A record 23 million passengers are expected to take cruises around the globe in 2015, according to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which recently made the projection in its annual State of the Cruise Industry Report. Admittedly, I have never been a fan of ocean cruising. As a long-term, independent traveler who immerses in the...

Planes, trains, and buses. These are the modes of long-haul transportation that vagabonders are most familiar with. However, every continent save Antarctica has a great river running through it. The shortest is the Murray River in Australia at 1,476 miles, with the longest being the river at the heart of civilization, the great Nile at...