The Vagabonding blog has an interview with a couple that broke down their expenses for a seven-month trip through Southeast Asia . A nice follow-up to my last blog post, they saved enough to have a budget of 13 grand after airfare and pre-departure expenses. “We just lived below our means and stopped buying stuff.” Because of that, they were able to do most everything they wanted instead of watching every baht.
The Almost Fearless blog has the biggest mistakes to avoid when planning long-term travel with a family. One particular one I can’t stress enough: “The biggest mistake any family can make in planning an itinerary is trying to go to too many places and do too much.”
The budget bus situation in the northeast U.S. just keeps getting better and better. Far more pleasant than a flight and cheap!
SmarterTravel has a good rundown on hospitality exchange and home exchange program links .
Here’s a good piece on all the things hotels do to fake you out with their photos .
Traveling well means being in the place and the moment, not having part of yourself in one place and the rest of you in constant contact with your network from home. Incoming! is a shout of warning in war, but also for your inbox, your Twitter stream, your Facebook updates, your text messages, and all the other noise. From that link: “It’s like living near Niagara Falls and then one night it freezes. You miss the noise. Is it possible the noise is helping you hide from the stuff that scares you?” It takes a confident person with good willpower to break that addiction of constant connection and constant attention, but like kicking cigarettes or heroin, it gets easier after the first week…
