My journey with minimalism started the day I began packing for college. As I was extracting myself from my overstuffed walk in closest, flip phone lost amidst the clothes I never wore and macaroni art that six year old me was sure was ready for the Louvre, I came to a shocking realization – I… Read More The Goldfish Dilemma: The Challenge of Minimalism
The heyday of the traditional travel blog is over. The public doesn’t want to commit 10 minutes of their time to read a couple thousand words about the reality of travel anymore; no, they’d rather spend approximately half a second to like an edited photo of an attractive woman’s butt in a pretty place. The… Read More Social Media and Travel Blogging: A Hostile Takeover
A funny thing happened about a week into our trip along the Gibb River Road in the northwest of Australia. After hours of bouncing along dusty, corrugated dirt roads with no air conditioning I would emerge from the car covered in a thick layer of dirt, sweating dripping from my fragrant armpits, set up camp,… Read More To Love Your Body, Embrace Dirt
America is in love with youth. We see nubile faces splattered across billboards selling everything from sports cars to hamburgers, their sex appeal being bartered for higher profit margins. Yet, once that pretty, young face gathers some smile lines here, some crow’s feet there, she is discarded, thrown aside in favor of the newer model.… Read More A Campfire Wake: The Grey Nomads of Australia
In middle school I was good friends with a girl who knew what she wanted, let’s call her K. K was smart, gregarious, and confident for a pre-teen trying to figure out the complex social structure of the cesspool that is an American middle school. She was always dreaming of far away places and adventures,… Read More The Privilege of Travel
The internet has changed the world. We can now be in constant contact with almost anyone in the world from anywhere at anytime. It does not matter anymore how far away you are, if you have a phone plan with data you will likely be able to get online and reach the world. This has… Read More Unplugged in the Outback: A Case Study of Travel Blogging Offline
It is rather ironic that the day after I get my first publication (in a month In The Know Traveler will be publishing a piece I wrote about hiking Tajumulco) I started to read Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?. Its scandalous title caught my eye two days ago and I am almost finished with… Read More The Lonely Planet Effect: Are Travel Writers Ruining the World?
It is not normal to spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with someone. Most of us have so much to do in our daily lives that the thought of having a lazy day to spend with your partner sounds amazing, but give it a couple of weeks and that constant togetherness might… Read More How to Survive Traveling as a Couple
If you saw Erika on the street you wouldn’t take much notice. She barely passes 5 feet, her diminutive stature common in the highlands of Guatemala where we met, but do not underestimate this middle-aged Guatemalan woman with red flowers in her hair, she has nunchucks in her purse and she knows how to use… Read More Lessons From My Salsa Teacher
According to Instagram, travel is all tanned, bikini clad women looking happily into the sunset while their perfect partner snaps that single, amazing photo in one shot. This is not reality, at least this is not my reality, nor do I really think it is anyone’s reality (though it is probably more like this hilarious… Read More The Reality of Long Term Travel