Do you have a favorite backpacking trick? What have you used creatively along your travels? Using your frisbee as your dinner plate? How to best shave outdoors? Using a compression sack to pack more? Over the past few months we have had several people ask about travel advice. The tricks of the trade that you can only learn on the road [...] [...more]
When it comes to packing for any trip or adventure, the best secret is finding the 2 in 1 items. Whether going away for a week or traveling the world for a few years, it saves precious packing space. The Tech 2 in 1’s The Amazon Kindle is by far both Justin and my favorite 2 in 1 item. [...] [...more]
Whether traveling for an extended time period, or living abroad as an ex patriot, it is not uncommon to experience culture shock when returning to one’s home culture. Many travelers often discuss the strange experience of feeling like a foreigner when they return home. The causes of this feeling of dislocation are simple to understand [...] [...more]
Rome has over 100 hostels and budget accommodations. With so many options it becomes difficult to select the right place to stay. In fact, many hostels in Rome require a minimum stay of at least 2 nights. The typical backpacker approach of, “I’ll stay one night, if I don’t like it, I can find another [...] [...more]
Jason and Sara, of Our New Office, travel and work along the way. This couple has mastered the art of travel and international telecommuting. Would you like to work remotely and travel? How did Jason and Sara design their lifestyle to allow continual travel? Since Our New Office is always on the go, Jason and Sara [...] [...more]
There are thousands of youth hostels for you to choose from when you’re traveling, but they all boil down to two main types – the ‘corporate’ hostel chain, a well-known brand with different branches in different cities (the St Christopher’s, YHA and Wombats of the world), and the independent hostel, normally family-run or set up [...] [...more]
Community Bathrooms are a way of life for backpackers looking to spend less than $25 a night for a bunk. A community bathroom can be a biohazard style experience to be endured as quickly as possible, or a pleasant, clean non scarring affair. In most cases, a community bathroom will fall between these two extremes. [...] [...more]
Checking into a hostel does not resemble checking into a nice hotel. At a hotel, guests pay a relatively large amount of money for the hotel staff to cater to their needs. At a hostel, a backpacker pays a small sum for basic amenities. The point is this: never assume the $25 you pay for [...] [...more]
This launches what I hope will become a recurring (read: weekly) column that discusses how to make the most out of time spent in hostels. The Kitchen Environment A hostel kitchen can be a very busy place. At peak meal time (12-2 for lunch 5-7 for dinner) a typical kitchen may contain half of the night’s guest [...] [...more]
A few months ago, we published a checklist for finding a good, or at least acceptable, hostels. Although helpful, this list fails to differentiate between a good hostel and a great hostel. To be fair, all that can be expected of a typical hostel is cleanliness, specifically in regards to the beds, kitchen(s) and bathrooms. [...] [...more]
