This is a guest blog by Laura, our resident expert on female travel. Deciding to go on a solo trip can be intimidating. Sometimes it’s not always by choice; it’s not always easy to convince someone to jump ship with you and take an extended vacation. However, solo travel can be really exhilarating, and I can’t think of a better place to take your first solo trip than Southeast Asia. It’s easy to get by on a budget, meet up [...]

This is a guest blog by Laura, our resident expert on female travel. I always seem to learn things the hard way, and packing for long-term travel is no exception. I used to pack for every possible situation, for the ‘what if’ moments. Of course if you backpack for a few weeks with all of these unnecessary items, you end up discarding many things along the way that you don’t need. After living in Africa with minimal facilities (like no [...]

This is a guest blog by Laura, our resident expert on female travel. Many female travelers experience varying levels of harassment on the road, while others may not hear so much as a catcall. Although it happens everywhere, harassment towards women is more common in some places than others, and you should be aware of this unflattering side of travel. No, it shouldn’t scare you or prevent you from traveling, but being prepared to deal with situations will make your [...]

This is a guest blog by Laura from A Wandering Sole. Laura will be writing on female travel for this site. She’ll have a column every other week. As much as I love to write, this is one topic I’m clueless about. So take it away Laura. It’s dangerous. How will you get there? Where will you stay? By yourself? But, you’re a girl! If you’re female and have an interest in travel, then you’ve probably heard these things before. [...]

This is a guest post by Barbara Wiebel, from Hole in the Donut Cultural Travel. When I explain to people that I usually stay in hostels during my travels around the world, the initial reaction from most baby boomers is astonishment verging on horror. “Aren’t they filthy?” “Don’t you have to put up with a bunch of drunken twenty-somethings who party all night long?” “Are they really safe?” Due to the number of budget hotels and motels available in the [...]

This is a guest post by Sean Ogle. When you think of dangerous islands, you might think of earthquake prone and poverty stricken Haiti. Or maybe it’s Australia with it’s deadly spiders and snakes. Or perhaps it’s someplace even more remote like the jungle wilderness of Borneo. Yet there is an island out there that is far more dangerous and far less obvious. That island is Ko Phi Phi off the coast of Thailand. Ko Phi Phi is one of [...]

This is a guest post from Gillian from One Giant Step Hiking to Machu Picchu along the Inca Trail remains the highlight of my year traveling. It’s that amazing. Standing 4200 meters high on the mountains, looking out over the peaks of the Andes, and knowing that I hiked to get there, filled me with joy and awe. I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I won’t lie though, it took some work but it was totally worth it. Day [...]

The most distinct part of living or traveling through Costa Rica is what I call the “calming down effect.” Life is so simple there; the most stressful decision to make all day is often where to watch the sunset. Physical changes arrive thanks to the opportunity of living in a world surrounded by untouched nature. Monkeys play in the trees, and roosters roam the streets. But not everything is perfect. I lived a year in the land of “pura vida,” [...]

London is one of the world’s top tourist destinations and when visiting it’s likely you’ll want to try a few places to eat out. Like many major cities, it can be hard to find a truly original restaurant. If you’re tired of the eateries and fancy trying something a little different, here are ten restaurants that capture London’s unique, creative and often eccentric flair: Dans Le Noir A restaurant where you eat your entire dinner in the dark might sound [...]

When we tell people that we are traveling around the world, the first question I get is, “But, how do you eat?” I was raised a vegetarian, stuck with my vegetarianism through college in the South, the land of vegetables boiled with ham hocks, and wasn’t going to change my eating habits because of our round-the-world trip. At the same time, eating is one of the main reason we travel so one year of boring salads and convenience store package [...]