Jun 30th, 2013 at 11:00PM: loop_oh, Flickr
I was sitting in the Speakers Corner Café in the stunning (and unexpected) Parliament House in Darwin, a rare marriage between a Southeast Asian bungalow and a po-mo shout in light and glass; all around-as everywhere in central Darwin-were plaques recalling the Japanese air raids on the place in February 1942, and markers announcing, "An enemy bomb fell here and killed 10 ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
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Dispatch From Darwin: Discovering Asia In The Outback
Jun 30th, 2013 at 11:00PM: loop_oh, Flickr
I was sitting in the Speakers Corner Café in the stunning (and unexpected) Parliament House in Darwin, a rare marriage between a Southeast Asian bungalow and a po-mo shout in light and glass; all around-as everywhere in central Darwin-were plaques recalling the Japanese air raids on the place in February 1942, and markers announcing, "An enemy bomb fell here and killed 10 ...Bruges: 7 Reasons The 'Venice Of Belgium' Is Worth Visiting
Jun 27th, 2013 at 11:00AM: Anna Brones
The only memory I had of the Belgian city Bruges was thanks to the black comedy film "In Bruges," where the city is more or less equated to some form of purgatory. The only image I had retained was a grey, misty and dismal city with not much going for it.
Not the case.
An easy day trip from Brussels, Bruges is worth your time, and not just if your obsessed with waffles. If ...Be Here Now: What Planes Have Taught Me About Arriving
Jun 27th, 2013 at 10:00AM: Khairil Zhafri, Flickr
I shrug off my rucksack, collapse onto the bed and wait to arrive. At some point I doze off.
When I awake, it's late afternoon. Toronto is hot - freakishly so, my host later tells me - and when I step outside, I have to learn to breathe again. My frail English constitution is confused - should I start sweating, or just save time by dying on the spot? I wander through ...Vagabond Tales: Kayaking With Thieving, Soda Drinking, Bloodthirsty Monkeys
Jun 19th, 2013 at 11:00AM: Heather Ellison
Most people who think monkeys are cute have more than likely never met a real monkey.
Although they might be cute on television, as anyone who has actually met a monkey will tell you, their cuteness is simply a disguise for their evil.
Yes, I'll say it again: monkeys are evil.
They have stolen my lunch while hiking in Costa Rica, and broken into my backpack in the ...I Lost My Airbnb Virginity In Charlottesville, Virginia (And Paid Just $49 For The Privilege)
Jun 13th, 2013 at 10:00AM: What kind of accommodation do you expect for $49 a night? Are you visualizing a place with 800-thread-count sheets, a memory foam mattress and free Perrier and gourmet coffee? Or for $49 bucks, would you expect a place where they rent by the hour, where you might be mingling with junkies and prostitutes and want to wear latex gloves before you touch anything?
If you're a skeptic like me, you ...Vagabond Tales: The Thin Line Between Backpacker And Homeless
Jun 12th, 2013 at 10:00AM: Kyle Ellison, Gadling
Long-term backpackers can be a competitive bunch.
In case you've never spent time in the common room of a youth hostel, either nursing a hangover, mingling with strangers, or ogling at the opposite sex, the conversation always starts with a simple and genuine phrase:
"Where are you from?"
Once initial pleasantries have been exchanged and conversation materials run ...$56 A Night To Pitch A Tent? Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
May 21st, 2013 at 10:00AM: Since when did camping become expensive? I live in Chicago and have spent a ridiculous amount of time researching places to camp over the Memorial Day weekend in the last two weeks. If I had planned ahead, booking a campsite would be quick and easy but we tend not to plan very far in advance, which makes travel during holidays complicated and sometimes expensive.
We wanted to camp at Devil's ...48 Hours In Lisbon: In Search Of Coffee, Tiles And Sun
May 14th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
All truth be told, Lisbon was never a city I had given any thought to. In fact, I couldn't even come up with anything linked to it. Give me a list of other European cities and there was at least one or two things that came to mind.
Stockholm: Old Town and the archipelago.
Paris: croissants, the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.
London: pubs, fish and chips and Big Ben.
Venice: canals, ...Dinner And Bikes 2013: An Annual Tour To Grow The Bicycle Movement
May 8th, 2013 at 12:00PM: There's a lot of talk about bikes these days. From single speeds in New York City to nighttime tours in Guatemala City and the bike share in Paris, the discussion of bicycles as a real means of alternative transportation is taking hold in a big way.
But talking about bikes in cycle centric hotspots like Portland, San Francisco and New York is only part of the step. As with anything, getting ...24 Almost Perfect Hours In San Francisco
May 6th, 2013 at 10:00AM: A pair of hairy middle-aged Chia Pets are blasting Wham's "Careless Whisper" from a new age boom box. A cluster of Latino immigrants is fishing and drinking cans of Tecate just steps away from a male paddleball player in a tight speedo with a Taliban-style beard and his long hair pulled in a Samurai-style bun. A teenager with a map of Bosnia and Herzegovina tattooed on his chest is enjoying a ...Forget Mykonos, Try Syros, Your Friendly Neighborhood Greek Island
Apr 30th, 2013 at 11:00AM: I arrived on the Greek island of Syros on the night ferry from Samos at 2:30 a.m., bleary-eyed and in need of coffee or a bed, maybe both. My sons, then 2 and 4, were still half-asleep, wondering why the hell we'd hustled them out of their tidy bunks in the middle of the night. We stepped over backpackers, most of them heading to Mykonos, Naxos or Santorini, who were still asleep in the corridors ...How To Get Around Priceline's Annoying New Bidding Hurdles
Apr 29th, 2013 at 11:00AM: If you're accustomed to bidding for hotels, flights and rental cars on Priceline, you may have noticed that in recent months the bidding process has become more cumbersome and time consuming. When your bid is rejected, you need to change some element of your offer before bidding again – the dates, the geographic area, the vehicle class for car rentals or the star level for hotels – in ...The Budget Traveler's Guide To Cut-Price Restaurant Meals
Apr 28th, 2013 at 1:00PM:
Eating out three meals a day can do some serious damage to your travel budget, especially when you want those three meals to be as good as possible. Sure, you could self-cater to save a few bucks, but if you're a real foodie who wants to taste the best a city has to offer, how can you do it without breaking the bank?
Filling up on street food or tracking down food trucks are two tried and ...How To Deal With The Ridiculous New Airline Change Fees
Apr 27th, 2013 at 10:00AM: The big news in the travel industry this week was that United and US Airways raised the cost of changing tickets from $150 to $200. This means that if you need to change your ticket for any reason prior to departure, whether you got stuck in traffic on the way to the airport or your pet goldfish died, you're going to have to pay a little bit more.
Gouging? Probably. Expected? Definitely. As ...Condé Nast Traveler's 'Hot List': Too Rich For My Blood
Apr 26th, 2013 at 10:00AM: Condé Nast Traveler (CNT) released its annual "Hot List" of the world's "best new hotels" this week, featuring 154 newish properties in 57 countries around the world. CNT boasts that 62 of these hotels have room rates that start at $300 per night or less but is that really a realistic threshold for separating expensive hotels from affordable ones? I've been traveling the world for more than ...Mucking About: Stepping Into The Unknown On The Banks Of The Ganges
Apr 26th, 2013 at 9:00AM:
Stair-stepped ghats hug the western shore of the Ganges River like a string of very old pearls, one after the other, fused together by faith and history and mud. The stairs link the mucky dung-spattered streets on land to the murky brown water of the holy river below, with riotous colors of fabric and flowers between.
I was expecting more dead bodies in Varanasi – really, burning ...Balochistan, The Unluckiest Corner Of The World
Apr 24th, 2013 at 10:00AM:
The earthquake that shook Iran and Pakistan last week has already been overshadowed by fatal tremors in Sichuan, China, a few days ago. Perhaps not surprising given that both places are in seismically active areas, but both of these disasters are repeats of far more deadly earthquakes that occurred in the last decade. In 2008, the Great Sichuan Earthquake killed almost 70,000 people, while a ...International Budget Guide 2013: Asuncion, Paraguay
Apr 22nd, 2013 at 11:00AM:
Why is 2013 the year to get to Asunción, Paraguay's, lovely, riverfront capital? Because this landlocked tropical nation sandwiched between Boliva, Brazil and Argentina is modernizing at warp speed. Tourism is still a rarity (expect curious looks, especially if you venture into the countryside – and you most definitely should), but the city offers enough inexpensive, low-key ...Free Art: Exploring The Graffiti Of Barcelona
Apr 18th, 2013 at 9:00AM:
You could go to Barcelona and see Sagrada Familia, and the contemporary art museum and all of the Gaudi houses, but if you head to the capital of Catalonia and don't take some time to simply peruse the streets and check out the graffiti, you'll miss out on some of the best art and creative inspiration that the city has to offer.
I, for one, am not usually a fan of graffiti, but done well, ...10 Offbeat Things To Do In Chicago
Apr 17th, 2013 at 10:00AM: If you've never been to Chicago, or you've only visited during the winter, which tends to last roughly from early fall through late spring, you have to see the place in the summer. As soon as the weather gets warm, the city's residents flock to the lakefront and the place buzzes with live music, street festivals and places to dine al fresco.
The typical tourist itinerary includes stops at the ...
