December is shaping up to be a record traffic month for this cheap travel blog, a mere 11 years after I launched it. More than 50,000 readers a month land here normally, which is more readers than a lot of magazines I’ve written for, so it’s a safe bet a lot of you are first-time readers.
This is not, however, one of those blogs that screams, “Look at me and all the cool places I’m going!” I don’t think I’ve ever posted a selfie on here and half the time I don’t even write about where I’m traveling until weeks or months later. Heck, those Panama photos I put up a couple weeks ago were from April of 2013. Instead, this is a blog about the cheapest places to travel in the world, the cheapest places to live, and how to get the most out of your traveling budget. I share what I know and what I’ve learned so you can do more for less.
But I should probably get a bit personal now and then to explain who I am to the new people. Especially since the last time I did so, in this 7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me post, was more than two years ago. Since then I’ve moved back to Mexico, put out another book , published 17 more issues of Perceptive Travel, reviewed 100+ travel gear items, and traveled to a bunch more places.
That tells you a good bit about what I do for a living, but I’m also still a freelance writer for a lot of publications that aren’t mine, plus I get quoted in the media a lot as a bargain travel and destinations expert . On that page I linked to there you can hear interviews on pocasts like The Week in Travel, the Daily Travel Podcast, and Overseas Property Insider. Next week I’m recording ones for The Suitcase Entrepreneur and The Budget Minded Traveler.
This blog is very conversational and casual, but I’ve won dozens of awards for my more crafted prose, from all three major annual award programs in the USA. As editor at Perceptive Travel, I’ve also commissioned a few dozen more stories that have won best travel writing awards.
I currently live in Guanajuato, Mexico , where I bumble along in Spanish, run occasional street food tours , and work out of a house I own. My wife is more fluent and my daughter takes subjects like history, math, and science in her adopted second language. We travel within Mexico on school breaks and we’ve probably been to more Mexican states together than U.S. ones at this point. Here’s a shot from Puebla outside the lucha libre arena.
I like adventure travel, exploring offbeat places, and finding great bargains. I’m not a country counter: I’d rather spend a week or two in one place or return to the same country to get to know it better than to fly through a bunch just to check off boxes.
I like trying local food and drinking local hooch. But I do miss the vast array of microbrews you can get in the land of my birth. As with coffee and wine, the country that used to be a laggard when I was a kid is now on top in many respects. (The USA doesn’t like to be outdone when it comes to consumer choice.)
I’ve never owned a fancy car, or had a massive house, or felt like I had to go get the latest iSucker gadget the week it came out. Instead I’ve collected a huge treasure of great experiences. If you’d like to do the same, you can sign up for the RSS feed , follow me on social media ( Facebook , Twitter , Pinterest , Google+ ), or get the Cheap Living Abroad newletter.
Adios for now.
