As vagabonders, we love the feeling of "getting into the culture." Where you finally understand how the people think, how their society works. Inc magazine had a fantastic article titled A Constant Feeling of Crisis , about the struggles of entrepreneurs in Argentina. I once talked to Antoni, the New Zealand owner of a gourmet...

Perhaps the perma-vagabonding life isn’t quite within reach and you need a job that will not only value your love for travel, but also will pay you enough so you can squirrel away cash for that travel. How do you know which companies support a healthy work-life balance? Outside magazine’s May issue helps you weed...

Many Vagablogging readers are familiar with Matt Kepnes, or Nomadic Matt . Kepnes’s website is packed full of information on travel deals, travel tips, travel guides, and loads of interesting travel tales suited to any genre. Now Kepnes has taken the next step and has published his own Ebook. Kepnes’s book is a smooth read....

A $1 bill. Photo: rychlepozicky.com /Flickr Creative Commons One of the central tenets of vagabonding is that travel doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, going abroad can be far cheaper than your monthly housing and car costs at home. Lonely Planet called on its readers to send in their tips on what $1 buys...

They're the bane of long-term vagabonders: those irritating fees for foreign currencies and doing transactions while abroad. Hitting up an ATM or paying with a credit card can trigger charges you may not have expected. This can smear the memory of a great trip. The New York Times Bucks blog had a post about 3...

It’s not often that you run into an industry that encourages sabbaticals. In my past employment with Internet portals, only one company’s HR department considered it, but only after you’d worked there 10 years or more. Does that mean you’re out of luck if you’re yearning for a travel break from work? Not according to...

Having been on the road a fair bit lately, I naturally find myself in the company of other travelers. Conversation invariably turns toward where we’ve been, where we are going, and a highlights list of some of our most dazzling and death defying experiences on the road. Hoping to bump an earlier flight out of...

I'd like to build on my post from last week about tour groups. This week, travel agents -- do you ever work with travel agents, and if so, how? Here's why I think domestic travel agents and vagabonding don't mix: 1) The travel agent doesn't understand the appeal of long-term, independent travel. Especially when the...

We all have them, whether it’s the extra time we could have spent in a destination, or bringing far too much gear on our travels. Many times, travel regrets don’t stick with us for very long after we return home. When they do, they can be a lesson for future trips. One of my biggest...

One of the most common pieces of advice for would-be independent travelers is to save all of your disposable income for the journey. Spend only on experiences! So what to do when, mid-trip, you fall in love with an object ? Just like spontaneous experiences, the act of travel is peppered with spontaneous items we...

Becca and Nate in Surin, Thailand. Photo: Becca Becca and Nate are the writers of the hi & thank you blog , for which they were recognized as a 2010 Lonely Planet Featured Blogger. In the post Reflecting: The Cost of Travel , Becca paints a vivid financial and spiritual portrait of their trip through...

The most difficult long-term travel question is also perhaps the most common: how much does it cost? It's almost impossible to answer that question because it depends where you're going, when you're going and how exactly you plan to travel. Tiny variations in how you travel can have a huge impact on your trip costs....

Unless you were born into money, your travels are probably funded like mine -- by scraping together what you can and doing without many of the gadgets, luxuries and stuff that your friends are likely accumulating and, yes, enjoying. Some people take pride in this (possibly forced) asceticism, others find it difficult. Certainly stuff can...

One of the key tenants of vagabonding is consuming less stuff, both on the road and at home. On the road less stuff means a lighter load, and at home buying less stuff gives you more spare cash to put toward the next trip. We've also pointed out in the past that less stuff generally...

Souvenirs tend to be a big money trap for the traveler. Even if you're staying away from the tourist gift shops, buying souvenirs can be hard on your budget especially if you're traveling for a long period of time. You also have to consider the space they take up in your luggage. Also, note how...

Everyone brings something truly useless on their first long trip. For me it was a water filter. Great idea in theory, avoid plastic bottles, save the planet etc, etc. Then reality set in and the water filter stayed at the bottom of my bag for months until I finally sent it home with a friend....