When deciding to take an extended stay in a country, a ‘working holiday', it can sometimes become a story of ‘different place, same boredom'. It means going from a weekday job in your home country to probably a more tedious method of employment in your adopted country (on lower pay). There are ways to cure...

Security cameras are everywhere you travel these days -- airports, bus stations, subways, inside taxis, street corners, stores; you name it, there's probably a camera there to record you. However, if you turn around and point a camera back, something interesting happens -- authorities get mad and, in some cases, you may well find yourself...

Also known as "vacations with heart", philanthropic tours became popular post tsunami. I was in Thailand post disaster in 2004. I went on holiday with no specific goal in mind. Most of my stay was at Phi-Phi island where much work was being done to restore the island. It was easy to lend a hand;...

The other week, I managed to fix a flat tire with the aid of a little duct tape (okay, an air compressor was involved too and technically it was a tire valve and not the actual tire…). And just the other day a coworker regaled me with tales of a flight he traveled on where...

With soaring gas prices and a crashing economy, “staycations” are a new reality (and addition to the lexicon). A “staycation” is a vacation minus the vacating part. How can a restless vagabonder feel adventurous when chained between the cubicle and soaring expenses without a trip in sight? There are plenty of ways to find culture...

A reader named Brian recently weighed in with the following question: This September I will be making my way from the U.S. to London to Munich for Oktoberfest. After that I want to venture around Europe for several weeks. My main concern is where to go and which hostels to sleep in. I'd rather not...

Not long ago, a fellow travel blogger emailed me with the following query about pitching story ideas to travel magazines: There are several travel magazines that I'm interested in sending a query to, but I'm having a hard time translating what I know into something that's "pitchable." I feel like I'm usually on the cutting-edge...

A reader named Ty recently sent me an email with a sentiment that is pretty common among people who love long-term travel. He writes: I am in the middle of trying to accept that my itchy feet will never be cured, and that "vagabonding" as you coin it, runs ripe in my blood. At the...

Travel trouble-shooter Chris Elliot recently spoke to people who, although not vagabonders, travel a helluva lot for their work, and asked them what they have learnt from being on the road so frequently. The reason I like the article is because it is practical advice. Some of it you might find pessimistic; I like to...

A long time on the road, whether traveling with a partner or on your own, can give you bouts of loneliness; basically because of your transitional status. Sure, you will meet a zillion awesome people all the time, so physically you may never be alone; but it's not hard to feel lost in the midst...

"So do I leave a tip?", "Is that enough for a tip?", surely you have asked these questions every time you eat, or have a drink when you travel. And, from what I remember, no-one really gives you a proper answer! Although you might think that the bar tender/waiter/porter is probably never going to see...

Traveling with a cause is something I've wanted to do for a long time. My first vagabonding plan ever, was to go to Brazil and work for 3-6 months with street children. Hasn't happened yet, but it is something in my mind. That's why I keep looking for and bookmarking sites that offer programs allowing...

Unfortunately, it's easier for some to vagabond than others; border control is one of the main obstacles for some people. I often get emails from Asian nationalities asking me about vagabonding visa issues. This is something Americans and Europeans hardly have to worry about as in majority of places they don't need a tourist visa...

The eternal question that always comes to mind whilst making your payment for that trip. If you are traveling on budget airlines, sometimes the price of the insurance is close to the price you paid to fly. That's when I always think: "Nah! nothing is going to happen to me, I'm not going to bother...

If you are new to traveling and you are in the process of planning your first big trip, you may very well have done your homework by reading all the right guidebooks, discovering hidden 'must see' gems in the travel forums and read the sage advice from experienced travelers now sharing their collective wisdom on...

After 4-years of a high-flying career in public relations, when I quit my job to move overseas with the sole aim of living a different culture and traveling, everyone thought I was nuts; that I had completely lost the plot. Outside western culture, taking a gap-year, a sabbatical, or time-off to travel is not common...

--"If the beaten track is created for the tourist, the tourist herself creates an 'off the beaten track' to reassert her own autonomy and independence. Having discovered how attractive this toe dipped in freedom is to most people, the tourist industry has also gotten into the off-the-beaten-track business, usually more expensive and fundamentally more snobbish...

A reader named Suzanne recently wrote me with this query: This summer, I am hoping to travel to South America. My plan was to fly into Caracas and out of Buenos Aires. I was going to give myself about 10 weeks for this, traveling by boat and bus. Tonight I received a very strongly opinionated...

Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love , which takes readers on a spiritual journey from Italy to India to Bali, was far and away the most popular travel memoir of 2006. Before long it will be made into a movie starring Julia Roberts. At her website , Gilbert gives some perspectives on mindful travel that share...

For the past seven years, I've been asking my various travel writer interview subjects how they got started writing. Frank Bures recently asked me that same question for a travel-writing class he's teaching, and this is what I told him: My writing aspirations can be traced back to about age 13, when I started writing...