Want to run away and live in a sustainable treehouse community? Go to Finca Bellavista in Costa Rica.

You can build your own stilthouse or other “arboreal dwelling”, as long as it abides by the community guidelines, which include such things as small square-footage structures, getting rid of waste through a compact biodigestor, and being attached to the community SkyTrail zipline pathways.  It’s located six miles from the Golfo Dulce coast as the … Read more »

After my previous post about grey nomads here in Australia, you might be inspired to travel by caravan…only you’re not grey.  You might be nomadic, though.  In which case, perhaps you might want to investigate the following: small campervans made out of DIThemselves converted minivans.  These wee inclusive vehicles include a queensize foldout mattress, fridge, stove, cutlery, bedding, storage, and in the case of the one I got, a DVD player and choice of free … Read more »

Traveling solo has its benefits. Want to change your itinerary? No problem. Want to stay out all night? Go ahead. Want to wander sans clothing through your hotel room? There’s nobody to object. You can do whatever you want within your own budget and not have to worry about convincing your companions to buy in.

But when planning air travel in developing countries, there can … Read more »

Part of the fun of being on the road is the experiences to be found with the great new people you meet while traveling. The road can bring us some hilarious, wise, and challenging characters. However, like many vagabonders, I relish my solitary travels. There’s nothing quite like striking out on your own, literally all alone. Sometimes I find … Read more »

As the possessor of two X chromosomes, this means that I am considered by pretty much everybody, myself included, to be a woman.  I menstruate, I have a high-pitched voice (as much as I try to convince myself it sounds all nice and low like Marlena Dietrich), and I tend to wear bikinis to the beach.  There are lots of different kinds of women: ones who like hiking and ones who don’t, ones who camp … Read more »

Cairo, Egypt

It may seem incongruent to have a bar song come to mind while walking through the medieval mosques and alleys of Islamic Cairo. But so it goes.

The bar song I’m thinking of is the theme to the old television show “Cheers.” Here are the lyrics (and theRead more »

Cairo, Egypt

Stability and control: that’s the role of an aircraft spoiler. As your jet prepares to land, the spoiler may rise to decrease lift, increasing the rate at which the aircraft descends or slowing the speed of the aircraft down. The Wright brothers would have been … Read more »

Ko Phangan, Thailand

Not many years ago (in the grand scheme of things), most of us were in diapers, not yet knowing what country we were from or even what a country. We didn’t yet know we were Christian, Muslim, Skeptical, or whatever. We didn’t know we were Republican or … Read more »

With limited vacation time, my husband can’t always accompany me on my trips. When he is unavailable, I usually call on one of the few friends who I can always count on to join me in my next adventure. But, I am embarrassed to say, I have never traveled on my own. Oh, I’ve gone somewhere alone before (usually for … Read more »