I’m often asked about what it’s like to be a travel writer. I find that most people assume that it’s always fun and high-paying, which isn’t necessarily the case. I feel compelled to address some of these realities in this mini-series of blog posts. Unlike the life of the Matthew Hunt, the travel writer protagonist...

An Internet meme going around is about five guys who took the same photo for 30 years . These were friends who would vacation together at Copco Lake. What started as a lark turned into a regular tradition: the group of people, the poses and facial expressions stayed constant. Reading that story prompted me to...

Business travelers, also known as "road warriors," are some of the most experienced trip hackers around. Although here at Vagabonding we espouse slower wandering, these hard-core types have streamlined the process to a science. Their advice appeared in this New York Times article: How the tough get going: Silicon Valley travel tips . Prominently featured...

Extended, round the world travel has been gaining plenty of steam over the last decade here in the United States. And while it isn't an accepted, mainstream way of traveling quite yet, I do feel like it's at least on the way. It's difficult to undo generations of teaching and upbringing, which is why there's...

There were a lot of comments on my last blog entry for this site, relative to the normal amount these posts receive. (“The What-ness, part 2: Choose what to lose”, can be read at /the-what-ness-part-2-choose-what-to-lose.html ). The post was about avoiding easy clichés and sterile recounting in your travel writing, and putting in the effort...

It’s not every day you see a 1985 camper painted like a giraffe. I’d spotted this distinctive vehicle a few times over the past week and a half. But as luck would have it its driver, Steve pulled in behind me at the post office parking lot. Across both sides in large white letters reads,...

When you drop off your baggage at the check-in counter, it sets off a modern Rube Goldberg-like system to keep your stuff on track. Bags are sent along conveyors, scanned, sorted and carried by humans to the right plane. Yet a recent article stated that 26 million checked bags go missing every year . The...

When it comes to planning a trip, whether it's a one-week vacation or a trip around the world , looking for the best resources can be a time consuming endeavor. With today's interwebs, there are countless websites to sift through, and many of the top sites that come through a google search are crap, SEO...

My college philosophy professor was fond of the term “what-ness.” As in, the “what-ness” of a place or feeling. Meaning, the core essence of it. Being a callow young man, I rolled my eyes and thought, “He’s nuts. That’s not even a word!” But in time I became a fan of the concept, because it...

Let’s face it: travelling is much less stressful when you do not need to get yourself a visa. And if you never had such a thought before, believe me, you are either lucky - because you are the holder of a “valuable” nationality passport -, or you have never tried to get to many “off...

Back in the spring, we at BootsnAll published our first version of the Around the World Airfare Report. The purpose of this research project was to outline the various flight options available to round the world travelers and price out several real itineraries for comparison purposes. We not only recorded the difference in prices, but...

It's easy to think "travel" and associate it only with the exotic. I imagine exciting exploration, far corners of the earth, and passports filled to the brim. While there are many kinds of travel, we usually don't associate the same sort of "adventure" with life back at home. This poses a problem, a crisis, even,...

There was a post on The Economist 's travel blog titled, Turning seatmates into SeatBuddies . It talks about how airBaltic is following the example of Dutch KLM in allowing passengers to link their social network profiles with the airline website. Then you could pick your seatmate as well as your seat. From the description,...

A bit of travel news closer to home (for me, anyway). In Tacoma, Washington, thirty miles south of Seattle in the shadow of Mt. Rainier, is a brand-new museum which has become a pilgrimage site for historic auto enthusiasts. The one-month-old facility, called America’s Car Museum (ACM), showcases what was once the world’s largest private...

The Atlantic had an article titled Welcome to America, Please Be On Time: What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S. It was a little disorienting to read about your own country from the perspective of a foreigner. When you live in a place where you grow up, it doesn't occur to you to...

There is so much more to long-term, RTW travel than just traipsing around the globe, seeing famous sites, eating the local food, and just generally being on one long vacation. Long-term travel provides people with the opportunities to try new things and give back to the places they are visiting. If you're hoping to leave...

What would you rather have: a million dollars or a million frequent-flyer miles? Airline miles have almost become a new currency. They can be exchanged for hotel stays, car rentals, gift cards, and merchandise. The movie "Up in the Air" with George Clooney brought mainstream attention to "travel hacking." This is how people use their...

The past few posts in the “summer work abroad” series have dealt with teaching ESL and work-stays as avenues to make a buck abroad in the summer months (or any month, really). This third entry will be a bit different. In the rare case that you don’t need to make cash while spending a month...

The language barrier can be a challenge when vagabonding. At the time, it can seem frustrating. Usually, it's funny in retrospect when you talk about it with friends. Technology is evolving fast, however. Smart people around the world are working feverishly to break down the walls separating us from communicating with each other. Voice and...

Can you imagine being woken up at a hostel at 7:30am to chop fire wood or complete your chores before breakfast? Chore detail had fizzled-out before 2009 when I hostel hopped for several months; spending anywhere from three nights to two weeks at various places. Personally, I enjoyed seeking out the odd ones, like old...