Category: Trips and Tours
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Drive Across California for a Tree, Plus Twenty-Nine
Looking at the map, it’s easy to see that there are many natural spaces close to San Diego like Anza-Borrego or Torrey Pines State Parks. But since it was National Parks Week, I chose Joshua Tree National Park (JOTR) for my Spring in SoCal Roadtrip, a three and a half hour drive from where I was in…
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Only Sort of Solo in San Diego
One of the secrets of solo travel is that you rarely have to be solo. While you might choose to book the trip or literally do the traveling part alone, it seems rare to be all alone on a trip unless you choose to be. For example, I recently took a solo trip to San…
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Luxurious Lido, the Budget-Friendly Beach of Venice
Thanks to a last-minute travel buddy and an over-booked hostel, I ended up finding a silky-sand beach near Venice, Italy on a backpacker-friendly budget. You might be under the mistaken impression that Venice is all about pungent canals, overpriced-everything and couples-only romance. I hope this post changes your mind, because Venice is high on my…
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Recommending Rome, Especially for First-Time Travelers
I am often asked, “What is your favorite city?” and it’s a question I cannot answer. I find likable, laudable traits of every place I visit. But when asked, “What European city would you recommend most?” the answer comes easily, and it’s Rome, Italy. The Eternal City has so much to offer for all, from budget backpackers to…
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Road Trip: Devil’s Tower & the Dakotas
I lived in the great state of Wyoming for nearly a decade, and it bothered me that I had not yet made the time to visit Devil’s Tower National Monument. My “50 by 40 Goal” is to visit all 50 states by the time I’m 40, and looking at my atlas, I realized that a…
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Colorado’s Cool Sahara, the San Luis Valley
Although many people associate Colorado with swishing down snow-capped summits, there is a lot more to the landscape than mountains. The state also has fertile farms, rolling ranchland the tallest sand dunes in North America. The San Luis Valley (SLV) is a great roadtrip just a few hours south of Denver or north from Albuquerque. This surreal place…
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Backpacker on a Cruise
I recently had the incredibly good fortune to take a cruise, pretty much for free! A friend of a friend canceled past the refund window, so just for the gratuity cost ($12/day) and my transit to/from the port in Galveston, Texas (low cost on Spirit Airlines), I had a six-day cruise to Mexico which included…
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6 Tips for How to Overpack
Every travel blogger seems to have a “How to Pack like a Pro” post. This is not one of them. While I completed my Eurotrip as a purported “backpacker,” I started with a backpack AND a suitcase (the contents of which were later dispersed through France and Italy once the roadtrip fell through). Trying to…
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8 Guys You’ll Meet as a Backpacker and What You Can Learn From Them
There was a time when I’d walk to Winnemucca, hula-hoop through Honduras and kayak to Kenya to find The One. Globe-trotting romances are often fleeting, but they can still enhance your own world. Whether you’re packing a bag right now or just dreaming of international budget travel, here is a sampling of men you’ll meet…
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Road Trip: Priceless Cash
Visiting the Boyhood Home of Johnny Cash Driving west to Colorado from Tennessee, it would have made sense to take I-40 through Memphis. However, a nagging voice in my head (traveler’s intuition) told me to save Memphis for another time, hopefully when I have a travel buddy. I zoomed waaaaay in on the map to…
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Lift Lilt: My Eurotrip Elevator Speech
Attending networking events and meeting lots of new people lately, I’ve honed my elevator speech (lift lilt in Euro parlance, perhaps?) answering, “So what do you do?” Everyone should have an elevator speech to sum up who you are/what you do in a few sentences, in case you’re ever in a brief situation with a…