More than likely you’ve heard of the legendary Moleskine notebooks that were revered by artists, writers and travelers alike. Originally they were covered in a woven cotton fabric which was sheared, making it soft on one side. Bruce Chatwin describes this ‘Paris’ notebook in The Song Lines , “The pages were squared and the end-papers...

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...

Have you ever been frustrated with your travel bag? Thought, "hey, you know what? I could do better than this"? Well that's exactly what Jeremy Cohen and Fred Perrotta were thinking somewhere in the middle of their extended trip through Europe. At the end of the trip they decided to take matters into their own...

Having lived abroad for several years now, one travel investment that I can honestly say has been worth the expense many times over is my Amazon kindle . Sometimes travelers can get caught up in the myriad travel accessories there are out there on the market. Will these items make your trip better? Easier? Most...

Vagabonders can be masters of packing methods, as well as knowing which items are absolutely necessary and which can be left behind. Recently, a Lifehacker article ( Unusual Items Worth Packing on your Next Vacation ) suggests some additional things to consider stashing in your bag before your next big trip. Some of the items...

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...

Does a roll of duct tape always find its way into your suitcase? Are you a jury-rig master? Unless you travel in a bubble where stores are always nearby, open and have absolutely everything you need, you’ve likely had to figure out how to repurpose something. A recent Lifehacker article highlights the website’s most popular...

Chrome, probably best known for their bike messenger bags, have released two new bags that are worth considering for your next round-the-world trip. The folks at Chrome were kind enough to send Vagablogging the new Yalta bag to test out and pass along to one lucky reader. The Yalta's larger sibling, the Brigadier , is...

A couple of weeks ago I offered signed copies of my two books as a holiday gift option; today I want to share a few other gift ideas. Each year publishers and gear companies send me far more books and equipment than I can review here -- but a lot of what I get turns...

A flower vending machine in Takayama, Japan. Photo: Kat Klay / Flickr Creative Commons With Black Friday upon us, shoppers are lining up in force to take advantage of discounts. What do you buy for a traveler, though? The New York Times came out with a shopping guide called, Holiday Gifts for a Globetrotter ....

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...

For extended travels your pack is your single most important piece of gear (unless of course you opt to go minimalist and skip the bag altogether ). If you're good at packing light, but want some extra protection for your laptop and other electronic gizmos, Keen's Airport Way backpack makes a great choice. The bag...

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...

Travelers have all sorts of ways of hiding valuables on their person -- passport pouches, hip belts, fanny packs, even custom sewn pockets. On such option is the SPIbelt , the Small Personal Item Belt (pronounced spy-belt). The SPIbelt is small, lightweight, slightly-hipper-than-normal fanny pack. The SPIbelt is made of very stretchy nylon so, despite...

As you may have noticed, Rolf is currently in the midst of traveling around the world with only what he can carry in his pockets. He's got a toothbrush, a change of underpants, and an iPod Touch to do his blog posting from, as well as some presumably bulging cargo pants pockets. I did see...

I recently returned from a two month road-trip around the United States. It had been almost ten years since I had traveled extensively inside the United States and it was, as you might expect, very different than my last trip. Aside from the negative aspects -- more sprawl, less open space and so on --...

Most vagabonds seem to travel in t-shirts, but there are times you might want something a bit nicer -- perhaps for a job interview overseas, or when you splash out for nice meal with that special someone you just met. Nice clothes also make it really easy to wander into five-star hotels and use the...

Cheap guesthouses are de rigueur for budget-conscious vagabonds. Unfortunately cheap often means suffering lumpy, rock-hard mattresses, grungy sheets and suspect bedding. While there's not much you can do about mattresses that feel like plywood, when it comes to sheets and bedding, many vagabonds opt for some sort of travel sheet -- a layer between you...

Before we get into the review, let's be honest, no, you don't need the GoLite TraveLite bag. In fact, the old backpack gathering dust in your closet will do just fine. Buy less stuff, travel more. Now that that's out of way, GoLite's TraveLite convertible bag is actually a pretty nice pack for those that...

Clean water is one of the major issues facing the developing world. As outsiders, vagabonds typically rely on bottled water in such areas, but plastic water bottles are a major contributor to disturbing things such as the Pacific's trash island , to say nothing of the strain they put on local landfills. The far better...