As I am thumbing my way across the Central Asian republics, I made a very much welcome discovery by typing “hitching to Dushanbe” in Google. What I found was a bit puzzling, at first: I would have never thought that a volatile, hazardous and utterly non-scientific art such as hitching a ride could have a...

Hitching a ride was, is and always will be evoking images of young, reckless, crazy travel. It is for adventurers, because you do not know who will pick you up and when you will arrive at your destination. And it is indeed for adventurous drivers too: our imagination is so full of hideous stories based...

Cost/day: $200 Chartering a boat isn’t cheap. If you are lucky and know the right people you could however, get a job as crew, stewarding, cooking or being a deck hand if you don’t have sailing qualifications. If you are not working then watch out for hidden costs such as moorings, docking, water and tips...

Can you imagine being woken up at a hostel at 7:30am to chop fire wood or complete your chores before breakfast? Chore detail had fizzled-out before 2009 when I hostel hopped for several months; spending anywhere from three nights to two weeks at various places. Personally, I enjoyed seeking out the odd ones, like old...

Cost/day: $10 The Caribbean isn’t really that cheap. However, if you’re creative and have some skills, anything is possible. Most of my money went on beer and bus tickets. What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? Three men waving a live lobster, barracuda pizza and and an Ugly Man competition. A recent day typical of...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxfZkMm3wcg Travel is like life, amplified. Your senses are heightened, experiences are vivid, and time becomes your biggest asset. In that spirit, you can watch the inspirational video by Casey Neistat. The story in the video was that Nike hired Casey to make a promotional film. Instead of doing the job, Casey took the money,...

When we're away from home, it's tempting to cut loose and forget our inhibitions. A recent piece in The Guardian UK points out the dangers in partying: Vang Vieng, Laos: the world's most unlikely party town . The article explores how the small Lao town has blown up into a hotspot on the Southeast Asia...

Cost/day: $0.8/day Guyana isn’t really that cheap. However, if you’re creative and have some skills, anything is possible. I worked at Dadanawa Cattle Ranch for two and a half months in exchange for food and board. Most of my money went towards toiletries, insect repellant and beer. Being frugal was easy because the nearest town...

When you think of places you've visited, do you remember the sights--or the people? In this article, it was the latter that made the lasting impression: I couch-surfed across America . The vivid and quirky cast of Couchsurfing hosts the writer encounters provide enough fodder for its own TV sitcom. An excerpt: Bill, our host...

A common lament I hear is, "I'd love to travel. But it's just too expensive." How much money do you really need to travel year-round? Would you need $50,000 year? Maybe $100,000? Nora Dunn from The Professional Hobo answered that question in her classic article: Travel full-time for less than $14,000 . In many first-world...

Have you ever returned home, only to feel like home was more foreign than any of the exotic locales you've visited? You're not alone. Reverse culture shock has a way of ambushing people, despite how much you may have heard about it. When we travel, we have our awareness up. We know we must learn...

Are you a digital nomad? Chances are, you wrestle with dodgy Wi-Fi, electrical adapters, and figuring out what apps could help you travel more efficiently. You don't care which startup just had a big IPO or the latest viral meme. What you'd like is a convenient guide to what gadgets you need. Enter Too Many...

Last week, Lindsey Rue’s post on Vagabonding inspired me to reconsider slowing down to enjoy the music from another perspective: the musician’s. I have been a punk rock guitarist for the best part of my twenties, and I have started to love travelling because of the long, inspiring van drives linking venue A to venue...

Hostels vary wildly in quality. Some are total fleapits; others are so luxurious they rival hotels. How can you find the quality hostels instantly? The website Hostelworld.com announced the 2012 winners of the "Hoscars," their awards for the best hostels in the world. Users around the world voted for their favorite places to stay. The...

Planning a round-the-world trip can seem as complicated as a space shuttle launch. There a million things to think about: plane tickets, visas, money, etc. The hard part is that everything seems important. Where to begin? Alex MacCaw wrote a helpful, in-depth post titled, " How to travel around the world for a year ."...

https://youtu.be/iODrN07xIXA Video: Vlogger Natalie Tran on how to cook in a hotel room I've mentioned vlogger Natalie Tran in a previous post . In the video above, she shows you uses everyday hotel items as cooking utensils. Definitely not as the manufacturers intended. From seeing that, it's understandable why some backpackers rate hostels with kitchens...

The New York Times had a commentary article that argued in favor of students taking a gap year before college . In response, their inbox got flooded with comments from readers . Naturally, many of the letters were from parents worried about the cost of travel. One example: Great advice in theory, but for some...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_yTphvyiPU&ob=av2e When you look over your travel photos, do you linger more on the people shots more than the location pictures? I know I do. It's an experience that's happened to me over and over again. I go to a place excited to see famous landmarks. Yet after the trip, it's the new friends and...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvz9BLjhexw Here's a story: a university student posts up funny videos of her random observations on life. She builds up a huge audience with a million subscribers on YouTube. Now she's a popular vlogger. She's about to graduate and unsure of what to do next. So she calls up Lonely Planet and asks if they...

Seems like the ideal setup: you're about to visit a country that one of your friends has already been to. Naturally, you ask your pal for advice on where to go and what to do. What could go wrong? Plenty, as it turns out. The Tnooz tech travel blog had an article called Why the...