[Above: Behold the "Brief Safe".] I have seen many traveler money belts and safety devices in my day, but never before have I seen something quite so innovative as the Brief Safe (pictured above). This is no April Fool's joke, either. According to the promotional website , valuables can be hidden in the 4" x...

"One example is gift giving. We recommend, for instance, that travelers never give gifts to children. When travelers do that, they’re disrupting the whole hierarchy of how a village works, and where children traditionally turn for support. If you have a box of pens, give them to a schoolteacher. If you have candy or balloons,...

After three years of monthly interviews with travel writers at RolfPotts.com, I was finally able to track down a longtime favorite of mine, Tim Cahill. I will feature an interview with him on the site in January, but -- in the spirit of the holidays -- I wanted to give Vagablogging readers a sneak preview,...

"Be patient, for the world is broad and wide." --William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet , Act Three, Scene Three Note : Back in the mid-nineties, I resolved to read one Shakespeare play per year until I'd read them all. I'll admit I haven't been too good at holding true to this resolution over the years,...

Over at the Vagabonding.net Q&A , a reader asked me to recommend a water filter to use while he goes vagabonding overseas. His logic was that a filter will save him money (and prevent pollution) in regard to plastic bottles, but my instinct was to tell him to leave the water filters at home. I...

Those of you who are considering moving overseas to live the expatriate life should check out a recent article by Newley Purnell , an American vagabonder I've know since my Salon writing days. Newley teaches English in Ecuador, and his essay about the process of pulling up stakes and moving overseas is short, clear, and...

"Fortunately, you don

Over at Tim Leffel's blog, the World's Cheapest Places author has an interesting post called Why Travel Around the World? The post is a response to a message thread at the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree, where a woman who has been planning a round-the-world trip is discouraged by her family and friends' attitude toward her...

Interacting with locals is essential to any meaningful vagabonding experience, and that's why I devote an entire chapter to the topic in Vagabonding . In a recent issue of National Geographic Adventure , Dangerous Places author Robert Young Pelton gives some great advice on meeting strangers on the road, which I'll reprint here: Looking for...

Many travel insurance policies are based on short-term or group travel, so I figured I'd expound here about insurance for long-term, independent travel. After all, accidents can happen, and an evacuation can cost upwards of $30,000 is some parts of the world. There are lots of coverage options available -- and insurance terms can be...

Complaining about things you don't like is a natural symptom of the culture shock that comes with travel: we all do it from time to time. Even when you're trying to keep a positive attitude amidst the rigors of new lands, it can be easy to fall into (dubiously therapeutic) bitching sessions with other travelers....

Ever since my days as a Salon Travel columnist , I've gotten lots of messages from people asking how they can get started as travel writers. That's why my personal website now has a section for Writers , including monthly interviews with a variety of travel-writing professionals . I still get questions, though, mainly from...

These days, whenever I read that the world has been fully explored and overrun by tourism, I just peer out at the jungle-mountains sprawling along the horizon outside my south Thailand apartment. After almost two years of periodically living here, I've come to learn that -- from the base of those mountains -- I could...

Occasionally, I get travel questions that are so broad and basic that they can be hard to answer in a brief and simple manner. An example would be this query, from a college student named Lindsey: "My friend and I are planning a trip to Honduras, and we don't want to do it like typical...

Air courier travel is an arrangement that allows travelers to save money on economy-class overseas plane tickets by forfeiting their luggage space to a shipping company. This means that you can only take carry-on luggage. Usually, your luggage space is used for "overnight" documents (not drugs!). The only obligation is to carry a bit of...

A reader from Virginia recently asked if it was too late for him, as a family man in his mid-40's, to go vagabonding. The question had great timing, since that day I'd been hanging out with a fifty-something couple who were traveling their way along Thailand's backpacker trail. They'd been at it for nearly a...

The relative benefits of buying air tickets en route (as opposed to buying a round-the-world ticket in advance) is often debated on travel message forums. Obviously, buy-as-you-go offers you more flexibility than a RTW ticket, but I want to illustrate how it is also very cheap, should you keep aware of air ticket prices overseas....

A reader asks: "Is it possible to buy one-way air tickets in this day and age? I ask because I've heard of people being detained or even turned back after an overseas flight that doesn't have a return. I want to go to Southeast Asia and make my way through Asia and Europe before returning...

Over at the Vagabonding.net Q&A , I got an interesting question from Erin in Massachusetts. She writes: "I'm 27 and have gone through college and Grad School and now have an 'office job' that is really dull. I want to plan to do some volunteer work in the Peace Corps next year but am afraid...

It's interesting to see how SARS has been portrayed in the media in recent weeks. You'd think there was a revival of the bubonic plague. According to AP, the Travel Industry Association of America reported a 55 percent decrease in international travel, especially to and from Asia, because of SARS. So: Should we all stick...