(This article is a culmination of a few blogs and is archived in the travel tips section) Staying in touch on the road is important to many travelers. And staying in touch on the road cheaply is just as important. While e-mail and social sites like Facebook and MySpace allow us to stay connected more easily than ever before, sometimes you just need to hear someone’s voice or see someone’s face. For that, you need a phone and/or webcam. There [...]
A few months ago, it was reported that Thomas Kohnstamm made up stories he wrote for Lonely Planet, saying he never went to the country he was supposed to review. The story received wide press coverage and brought up the credibility of guidebooks and travel writers. In reality, he was assigned to write about the culture and history of Colombia, not review destinations. All the reviews and local information were done by people who actually live in the country. There [...]
Furthering our discussion on staying in touch while traveling, lets discuss Skype. Skype is an Internet-based phone service that lets you call users around the world for free. It was invented in 2003 by two Swedish guys. In 2005, it was bought by eBay. At first, it allowed users to create a profile and talk to other users using VOIP (essentially it was an Internet phone). Additionally, if you had a web cam you could see the person you were [...]
In our modern age, people are used to being in touch all the time. On the road, the proliferation of Internet cafes, cell phones, and pay phones makes it easy to stay in touch while traveling. You can use calling cards, cell phones, or the voip service, Skype. We’ll touch upon Skype in a later post, but for now let’s look at calling cards and cell phones: Calling Cards When I first traveled overseas, I used calling cards. I figured [...]
Accommodation can eat into any travel budget. Many backpackers would sleep in a barn if it was the cheapest accommodation around. Others might want slightly more comfort. One thing we all want though is to not spend a fortune on where we stay. One of the best ways to get cheap (free) accommodation while you travel is by staying with someone who has their own place. This is where Couchsurfing comes in. Couchsurfing connects travelers with people around the globe [...]
Round the world tickets (RTW) can be a convenient way to fly around the world. They can get you where you want to go without having to worry about booking flights as you travel. But are they worth it? RTW tickets allow you to buy what is essentially an airline pass. This ticket is used on any one of the air alliance networks, such as Star Alliance, Oneworld, and World Journey. These tickets allow you a set number of stops [...]