Most online activity amongst traveling youth is restricted to the US or Europe. It is not common to find vagabonding adventurers 1) who are Indian, 2) in India, 3) Indians in India. So when I found a really cool initiative born in India that involves traveling and making a difference, I was excited and had...

Living here in Madrid, I often feel left out when it comes to cool traveler/travel-writing events. If you want to be upclose-and-personal with those heavily in action in the travel industry, New York seems like the place to be. So those of you living in NYC, interested in travel as well as travel-writing, here's an...

You can often land up wasting a lot of time in airports during layovers. Because I, as an Indian, need a visa to go practically anywhere (except Jamaica!), I get frustrated by the visa process and try my best not to have layovers where, if I don't have a visa, I have to vegetate at...

Words "The Frugal Traveler" and "Matt Gross" have become synonyms. He is an adventurous traveler and great writer, currently blogging at the NY Times as he travels on a budget around Europe. You can read all his posts here . Rolf interviewed Matt at Rolf Potts.com , here are some highlights: "...my first real big...

Today I stumbled upon Monty Python comedian Michael Palin's travel website , and other than the sheer amount of travel (and travel shows) he has done, I was extremely impressed with its content as it dissects every one of his long trips around the world. He did 7 big journeys (80 Days, Pole to Pole,...

Last week I wrote about how it's difficult to find the right person to travel with. I'm not a fan of online matchmaking websites, but for those people who need a travel-partner, both Buddies4Travel.com and ThelmaandLouise.com seem like a plausible option. However, they're only for women. Unfortunatley, Buddies4Travel works like a "find-the-love-of-your-life" website, but is...

For those who have a desk job, the compulsion of being in a cubicle 9-5 often seems like an unproductive annoyance. You often wonder how you could be more productive working a few hours in the morning from home, and then having the rest of the day to do what you like. If you can...

One of the questions that comes to every travelers mind pre-trip, is "how can I avoid losing money while exchanging currency"? I've always asked myself this question, and the only answer has been to find a place with the best exchange rates and go with the best rate offered. Not a great solution, and often...

This July at the RolfPotts.com Travel Writers page I interview novelist Gary Shteyngart , whose essays for Travel + Leisure were selected for the 2006 and 2007 editions of The Best American Travel Writing . Here are some of the highlights from our Q&A: "I'm primarily a novelist. That's my main bread and butter. But...

I've been enjoying Planet Eye 's new Global Nomad blog that is written by Brendan Powell as he travels around the world with his girlfriend. He began writing in January 2008 from Costa Rica and has worked his way through Belize, Brazil, Uruguay and now he is in Argentina. His writing is revealing and fun,...

Rolf has a new story in Forbes about his experience windsurfing in the Sea of Galilee, called " Windsurfing Where Jesus Walked ." In the piece, Rolf's experience of the modern-day Middle East is greatly informed and influenced by the region's rich, fascinating history. The essay opens: Whenever I tell people how I learned to...

As an ex-public relations executive, I'm always looking into how PR companies these days are trying to tap into our blogosphere in a way that is productive not only for them, but for their intellectual audience as well. Whatever I've seen so far has not really been worth it, with the fake Walmart blog about...

When my brother (who lives in Austin), my cousin (who lives in NYC) and his best friend (who also lives in NYC) came to visit me in Madrid last week -- they all got their wallets pick-pocketed! It happened twice to my cousin -- once on the metro in Madrid, and once on the streets...

An element of vagabonding successfully is balancing fortune and fulfillment. Well, I guess the scale is tipped more towards fulfillment, but the definition of "fortune" is relative and varies from person to person/situation to situation. I think many of us who are vagabonds, or who read Vagablogging, are looking to find that balance by fulfilling...

This month at the RolfPotts.com Travel Writers page I interview travel guidebook legend Arthur Frommer . Here are some of the highlights from our Q&A: "My biggest challenge is to keep my own eyes and consciousness fresh. I've realized that there was such a thing as too much travel, which causes you to be jaded....

My brother arrived to Madrid from Texas the day before yesterday, and has been droopy and tired ever since. He traveled for 24 hours to get here, and is trying to get used to the 7-hour time difference. All the plans I had for him here have flopped because he's just too tired and low...

Two British blokes -- Daniel Spokes and Matt Lumber -- are driving 22,500 miles from Bristol to Nepal , in a double decker bus! Details are a bit scanty, but it looks like they started recently and although they have a great website (maps, video diary and all!), it's not being updated as frequently as...

I remember a few years ago when I traveled to Thailand from Dubai, when I arrived in Bangkok, I wanted to buy flight tickets around the country. When I offered my credit card to make the purchase, the operation was denied. Why? My bank didn't know I was traveling and they blocked the card when...

With the explosion of travel-websites and blogs, I wasn't surprised when I came across website "Travel Off The Cuff" -- a Digg or Stumble Upon type site, exclusively for travel. The site is simple: a section on popular reader submitted travel-news stories, a blog, and a section called News On Standby, where it looks like...

Next month at the RolfPotts.com Travel Writers page I interview Andrew Hempstead , who has been a fulltime travel guidebook writer for nearly 20 years. His advice to aspiring travel writers in simple: "In a word: specialize," he says. "Guidebook publishers often look for local talent. Keeping this in mind, unless you have strong ties...