This self-printed slim volume is a series of twenty-two short vignette-y articles written by Mr. Leonard, a British visitor to San Luis Obispo, California for several months at the end of 2009. The stories are interspersed with photos -- including one of the disgusting "Chewinggum Alley", which I know from experience actually makes you dry-heave...

One of my favorite columns is "The Frugal Traveler," written by Matt Gross for the the New York Times . He gives his final swan song in this piece: Three things I've learned about frugal travel It's a great retrospective of his career as a travel writer. While I haven't always agreed with his definition...

I like to criticize technology's effects on travel -- how it can shut us off from both sight and sound, turn soul-searching into wi-fi searching, and funnel hours of exploration into the confines of a monitor. But today, the man in dark glasses reminded me how blogging can push you further into the analog world....

Carl Hoffman's latest book, ' The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World via its most dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes ' was the perfect reading companion during my recent trip to Haiti. As I followed Carl on a bus through the Andes to Puerto Maldonado, or a train from Kenya to Uganda, or a ferry...

It used to be that just about every advance in technology was accompanied by someone deciding to take it around the world -- bikes, cars, balloons, boats, you name it. Maybe it's technology that's changed, maybe it's us, in either case the round the world trip has become a touch routine by yesterday's standards. Sure...

The news is full these days about a "green revolution." Is it really the wave of the future? Or is it actually a return to the past, when living in harmony with the environment was standard practice? The Tokyo expat magazine Metropolis published excerpts from a new work titled Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green...

Masaya National Park, Nicaragua Some things in life frustrate me. Take, for instance, how small the travel sections of most bookstores are, and how narrowly the genre is defined. I’m aware that narrow definitions are helpful and even necessary, not least when organizing a bookstore. But there’s a danger in this too, especially when we...

The Portland-based small publisher Bedouin Books define themselves as "publishers of handmade works of literature and poetry, fiction and non-fiction." The selective and tiny publishing house began in 2003 and has released a semiannual literary journal ( swap/concessions ) and several editions of quailty, handbound books, each designed and printed using innovation and artistry. They...

This recent New York Times piece highlights old age as a never-ending adventure, but there are far more desperate, fundamental reasons why elderly people are deciding they'd rather be abroad than at home. Here are three less-discussed motivations for senior long-term travel (the first two are illustrated below by Lawrence Osborne 's unflinching Bangkok Days...

Selecting 250+ pictures to represent the expanse and wonder of the planet is a daunting task, but it is one that Earth Bound: A Rough Guide to the World in Pictures has done very well. Best known for its guidebook series, Rough Guides has pulled from a collection of more than 100,000 images to create...

near Roan Mountain, Tennessee To be immersed in a foreign world, one doesn't necessarily need to leave the country. If you're American, for example, you could go to parts of Miami. Even better, you could take a hike on the Appalachian Trail. Completed in 1937, the 2175-mile long Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine....

Are you a traveling linguaphile? Many of us that are drawn to travel are also drawn to the study of different languages. Moreover, the seductive accents and quirky slang terms found within our own mother tongue can be endlessly intriguing. If you can’t leave language alone, Adam Jacob de Boinod’s book The Wonder of Whiffling...

It's once again winter holiday season, which means it's time to tout my books as stocking stuffers for the travel lovers on your Christmas list. The new twist this year is that you can order signed copies of either book from me directly -- just send an email to books [at] rolfpotts [dot] com for...

In Surviving Paradise , author Peter Rudiak-Gould recounts his year as a volunteer English teacher for WorldTeach on the South Pacific island of Ujae. Part of the Ujae Atoll in the Marshall Islands and measuring only one third of a square mile in area, Peter circumnavigated his new island home before lunch on his first...

On a quick, non-travel-related note, I want to announce that my Paris Writing Workshop colleague Lauren Grodstein has just published a new novel, A Friend of the Family . It's been getting nice reviews in venues like the New York Times and USA Today -- and I can personally attest that it's an engrossing read....

Undress Me In The Temple of Heaven , by Susan Jane Gilman, reads almost like a mystery novel, except the mystery is why two naive teenagers who'd never been away from home before would decide to go to China in 1986. You kind of know the mystery right up front. But the rest of the...

[Note: Each Saturday this month, Vagablogging has featured self-published travel books reviewed by self-published travel authors. We finish this series with Douglas Jewell's review of Imagine: A Vagabonding Story .] Review by Douglas Jewell Most American students are content to finish their years in school and jump right into the business world. But then there...

[Note: Each Saturday this month, Vagablogging is featuring self-published travel books reviewed by self-published travel authors. This week, Grant Lingel reviews Planet Backpacker .] Review by Grant Lingel On the back of Robert Downes’ book, Planet Backpacker , there is a caution to readers: "WARNING: Reading this book could cause your feet to wander." There...

[Note: Each Saturday this month, Vagablogging is featuring self-published travel books reviewed by self-published travel authors. This week, Bob Reil reviews Roadtrip .] Review by Bob Reil When he was 20 years old, Douglas Jewell made a life list. He had decided to live an unconventional life, unencumbered by the traditions of what he saw...

Everyone has a piece of writing that just speaks to them: poetry, music, a book (maybe Rolf's book). Some people remember exactly where they were when they read Atlas Shrugged , for example, and others, when they first heard a tinkling piano introduction. Words aren't just meaningful for themselves; they also bring back who you...