If you’re planning a trip abroad you already know the basics. You know to get your passport months before your trip, read up on safety, and learn a few local phrases. You do some basic planning. But here are a few less obvious things to think about — things many of us learned the hard… Read more »

Guest post by Sarah Grant. Planning for a spontaneous trip might seem like the ultimate contradiction, but allowing for spontaneity opens up myriad opportunities for unique, unscripted experiences. When I lived in Asia I happened to be in a somewhat “off the beaten path” mountainous region with scant international tourists passing through relative to the… Read more »

1. Run out of money If you’ve got a credit card you can always spend more money than you actually have! However, if your credit cards are maxed out and you’ve run out of cash, then you’re out of luck, my friend. You can try calling mom and dad or your best friend. Chances are… Read more »

Guest post by Sarah Grant. Numerous travel blogs suggest that the golden rule of packing for any trip abroad is to lay out what you want to bring and immediately put half of it back in your closet. This is a touch vague — how much do you really need to pack? And what do… Read more »

Guest post by our favorite Texan, Carrie Newhouse In Southeast Texas, we don’t really experience these things that people in other parts of the US have dubbed “seasons,” so I’m often lost when trying to tell people about events that occur in specific times of the year. Yes, yes, I understand that there are solstices… Read more »

Guest post by Montana outdoorswoman, Nicole Qualtieri. Last summer, I hiked 150 miles of the northern Continental Divide trail alone. It was by far the most intense, honest, revealing and personal thing that I’ve ever accomplished. Within those 150 miles lies the most terrifying moment of my life, as well as some of the most… Read more »

We recently did a series of blogs on traveling alone–how to have fun, how to stay safe, and how to make memories that’ll last a lifetime. Solo travel is fantastic, and most of us have had life-changing experiences when we take the plunge and do some exploring on our own. For now, let’s forget the… Read more »

Guest post by Andrew Orvedahl. As a comedian, I can speak with a certain degree of authority when I say that Los Angeles is the Shangri-La for comedy. Sure, there are fantastic comedy scenes sprinkled all over the country (and indeed maybe even the world, who knows–not me, I’m American), but the cream of the… Read more »

This is the final installment on how to travel alone. The first time we wrote about how to have fun, even if the idea of traveling alone seems boring or lonely. Our second post discussed how to be safe when traveling alone. This final installment discusses how to create memories of your trip that will… Read more »

Guest post by Sarah Grant. I’m a transplant here in The Natural State. I’ve lived in plenty of places — Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Madison, Manado (Indonesia), Dalat (Vietnam) — but never the South. I was warned I’d struggle here, by numerous, dubious people who’d had bad experiences on their cross-country road… Read more »