There has been a recent debate about budget travel against cheap travel: the article draws some interesting comparisons between budgeting your trip, and actually being too much of a cheapo to make the best out of it. As much as I agree with many of the statements presented in the article, I had to stop...

Last week, Lindsey Rue’s post on Vagabonding inspired me to reconsider slowing down to enjoy the music from another perspective: the musician’s. I have been a punk rock guitarist for the best part of my twenties, and I have started to love travelling because of the long, inspiring van drives linking venue A to venue...

Earlier this week the Indie Travel Manifesto , which had twenty four declarations about independent travel, was posted. One that stood out to me was Slow Down and Enjoy an Experience. After reading them, a particularly intriguing article got me thinking. If we simply slow down a little, it is truly amazing what we could...

Since I've written quite a bit about how electronic technology is transforming travel , I enjoyed reading " GPS and the End of the Road ," Ari N. Schulman's essay in the Spring 2011 issue of The New Atlantis . In the essay, Schulman posits that GPS devices, along with "location awareness" apps like HearPlanet...

When traveling, I usually consider the actual form of transportation just a means to get where I’m going. Certainly, there have been experiences that stand out, but for airplanes, buses and cars—it’s usually snooze city. Hours spent on planes or most wheeled vehicles are like pressing the pause button on my trip. I’m not here,...

When I was a kid, I used to carry an agate arrowhead with me when I traveled with my family. I found it in an Idaho river, and my dad’s uncle offered me $20 for it. That was a lot of money for me then. I turned him down, thinking that if he was willing...

This time of year can be a very reflective time for some people. You may find yourself looking back and appreciating the high points, remembering the lower points, and thinking about what you can do better next year. This time of year, a lot of people are making New Year’s resolutions in hopes of incorporating...

There's no such thing as independent travel. Travel depends on fuel supplies, seatmates, ticket collectors, farmers, traders, innkeepers, and governments. It depends on the weather, the landscape, employers, clients, the generosity of others, what your parents did or did not do, the person you're negotiating with, the capital-T Travel Industry, the authorities (and more generally,...

Back in college, there was a board on campus plastered with cards from students seeking rides back home from other students lucky enough to have cars. The first year I was in school, I was without wheels, so I consulted the board a handful of times to get a ride with someone I didn’t know....

Have you ever been abroad during a significant moment in your home country’s history? I was living abroad at the time of the last US elections and, I have to admit, it was hard to be away from America at such a significant time. Sure, I was having a sit-in, glued to the news channel,...

You don't have to be a star athlete to experience the thrills of competition on the world stage. Some of my best travel memories have been made at the foosball table. The endorphin rush of sports in combination with the similar neurostimulation of travel is delicious. You don't need a uniform, contract, nor sponsor. Pickup...

Going to the doctors in another country is always an interesting experience. We can find great similarities and parallels between visiting cafés or riding public transportation in America and Europe, or between grocery stores in the US and Japan, but going to the doctor always seems to remind you that you are in a foreign...

Independent travelers often have a love/hate relationship with the travel industry. The love: Transportation networks make things easy. Beds of all calibers are usually easy to find. Information about places we've never been to has been collected and bound into books. The hate: The industry's ability to funnel large numbers of people into a single...

These days it seems like everyone is doing one of those 365 photo projects. There are loads of communities online where participants can post their daily photos and view those of others. Flickr has grown to be one of the largest and most popular photo hosting and sharing sights. A simply search for 365 photos...

Claire Litton wrote earlier this week about traveling low-res as a genuine option to lugging all those i-products around. The timing was right on the heels of my recent digital breakdown. I probably should have known better than to plan to do a few social media updates and minor editing tasks while I was spending...

The “pack light” mantra has been beaten into travelers who don’t have personal jets. It’s a good practice, too. Have you been following Rolf’s No Baggage Challenge ? It’s much easier to pack light when you can leave toiletries at home and just buy inexpensive replacements in your destination. It can also be simple, depending...

LIFE.com recently put up a set of never-before published photos of the Hell's Angels from 1965. Check out these quotes from the photo captions -- there's something shared between the mid-60's Hell's Angels and the RTW travelers of today. Of course, the list of things NOT in common is plenty long -- independent travelers aren't...

Having been on the road a fair bit lately, I naturally find myself in the company of other travelers. Conversation invariably turns toward where we’ve been, where we are going, and a highlights list of some of our most dazzling and death defying experiences on the road. Hoping to bump an earlier flight out of...

Sometimes as a solo traveler you need a bit more amusement; you don't have someone to tell you offensive jokes or about their first sexual experience, and you're tired of staring out the train windows at scenery or communicating by hand gestures and large grins at local small children. So then it's fun to set...

The best travel soundtrack is made of the distinct sounds of a place. A foghorn’s wail, the sizzle of cooking, a howler monkey’s roar, or an imam’s call to prayer—all can bring us back to a place as easily as seeing a photo. What about your playlists? Do they help conjure a moment on a...