“There is nothing more meaningful than being true to yourself and finding your own voice. Follow your heart and don’t let anyone discourage you.” – Jane Fulton Alt Did you ever think about your own voice? What do you sound like when you speak? Have you ever listened to yourself? What would you sound like...

I read with interest a recent study by the Trans-Global Association for Travel and Tourism Commerce, which rated the behavior of tourists from all the world's industrialized countries. Consistently ranking last in the study -- bottoming out in categories ranging from airline etiquette to podiatric hygiene -- were travelers from Great Britain. "This settles it,"...

One of my favorite web tools is StumbleUpon , which allows me to randomly discover sites that suit my interests. Traveling is one of my listed interests, of course, so it was no accident that I literally "stumbled upon" the free online book "How to See the World: European Backpacking on $25 a Day or...

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...

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...

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...

Today, there’s a Facebook group for just about everything. Full-time families, digital nomads, long-term travelers, family travelers, solo travelers and everyone in between have a footprint in the digital world. Just how drastically the Internet has changed a traveler’s adventure we will never know, but, whether you are a traveler of the WIFI generation or...

A few years ago, after finishing a journey in the Indian Himalayas, I traveled to the desert state of Rajasthan and visited the Hindu holy-town of Pushkar. A scenic outpost of 13,000 residents, Pushkar was famous for its Brahma Temple, its serene lake, and its annual Camel Fair. Several travelers had recommended it to me...

During random social occasions it’s always with a pinch of pride and much more self-pity that I gulp down when I am introduced to new acquaintances as a “writer”. In fact, once my friends drop the “W word”, the person who until a moment ago was thinking “who’s this long-haired nerd standing in the way...

Of the many things Europe does well, it’s the continent’s magnificent Christmas festivities that can charm this cynical traveler every time. From Scotland to Switzerland an extraordinary spirit of festivity, connecting this generations to others long since passed, can be felt in the wintertime air. The traditions of the season are still strong in this...

The first time I was in Paris, I went to the Louvre and -- like a million other tourists before me -- headed straight for the Mona Lisa. Since the famous French museum houses one of the most extensive art collections in the world, I'll admit that making a beeline for a painting I'd already...

I find myself, more often than not, looking at travel experiences through a writer's lens. Every meal, every trek, every chance meeting has the potential to be material for a travel piece. On boat rides, I think about phrasing. On long bus rides, I scroll through pictures, looking for the right one to go with...

Veterans’ Day in the US and the UK is replete with ceremonies (concerts and parades in the US, red poppies in the UK) to commemorate those who served their country in uniform. Aside from a great opportunity to thank those that fought in foreign lands, it’s a great opportunity to remember some of the historic...

This book found me, not the other way around. Tucked between a hat from the Karen region in the north of Thailand, an Indian pashmina and a pile of silk and cotton shawls plucked from market stalls across Indonesia. I pulled a long, tie dyed piece from the depths of the cardboard box, draped it...

Photo Credit: walidhassanein via Compfight cc I'm riding a second-class train up the Nile valley when a boy in an official-looking blue jacket beckons me to the other side of the carriage. "Look," he whispers, pointing outside. "Beautiful!" I look out the window to see a red sun streaking the sky with bands of pink...

VANISHING TALES FROM ANCIENT TRAILS by James Dorsey, 2014, Vagabundo Magazine Publishing. Buy on Amazon . When I first found his writing on celebrated travel webzine Perceptive Travel, there was one thing that made me an instant James Dorsey’s fan . It was the amount of literary adrenaline he was able to inject straight into...

It can be difficult to find new angles through which to view places you already know well. Human nature being what is, it takes a conscious effort to see anything through new eyes. We tend to see only what we’re familiar with, and what strikes our vision on the most surface levels: the old buildings,...

1) Make travel a part of your life’s education Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country, before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel. 2) Keep a travel journal, at sea or...

Have you ever wanted to leave civilization behind and embark on a multitude of journeys where you simply live and explore? That's exactly what Lisa Alpine did. At 18 years old, she left sunny California for the rainy streets of Vienna and beyond, Europe. In Wild Life: Travel Adventures of a Worldly Woman , she...

Some writer once said; “There are only two stories: man goes on a journey; or stranger comes to town.” Some other writer said; “Those are the same story.” The quotes above have been attributed to writers as diverse as Dostoevsky and John Gardner. Despite their flippancy, there’s an undeniable verisimilitude there – a sense that...