I like to think of myself as a healthy person. I’m not overweight, I stay in shape, I like the gym, and I eat right. Or, at least, I like to think I do all of these things. The truth is, long-term travel can be quite an unhealthy activity. Long days, longer nights, little sleep, very little exercise, a fair bit of alcohol, and unhealthy food. It’s not to say that if you are a long-term traveler, you are going [...]

“I’m going to quit my job when we get back,” I said, turning to my friend Scott. “Really? I doubt that.” “No really, I am. I’m going to quit and travel the world,” I said, turning my face back into the warm Thailand sun. It was 2004, and we were in Ko Samui. We had just visited Chaing Mai where I had met the five travelers who so inspired me to travel the world. Their world of no 401ks, vacations, [...]

Last year, I talked about how travelers are often chasing ghosts. We re-visit places, trying to capture that initial amazingness we felt while we were there. And, most of the time, we end up disappointed. We go back and try to recreate something that can’t be recreated. We are all like drug addicts, simply trying to chase that first high. But we can never quite reach it. After all, it is people who create our memories, not places. And so [...]

Despite my low-budget hostel travels, it’s been a long time since I’ve really felt like a backpacker. Sure, I travel like one (most of the time). I stay in hostels. I eat cheap. I do backpacker-style tours. I hang out with other backpackers. But I haven’t felt like a backpacker in a long time. In part, it’s because I don’t travel with a budget like other travelers do. I have a job and thus can be a bit more free-spending [...]

It’s the people you meet that make travel the rich, vibrant experience that it is. They shape our memories more than the locations themselves. They can make a bad place good, or a great place bad. They teach us about what we like or don’t like in others. They shine lights on our ignorance and teach us about ourselves. And as I approach 5 years of travel, I want to take some time to mention the five “people” who have [...]

I realize I don’t talk about my personal life a lot. I made a conscious effort years ago that I wouldn’t make this site another travel blog of where I go and what I do. Frankly, I don’t think that my life is interesting enough that people would care that today I ate good food and saw sites x, y, and z. I wanted my site to contain more practical tips on saving money, and stories that could be applicable [...]

I hadn’t seen Paul and Jane in over four years. The three of us met on the island of Ko Lipe in Thailand in 2006 – a place we loved so much, we stayed a month. The three of us became close friends in that time. By the end, it was as though we had known each other for years. However, with my visa expiring, I had to leave. Yet, as I left the island, Paul and Jane made me [...]

When I was in the Galapagos Islands in March, I was stunned that the islands actually had real cities. I pictured the Galapagos as places people fly into to take boat tours around. There might be a few hotels in a few small towns simply filled with supply shops and science stations. But that wasn’t even close to the case. Instead, I found a place where 20,000 people live. The cities on the islands may not be huge cities with [...]

My recent three-week visit to Sweden was my third time there, and I finally feel like I’m beginning to get a sense of the country’s distinct culture. I had planned to travel the country, but got stuck in Stockholm for all but three days – not that that is bad. I love the city, and have no problem sticking around to get to know it well. Plus, it afforded me the opportunity to spend extended time with my friends and [...]

I sat down to write about my travel regrets and realized I only have one: I never studied abroad when I was in college. Studying abroad is the annual ritual for thousands of college students. They travel all over the world to get away from home, experience something new, take classes overseas, meet new people, and party in foreign lands. Most American students seem to flock toward Europe, where cheap transportation makes weekend trips to exotic cities easy. When I was [...]