I recently did a Q&A for Italy's La Repubblica Sunday magazine, and the interviewer and I covered some interesting thematic ground about slowing down and getting off the beaten path. Since the interview is only available in Italian, I wanted to share my favorite outtake here: Slowing down will also take your mind off of...

Whether I'll be away for a week or a month, I always follow this rule: take only one bag with you. This may seem like an extreme rule, but there are just too many benefits to traveling light. The most obvious benefit is the convenience. If you'll be traveling by plane, you just have one...

Need to read some Vagabonding success stories? Look no further than this MSNBC article about becoming a permanent tourist . Many of the strategies will be familiar to vagabonders: travel light, go slow, and keep your sense of humor in the face of stressful situations. Aside from the inspiring stories of ordinary people following their...

The swine influenza virus is all over the news this past week. While it's not exactly a pandemic yet, the World Health Organization (WHO) claims that a pandemic is imminent . As seen in previous worldwide outbreaks such as the avian flu and SARS, travelers are becoming both worried and wary, especially if there are...

An 18-year-old reader named Brennan recently wrote me with a question about the traveling life. "When I recently told my friends that I wanted to be a vagabond," he wrote, "they thought it was the same thing as being poor. What can I do to prepare myself financially to spend my life traveling? I enjoy...

Not long ago American bookstores saw the debut of the new travel memoir First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life . Kristen Pope reviewed it here last week. Since this book is a humorous take on aid-work in places...

While most major airlines have tightened up the rules (and added new restrictions) surrounding frequently flyer miles, that doesn't mean you can't find some pretty good deals. And honestly, who wouldn't like to fly for free? If, like me, you've got quite a few frequent flyer miles and are trying to figure out the best...

Nearly five years ago my old mentor Don George approached me with some interview questions for a book on travel writing he was putting together for Lonely Planet. My Q&A appeared on pp. 35-38 of Travel Writing , which hit bookstores worldwide in early 2005. With Travel Writing going into a second edition this year,...

Dealing with phone cards and other vagaries of international calling can be a major pain. Matt Gross, the New York Times journalist who does the "Frugal Traveler" column, has the perfect system worked out. In his article, Staying in Touch Internationally, on the Cheap , he presents the details of his calling system. It makes...

A reader named Jake recently wrote with a question about kick-starting a music-writing career from the road. "I've been a music writer for about two years now," he wrote, "and before that I wrote often about my European travels during my time studying abroad. I would welcome and appreciate any advice you have on how...

Exchanging money can seem inimidating. You're faced with a huge electronic board filled with numbers, and you can't tell what anything means. Before your trip, it's a good idea to check exchange rates at the Universal Currency Converter . This will give you a rough guide to what a fair rate is. When you're looking...

The sad fact is that some of the coolest cities in the world are also the most expensive. But Budget Travel magazine did a feature story about doing Expensive Cities on the Cheap . Staying in hostels, taking public transportation and eating at local food stalls are classic Vagabonding strategies. This article included some destination-specific...

I love those little moments of living abroad where you feel like you've gotten deeper into the local scene: finding that bus that goes directly to your favorite restaurant, discovering a street stall with great food, visiting a local friend's home to meet their family. Those are the moments I treasure the most. Matador Abroad...

A Chicago-based reader named Ron recently emailed me with a question about a first-time journey. "I am at the beginning stages of planning my long-term travel," he wrote. "It's very exciting. The only problem is, there are just to many places to choose from. Can you recommend a list of places to travel for first-time...

The sad thing about job hunting abroad is that there's no one website where you can find jobs for anywhere in the world. Usually, you have to go to local websites run by expats to get more up-to-date job listings. Before, you had to be in-country to hear about these websites from fellow travelers. The...

If you vagabond by plane or over large distances, you've probably seen those articles in Conde Nast that purport to be for the "road warriors": people who travel a lot. Usually they're designed for the business traveler, but since much of the information in them is of staggering uselessness to anyone who travels a lot,...

Visas can be complicated and troublesome for even the most organized of travelers. Not all countries issue visas on arrival, so it's important to research which countries require you to apply for visas before you get there. China, India, and Vietnam are some examples in Asia for U.S. passport holders. It's also worth knowing whether...

When you are planning a long trip, cross continent, you can never have enough information. I remember a friend in Spain would make me see him for coffee for a year before he actually left for his RTW trip. He just wanted reassurance, support, chat, my guidebooks, website links, anything, because taking that final step...

Oil prices are plummeting and the number of travelers taking to the skies is dropping in the face of a worldwide recession, so how come airfares aren't any cheaper? Are we really headed for a world where only the wealthy can afford to fly ? The answer is a bit complicated, but as the LA...

Everyone has seen them, some of us have even been them -- those poor travelers with their noses so buried in a guidebook they hardly seem aware of their surroundings. For most of us, the guidebook is an indispensable travel tool, but over-reliance on the guidebook can be hindrance as much as a help. While...