Backpacking
What It’s Like Visiting Neruda’s 3 Houses In Chile
You can count on seeing an oversized men’s shoe, a life-sized photo of Walt Whitman, and windows shaped like those on a boat when you visit famed poet Pablo Neruda’s three houses, all within the Chilean capital of Santiago or a short trip from there, as detailed recently by the LA Times. Having known little […]
Meet The Man Who Has Hosted Over 300 CouchSurfers
With over a million members in 230 different countries, CouchSurfing has become an indispensable tool for travelers since its founding in 2004, allowing travelers from all over the world to host, stay with, or simply meet other travelers. As of April, 2011, CouchSurfing reports that it has been involved with 1.7 million CouchSurfing stays. Perhaps […]
What It’s Like To Get Breakfast In Luang Prabang, Laos
For travelers who’ve been to Southeast Asia, they know that Laos itself is no longer the hidden gem of the region it once was, with more and more travelers having been turned on to the slow rhythms and friendly people that populate this small, landlocked country. Many backpackers end up in the city of Luang […]
Your Guide To The Best New York Hostels
In a city where the average hotel rate is a robust $310 (up 13% from September 2009 to September 2010), it’s a no-brainer that budget travelers (or any traveler, really) should explore the possibility of staying in one of New York’s hostels to save money. (And, yes, there are hostel opportunities in the city). The […]
Exploring India’s Golden Triangle Is So Hardcore
Exploring India is hardcore, and the most jaded of travelers will tell you so. The cacophonous sounds, pungent smells, melange of colors, and unnerving division between rich and poor screams chaos and curiosity. It’s that fusion of wonder and too much of everything that that makes a trip to this vibrant country so intriguing. In […]
What To Eat In Bangkok
Okay, I’m just putting this out there: Maybe Thailand (and Bangkok) is such a backpacker mecca because of the food? I mean, where else in the world do you find dishes so catered to both the eat-cheap and eat-on-the-go crowd? From banana roti (a perfect late-night snack to enjoy with your new buds from Germany) […]
The Tourist Footprint: Are We Ruining Earth’s Natural Wonders?
Much of what we read about travel is packaged into a descriptive personal essay that seeks to sweep the reader to a magical land where cotton candy falls from the sky and unicorns roam undulating; verdant hills leading to an ethereal Eden. And let’s face it, most of us enjoy reading a romantic story about […]
Climbing Sinai: Hiking The World’s Second Most Famous Mountain
Trek along for a hike up the biblical Mount Sinai for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to watch the sun rise from the second most famous mountain in the world. By Matt Scott In almost any other country Gebel Musa, which many believe to be the legendary Mount Sinai, would have a chairlift to the summit, a […]
Transition Gracefully: Tips On Putting Down The Backpack
Transition. It’s a loaded word. It’s full of uncomfortable situations, decisions, even stress. For some of us, transitioning may come in the form of giving up the globetrotting lifestyle. This certainly isn’t the case with everyone who reads this, but for a significant number of travelers, this is approaching, undergoing, or has already been. The […]
Why You Should Visit Colombia
When I was reading the recent news reports about Colombia’s terrible rains and floods that have been ravaging the South American country for the last few weeks, it made me think back to my own trip there almost two years ago to the date. I was there in late November, and then too a weird […]