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 burger restaurant in Taiwan.  I suggested there were different levels of knowing … Read more »

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 through the companies who just talk a good game and identifies … Read more »

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. Even over the details of dollars, budgets, and … Read more »

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 around the world. Replies poured in from nomads from all … Read more »

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 Credit Cards without Transaction Fees. For more great tips, check out the reader comments to see what other people … Read more »

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 a recent article by Susan Stellin in The New York … Read more »

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 Manila recently, I found myself stalled in the airport listening to one traveler recount the blunders of his last trip … Read more »

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 traveler has enough money to do … Read more »

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 travel regrets took place in Peru. I was in a … Read more »

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 can’t prepare for. Curios that blur the line between experience and thing. Items that … Read more »