About 110 years ago an Englishman named Ewart Grogan made the journey across Africa from south to north. He was the first person to do so, and it took him two years. In Crossing the Heart of Africa: An Odyssey of Love and Adventure , author Julian Smith recounts some of Grogan’s story, following much...

"To this day, across the developing world, foreigners sacrifice their lives and energies, often heroically, in order to help the locals attain a better life. Yet frequently in the process they try to protect the places they visit from the very technology, freedom of movement, and material plenty that they have enjoyed in getting there....

"Just look what gets written about Afghanistan. In an age when journalism is becoming more and more etiolated, when articles are becoming shorter and shorter, usually lacking all historical context, travel writing is one of the few venues to write with some complexity about an alien culture. An Obama speech, a foreign policy paper or...

If you like to travel and have your own blog, you may have entertained the idea of being a travel writer. Imagine getting paid to go and do the same fun stuff you're already doing, going all over the world. The reality can be quite different, however. Lonely Planet guidebook writer Leif Pettersen wrote this...

It's that time of year again when STA travel picks this summers World Traveler Interns and the two lucky candidates have been announced. The 2011 interns are Brigette Muller and Dutch Simpson. You can read more about who they are and what inspired them to apply for the position here , on the STA website....

Do you remember the first trip you took on your own? Mine was to France. I lugged a huge wheeled suitcase, far more cumbersome than today’s streamlined wheelies. Every night before I fell asleep, I worried about the next day: whether I could speak French well enough, would miss my train, or knew how to...

First, a caveat, you are about to read a review of book about "Lady Adventurers," How to Climb Mt. Blanc in a Skirt written by a man, Mick Conefrey, reviewed by a man, me. That said, Conefrey's book is not just a handbook for the independent, female explorer, but a great look at the history...

Looking to break into the elusive world of travel writing? Rough Guide is offering a travel writing scholarship through WorldNomads.com. The scholarship allows the winner to go on assignment as a travel writer to Turkey this summer. The lucky applicant will spend a few days learning travel writing essentials with Rough Guide writer Terry Richardson...

Linda Ballou’s Lost Angel Walkabout isn’t your standard collection of travel essays. At first impression it reads more like nature writing than anything else. Sure, most travelers are drawn to the scenic beauty of the countries they visit, or a powerful sea or desert expanse. However, Ballou brings an intelligent meditation to her travels in...

"Of all possible subjects, travel is the most difficult for an artist, as it is the easiest for a journalist. For the latter, the interesting event is the new, the extraordinary, the comic, the shocking, and all that the peripatetic journalist requires is a flair for being on the spot where and when such events...

"Writing travel pieces from your own backyard is difficult. For a start it's a masquerade. You can't look through fresh eyes and nothing much comes as a surprise. I display far more prejudice and a far shorter temper toward the folk over the garden wall than the ones I encounter over the ocean." --A.A. Gill,...

Several months ago, Vagablogging reminded readers that STA travel was again accepting applications for their Summer Intern Positions and encouraged everyone to get out there and apply. Well, now the lucky winners have been chosen and have been on the road and reporting since the end of May. This year’s itinerary is just as enticing...

Lisa Alpine’s book Exotic Life: Laughing Rivers, Dancing Drums, and Tangled Hearts is a sprawling anthology of 19 travel tales. Alpine is an inspiration to women travelers everywhere. She fearlessly wanders through one obscure destination after the other, leaving her complete trust in the experience. She answers that timeless question - Can solo women travelers...

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...

"Travel writing isn't really an exploration of where you've been, so much as an explanation of where you've come from. All journeys end up at the same address. Back home. Travelers don't write for the people they visit, but for the people they've left behind." --A.A. Gill, AA Gill is Away (2002)

BootsnAll, the company which hosts Vagablogging, has been in business for 12 years and been a regular contributor on this site for many of them. Which is why we're pleased to have this space in which to spread the word about our latest adventure - the BootsnAll Travel Writers Platform . This program will give...

Christine Gilbert, writer of the travel blog Almost Fearless , is rounding up aspiring travel writers all over the country for National Travel Writing Month (NaTraWriMo). The challenge starts on April 1, 2009, and will last until the 30th of the same month. As for the challenge itself, here's what the founder has to say...

Sometimes you feel like you're at the mercy of train or bus timetables or, if you're driving, scarily numbered streets or terrifying directions . Even with a GPS to help pinpoint your location, you may not know where you are or where you want to go. So enjoy it! Here is a short reading list...

These days, staying in touch with family and friends back home or spread out across your numerous vagabonding locations is both easier and harder. It's harder because, thanks to the incredible shrinking of the world, there are more and more people you can potentially vow to exchange email addresses with. Also harder because sending individual...

My sister, Kristin Van Tassel, has reviewed some new travel books for World Hum in recent weeks, including Mark Twain: On Travel , edited by Terry Mort; Mark Twain’s Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race , from the University of California Press; and J. Maarten Troost's Getting Stoned With...