The last time you really heard from me was over one year ago. Since then you have read my travel stories but little else. If you did not know any better you would think that I am still traveling the world non-stop by myself.

Traveling

I am not.

I spent months living a stationary life in Colombia, followed by London, Philadelphia, and back to London where I am living now by London’s Sloane Square.

D*n't t@ke !t out on our staff

The reason why I have toned down my non-stop solo travels is probably maturity.

I had a blast overall. I am so happy that I traveled and its a huge part of what I have become now. I graduated university in December 2009 with the plans to travel indefinitely. Since then I have done just that. I did so much that I have dreamed of doing. Extreme sports, wandering through sketchy neighborhoods, visiting world-class art museums, partying in some of the best clubs in the world, and meeting a handful of really special friends.

Though two years must seem like an awfully short time to reach these conclusions about travel. On the other hand, I really did start traveling independently around five or six years ago. That was enough time to visit most of the countries I really wanted, which is actually a very little number…Brazil, Mexico, etc. I made some very good friends around the world in a handful of countries. Some of those I have met up with in more than four countries, not even on the same trip.

On the other hand, there comes a point where there is not much more to gain with non-stop solo travel. Doing so began to make me question what kind of life is traveling solo non-stop. After a while, what is the point? It is fun but the most important things in life are missing; namely family, friends, love, and belonging to something.

Alone

I can see that throughout the travel blogosphere many other long-term travelers are reaching the same conclusions. That is not to say myself or other long-term travelers are giving up. Far from that because travel is my favorite hobby. And that’s really all that travel is, a hobby. Unfortunately it is one of those unique passions that does not let you have it all. You must choose between the hobby and a balanced life.

Asiento

In the coming week I am going to write about my thoughts and plans for different aspects of my life:

• Resettling: Despite the opportunity to be anywhere in the world I did sign 12 month lease for an apartment
• New Routine: No longer is my routine only traveling. I have worked up some new things to do every day.
• Family: This has become increasingly more important and I will need to change some aspects of life to accommodate them.
• +++ More!

I read a lot. I like to follow blogs related to my style of travel, lifestyle, and countries I am interested in. Over time I have collected a list of blogs I regularly follow, though some more than others. If you enjoy reading my blog I guarantee you will like some of these even more. Below is my list in a somewhat random order. If I had to choose my favorites they would be websites like RooshV, Stop Having a Boring Life, Tynan, Travelvice, and Wandering Earl.

• Adventurous Kate
  • http://www.adventurouskate.com/
• Bacon is Magic
  • www.baconismagic.ca/
• Cuaderno Inedito
  • http://cuadernoinedito.wordpress.com/
• Art of Backpacking
  • http://artofbackpacking.com/
• Banana Skin Flipflops
  • http://bananaskinflipflops.wordpress.com/
• Brooke vs. the World
  • http://brookevstheworld.com/
• C’est Christine
  • http://www.cestchristine.com/
• ContemporaryNomad.com
  • http://www.contemporarynomad.com/
• David Lida
  • http://davidlida.com/
• Don’t Step in the Poop
  • http://dontstepinthepoop.com/
• Expat Chronicles
  • http://www.expat-chronicles.com/
• FOGG Odyssey
  • http://foggodyssey.com/
• GloboTreks Travels
  • http://www.globotreks.com/
• Idea Economy
  • http://www.ideaeconomy.net/
• Jasmine Wanders Travel Blog
  • http://jasminewanders.com/
• Legal Nomads
  • http://www.legalnomads.com/
• Maverick Traveler
  • http://www.mavericktraveler.com/
• Medellin Living
  • http://medellinliving.com/
• Nerdy Nomad
  • http://www.nerdynomad.com/
• Neverending Voyage
  • http://www.neverendingvoyage.com/
• Ryan Goes Abroad
  • http://ryangoesabroad.com/
• Sovereign Man
  • http://www.sovereignman.com/
• The World or Bust
  • http://www.theworldorbust.com/

• Backpack with Brock
  • http://BackpackWithBrock.com
• El Vagabundo
  • http://martivagabundohamilton.blogspot.com/
• Exile Lifestyle
  • http://exilelifestyle.com/
• Fly Brother
  • http://fly-brother.blogspot.com/
• foXnoMad
  • http://www.foxnomad.com/
• Freedonia Post
  • http://freedoniapost.com/
• GoBackpacking
  • http://gobackpacking.com/
• Joey Goes Global
  • http://www.joeygoesglobal.com/
• Life of Brett
  • http://www.lifeofbrett.com/
• Stuff Expat Aid Workers Like
  • http://stuffexpataidworkerslike.com
• Rerunaround
  • http://rerunaround.com
• Roosh V
  • http://rooshv.com/
• Stop Having A Boring Life
  • http://stophavingaboringlife.com/
• The Travelvice Travelogue
  • http://travelvice.com
• Todd’s Wanderings
  • http://www.toddswanderings.com
• Twenty-Something Travel
  • http:///twenty-somethingtravel
• Tynan | Life Outside the Box
  • http://tynan.net/
• Vagabond Quest
  • http://www.vagabondquest.com/
• Wandering Earl
  • http://www.wanderingearl.com/

Adventurous Kate

http://www.adventurouskate.com/

Lately I’ve been having a lot of conversations about ways to minimize the cost of holidays. Something that I don’t have a tremendous amount of first-hand experience with is holidaying on a budget when you’re traveling as a family as opposed to a lone traveler or young couple. The amount off additional expenditure that my friends who have children need to factor in is astonishing.

It’s not simply the additional costs of flights, extra rooms and an increased food budget; it’s the little things like new clothes, special diaper bags and so on. Even things I never would have thought of like beach toys and entertainment and the sometimes extortionate charges for a babysitting service so that Mum and Dad can actually have one night of relaxation on the vacation.

I thought that I would share a tip from my friend Amy. With three little kiddies and another one on the way, she and John, her husband, have been through the trials of attempting to enjoy a break while looking after their children and still trying to put money into college funds. Amy’s top tip for family holidays is to look into vacation home rentals rather than a resort or hotel accommodation. Because you’re renting from the owner directly you can often cut out the costs of a middleman, and many of these owners are simply leasing out their own vacation home when they aren’t using it, rather than running a business. These factors can mean that you end up saving a nice bit of money.

The added benefit, apart from conserving your budget, is that these vacation rentals will normally have all the comforts of home. A fully-equipped kitchen means that the children’s snacks and any special dietary needs can be as easily organized as at home, and babies’ bottles can be heated as and when needed. Any special requirements or information can be arranged with the owner ahead of time, leaving you free to relax and enjoy your holiday without unduly stressing or upsetting your family.

Note: This is a guest post

This may be hard for some younger readers of this blog to believe, but once upon a time, booking a hotel was a strenuous and confusing process.

Back in the 1990s, I was a salesman for a rapidly-growing technology company. If you’ll permit me to slip into corporatese, I sold “middleware solutions” to other corporations around the world. Whenever I had to go on a business trip or on vacation, I’d have to call up someone from a profession that no longer really exists: a travel agent.

In those days, we all relied on agents with extensive contacts, lists of hotels, and up-to-date pricing. It was expensive to book anything and time-consuming. I remember that I’d have to instruct a secretary (that I shared with another salesman) to contact our travel agent, who would then fax me a long list of hotels, prices, and a proposed agenda for my trip. The whole process would cost me a lot of money, time, and stress. The agent would copy over something from her gigantic binder of international hotels, I’d have to pick from the list, and then call her back with my selection.

Don’t listen to anyone who reminisces about the “good old days.” The good old  days sucked. My company was headquartered in London, where I would frequently need to fly in to France, Germany, Spain, and even Eastern Europe.

I probably spent weeks of my life just paging through those faxes as I shuttled from London to Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Zurich.

Nowadays, I’m in business for myself, so I don’t have a secretary or a travel agent. EasyToBook has replaced both of them. The interface moves quickly, has an attractive color scheme, and always finds the right hotel for my budget in the area I want in three seconds or less.

One feature that I’m particularly impressed with is its event search engine. This year, I decided that I wanted to run the le Marathon de Paris again, after missing it for five years in a row.

All I need to do is punch in “Paris Marathon” into their engine, et voilà! It shows locations in my price range close to where the event starts.

It has detailed, well-written reviews, user ratings, discounts of up to 80%, and a broad listing of hotels around the world.

What I like best, though, is the clean interface and the fast-loading suggestion feature. It works especially well when I book reservations from my Android. Instead of typing out the full place name on my mobile keyboard, it finishes it for me in less than a half-second with relevant suggestions. If I’m punching in the name of one of my favorite hotels, it completes it for me before I can finish.

It’s not bogged down by ads, provides relevant suggestions for my profile and what I’m looking for, and shows listings in multiple currencies and languages.

EasyToBook focuses solely on hotel reservations, it’s far more useful to me than most other booking sites that do package deals. I rarely go for packages because I have a high-level membership on an international airline, so my flights are usually covered by my frequent-flier miles already.

You’ll be impressed with the speed, the design sensibility, and the low prices.

Even if you already use a different service, go try it out.

The story of my job stress is the same as those of any other moderately successful professional. Not only do my employees – and my bosses – expect for me to check my Blackberry every five minutes, even on weekends, but I have a long commute into the city. I make just enough money to make me feel middle class on some basic level, but not enough to actually enjoy it.

It seems like every morning I wake up this winter, it looks like this outside.

This winter, we’ve had snow in just about every state in America. Even my parents down in Arizona have been snowed upon this season. After Christmas a few weeks ago, as I was scraping the ice from my windshield, was struck by a sudden realization. I didn’t want to go to work. I didn’t want to go to work that day, nor the next week. Nor the week after. This wasn’t necessarily a crisis – I’ve earned the vacation time, and the small company would explode without me keeping everything together. I knew what I had to do. I took out my Blackberry, text messaged my secretary to call in sick, and then began scanning for flights to Tenerife.

The low prices flabbergasted me. One of the up-shots of being a working man in a horrific economy is that guys like me can jet around the world using the money that I dig out from behind the couch. I picked a flight for the following day and reserved a hotel room as part of the package deal.

I fled the snow for the endless ocean.

I opened up my car door and put my ice-scraper back into the glove compartment. Then, I headed back into my house to start packing. I felt at ease, in control of my life. I contemplated leaving my Blackberry behind – just so I could enjoy the sound of the waves smacking against the sand of the Canary Islands without worrying about the rude vibration of my mobile against my hip signifying another round of office drama – but I ultimately lacked the courage.

Blessedly, now that I’m tapping in this post from a seaside café, sipping espresso infused with some sort of strange booze, I have the damn thing on silent. When I’ve gone sailing, at least, the service is patchy. I preface my e-mail to my fellow office drones stuck in my old time zone: “Sorry I didn’t get your message, I was out on a catamaran with my new petite amie, Bridgitte.”

"Elle s'appele Bridgitte." My high school French was just enough to make my Canary Island vacation that much more fun.

The glowers that I’ll get when I return to the office will be more than made up for by the gloating I can enjoy now.

South America is for the adventurous; South America is an adventure. Everyone has to visit this part of the world at some stage in life.

Here are a few travel tips for getting to some of the most popular destinations….

1. Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires is the capital and main gateway to Argentina. Here you can learn to tango and sample an Argentine asado.

You should book flights to Ministro Pistarini International Airport if you want to visit Buenos Aires. This airport is just 14 miles from Buenos Aires and it is the main hub for Aerolíneas Argentinas, which offers connections between Europe, the USA and Argentina.

1. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Everyone loves Rio because of its beaches, scenery and iconic landmarks. Galeão International Airport is just 12 miles from Rio de Janeiro city centre and TAM Airlines is the main company which offers international flights to Rio. If you want to travel from Rio to another destination in Brazil or South America, you should look for airfares with Gol Airlines which is a Brazilian low cost airline.

1. Santiago, Chile

Santiago is the capital of Chile and it is the perfect base for discovering the city and going for day trips to the Andes, Valparaiso, and Viña del Mar. Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport is just 9.3 miles from Santiago and it is the hub for Lan Chile which offers international connections. Sky Airline is a Chilean low cost airline which operates domestic flights and connections to other cities in South America.

1. Cusco, Peru

Cusco is one of the most visited cities in Peru. Not only is it the historic capital of the Inca Empire, but it is also a World Heritage Site and gateway to the famous Machu Picchu. International flights usually have one stopover in Lima before a connection flight to Cusco Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport. Check for flights with LAN Perú and TACA Perú.

After spending a day visiting the art museums, devouring tremendous amounts of seafood and a guinea pig, I took a connecting flight to Cusco – also scandalously inexpensive. The dollar buys you decadence in Peru.

Cusco itself reminded me of an ancient Roman city. The Incans were more industrious than you might think. Some of the ruins of their terraced farms still exist. The peasants in the area still use the hand-plowing farming techniques in the mountains that their ancient forebears did. The buildings in Cuzco itself – at least in the city center – have foundations of granite that were originally laid by the Incans. In the outlying areas, the peasants still build their homes with mud bricks. Guinea pigs roam semi-domesticated, fertilizing the fields and supplying meat.

On the morning that I departed for the Inca trail with my travelling party, I drank at least a few invigorating cups of coca tea. In the surrounding villages, peasants sell bags full of the leaves to chew to sojourners. It’s safe as long as you avoid swallowing the leaves.

Look at where you are. Now look at this picture. Sadly, you aren't in Peru. But you could be very soon.

Everyone should experience the Inca trail at least once. It’s unlike most others hikes in that it has a ready-made narrative attached to it. You can see at least a dozen Incan ruins on the way to your final destination of the sacred city of Machu Pichu. You almost trace the route on where the Incans fled the Spanish conquistadors and their native allies. Once you arrive, you can hike back or return on the train to Cusco.

This kind of trip remains in memory for the rest of your life. Airlines like Aerolíneas Argentinas run inexpensive flights to Lima from all over the world every day. Regardless of your budget, this trip is within reach.