With 2016 just a few short weeks away, I find my thoughts turning towards the question: what new skills can I learn in this new year?

Confession: I’m an incurable learner. Starting new projects, learning new skills, reading about new subjects or destinations fill my veins with excitement. When the promise of 12 blank months of learning beckon, I can’t resist.

I want to fill each month with a challenge to learn something new. Toss in the possibility … Read more »

About a year ago, I received an email from a woman whose name I didn’t know and cannot now recall. The crux of her dogmatic email was to “inform” me of the true definition of a journalist, and why a travel blogger/writer should not be so presumptuous as to use that title. I replied that I had never used that title, that I considered myself a travel writer. She replied, “Oh, I thought you were … Read more »

The Gili islands consist of three small tropical paradises, each with its own personality. The islands are just northwest of the larger island of Lombok. Gili Trawangan is perfect if you’re looking to party and make new friends. Good for backpackers, Gili T has a wealth of bars, parties, and magic mushrooms. Gili Meno is in the middle, is almost deserted, and is perfect for a quiet visit if you’re looking to pass out on … Read more »

A good backpack can make or break a trip. Drenching rain, language barriers, delayed flights — you can weather all with humor and go-get-’em attitude.

But a good backpack is the foundation upon which your trip rests. It holds your entire life in one place. It protects it. Sometimes you wear it so often it feels like another … Read more »

I bolted through the airport, dodging slow moving people dragging rolling suitcases.

My flight left in thirty minutes. Plenty of time to get my boarding pass and navigate airport security in the quiet of an early Friday morning.

The lines to the flight check-in counters were empty. I ducked under each fabric line divider and arrived at the … Read more »

Lauren had never eaten rice.

Yet she had just purchased a one-way flight ticket to Eastern Europe.

Maybe you’ve dreamed about traveling the world. Ideas of where you’d go, what you’d see, how you’d pack, and those pristine white beaches fill your quiet moments.

But the thought of leaving your comfortable life and its solid routines scares you. It’s an huge world and despite those jaw-dropping beach photos, you’d be tackling this vast unknown-ness by … Read more »

The open road has a mystical quality that cleanses my mind. Snarls in my thoughts loosen as the road unspools in front of my car’s nose. Ribbons of blacktop connecting sea to shining sea, linking deserts and mountains and fields of waving corn.

I yearn to grab my keys, jump behind the wheel and let the miles clarify my thoughts.

My tires eat up the miles. It takes time for the road to work its … Read more »

For independent travelers just now beginning to travel in Asia, the legendary overland “Hippie Trail” of the ’60s and ’70s is a natural source of fascination and envy. Unlike today’s Lonely Planet-toting backpackers, the counterculture wanderers of the hippie era pioneered their Asian routes by word-of-mouth and trial-and-error. Hence, in indie travel terms, Hippie Trail travelers are … Read more »

Our flat-bottomed boat hit another large ocean swell. I was hung onto the seats in front of me, my knees cushioning each bone-shattering impact.

The boat was air-borne for a split second. I was flying, anchored only by my white-knuckled hands gripping the seats.

The boat hit the bottom of the next swell flat-on and rocked. Overhead waves splashed the boat’s clear plastic roof.

A second later, the boat was air-borne again, face-planted into the … Read more »

Since I’ve traveled to (and at times lived in) Thailand every year since 1998, I’m occasionally asked to recommend a Buddhist meditation retreat for long-term travelers. I can easily recommend some specific starting points for practicing meditation in Thailand (and if you keep reading, you’ll find a few recommendations below), but over time I’ve found that it’s more instructive to just tell people this: Find your own damn Buddhist meditation retreat!

In saying this, I’m … Read more »