Leave Your Mark As You Travel With Sky Lanterns

Like what you see? Subscribe to the full RSS feed.Odd that I first saw these sky lanterns in the backpacker movie, The Beach, and I just happened to stumble across them again here. Apparently they’re pretty big in Asia. Would it be tacky to travel with the Zuca and light an American flag sky […]

Hotel Offers World’s First In-Room Stripper Pole

This may be a hotel first, although I’m sure there’s an hourly motel somewhere in Las Vegas that may have thought of this before. Ivy Hotel’s Star Suite assures its clientèle that: Your imagination absolutely cannot run wild enough in this 1275 square foot suite. Plush king-sized bunk beds, a stripper pole, and a fully stocked wet […]

Strange Travel Gadget: Electronic Meat Sniffer To Guard Against Tainted Food

If you’re a germaphobe through-and-through - the kind that might buy a SquatStrap™ perhaps - or just a conscientious traveler with a penchant for questionable street food, the SensorFreshQ might be for you. It’s essentially a sniffing device that detects harmful bacteria in meat and poultry. It says it’s mainly for “uncooked” meats, but why […]

Top 13 Tips For A Long Bus Ride

Jessica at Hedgehogs Without Borders just posted her Top 13 Tips for a Long Bus Ride. I found #11 particular humorous: Tip #11 - Don’t sit at the front of the bus I know you’re reading this right now thinking it would be great to have such a wonderful view out the windshield as you travel […]

Why Do The Irish Hate Guinness?

K and I spent ten days traveling in Ireland in August of 2005. One night, we met a couple - Stephen and Debbie - from Belfast who’d hopped the train to Dublin for a weekend change of scenery. It was my twenty-sixth birthday. Turns out it was Stephen’s birthday too - he […]

Destructable Hotel Rooms in Spain

Ever wanted to destroy your hotel room in true rock star fashion? Canoe.ca is reporting: The NH Alcala hotel, part of a chain of 335 hotels on three continents, said it decided to forgo hiring professional demolition companies and let selected customers start its facelift as a way to generate some headline-making publicity. “Now I don’t […]

My New Travel Invention: The SquatStrap™

I’ve had a lot of entrepreneurial ideas lately. None of them particularly good, but amusing nonetheless. I think my coup de gras is what I’m officially trademarking as the “SquatStrap”. Actually let me officially make that SquatStrap™ so no one steals my idea. For the average What About Bob? germaphobe subway traveler, there’s […]

Walking Worse For The Environment Than Driving

Thinking of hoofing it around the country for your next backpacking holiday? Here’s an odd theory. Via TimesOnline.co.uk: Food production is now so energy-intensive that more carbon is emitted providing a person with enough calories to walk to the shops than a car would emit over the same distance. The climate could benefit if people avoided […]

Backpacker Movie Review: The Beach

[plot spoiler ahead …] I’ve never been a huge Leonardo DiCaprio - or “DiCap” as I like to call him - fan. And I’d heard less-than-kind things about his 2000 film, The Beach - a film that until last week I had no idea was about backpacking in Thailand. But SpikeMagazine.com had an interesting […]

Interview with Anthony Bourdain

Gadling sat down for an interview with Anthony Bourdain last week. Check out the full text here.

Imagine: Recalling Every Minute Detail of Every Trip You’ve Ever Taken

Steven Wiltshire, an autistic savant who’s known as “The Living Camera”, can accurately sketch a five yard wide pencil drawing of an entire cityscape right down to the number of windows in each and every building after taking just one (yes, one) helicopter ride over his subject. Digital SLR cameras, eat your heart out. And […]

Must Read: The SAS Survival Handbook

With Man vs. Wild season two in full swing (and kicking just as much ass as season one!), I thought it appropriate to review a book I finished a short while ago. SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea (aff) is an absolute must-read […]

India Brings Us The ‘Ghost Chili’: New World Record for the Hottest Chili Pepper

I’m a big spicy food buff. I love hot. Hot wings, hot sauce, hot anything. And I’ve no doubt Southeast Asia will come through for me in that department. But this is a bit much … First, there was the jalapeño. Then came the habanero. Then gasoline. Now: India […]

Ever Wonder Who’s Really Linking to Your Blog?

I thought I’d throw this little blogging tip out there … If you’re a rather vain chap like myself, you might be interested in finding all the folks that are linking back to your blog (and probably talking about you too!). The “Incoming Links” section in the WordPress admin console isn’t always 100% accurate. […]

Update: Man vs. Wild Fraud/Scam

I’m a bit loathe to call it “fraud” or “scam” because I don’t think that’s entirely accurate but that seems to be the accepted verbiage for this whole flap. And, frankly, that’s how people are searching for it, so … Bear Grylls updated his blog today with a somewhat vague response to the whole thing: Re: […]

The Salaryman Robot: A Tribute To Cubicle Jockeys

If you’re a dreamy-eyed, workaday cubicle jockey chained to a desk surrounded by Dilbert cartoons, this one’s for you: Japanese performance artist Momoyo Torimitsu takes her robot for a crawl in downtown Sydney, Australia. Crowds watch the bizarre sight of the life-like Japanese businessman in suit and tie slowly crawling on all fours along the pavement. […]

Go Paperless and Communication-Free Now (You’ll Have to Anyway While Abroad)

I’ve been pimping Tim Ferriss’ The 4 Hour Workweek pretty hard over the past few weeks. Maybe too hard. But because his writing revolves around simplifying your life, he also presents a great deal of useful tips and advice for travelers. One of his recent posts (okay, it’s about six weeks old) entitled How […]

Is Your “Stuff” Keeping You From Your Travel Dreams?

Tim Leffel regales us with a fantastic little blurb on how anyone can travel if they’re willing to stop accumulating unnecessary “stuff”: I just spent most of the day helping my sister move into her new house … A dozen of us took four hours to move it all. Does one person really need all that? […]

Extreme Telecommuting? Enough Already

In an effort to curb the use of the word “extreme”, I think the government should start regulating/licensing/taxing same. There is no such thing as “Extreme Potato Chips”, “Extreme Soda”, or “Extreme [fill in inane, non-extreme act here]”. Now “Extreme Telecommuting”? C’mon. But I digress. CNN Money ran an article recently featuring Webby from […]

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