But I firmly believe that everybody should travel solo — sometimes. There’s a lot you can get out of a solo trip that just doesn’t happen when you’re not on your own. Let me give you some reasons why traveling solo can be so worthwhile.

Fit In and Immerse Yourself

If your goal is to really interact with the culture you’re visiting, then solo trips will give you a much greater chance of doing this. A single person slips into the background; you often won’t look like a tourist, and you’ll be able to stand and observe the locals without drawing much attention.

Shopkeepers and bus drivers naturally offer more to the solo traveler. I’ve even had free restaurant meals simply because I turned up alone, squeezed into a table in the corner and chatted with a friendly waiter.

Meet Other Travelers More Easily

This almost goes without saying, but it’s also very true. Just imagine that you’re in a cafe or a pub, or staying at a hostel, and you see a couple in one corner and a girl sitting by herself in the other. Who are you going to talk to? Solo travelers simply invite company by being there alone.

And once you start meeting other travelers, you get a lot of options that you probably wouldn’t have had with your traveling companion by your side. A bunch of other single travelers decide to go sightseeing together and invite you, for example, and another group are going on a canoe trip. You make your choice and have fun with new friends. Doesn’t that sound great?

Do Exactly What You Want, When You Want

And that segues neatly into my next reason: if you’re traveling solo, you are the boss and decision maker. You can get up every morning — or afternoon, if you’re so inclined — and plan your day according to your own whims and fancies. Want to take in a museum or two? Go for it. Feel more like a shopping spree at the local markets? No problem.

Sometimes I forget how many compromises you make when traveling with a friend or group. I probably wouldn’t have visited that military museum in Ho Chi Minh City if I’d been alone; I definitely would have skipped the aeronautical display in Seattle. When I travel alone, I adore the prospect of choosing exactly the cafe or restaurant I’m going to splurge in for a great lunch, where I can sit with my book and enjoy my favorite food, uninterrupted.

Avoiding the conflict that often comes with traveling with others is another bonus of the solo trip. It’s inevitable that spending virtually all your time with another person, even your beloved partner, will produce a few sparks of conflict, especially in the sometimes stressful negotiations of budget travel. But most people won’t argue with themselves.

Reigniting Your “I Can Do Anything” Spirit

Something about making all my own choices in a foreign place seemed to be giving me that “I can do anything” attitude that I sometimes forget in daily life.

I’ve had a few real moments of clarity while traveling alone that never seem to occur when I’m traveling with someone else. Standing in an art gallery in Hamburg, I vividly remember staring at an exhibition about designer apartments in New York. “I could go and live in a place like that,” I remember thinking to myself, somewhat insanely. “In fact, I can go anywhere I want.” Something about making all my own choices in a foreign place seemed to be giving me that “I can do anything” attitude that I sometimes forget in daily life.

Traveling alone and independently also does wonders for your power of self-reliance and even your self-esteem. Taking responsibility for all the tasks involved in traveling, without having someone else to talk over the possibilities with or to make the decisions for you, is a really empowering thing. It’s especially powerful if you’re navigating through a foreign country, perhaps using some knowledge of a foreign language, and managing to find your way from place to place all alone.

But Don’t Travel Alone All the Time

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend being a 100% solo traveler. There are some experiences you might really want to share with someone special, be it a partner or a friend; and being able to reminisce about a trip is one of the long-lasting benefits. There are also some destinations where, as a woman, I’d feel more comfortable traveling with someone else. And finally, if you’re always on the road alone you do run the risk of developing some slightly selfish, hermit-like tendencies.

So where possible, mix up your travel mode. Travel with friends, family, partners, groups of strangers, whatever takes your fancy: but always remember to savor the trips you have the privilege of taking alone.

The post Why Everyone Should Travel Solo … Sometimes appeared first on Vagabondish.

Seconds later, another. Then … a third.

For a moment, I was captivated. In the quiet morning hours, it felt like a special light show that someone had choreographed just for me. As I was still half-asleep, it felt alien, yet calming and beautiful.

Within seconds I realized it was the mere reflection of headlights from the cars on the street below. My amazement was short-lived.

My initial reaction to this mundane event mirrors how children see the world. Everything they see, hear, taste, and experience is viewed with wide-eyed amazement, joy, and awe. They don’t completely understand it all. Partly because they can’t — their brains simply lack the capacity to comprehend it.

But, more importantly, I’m not sure they want to. Unlike adults, their amazement stems from a pure, carefree place that values the experience itself more than a grown-up need to analyze, mentally catalog, and file it all away as yet another underappreciated moment.

Consider the reasons:

• Everything is new to them
• They possess limitless curiosity + everything is a learning experience
• They live in a carefree bubble, without the worries of daily adult life (money, relationships, life and death)
• They love to create
• They don’t care what other people think
• They act with reckless abandon – doing “just because”
• Their default mode is “play”
• They live in the present

For many reasons, humans begin to outgrow these qualities around adolescence. Through experience, we see enough fireworks, laser pointers, and fluffy kitties that they become ordinary, part of the background static of daily life. Been there, done that. It’s understandable.

If every adult wandered the streets, mouth agape, awestruck at the mere sight of an airplane or the moon overhead, society would grind to a halt. Society also teaches us that childishness is for, well, children. Beyond a certain age, that playful curiosity is often no longer recognized as a virtue.

Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc.

Being suddenly hit years later with the ‘creative bug’ is just a wee voice telling you, ‘I’d like my crayons back, please.’

— Hugh MacLeod

But too many of us live our lives at the extremes — either as immature adults barely able to fend for ourselves or as “good,” responsible adults with an unwavering focus on our bank accounts, job security, and whether that tie is dressy enough for the company Christmas party. As adults, we often lose the ability to, as my Nana would say, “stop and tip-toe through the tulips.”

Which is why I’ve begun to appreciate that tapping into that original joy — that childlike awe — is a skill worth cultivating. I would argue that it’s critical in fact to finding true happiness.

It comes easy for frequent travelers. Witnessing Victoria Falls, the Great Wall of China, or the Eiffel Tower for the first time inspires awe in even the most hardened “adult”. (Although I know more than a few travel bloggers who hardly seem amazed by anything anymore, which only proves my point …)

The true practice then comes at home. At finding wanderlust in the ordinary, in the everyday. I say “wanderlust” because that’s what it is in the broadest sense of the word. The term has been co-opted in recent years to mean “a burning desire to travel”. But defining the word so narrowly is the antithesis of traveling and living through a child’s eyes. And we forget that the world is all around us, that wanderlust is not just embodied in an exotic, hardly pronounceable island 6,000 miles from home.

Unlike with Robert Redford though, all is not lost. We can regain some of that original curiosity, amazement, awe, and ultimately joy. Even if only a little at a time. We just need to try.

Here’s how …

Watch + Play with Children

Sit down with children. Observe them. Experience their world literally at their level. Play with them and their toys on their terms (“Now you’re the firefighter and I’M the toothbrush dragon!“) and make up some of your own. Don’t think. Just abandon any preconceived notions you might have and go with it.

Chat with Children

Like challenging a goldfish to a staring contest, you cannot out-talk a kid. They will ask and ask and ask and ask until you can’t physically answer anymore. Learn from this. Be curious. Speak with them, not as an adult or child, but as a human being. Ask them questions back and learn from their answers. Even if they’re nonsensical, simply appreciating and enjoying how a carefree mind thinks can be a helpful exercise.

Foster Your Own Curiosity

Children constantly ask “Why?” and “Why not?” Revive your own curiosity about the world by doing the same. Every hour of every day, there’s so much going on inches from your nose that you don’t know or understand. Look closer. This will help you appreciate the extraordinary in the everyday.

Learn to Play Alone

Learning to amuse and play by yourself is one of the most important skills an adult can cultivate. It can instill humility by teaching you to laugh at yourself. It can reteach you how to have fun, no matter the circumstances and no matter who might be watching.

Live Without Constraint

There’s nothing sadder than hearing an adult say, “I always wanted to do that …” Because, no matter what that was, they probably could have.

What would you do, create, or be without societal pressure or expectations? Children don’t have that constant, nagging “Nah, you can’t do that …” voice in the back of their minds. You shouldn’t either. The only thing it’s going to do is stop you from following your dreams.

Above All: Live in the Moment. Enjoy the Now.

The entire paradigm of a child can be summed up thusly: Enjoy the now. Live in the present.

It’s easier said than done of course. In a world of 24-hour news cycles, an endless need to update our Facebook statuses, and texting instead of calling, it sounds impossible.

So start by slowing down. If you’re multitasking, knock it off. Seriously: it’s a myth. If you have that much to do, take stock of your daily life and weed out the things that aren’t enriching it.

Start small: once a month, abandon all responsibilities and obligations for an entire afternoon. Shed your adult persona for the moment and be spontaneous to a fault.

“Never stop wandering, never stop wondering …”

The post Grown-Ups Are Stupid! How to Travel + See the World Like a Child appeared first on Vagabondish.

Given that a decade has since passed and my life is going pretty well, I think I’m qualified to say that those people who told me not to travel were dead wrong!

So in case you’re contemplating the same thing, here’s why you should ignore the advice of those who tell you that you shouldn’t go traveling now.

“But, You’ve Got a Good Job Here!”

Yes, I had a great job. That was part of the problem — I’d had the luck of “right place, right time” to work my way up to a dream job much faster than I’d imagined. There didn’t seem to be much of a “what’s next?”, other than doing the same or similar job for the next twenty or so years. But that wasn’t enough for me and guess what — ten years later, with a whole lot of amazing experiences under my belt that makes me do any job better, I’ve got another good job! Better, in fact!

Having a good job doesn’t mean you are satisfied with what’s going on in your life, although it certainly helps. But if you’ve been able to get a good job once, then chances are you’ll find another good job again.

And flipped around, just having a good job doesn’t mean it will continue to be a job you love or even that the job will continue to exist. Especially in the current changing economy, you can’t guarantee what’s going to happen.

“It’s a Bad Career Move.”

Some suggested that leaving my good career and doing “odd jobs” would look extremely bad on my resume. “What about your career?” they asked. Well, there are lots of answers to this concern.

First, there are employers who welcome international experience on your resume even if it’s not in your original field. And do you really want to work for companies who are anti-travel?

Second, your experiences overseas may well change your career path. They certainly changed mine, in a way I couldn’t have done if I’d stayed home. I got into the world of travel blogging, which led me to launch my own blogging and social media business once I returned home and had a family. If I’d stayed here and never traveled there’s no way I would have found this path, and I love it.

“You’ll Lose Your Savings.”

Some people told me I’d be crazy to spend my savings on travel. On top of that, to be away from home and not contributing to my pension fund and all that stuff. True. But not the end of the world.

As it turns out, I managed to save a lot of money while I worked in Japan (despite traveling very regularly while I was there) and sent it home as savings. When I worked in Slovakia and Germany, I made sure to live within my means. This, of course, involved a lot of budget traveling. But, hey, it’s more fun that way!

Of course, I’m not recommending you go traveling and bill all of it to your credit card when you’ve no immediate way to repay it. You have to be at least a little sensible. If you don’t have enough savings to use then look into combining travel with working abroad. For me, working in other countries still felt like traveling because I had so many new experiences every day.

“You Won’t Like Japan.”

Several people told me that living abroad and traveling wasn’t such a bad idea, but they were sure I wouldn’t like Japan. This wasn’t because they’d been there or anything. I guess they’d heard of someone who’d had a bad experience. And I don’t think it would have mattered if I’d been moving to England or Brazil or wherever, they would have said the same thing. Guess what — I adored it!

In retrospect, if these people said the same thing to me today, I’d quickly tell them that I can enjoy virtually any place in the world. And, if I decide I don’t like it, I can just move on to somewhere else.

It took me a while to learn that, once you hit the road, the next move is up to you and you’re free to do whatever you want. Don’t let these nay-sayers make you nervous about not enjoying where you’re headed. It’s up to you to decide to enjoy it.

“You Can’t Speak the Language.”

Before I moved abroad, I admit that not being able to speak the local language worried me a bit. And, I also made as good an attempt as possible to learn the local languages while I lived there because I think that’s the respectful thing to do (plus it’s a lot of fun).

But I soon learned that there are ways to communicate without speaking another language fluently, and plenty of people to help out when you need it. Language barriers should never stop you from traveling.

The Bottom Line

There are always reasons not to do something. Absconding from your “normal” life to travel is no exception.

But I’m glad that I ignored everyone who suggested I stay home. Without my six years of living abroad, I’d have an entirely different life and I firmly believe it would be a poorer one. If you get the chance, ignore the advice-givers and the nay-sayers, and just go traveling, dammit!

The post I’m Going Traveling, Dammit! (When to Ignore the Bad Advice of Others) appeared first on Vagabondish.

If you ask the right questions on your travels, you’ll not only learn much more about the local culture and customs, but maybe even make some good friends along the way.

When I’m traveling somewhere new — although it’s probably because I’m somewhat neurotic and obsessed about exploring new places — I write notes in my diary about what I expect to find and what questions I have. Inevitably, the questions and answers I end up with are far removed from what I contemplated on the train or plane ride in, but I can live with that. I have insatiable curiosity — it’s a “fault” I inherited from my grandmother, apparently — but I really think it’s a benefit when you travel.

Here are my tips on the best eight questions you can ask in every new place.

#1: Where’s a Good Place to Get a Drink Around Here?

And that’s not because we can’t survive a day or two without a beer. Finding a local bar or pub — emphasis on local, not the bar where all the foreigners hang out — is one of the best ways to get in contact with local people, find out more about where you are, and see how the locals wind down.

#2: What’s the Weirdest Food I Can Eat Here?

This is a question I love to ask, but I’m not so good at following through on actually eating what people suggest. I basically just love to hear people describe the unusual objects that have become part of a normal diet in their country.

It doesn’t even have to be exotic – for example, as an Australian, I still have a really hard time dealing with the American habit of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. A Korean who’s already dealt with a few foreigners might give you some measured reasoning about the Korean liking for dog meat, and an Italian will get into mind-boggling detail about the cutest names for some niche pasta sorts.

#3: What’s That Big Building Over There?

Get an insider’s info on major landmarks and work out what’s worth visiting. But beware: the insider’s info is often historically inaccurate and filled with urban myths. Just think about what you really know about significant buildings or monuments in your own town. It’s usually distressingly little, because they’re just places you see every day without thinking about them. Nevertheless, the stories you’ll be told about them are a great starting point, and often more interesting than the truth, anyhow.

#4: What’s Your Favorite Time of Year Here?

This is a great question for finding out the seasonal ups and downs of your destination. Someone will answer according to the weather, another will tell you about their favorite festival, and somebody else might describe the time when most people are on holidays. The only problem with this question is you might discover that the time you’d most enjoy being in the country has just passed. That’s okay — there’s always next year.

#5: How Does the School System Work Here?

It sounds like a dull textbook question, but honestly, the answers can be pretty enlightening. From the north-east Asian systems where students might spend ten or more hours a day studying, through the kinds of schools that I consider “normal”, that is with school from around nine until three each day, and then to other countries like in South America or some parts of Europe where students are finished by lunchtime, the variety is endless. It’s a topic that everyone knows something about, having gone to school themselves, and some great debates can arise.

#6: So, What Did You Have for Breakfast Today?

Seriously, you’ll be amazed. I learned in Japan, for example, not to believe what the guide books say about the Japanese all eating rice and fish for breakfast. A bunch of my Japanese friends have already made the (regrettably unhealthy switch) to white bread and sugared cereal. Ironically, I was the one who ate rice for breakfast for the entire two years I lived in Japan. Breakfast traditions are weird habits, and worth knowing about.

#7: What Sports Do Kids Play Here?

Sports cross all kinds of cultural boundaries. They’re a great topic for discussion, and also to learn about how the local people spend their free time. The reason I like to ask about kids and sport is that it takes all the controversy out of it.

For example, if you ask a bunch of Australian men in a pub which is the best sport, you’ll be throwing yourself into the lion’s den. You’ll watch as each man tries to defend his own code of football, depending on where he grew up, and then an argument about the game of cricket will probably ensue. Which means you’d never hear that practically all Australian girls, and a lot of women too, play netball. And the list goes on. Play it safe and talk about the kids.

#8: Why Do You Live Here?

This might be a question for late night pondering, and best saved for philosophical locals, but I’ve had some interesting answers. Many people won’t have thought about it, really, until you ask. But, when they do, their reasons for being there can provide a lot of clues about why you might enjoy being there, too.

I believe there’s no point in traveling if you don’t ask questions. At the very least, be open to questions arising as you travel. If you have the courage to get chatting with some locals — perhaps with a bit of a language barrier — and find the answers to some of your questions, it’s a guarantee that this will enrich your enjoyment and understanding of the culture you’re visiting.

What questions do you ask the locals when you travel? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Curious Travel: 8 Essential Questions to Ask in Every New Place appeared first on Vagabondish.

Neither of us had ever lived in an RV before, and we’ve both worked hard all our lives. We had “normal,” 9-to-5 office jobs, and lived for the weekends just like everyone else we knew. We believed that to enjoy some aspects of life, money was required. We didn’t have the financial luxury to do what we wanted 100% of the time … but oh, if we ever won that lottery … THEN we could really live!

What we’ve found after some time on the road is that everything we wanted was there all along, and it didn’t come with a price tag. Here are the principles we embraced to retire into a wealth we never thought possible.

Dreaming in England © @Doug88888

#1: To Be Twice as Rich, Halve Your Expenses

The 9-to-5 rat race is a bum deal. It requires you to work to afford things that you never have the time to enjoy anyway. You kill yourself to own a big home that you never spend any time in. Your PTO piles up with vacation time which you never use because work is too demanding. You’re too busy climbing the ladder, earning money to afford those vacations which you never take.

See the pattern here? You live for the weekends, except that by the weekend you’re so exhausted that you have limited energy. So you mostly just rest. It’s a terrible cycle.

It doesn’t work this way for everyone, but for us it did. We decided to opt out by drastically cutting our expenses. Giving up the home was a big one. Mortgage was a money suck. So was maintenance, things to fill our home with, and cleaning.

I gave up my cell phone and replaced it with a free Skype number. By installing solar panels on the RV (in progress), our electricity expenses will be reduced to a big fat zero. No money spent at RV parks either, since we need no hook-ups. If we don’t feel like driving, we can self-support at a remote trailhead with no amenities for weeks at a time.

We use free wifi, which we can find on pretty much any corner these days. And when we want to, we disconnect by parking on a mountain trail somewhere, embracing isolation. Our water use is minuscule, as we use creeks and waterfalls to rinse off or hand-wash our clothes with biodegradable soap. We have no cable or television, but we like going to the movies!

We have one small pot and one small pan, which we use to make food in the RV. Living is simple and extremely cheap. With our family of two adults, one dog, and one cat, we can live very comfortably on $1,000/month or less.

I have a laptop for all my writing, and then drop into town for a wifi connection to email things or make a post. I also have a Kindle with over 300 books on it, which I pull out before bed for some good quality reading. I get free Kindle books online on thousands of topics. Since everything interests me, I don’t think I’ll ever finish all the books I want to read. Without a 9-to-5 job, I can do more writing (potentially more income), more reading (higher quality research for writing), and more living (many more experiences with so much more to write about).

Want to be twice as rich? Halve your expenses. You’ll be surprised at how little you actually need to feel happy and fulfilled.

#2: You Don’t Have to Own Something to Enjoy It

This principle blew my mind. There are so many things we can get for free, or for minimal payment that others work tirelessly to own. Some of them I have already mentioned, like cable, internet access, and e-books. But there are others:

• Instead of owning a pool, we can park at the ocean for days of free water play.
• Instead of a gym membership, we can spend weeks playing on endless miles of trails.

We also enjoy activities like kayaking, fishing, or scuba diving (to name a few) via rentals, for a fraction of the cost of owning the gear required for such activities. Not to mention that the things we value most — fresh air, travel, and the freedom to enjoy life — don’t cost us a cent anyway.

© Zach Dischner

#3: Lack of Money Buys Freedom

If you’re filthy rich, you can enjoy limitless freedom. But when you’re dirt poor, you can enjoy pretty much the same freedom. If you happen to be somewhere in the middle, that’s when you’re tied down. In the middle, you need to work to pay your debts and expenses. You’re not rich enough to stop working, and not “poor” enough to give up those expenses and luxuries. You’re stuck indefinitely.

When you’re too poor to afford the “luxuries” so common in that middle space (say, furniture and lawn care), you have complete freedom to spend your time doing whatever you want. Just as if you were rich. You don’t have to work as much or at all. You have no one to report to. You can come and go as you wish. No home to maintain. No rooms to clean. You can pick which opportunities and activities you want to be involved in, and actually be picky about it. Your range of choices in life is substantially wider.

These days, many people consider a good travel trip a resort vacation, which of course implies money. But I’m convinced the reason we crave resort-type spots is because we’re exhausted from working so much that we need a quiet place to rest and unwind. However, when you’re working less, you’ll be amazed and how much energy you have. Suddenly a resort vacation sounds boring. You want to run. Hike. Move. Swim. Travel. All of which we can do indefinitely, and free of charge. And if you still want to rest, try lying on a beach like a sand bum for … as long as you want. And that’s the life we’re living now.

© Ian Sane

#4: There’s Free Stuff Everywhere

Sadly, we live in a society where so much is wasted: food, products, energy … the list goes on. Fortunately for RV bums like us, this also means we have an endless supply of free goodies at our fingertips. We can get our hands on anything from food to travel products to personal hygiene products.

In this hyper-consumerist society, we could easily survive on samples alone. And if that’s not possible, we are happy to offer manual labor or personal service in exchange for the goods we need. No currency exchanged.

Between the two of us, my boyfriend and I have a wealth of bartering services at our disposal. He has an engineering background and is awesome at all those “boy” things like manual labor and figuring things out without needing directions. I’m more creative and great at anything related to writing, PR, editing, publishing, promotion, online, etc. This, combined with my journalism background, gives me access to limitless products in exchange for reviews or help with promotion.

For example, we don’t always pay for running gear or races (unless we want to, and we still do when we want to support certain products or events). I get free pet gear for our dog and cat — things like food, leashes, running harness or packs, etc. The most common things I get for free are clothing, running shoes, and sunglasses. These are the three things I regularly have to turn down because I either don’t have enough space for them in the RV, I’m not interested in the product, or I don’t want to put in the time to write a review.

The product benefits extend to my boyfriend as well, and this aspect alone has saved us thousands of dollars. I often joke that my boyfriend and I are the best-dressed hobos out there, testing all the latest “stuff”. I should also mention that not having a job means I have more time to put lots of miles on all this gear, promote what I like, and produce many more reviews and videos, making the freebies much easier to get. Yet another aspect of freebies we enjoy is sponsorships. Over the years we have been sponsored by SportKilt, INKnBURN, and GORE-TEX.

If you’re not a writer, these same freebie possibilities are still open to you. One common misconception is that you have to be an elite in order to get sponsorships or freebies. Untrue. All you need is to be noticed, to have some clout. To have a personality or an appearance or a following that makes you stand out from the crowd. Anything at all. You could wear a costume. You could cover yourself in tattoos. You could have a popular blog.

In the world we live in now with endless blogs and opportunities to self-publish, it’s easier than ever to “be a writer”. But keep in mind — you still have to be good in order for people to follow you. You have to offer something. Check out this great post by Jason Robillard to get you started on the road paved with freebies.

Mountain Biking, British Columbia © andy_c

#5: Movement, Not Money, Buys Happiness

We’ve all heard variations of the saying that “money buys (or doesn’t buy) happiness.” I don’t know too much about that, but I can tell you without a doubt that movement definitely equals true happiness. I have this epiphany every time I’m running on a deserted trail in the middle of the week when everyone else is at work. I am happy when I’m moving. And I don’t think it’s just me.

I can tell you without a doubt that movement definitely equals true happiness.

My boyfriend and I can indulge this thirst for movement on a daily basis and sometimes several times a day. The joy we feel in being able to physically move our bodies all day long is unparalleled.

I’ve watched our dog make a transformation as well. In her old life, she stayed at home and waited for us to get home from work. She got long runs on the weekend, and sometimes a shorter run or ball play during the week. We tried to take her out as much as possible, but her outdoor time didn’t compare to what it is now.

As soon as we put our dog in the RV environment, she transformed. She is more well behaved and, for the first time since I’ve known her, genuinely tired at the end of the day. She is no longer jealous of the cat (ha!), and she used to be more skittish of other dogs. Now she wants to meet them as her doggie self-esteem has improved too.

As soon as we wake up in the morning, Ginger and I step right out on the trail to run or hike. Then it’s breakfast. Then more playtime until it’s time to go to bed. Yesterday she was prancing through a creek with us, jumping and barking playfully while we all splashed around. Ginger lives a better life now than some humans do. And I believe that this is how all humans are meant to live.

The truth is, we belong outside. Our bodies, our skin, our organs, were built to be outdoors. We belong to the trails and the mud and the streams. Yet these are precisely the things that we have built walls to keep out. We sanitize ourselves against the very things that scrub our souls clean, and then wonder why our bodies are breaking down along with our spirits.

Our minds were not created to be satisfied with the repetitive motions of menial jobs. We are not stimulated that way. We are not happy. But here on the trails is where we find ourselves.

And the best part is that all of this is free. I could run a new trail every day from now until my dying day and never cover all the great space that this beautiful country has to offer. So much of it we will never see. And yet during the week, we are all alone on this great land. We run and laugh and play and wonder where everyone else is.

And then we remember … they’re all at work.

The post 5 Secrets to Enjoying All the Benefits of Money … Without Actually Having Any appeared first on Vagabondish.

Whether you are already in foreign lands or at home looking for inspiration on where to go, here are six of the best travel books whose stories and adventures you can follow in real life. Be inspired by the respective author and undertake the same (or similar) trip. Bon voyage!

Best Travel Books That You Can Follow in Real Life

#1: The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux’s tale, The Old Patagonian Express, dates back to the 1970s, when he train-traveled all the way from Boston down to Argentina. (Ok, technically for parts of it that was impossible, but the goal was to take a train all the way, which he did the majority of the time). Given that Theroux’s journey was a while back, it may be impossible to re-create the exact adventure. In fact, it certainly is impossible, since many of the trains in Argentina, for example, have stopped running. A car or the local buses (extremely comfortable options available, by the way) will have to suffice.

As you travel south, you can still identify with some of the statements that Theroux makes, or at least note the difference in how time has changed the landscape, be it political, natural, social or economic. Theroux’s tale is a great read no matter where you are in the world, and his astute observations about the differences between travelers and tourists, for example, make it one of my very own favorite travel books.

#2: The Tramp by Mark Twain

Theroux will have you smiling at times, but Twain will really get you roaring. His sarcasm and irony make for an entertaining read just about wherever you are. If you are lonely and alone on the road, this might be the literary pick to cheer you up.

Specifically, The Tramp tells of Twain’s adventures in Switzerland. My favorite chapter tells of his hike up the Rigi mountain, a journey that in fact inspired me to follow not so long ago.

Encadré (Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro) © Frédéric della Faille

#3: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Ever since the movie with Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem, Eat, Pray, Love was ringing in everybody’s ears. Note, however, that the book isn’t exactly the same as the film (which book ever is?) and that the former is worth a read in itself.

It tells the story of young Gilbert, who absconds from “conventional life” to travel to three different countries: Italy, India, and Bali. While in the first, she savors all kinds of Italian culinary delights, she practices intensive yoga and meditation in the second. In Bali, in turn, she ends up finding true love.

While some men will enjoy the book, it is really a read for women. Recreating the tale will involve not only quite a budget (since the story involves three countries) but also a partner of the opposite sex, to be found in Bali.

However, finding enough delicious gelato, pizza and pasta in Italy really shouldn’t be a problem. So there you go, just eat, pray, love and you have a three-country adventure all set out in front of you.

#4: Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Vagabonding is less of a single travel tale, but rather a guide on how to keep traveling forever. Rolf Potts did exactly that, and now has become notorious in the travel writing world for this very book.

In it, you will find detailed advice on how to launch a perpetual career as a nomad, including practical tips on selling your unnecessary belongings and budgeting for your initial time on the road. After that, you will eventually need to find a way to maintain yourself, unless you have a trust fund. Potts again provides useful advice for the former; he himself got started by teaching abroad.

Reading in Flores, Guatemala © stephen

#5: The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit by Shirley McLaine

Shirley McLaine aptly calls the Camino “a journey of the spirit”. The “Camino” in this case refers to the “Camino de Santiago,” the Way of St. James – a pilgrimage that ends in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. In the olden days, it was always a religious pilgrimage. Now, people undertake the journey for all kinds of reasons, whether it be a simple interest in hiking; a way to see the landscape; or even as an alternative honeymoon activity (yes, I met a couple who did that).

Shirley McLaine is one of the many authors who was inspired by the Camino and her tale has inspired numerous others to tread in her footsteps. Of note is that McLaine traveled solo, as many travelers do on the Camino. However, it is also a place where you are never alone; you will meet people and fellow pilgrims all along the way. Thus there is time for personal reflection, as well as being among people. I truly recommend the Camino to anyone who has the chance to go.

#6: Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk

It was impossible not to include a Nobel Prize winner among the most inspiring travel books. Orhan Pamuk is one of them. He writes about Istanbul with poise and elegance, inspiring anyone to travel to the Turkish capital.

The subtitle of the book is “Memories and the City,” a phrase that effectively captures what Pamuk paints in the book. It details an urban portrait and the past: darkness and decline, murder and mayhem. As Publisher’s Weekly puts it:

Central to many Istanbul residents’ character is the concept of hüzün (melancholy). Istanbul’s hüzün, Pamuk writes, “is a way of looking at life that … is ultimately as life-affirming as it is negating.”

As you read, you vicariously experience this melancholy. It inspires you to travel to an Istanbul that is now flourishing economically, but where the traces of a past still remain.

What travel books have you read and followed in real life? Share them with us in the comments below!

The post 6 Travel Books Whose Stories & Adventures You Can Follow (in Real Life) appeared first on Vagabondish.

I keep hearing some version of this statement from friends, family, even strangers, about my return from WWOOFing (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) in Italy.

At first, I’d shrug and nod, “Mmmhmm,” still daydreaming about being back in the Italian countryside, paying my room and board in grapes crushed, olives picked and weeds weeded.

Then, I took a moment to consider the statement in all its absurdity. Living, sharing stories and meals with real people, in real homes, digging my fingers into real dirt and eating really, real good food … that wasn’t real? Those centuries-old towers, wonderfully geometric broccoli alla Romana and thought-provoking conversations over dinner were just figments of my imagination?

No. They were every bit as real as the snow-covered house and uncertain future that greeted me back at home in the Boston suburbs. Yet, the way I think and act in the two scenarios can be so different it feels like my vita vagabonda was just a fleeting dream. I’ve decided that the key to keeping things “real” at home is packing up your traveler’s mindset and taking it with you.

© Nattu

Here are eight essentials I brought back on my return flight. Take them home with you to make your descent back down to post-travel “reality” a lot more enjoyable.

#1: Be Here Now

Traveling alone requires constant, independent decision-making. Empowering and freeing? Yes. Overwhelming and daunting? Yes! I tend to agonize over decisions, big and small. Should I have chosen a different major? A different country? A different appetizer? It can be an exhausting waste of time; time better spent enjoying what’s behind the door I chose to open.

I forced myself to do this while traveling — to embrace my decisions, soak up the company, the surroundings, the moment, without worrying about the museum, city, restaurant or party I may be missing out on. I’m trying to hang on to this mentality of presence at home. Live more, stress less.

#2: Buon Appetito

As Michael Pollan says, “Drink your food, chew your drink.” Savor your meals. Sure, the life of a thrifty backpacker can mean lots of Nutella and banana sandwiches. However, a significant aspect of travel is food exploration.

My days WWOOFing revolved just as much around mealtimes as they did the harvest. We didn’t rush to prepare a meal in ten minutes, and we never rushed to eat it all in ten minutes.

Whether I was with a big family on a farm or staying on the air mattress of a single Couchsurfing host, I saw the same pattern: most Italians cook more, eat slower, talk more (and typically drink more) at lunch and dinner than we do in America.

A “Buon appetito!” before digging in was a simple way to express appreciation for the cook, the ingredients and the act of sharing a delicious meal. When Italians asked me for the equivalent saying in English, all I could think of was “Let’s eat!” Something’s definitely lost in translation. I’m sticking with “Buon appetito“.

#3: Stay Culturally Curious

Cities don’t reveal themselves in all their quirky glory to the incurious. When I’m in a foreign city, I’m always seeking out the likes of special exhibitions, free museum nights and discounted theater tickets.

If I notice an old church, I’ll take a peek at the artwork. If a pass a gallery, I’ll stop and take a look. In Italy, my curiosity led me down paths less tourist-trodden, to private tours of crowd-free palaces, galleries and catacombs.

Like many, I grow complacent at home and take for granted the culture around me. Why don’t I ever volunteer at my local farm? When was the last time I went inside Boston’s Trinity Church or walked Freedom Trail? Maybe I’ll pop into that tiny stamp museum I always drive by. Who knows, maybe I’ll get a private tour …

#4: Take a Look Around You

Sometimes I couldn’t sleep, read or write on train rides and downtime on the farm because I was too busy gawking at the nature around me. I paid attention to the beauty of morning dew, the soft Tuscan sunlight, the peacefulness of fields at dusk and the splendor of stars at night.

I’m trying to keep my eyes open back here in America. We have our own tall pines, rolling hills, long flat plains, rocky mountains and bright blue skies. There aren’t any olive trees in my backyard, but there’s a birch tree by my bedroom window that glows with the sunrise.

#5: People Are Good. Talk to Them.

I relied on Couchsurfing on city visits between farms. When you first start to Couchsurf, it can feel counterintuitive. You’re trusting a stranger? And they trust you? You don’t know this guy, but you’re having dinner together, sleeping in the same apartment, maybe even in the same room?

I forced myself to let go, open up and assume that people are inherently good (while still checking references, listening to my gut and using common sense of course). I opened up to my hosts, their friends, backpackers, farmhands and bakers. I went out of my way to meet new people and get to know them beyond the surface.

There are millions of interesting people, Americans and foreigners, in American cities. Why not keep meeting people — travelers and neighbors — keep giving people the benefit of the doubt and asking them their stories? They’re probably a lot more interesting than the reality star you could be watching on TV.

© Nathan Hayag

#6: Carpe Diem

Starting the workdays with the roosters; spending fourteen hours out getting lost and found and in the city; taking the train from Rome to Napoli and a post-pizza ferry to Palermo. Traveling reminded me that days are long.

There are a whole lot of minutes in the day to enjoy. You can do a lot. See a lot. Relax a lot. All of the above. Whatever you choose to do with your day, remember rule #1.

#7: Delight in Diction

Italiano. What a language. It’s fun, it’s sexy, it’s almost as expressive as Yiddish. The sounds, the words, the dialects, the slang – they were musical, comical, entertaining, poetic! Who knew asking someone for a towel (asciugamano or “a-shoo-go-manno”), or to pass the fennel (finoccio; rhymes with Pinocchio) could be so much fun?

English may never have the boldness of Italian or the seductive elegance of French. That said, well-spoken English ain’t half bad. Our diction is fascinating when you take a minute to listen and consider the sounds, origins, and meanings of the words and sayings.

One of my Italian friends was always in awe of the many definitions of English words like “spring.” When I taught him the meaning of “serendipity,” he was as stoked as I was when he told me about Sirocco, the Saharan wind.

#8: Feel the Bearable Lightness of Being

Sitting on the train, en route to my last stop in Rome, I felt an incredible lightness. Now, Italy had taught me that good olive oil makes most every dish better, pasta is but one course of a complete (wine-filled) lunch and fresh ricotta goes down like water. Needless to say, this lightness wasn’t physical. It came from the empowering sensation that I can let hardships roll off my back and just keep rambling.

Between many “How did I get so lucky?” travel moments, I’d had plenty of dubious ones: cleaning chicken refuse alone in the rain; wandering lost in the city at night with my heavy backpack in the rain; watching my train roll by on the opposite platform…in the rain. Rather than let unfortunate circumstances and mistakes weigh me down, I’d just breathe, smile and crack a joke in broken Italian to the stranger — or chickens — beside me.

There’s nothing we have greater control over and nothing that has a greater impact on our experiences than our own reactions. The next time you encounter a problem, avoid the tendency to get frazzled. Try keeping things light.

The post 8 Ways to Avoid Coming Down from Your Traveler’s High appeared first on Vagabondish.

But if I close my eyes now, I can feel the sensation I felt in that boat as I looked down at the swirling blue water. The panic starts, in my stomach first and then spiraling outwards to my fingers and my toes, and finally to my eyes, where it prickles and stings.

I can feel the water without getting in. I can sense it all around me, pulling me down. I can feel a rising sense of vertigo as my feet search desperately for something to stand on, but find only cold darkness beneath. I can already feel the sting of the water in my mouth, my nose, my eyes and my lungs, and I can see the boat leaving me, stranded and alone.

This is me, on a boat off the coast of Gili Trawangan in Indonesia, having traveled thousands of miles to experience new things, face to face with my deepest fear: the sea.

Choosing a Path With More Resistance

I had always felt that I lived my life in fear. With the exception of my terror at the thought of drowning, I didn’t suffer from any paralyzing phobias, but I was the owner of a million small neuroses that prevented me from doing so many things: fear of snakes, bacteria, traffic, spiders, bugs, parasites, heights … I could go on.

But worse than this, I was afraid of taking any risks with my life. Like so many people, I had chosen the easy route rather than face the unknown; from university to my career, I chose the path of least resistance. In the end, I felt that it was destroying me from the inside out — I could picture a life mapped out ahead of me that offered no surprises.

Then, on a particularly grey and miserable Monday morning – just another in a long succession of grey and miserable Mondays – everything changed. I opened my inbox to discover the arrival of an email intriguingly titled “adventure in Borneo?” With my curiosity suitably piqued and a strong craving for vitamin D, I read the message with an uncharacteristically open mind.

The invitation was to help a friend build an eco-lodge in jungle of Borneo. Sadly, the project itself didn’t quite pan out, but the strong desire I felt to do something as reckless as go and live in the jungle for three months was an epiphany. I needed out. Out of the corporate world, out of my consumer products addiction; and most of all, out of the comfortable bubble of my life.

And so it was that in the space of two weeks, I quit my job, gave up my flat, sold all my worldly belongings, and began to beg, borrow and steal enough money to run away to Asia.

It has now been over five months since I gave up everything I had ever known, waved goodbye to my friends, family, and hair straighteners, and boarded a plane to experience something completely different.

A Thousand Tiny Steps

When I first stepped off the plane and into the excruciating heat of Kuala Lumpur, I was bursting at the seams with confidence and gagging to try new and exciting things. I had thought that overcoming the fear of the unknown, finding the strength to do something so completely different from anything else I had ever done, would give me freedom from all my other neurotic little phobias.

I was wrong.

Each step of my journey I have found something new and terrifying — from the venomous viper snakes sleeping outside my tent in the jungle of Borneo, to climbing to the top of an angry, smoking volcano and peering into the crater on Java. From stepping onto my first motorbike, and feeling the power course through my body as I navigated dirt tracks in Northern Laos, to witnessing the exotic long neck women in Thailand’s hill tribes.

I thought that I could make a great leap to conquer all my fears in one go; instead, traveling has made me realize that you have to face each small battle one at a time, taking tiny steps until you are at the precipice of your fear and have no choice but to jump over the edge.

Staircase to Where, Dubai © Untitled blue

Facing Your Fears

Finding the strength to do the things that terrify you isn’t easy — it’s a constant battle between the voice of reason and the demons that make your stomach do somersaults. But somehow, being so far from home, both mentally as well as physically, makes it more possible. Having already done something as unreasonable as giving up all I have ever known and owned, the voice of reason suddenly came into it’s own with a very good argument:

“Why come all this way just to watch?”

If you let it, traveling can give you the push you need to do the things you never thought you could. When you’re in the comfort zone of home, the prospect of doing something scary isn’t very tempting; you can find excuses with ease; you can tell yourself you have better things to do; you can procrastinate until opportunities wither and fade. But for me, being on the other side of the world and surrounded by the unfamiliar, taking the plunge is almost mandatory, because if I don’t, how can I justify all I have given up to be in that place, in that moment?

For some people that moment can be staring into the sky before jumping out of a plane, others feel shivers of horror down their spine when faced with eating something strange and exotic; for me, the moment was looking into the cool blue sea and quite literally diving in head first.

Seeing a Different World

Facing my fears gave me a wonderful gift. The gift of seeing fish that looked like rainbows, shimmering in an array of iridescent colors. The feeling of wonder as striped yellow and black fish swimming like tigers against the coral reef swarmed around me and giant sea turtles swam beneath my amazed eyes.

When I put my head under the water I was given a whole new world — a world where fish can look like tigers and rainbows can swim.

The more fears I have faced, the more my life has felt like a series of gifts handed to me. I have seen and done more than I imagined was possible — but the best gift of all is that for the first time, every part of me feels alive.

The post Taking the Plunge: How to Conquer Your Fears Through Travel appeared first on Vagabondish.

Rather than feel down about all the stuff you’re missing out on, here’s a list of the things I do to pass the time and make me feel like it’s still a fun part of my trip.

#1: Research, Read and Learn

Whether it’s a guidebook, brochures from the hotel or hostel lobby, or you’re online — spend your trapped time getting to know more about your destination. I’ve sometimes discovered a gem of a place to visit that I probably wouldn’t have discovered without that enforced room time!

Curiously enough some of that comes from those ubiquitous racks of tourist brochures often found in hostel and hotel lobbies — usually the brochures in hard-to-reach corners that most travelers ignore.

© bixentro

#2: Chat with the Staff

Assuming you’re not laid up with a contagious disease, take some time to get to know the staff at your accommodation. They’ll most likely be locals with lots of interesting tips for you and if you find you have some interests in common they might even help you get a taste of local life.

At the very least they’re likely to tell you the real truth about the best place to eat nearby or help you figure out something else to do if your plans have been totally disrupted.

#3: Play Games You’ve Forgotten

If you’re stuck with your traveling partner or it’s a weather-induced problem and you can find fellow travelers around, dig deep into the depths of your memory and play some games you probably haven’t played in years.

Even noughts and crosses will do if you’ve got nothing but pen and paper. I always travel with a pack of cards — you can even cross language barriers with a simple pack of cards!

Most ho(s)tels will have access to a supply of board games or packs of cards. Ask and you might even get the chance to learn a new game that’s popular in the country you’re traveling in.

© QueenNeveen

#4: Write a Letter

Remember how people used to write on actual paper with a pen and send it to each other? There’s something really special about getting a handwritten letter, but most people feel they never have time to write one or have nothing to write about.

Now’s the perfect time to write a beautiful letter to someone you care about. And since you’re on holidays or a big trip then you’ve probably also got plenty of news to tell them. (Just don’t dwell on the “stuck in the hotel room” bit for too long!)

#5: Get Creative

I’m no artist (in fact, I’m pretty much the opposite). But, in situations like this, I will actually grab a pencil and paper and try to improve my drawing skills. There are lots of other creative things you might try — origami, say, or something crafty that you have easy access to.

Something that always helps me relax and get creative in a situation like this is to remember that nobody’s going to race in, rip your drawing from your hands and publish it for the world to see. You’re just doing it for you, and it’s just meant to be for fun.

#6: Learn To Use Your Camera Properly

I’m sure that most of you, just like me, have numerous functions on your camera that you’ve never used. Even reasonably simple point-and-shoot cameras have heaps of extra functions.

While you’re stuck in your hotel room, take this captive time to experiment with all the functions and figure out when it might be useful to use them. Knowing a few simple ways to use the manual settings on your camera can make the end result so much better than defaulting to shooting in automatic mode.

Contemplating, New Jersey © Robby McKee

#7: Plan Your Future

From chats with others, I’ve learned it’s not just me who feels inspired and motivated about life in general when they’re on a trip. Use the time to make detailed plans about your future!

For example, plan out a bunch of monthly goals for the next year, write up something like a “bucket list” for the next decade or two, or simply figure out a good schedule for achieving a few important goals in the weeks after you arrive back home after your trip.

#8: Do … Nothing

If your life is remotely like mine, then your ability to take time for yourself and do nothing at all may not be very well-developed. Sometimes, though, it can be really productive and relaxing (yes, at the same time!) to simply sit and do nothing. Contemplate your navel!

There aren’t many times in life when there aren’t too many things requiring your attention but if you’re stuck in a hotel room during a trip then you don’t need to work, you don’t need to do housework, you probably don’t even need to talk to anyone (except perhaps your traveling companion!). So enjoy it and do nothing for once!

What helps you pass the time when you’re stuck in a hotel room?

The post 8 Things to Do When You’re Stuck in a Hotel Room appeared first on Vagabondish.

But no matter how wonderful the new priorities are, settling down is never easy for people who are used to traveling. I don’t have to look further than myself for a good example. I spent a few years taking trips from my home in Perth, then six years living in three different countries and traveling constantly from these new bases. I didn’t even want to return to Australia just yet but circumstances kind of worked out that way. And now, two years into the “settling down” process, I still have extraordinarily itchy feet and regular moments of stress where I wish I could book a flight somewhere and get far away from this settled-down life.

Australians in particular — or so I’ve heard — are renowned for wandering the world, working overseas, or backpacking for years, but very often coming home to settle down. Many of my Aussie friends have done something similar. From their experiences as well as my own, I’ve learned a few ways to deal with this inevitable phase and learn that a life led not constantly on the road is alright too.

Here are some of my tips if you find yourself in the same situation:

#1: Keep Learning About the World

Read, surf the net, chat on online forums, and Facebook your long-lost travel friends to keep learning about what’s happening out there in the big wide world. When you’re in a more settled-down phase it’s easy to get caught up with conversations about the latest local reality TV show and the gossip of small-town politics. Make an effort to keep learning about the rest of the world.

I have a lovely example of this from a good friend of mine who’s a more vehemently independent traveler than me. Now that she’s put down the backpack to marry a guy who’s not so interested in travel, and she’s had a baby, she’s found a unique way to deal with her itchy feet. While she’s feeding her baby — those long hours that others might spend watching mindless TV — she keeps an atlas open in front of her, memorizing the geography of the continents where she’s traveled least. She can already draw an accurate map of all the countries of South America, and now she’s moved on to figuring out how those many nations of Africa fit together.

Exploring Bucharest © Bogdan Suditu

#2: Do Some Micro-Traveling in Your Own Part of the World

Whether you’ve settled back in your hometown or somewhere new, it’s too easy to fall into the routine of driving to the same supermarket, meeting friends at the same pubs or restaurants, and spending weekends at home in front of the TV.

Remember that, to somebody else, visiting your hometown is traveling. Imagine their perspective and get out and really get to know your area.

Remember that, to somebody else, visiting your hometown is traveling. Try to imagine their perspective, get out, and really get to know your area.

I was lucky in this respect since I returned to Perth with a German husband who’d never been here before. So playing the tour guide was natural. I got to know all about my home city and discovered all kinds of places I never knew about before. I also try to keep in touch with the various local festivals and events that come our way, just like I’d do if I was still backpacking.

#3: Do the Pre-Trip Research You Always Wanted to Do

When I was traveling almost full-time, it was impossible to learn as much about my destinations as I wanted to before I arrived. I don’t mean planning a minute-by-minute itinerary, but rather reading and learning about the culture and people of a city or country. For a start, when I was on the road it wasn’t easy to source English language books that were related to the places I was hoping to visit. On top of that, I didn’t always have that much time between trips or location changes.

Now that I’ve settled down, I’m catching up on trip research from the past as well as researching more thoroughly for the future. I love to find novels set in the cities and places that I’ve visited, and I’m always on the lookout for interesting reads about the destinations I hope to visit someday.

#4: Stay in Contact With Foreigners

One of the saving graces of my settling down period has been my job as a teacher of English as a foreign language. That means that every day in my classroom I chat with people from at least three continents and get to continually learn about cultures and countries that interest me. But outside of work, I’ve made sure to keep in touch with a few foreign friends who also live in my city. That way I don’t feel totally absorbed back into my hometown culture. Plus, I can also do a bit of vicarious traveling through them as they visit their home countries and come back with gifts and stories.

I also keep in contact with the various people I’ve met along the way in my travels, whether they’re ex-colleagues or ex-students from my various teaching jobs, or friends, neighbors and traveling companions I’ve bumped into along the way. One nice side effect is that a number of my ex-colleagues are still traveling the world and teaching in far-flung corners of the globe and reading their emails about adventures in Cali, Colombia or Guangzhou, China is almost as good as being there myself.

Lost in Your Own World © notsogoodphotography

#5: Daydream About Future Trips

One of the best things I learned while traveling is that I have the skills and know-how to travel anywhere in the world, somehow. Knowing this, I can spend time on my commute to work or while cooking dinner to daydream about destinations I’ll get to sometime in the future.

Sure, sometimes it’s frustrating to know that my mortgage means I can’t take off to Bhutan tomorrow (that’s our latest interest — my husband wants to meet the happiest people in the world). But it’s all a matter of give-and-take.

I spent a decade traveling whenever and wherever I wanted, and now the trade-off is that I have a house I like and a family of my own. But that’s not the end of my traveling life, and opportunities can arise out of nowhere. I’ve always got ideas in my head about the places I’ll travel to when I have a chance in the future.

The post Life After Backpacking: 5 Tips for Settling Down But Still Daydreaming appeared first on Vagabondish.