The Cathedral of Junk is just what it sounds like: a bunch of junk built into the shape of a cathedral. It was started in 1988 by Vince Hannemann and has grown over the years through donations from people around both the city and the world. Nowadays, it contains over 60 tons of junk. A number of years ago the city of Austin tried to shut it down, saying it was too much junk and a safety concern. (The neighbors [...]

I had an awful realization a few weeks ago. The last time I went abroad and crossed an ocean in the process was when I went to Africa in December. That is so long ago (at least for me). And this realization might have led to that nightmare I had last week in which I was trying to get this really sweet Air Canada deal to Europe but no matter what I did, I never could get a confirmation. In [...]

A few weeks ago, I opened my bi-annual reader survey. I do it because your feedback matters and I like to make sure I’m best serving you in your quest to travel more without spending craploads of money. I received hundreds of amazing responses (yes, I read them all!). The detail you provided in the open response questions was phenomenal and since you took the time to write out such great responses, I want to take the time to talk [...]

Planning a trip can be pretty stressful. Where do you start? What do you do first? Will everything work out? Taking time off and traveling around the world is a big life change and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. So how do you manage to stop being so overwhelmed? How do you get over that feeling of not knowing where to begin? It’s easy — and I’ve developed a unique four-step process to doing so (patent pending): First, buy your [...]

Every month, I make a short video answering questions you submit via Facebook, Twitter, and the comment section in the previous month’s video post. This month I had a number of good questions but I decided to focus on one: what do you do about getting a phone overseas? A lot of people asked about this so I decided to focus the video on just that one question instead of my normal lightning round Q&A. Next month, I’ll answer all [...]

A few weeks ago, I was in Austin, Texas for the SXSW music festival. Since I was in town for over 10 days, I wanted to get away from the festival and explore Austin. I asked some of my local friends to give me a list of their Austin. I wanted something more than what I’d find online. One of the items on that list was Tears of Joy, a hot sauce shop located downtown. There I could buy some [...]

Before I first went away in 2006, I had these expectations about travel. My trip was going to be a non-stop adventure filled with colorful and exciting people. I’d make friends everywhere. I’d be talking to strangers on buses. Locals would be inviting me out places. I’d be drinking a latte, strike up a conversation with my beautiful waitress and then the next thing I’d know we’d be at a wine bar with her teaching French. It was going to [...]

My life is a whirlwind right now, which is why this blog has been so quiet lately. I just spent 10 days in Austin, Texas attending the SXSW film/music/tech festival, and in addition, I’ve been finishing my book tour, doing lots of interviews and events for my new book, and overall, just trying to keep my head above water. I’ve been sort of neglecting the blog. March hasn’t seen many posts and probably won’t. That’s not to say I have [...]

People always ask how travel has changed me. If I look back at who I was before I began traveling and compare that to who I am now, I would have to say that travel has made me a better and more well-rounded person. I’m way cooler now than I was at twenty five when I first left to explore the world. Simply put, I’m a lot more awesome now than I used to be. In fact, I think travel [...]

I guess this is the week of interviews! On Monday, Dave and Vicky shared why they travel the world and today, Lee Abbamonte talks about being in Libya when Qaddafi was being overthrown as well as being the youngest American to visit every country in the world. I first met Lee a couple of years ago when he stumbled on my blog, bought my blogging course, and fired off crazy e-mails to me. Since then, we’ve become friends (he is [...]