As a lifelong traveler, I have always felt that any trip – no matter the duration – always seemed to come to an end before homesickness set in; there were never any Sirens luring me back “home” to New York City or Amherst,Massachusetts. The challenge always lay in figuring out how to extend time abroad...

User-generated travel sites have been a popular topic on Vagablogging lately, so I read with interest two recent columns about them by guidebook guru Arthur Frommer. Turns out, he's not a fan. In the first of the two columns , Frommer pans the reviews on user-generated sites by inferring that their authors aren't travel experts:...

Travel Rants is a blog started by Darren Cronian who, after a frustrating experience with a travel agency, needed a place to vent. He has since it expanded to cover travel in general, focusing on the nuts and bolts of the industry while offering guides on topics ranging from tax-free shopping to what to do...

Don't wait for the media to break the news -- keep an eye out for worldwide disease epidemics on ProMED (Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases) , a website by the International Society for Infectious Diseases. ProMED is dedicated to rapidly reporting global disease outbreaks that affect human health, as well as related animal vector outbreaks....

For many, the idea of long-term travel is much more than another one of those things to check off a "to-do" list before you die - it's a horizon-expanding experience. It can also be a way to give back to the communities who are helping you expand those horizons of yours by being a volunteer....

With your help, we can make Vagablogging the 2007 Travvies winner for Best Group-Written Travel Blog. Hosted by Upgrade: Travel Better , the Travvies aim to boost the profile of the travel blogosphere, so far left out of major Web media contests like the Webby Awards . It seems to be working: the Travvies are...

Let’s face it, Rolf has the perfect life. Who wouldn’t want to Drive Around the World in a Land Rover, take a sailing trip through the Greek isles , or maybe study a little tantric sex in India , and get to write about it all? While that might sound like the dream job, travel...

Tribewanted , is both an online and a real life community of people who are working together to create a sustainable village on Vorovoro Island, Fiji. Ben Keene and Mark James founded the tribe in January 2006. The friends were brainstorming ideas for an Internet start-up when James came up with the tropical paradise concept...

If fair-trade coffee is the most ethical, most humanitarian way to enjoy your morning beverage at your local (or nationally-owned) cafe – than shouldn’t fair-trade tourism be an equally popular menu item at your local travel agency? The people at Tourism Concern think so. They lead the way in promoting fair-trade or ethical travel, and...

When we're not traveling, when we're stuck in one place and our feet are itching, the best distraction often involves reading about someone else's adventures. Once upon a time, that meant heading to a bookstore or library every few weeks to see what was new -- except it wasn't "new," it was already old information...

Lowell Thomas Award winner Carol Pucci of the Seattle Times has been reporting from Paris for the past week, and her Postcards from Paris series of daily dispatches is full of useful tips for the independent traveler visiting the city. Pucci's reports on free Wi-Fi spots , undiscovered flea markets and finding high-quality/low-cost restaurants are...

For many years my parents - though literature Professors - mocked me when I filled my backpack up with Penguin Classics when embarking on a summer trip for which I had saved all year. Carrying 15-20 books in a backpack has its drawbacks when hiking up a mountain. However, there were never any regrets during...

Aaron Childs is a Peace Corps Volunteer working as a computer technician and teacher in Togo, West Africa since June, 2005. He's been chronicling his experiences in his blog, Aaron In Africa , which covers his arrival and subsequent culture shock through many unique experiences like being attacked by a machete-wielding native , and negotiating...

Travellerspoint Travel Community aims to be a one-stop gathering ground for world travelers; the site hosts blogs, provides a gallery service for photographs, offers tips on destinations and accommodations, and provides its members a Reunion feature to track down and reconnect with lost friends made on one's travels. However, the newest feature on the site,...

I've been to Paris a few times and loved it. But it wasn't until a trip there a few years back, when a friend and I fell in with a Parisian businessman for a night on the town, that I felt like I'd really gotten under its skin. Now I'm convinced that while you can...

We've all had a "what if" moment -- especially in regards to travel: "What if I quit my job and traveled for a year?" "What if I never came back?" But have you ever thought about what would be different if you hadn't traveled? The BootsnAll Travel Community is always full of great discussion, whether...

For many world cultures the preparation and enjoyment of food is the center of all daily rituals. So when vagabonding you have a unique opportunity to share in a local, sensual pleasure and sometimes even a sacred experience. I admit to being addicted to great food. For many years I wandered through country, city, town,...

Late in 2005, a reader named Andrea wrote Rolf about her midlife adventures vagabonding around Ireland. A month-long "practice round" trip inspired her to put her belongings in storage and hit the road with just a backpack and her fiddle. She is currently back “home” preparing for a return to England, where she will join...

A trip around the world can be hard enough when using airplanes, boats, and trains, but a simple journey wasn’t enough of a challenge for Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei, the 2006 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year . The couple spent two years circumnavigating the world by human power alone, walking, biking, skiing, and...

Wouldn’t it be nice to strum a few chords on an island getaway, play your favorite song halfway across the world, or have a village jam session with the locals? If you have a travel guitar, that’s all possible. Travel guitars are often funny-shaped little things which make for a lightweight, portable instrument that you...