Okay guys, here's some great tracks to look for the next time you hit iTunes. Brave New Traveler has compiled a list of 30 Songs that Capture the Spirit of Travel . For me, what really makes think of travel are the soundtracks from movies set in foreign countries. For example, I always get warm,...

Sometimes your accommodation can be a tourist attraction in itself. Japan's "capsule hotels" have already become another fun thing for travelers to do. But there are places that go much further, as you can read in this Matador Trips article about the World's 10 Weirdest Hotels . Several of these really integrate with their natural...

Good news for any vagabonders heading to Europe: the hostels are getting even better. In this New York Times report , a ex-backpacker revisits the hostel scene with his teenage daughters in tow. It's great the writer can put his perspective on the development of hostels, as he can draw on memories of how they...

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...

How far are you willing to go for a good cup of coffee? While seeing spectacular sights is great, some of my best times overseas has been sitting with a cup of coffee and watching the world go by. Terry Ward has an article at World Hum about the Best Cities to Drink Coffee ....

It's an ironic practice: criticizing other travelers. We're all foreigners to the place we're visiting, but we can't help but try to differentiate ourselves from the standard tourists. This MSNBC.com article discusses the 5 types of travelers that are killing tourism . As an American, I couldn't help but feel a bit stung at the...

Getting home can be one of the most fun and stressful parts of living abroad, as this article in the Economist vividly demonstrates. In it, the correspondent discusses the main modes of transport in four cities: London, Delhi, Tokyo and Homer, Alaska. The writing really captures the feel of those four unique cities. It goes...

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...

When I was traveling in Thailand, I always found it curious that the easiest books to find in English were written about Westerners imprisoned in Thailand for various offenses (usually drug related). The English-language book stores had book after book after book about Westerners that made a bad choice (or a bad friend) and ended...

This IHT article narrates the adventures of a U.S. tour group in Iraq . Considering there is still a war raging there, people who decide to travel to Iraq are either really brave or insane, depending on how you look at it. For people who love escaping the tourist masses, that definitely won't be an...

With a worldwide recession in full swing, it's no surprise that budget airlines are expanding their routes, but what are you willing to put up with on long-haul international flight? Consider AirAsia X's new £99 London to Kuala Lumpur flight... £99 one-way for a 13 hour trans-continental flight? What's not to love? Well, The Guardian's...

Last fall while promoting the release of Marco Polo Didn't Go There , I did upwards of 20 interviews for various media outlets. Most of these Q&As ran last fall, and I've collected some of the best at my Interviews page. Other interviews, however, ended up in the dusty corners of cyberspace and didn't find...

This month at the RolfPotts.com Travel Writers page I interview New Yorker writer David Grann , whose first book, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon , recently hit bookstores. In addition to his book (which is being developed into a movie by Brad Pitt's Plan B production company...

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...

In a recent article in Brave New Traveler entitled "When Does Budget Travel Become Exploitation?" , writer Ernesto Machado raises some interesting points about what happens when the "budget" mindset goes too far. In an example he gave, a foreign couple argued with the owner of a hostel, since they wanted to pay $10 less...

I was browsing CNN.com's travel section today and found this article entitled "Confessions of a hotel housekeeper" . In the article, Allison Rupp tells all about her experiences as a hotel maid, including some techniques she would use to make things appear cleaner than they really were: Instead of vacuuming, I found that just picking...

Yes, Lonely Planet has finally joined the bandwagon of weblog awards! Nominations for the Lonely Planet Travel Blogger Awards are now open. You can nominate as many blogs as you want, in the following categories: # Best Destination Blog # Best Expat Blog # Best Travelogue # Best Consumer Travel Blog # Best non-English language...

That's the tagline of The World's Greatest Travelers Global Scavenger Hunt . It's a blind date because you will not know in advance the countries you will be visiting, you will be told as you board the plane! So, if you ever really wanted to go on a properly planned, round-the-world scavenger hunt, here's your...

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...

As people interested in travel, we are obviously interested in the world around us, and I'm sure that all of us have thought about how we can make a difference. Any teeny weeny difference. There are many initiatives you can take part in, but if you want something effortless to kick-start your "making a difference"...