have to a lifestyle of frequent travel. I plan to sling my would be cublings across my back and walk into the world with them. But could...

A few topics that people get heated about: politics, religion, and sport. I'd add food to that list. The New York Times discussed this in an article titled The Chocolate Wars . It's about Kraft's attempt to mount a takeover of Cadbury. The mayor of London had this colorful comment: “We face an appalling choice...

The trouble started last summer when a laid-off construction worker set up a hot dog stand on the South Side of my current city, Bethlehem, Pa. Some loved it, some hated it, and a six-month debate on vendors ensued. The conclusion came last night when City Council voted to severely curtail street vending. My time...

Just a reminder for people who haven't seen or heard of it yet, Google Voice is pretty freaking sweet. Like its associated friend Skype , Google Voice is a VoIP service that allows you to call numbers from its website, after you've added a little credit to your account. however, unlike Skype, Google Voice has...

At this time of year far flung travellers all around the globe are flooding airports, train stations, and roadways in the hopes of seeing their loved ones’ smiling faces for the holidays. However, for us seemingly professional travellers, making our way home for the holidays can seem like tedious work. Sure, we’re used to being...

It seems like the idea of traveling without somehow documenting your adventures online is a pretty uncommon one these days - so the question of how to document a trip has morphed somewhat from "should I keep a blog?" to "what kind of blog should I keep?" The question on the BootsnAll boards that we're...

Whether we want the responsibility or not, we represent our countries when we're on the road. Have you ever cringed at the bad behavior of another traveler from your home country? Matador Abroad had an article titled, Do you represent your country when you travel? I'd say the answer is a definite yes. You become...

Everywhere you travel, you'll always end up naked with a certain stranger: The shower. The (near) daily ritual of bathing is a sensory riddle, forcing you to figure out a place on the most basic level. Sometimes it's easy and you have a predictable, jet-infused tub to soak in, with surround sound speakers and fluffy...

I was up in the South Bay Area over Thanksgiving, staying at a friends' house in Woodside and wondering why people thought it was a good idea to give us three pies AND some flan, when I happened to flip through the newspaper and saw this article . About the mentioned couple's idea of selling...

One of the constant laments that I hear from my friends back in the States is that they would love to travel – they’d love to dive in Australia, see the pyramids of Egypt, or finally make it to India – but who wants to spend that much time in transit? And indeed, this subject...

As I write this, I'm sitting in a lodge in central Washington at a company meeting. It's gorgeously sunny outside, and the snow-covered mountain just outside the window is a glowing light blue. But I know that when I scamper out the door to get a closer look I'll be greeted with a biting chill....

Backpackers love and loathe traveler's ghettos in equal measure. We hate them for the crass commercialism and how they're not local enough. Yet sometimes we do need to take a break from the madness and pamper ourselves with comfort foods and familiar music. Some backpacker ghettos have even become legendary in travelers' circles, like Khao...

Seasoned traveler and adventure-seeker Tim Cahill has a story in Hold the Enlightenment about hiking into the dense rainforest on one of the Queen Charlotte Islands off the coast of northwestern Canada. He fell down a mossy cliff and cracked open his head. Knowing that he'd never be found if he rested on the forest...

One of the things I end up most fascinated by when I'm traveling is accents. I remember being a Canadian exchange student to an Italian high school, which was located in the Dolomites so they all actually spoke Ladino, and they took me on a field trip to Paris, where I had a conversation with...

Blue Highways is one of my favorite books. I still remember reading it for the first time, and though back then I had yet to venture far outside of the US, I was filled with the desire to set out with no plans, no fixed destination, just an imperative to wander, to explore. I remember...

The preparation of a feast is underway. Just-cut string beans, snow peas, potatoes. Scents materializing. Cabinet doors flying open and threatening foreheads, then smacking closed with a shot. A dozen socks competing for space on the tile floor. Bubbling oil and fast chopping. Aboriginal techno from an MP3 player. Water running. The chaos is streamlining...

An article that was published recently on BootsnAll got people talking. In his article, " Is flashpacking killing the art of backpacking? " Paul Dow draws a pretty sharp distinction between what I'll call "old school" backpacking and the kind of backpacking that more travelers are doing these days - the kind that involves things...

A common headache many vagabonders face is criticism from people back home. They say things to make you feel that travel is irresponsible. If you return home to work, they think you validate that their lives are "the real world" and your adventures abroad aren't. Prolific travel blogger Nomadic Matt hit out at the haters...

On the desk of Derk Richardson, senior editor for Afar magazine , sits a globe which he uses to send writers to a random destination. I caught up with him at Afar's 2nd issue launch party in San Francisco to find out more. One imagines him spinning the globe with his eyes closed, stopping it...