“We stayed in the number one and number three hostels in the ENTIRE WORLD!” I sang out.
Whenever my brother and I declared this (and we declared it approximately seventy-eight times in one week), it was necessary to use the most dramatic booming deity voice possible. Why? Because that’s a really big deal to say something is number one in the entire world!
And it begs the question: How true are these hostel [...Read More!]
The wildly popular website, Stuff White People Like, has an article entitled: “Taking a Year Off.” It details the trend among rich Caucasians to flee the daily grind and jaunt around the world for a year, always thinking that they are the first to concoct such a brilliant idea.
“Give them a FAKE email address before they leave!” warns the site, or you will get nonstop annoying emails bragging about [...Read More!]
If you’ve got a good head on your shoulders and a good internet connection, you can stay for free, safely, in the houses of kind people all around the world! How? Couchsurfing.org.
For some of you, this article will be a review of a global trick you already know well. For others, however, this may be a thrilling new insight into budget travel!
As we proceed through the steps of how to use [...Read More!]
Have you always been intrigued by the idea of a visit to Africa but are unsure about how to go about doing it?
Listen: if a seventy-one year old German woman who speaks just a few words of English can have a fabulous month-long volunteer stay here in Ghana, why can’t you?
You can be guaranteed a large and comfortable bed, a powerful and refreshing shower, scrumptious local food prepared for you at [...Read More!]
Luigi had a revelation as we watched Ko Lanta’s azure ocean behind the “Free Wi-Fi” sign.
“I only need to be supervising the sausage company in person for six months of the year, during festival season…” he murmured slowly, putting thoughts together, “and the other six months I’m just behind a computer, coordinating sausage marketing and production.”
My British sausage-making friend gazed out at the white sand stretching luxuriously to our right and [...Read More!]
Ethelred the Unready re-filled the inflatable pool in the trunk of the pick-up truck. Denzel, Luigi, and I hopped in the vehicle, and we were off! Destination: the lighthouse at the very Southern tip of Ko Lanta, Thailand.
The British boys were on their tenth 80s mix CD since they departed Bangkok a week ago, and the synthesizer bass of “Take on Me” oompah-ed the hot metal of the [...Read More!]
I was just informed by the owner of this stunning Ko Lanta beach restaurant that business in Ko Lanta is down thirty percent so far this year, partly because a rumor was started that tourists shouldn’t come to this island because it is majority Muslim.
This is RIDICULOUS!
I have been traveling for four months around Southeast Asia, now, and Ko Lanta is one of the best places I have been. [...Read More!]
Due to the Recession, many folks I know have been laid off and are now collecting Unemployment. It’s lucky that we live in a country with safety nets! But how, exactly, do the ethics of Unemployment Benefits work?
Last week I overheard the following conversation on a bus in Southern Thailand:
British Carpenter: “So what do you do for work back in the States?”
American Woman: “Nothing now, but I used [...Read More!]
In “Some Like it Hot”, the 1959 comedy ranked the #1 funniest movie of the past 100 years, Marilyn Monroe and her fellow busty “girl band” members have a rollicking party in the top bunk of a sleeper train.
Minute by minute, more ladies squeeze into the minuscule space, each hauling with them another batch of bootleg hooch and maraschino cherries. Poor Jack Lemmon is not only stuck in drag, but [...Read More!]
“Yaaaay!” I typed to Paul, “You’re gonna have the best root canal ever!!!!”
Several weeks ago, my friend Paul was informed by his Manhattan dentist that he needs three root canals, seven crowns, and “various other stuff”. Total projected cost: over TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS.
Although Paul is a semi-famous politician, like most of us he does not have ten thousand dollars to fling towards one square inch of artificial tooth polymers. [...Read More!]