May 23, 2012

Work Travel: Bike to Work for Cash Savings and Health Benefits

bike to work

Developing a plan to bike to work certainly sounds simple enough in the beginning. And the fuel-saving potential is tempting indeed, particularly in this economy. Then there are the health benefits, which are significant. So why don’t more people try it? Well, the reasons vary but typically include logistical hurdles such as carrying a change [...]

How to Make Money While Traveling

savings

To enjoy as much time as possible traveling in the Middle East, I opted for an international teaching position in Kuwait. With paid utilities, complimentary housing, tax-free compensation and annual roundtrip airfare, it was a job that allowed for regional travel opportunities and additional freelance tutoring gigs for extra cash. It’s possible to make money [...]

Travel Photography Tips for Beginners

El Oriente Close Up

Travel photography isn’t just big business in its own right, it’s a great way to collect free souvenirs, embrace the travel decorating scheme at home and begin to attract even more visitors to your travel blog. It’s also true that travel pictures can help you sell quite a bit more of your work if you’re [...]

Fido-Friendly Getaways for Winter

Winter Pet Getaways

With the holidays over, vacationers are looking for active getaways to burn off those extra pounds. For those who want to bring their furry family members along, options do exist. Here are a handful of Fido-friendly ways to enjoy a winter getaway with the entire family. Cross-Country Skiing: While following you on a downhill run [...]

How to Be a Professional Hobo

tent

When Nora Dunn sold her financial planning practice, along with everything else she owned in 2007 to follow her dream of full-time travel, she knew she wanted to share her adventure. Theprofessionalhobo.com, Dunn’s web site, chronicles how she’s managed to travel full time in a financially-sustainable manner for over four years. In addition to freelance [...]

How to Have an Affordable Golf Getaway

golf

Golf’s lush greens and scenic courses lure wealthy celebrities and world leaders to some of the most expensive vacation destinations in the world. So it isn’t surprising that typical households find the prices prohibitive when it comes to finding the family travel funds. Follow these tips for an affordable golf getaway. Packages: A pretty penny [...]

Birding on a Budget

eagle

Birding requires minimal equipment and suits a variety of travel budgets. From back yard viewing to international excursions, here are several tips for birding on a budget. Destinations: Choose a place that’s rich in bird life with affordable day-to-day expenses to maximize your money. For example, Uganda is home to half the bird species in [...]

Travel Beauty: Trek Hound Tips for Looking Your Best on the Road

Relax

Looking good on the road is no small feat. Traffic jams, flight delays and extreme weather patterns can all wreak havoc on a road warrior’s appearance. Lost hair bling, broken nails and spilled sauces bring additional appearance stress, and take you from dreamy to dumpy in a hurry. So how do you look your best [...]

One-Bag Travel Tips for Road Warriors

Suitcases

With excess baggage fees spiraling out of control, learning how to pack light is becoming a serious survival skill for perpetual road warriors. Here are several one-bag travel tips to help you keep costs under control. Use them for short excursions, international vacations, train travel and road trips when you want to reduce luggage weight [...]

Tenba Messenger Bag Review

Tenba Large Engraveable Messenger Bag

At roughly $110, Tenba’s large engravable messenger bag might seem a bit steep. Until you compare it to other pro gear bags on the market. There are a number of reasons why I dished out the dough for this particular Tenba bag. What follows is my complete Tenba messenger bag review, along with the several [...]

Rolling with the Punches on Road Trips

road trips

After departing the California coast for a several-month stint in East Asia and the Middle East, we were confident our cold weather gear would no longer be needed. Shivering temperatures and shin-deep slush in Amman, Jordan proved us wrong. Fortunately, Amman offers my favorite Middle East problem solving solution – the souk. A quick shopping [...]

History Buffs Have Options for Budget Travel

quito_3

On a free tour of Florence by foot, I marveled at the bronze- relief doors of the city’s historic baptistry, gazed in awe at the architecture of the duomo and leisurely strolled along the Ponte Vecchio. While traveling, your love of antiquity doesn’t have to bust your vacation budget. Here are four fun tips for [...]

How to Travel with Less Luggage

luggage

Between security hurdles and checked baggage fees, limiting luggage has become less of an extreme travel choice and more of a survival strategy. After living for six months out of one small backpack, I learned a thing or two about traveling light. Here are my top tips for traveling with less luggage. Storage: Choose luggage [...]

Product Review: Why We Dished out the Dough to Purchase Amazon’s Kindle Fire

Kindle Fire 1

Few devices have gotten as much buzz lately as Amazon’s new tablet, the Kindle Fire. With full-color access to digital magazine subscriptions, streaming video, Android apps and more for just less than $200, the price point seems poised for a huge presence in this year’s holiday sales figures. What finally convinced us to dish out [...]

Are You a Road Warrior on a Money App Quest? Check out These Four Free Finds

Money apps

With all of the time most people spend on the road these days, having a great money app or two in your smart phone repertoire is practically considered personal finance 101. New to the mobile banking and shopping playing field? Check out these four free resources and see if there’s a money app that works [...]

25 Resources for Building a Better Expense Report

expense report

Ah, the dreaded expense report. You have the best intentions with every business trip. You really do. But then reality sets in. Missed flight delays, grabbing a cab in a developing nation where receipts are only a suggestion, solving an unexpected client crisis during the only available receipt scanning time you’ve had all week . [...]

Travel Decorating: Make Your Home Look Amazing with Those International Souvenirs

Angkor_Wat_27

Once you’ve done the travel circuit for a while, you’ll notice that it isn’t all kitschy crap at some of those street stalls and tourist shops. We’ve found elegant pieces of Czech crystal, fun Polish pottery, unique Middle Eastern carpets and hand-blown Egyptian glass holiday ornaments to name just a few items. We’ve also been [...]

7 Ways you can Travel for Free, by Shelley Seale & Keith Hajovsky

Boat

Are you tired of the conventional wisdom that says that you have to spend a lot of money to travel the world?

Five Items I Never Travel Without

gorillapod

Portable Tripod Sometimes you just want to be in front of the camera, instead of never in a pic because you’re the one behind the camera.  If only you had a tripod.  A traditional tripod just is not practical for most people. It’s large, cumbersome, and not always convenient to have on hand. This is [...]

Working Overseas, Getting Ready to Go

Tumon Beach, Guam

Making a life changing career move takes guts; it also takes a willingness to plunge off the cliff of the unknown. There are many that will discourage you, yet if you’re certain it’s the right choice nothing will hold you back. You’ll stand firm, unswayed by disbelief, criticism or the fears of those around you.   [...]

Working Overseas: Risks, Courage and a Back up Plan

Spring In Northern Germany

Taking The Plunge Gives You Courage Adapting to a foreign culture, working out of your comfort zone and moving around the world where you don’t know a single soul gives you a confidence that allows you to repeatedly plunge into the unknown without the fears of “what if..” Once you try international living it’s likely [...]

Life’s Work, Travel and Education

Three Cups of Tea

    Discovering what we love, pursuing what we love and creating an opportunity to do what we feel is our life’s work is a gift. For many these discoveries take time and evolve through opportunities, hobbies, travel and every day life experiences. Sometimes it’s a chance meeting, a conversation with a friend or a significant [...]

Writers’ Retreats and Workshops

sunset

Sunset Retreat As a writer I dream of quiet, uninterrupted places where I can write for hours without be disturbed by a slobbering dog or a cat meowing for food. If you’re a writer with children I imagine you muliply that desire x 20. So what’s a writer to do to get away and just simply write? [...]

Working in a Foreign Country

Living Overseas; My Berlin Living Room Dining Room

This is one in a series of articles that will include tips for living and working overseas. After spending nearly a decade traveling and living overseas I realize that I can use the insight and knowledge I gained through my experiences to inspire others to transform their lives with travel.

Traveling in Turkey Behind the Wheel

Travel in Turkey Driving to Cappadocia

    This is one of a two part series on driving in Turkey. Traveling to Turkey is fantastic. Visitors  have the opportunity for many cultural and historic experiences. One adventure I wasn’t expecting in Turkey was  my time behind the wheel of our rental car.  Turkish drivers live on the edge with their death defying driving maneuvers. I will [...]

Lakeshore Park – Ashtabula, Ohio

Lakeshore-Park

I grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio, next to a town park right on Lake Erie.  On a recent visit home, my sister and I took several walks through this park, as one of its entrances is only a couple hundred feet from our mother’s front door. With the help of the Army Corps of Engineers, [...]

Pet Spa and Resort Review: Waggle Brothers in Miami

wagglebrosRSZD

On a recent business trip with lots going on, we ended up taking our lovable Labrador with us. There were many reasons behind this decision, not the least of which was a scheduling conflict with her usual care provider. For all but one of the five days we were there, we managed to meet her [...]

Portable Office Files for the Serious Road Warrior: A Product Review

PIC_6857

I’ve recently been giving the house files a thorough purging and taking a serious look at just how low I can go when it comes to the number of hard copy documents we’ll need to have on hand.

Ten Universal Travel Skills

MountainsSacredValleyRSZD

While travel skills in general are likely too numerous to list efficiently, these ten are the ones Trek Hound consider to be universally helpful. What are they?

How to Be a Road Warrior: Streamlining the Laptop Security Check

airport laptop security

  Flickr Photo Credit: Steven Witherden Just when we thought we’d streamlined packing and minimalized travel items and chaos as much as possible, we were slapped with the following reality:

How to Be a Road Warrior: Online Word Processing Reference

word processor

Flickr Photo Credit: Marcin Wichary I found this great article today listing and linking to 10 different free online word processing resources tailor made for road warriors on the move.

Leaving On a Jet Plane – How to Ship Your Pets Internationally

petshipinternat

  Flickr Photo Credit: Ejhogbin I’m lea-ea-ving, on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again . . . so kiss me and cry for me  . . . tell me that you’ll wait for me . . . hold me like you’ll never let me go. Cuz I’m leaving on a jet [...]

Nomadic Housing: My Home Is a Shipping Container

shipping container house

Flickr Photo Credit: Rolu Dsgn Another popular entry from our frugality blog. I’ve pasted it below for those of you interested in the use of nomadic housing to extend your world travels.

Nomadic Housing: Yurt Slideshows

yurt1a

Flickr Photo Credit: TSC Traveler Here’s another carry over article from our family living and frugality blog.