archives: travel abroad tips

How to Buy, Set Up and Use a Cell Phone in Europe

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A comprehensive guide for travelers   More »

How To Pimp Your Couchsurfing Profile And Find A Place To Stay

Popular  11 Comments

Begin meeting people and building up your friends and references before you send out your first couch request.  More »

How to Live Like a Local Wherever You Travel

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More than one Matadorian suggests taking the bus and eating street food. Here's the best of your tips on living like a local while abroad.   More »

Travel for Free as a Work Camper

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A practical guide to work camping as a way to travel for free or save up for a trip.  More »

10 Tips for Blogging from Developing Countries

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Keep your blog alive as you travel through the developing world.  More »

A Virtual Ride On A Chinese Train

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Slowly the train wakes up around you. People stumble with crazy hair to the bathroom. Old men strut and flex and roam in their tight white long underw  More »

Cooking in Lahore: An American Woman In A Pakistani Kitchen

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An American expat in Lahore gets a glimpse into the lives of Pakistani women.  More »

How To Travel to Cuba Legally As An American

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The first thing to know about legal travel to Cuba is that there are two licenses: a general license and a specific license.   More »

How to Couchsurf Without A Couch

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From camping trips to city tours, piss ups to opera outings, language exchanges to sex toy parties: someone somewhere is planning it.  More »

Pies, Puddings, And Pints: A Foodie Guide To London

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London for foodies.  More »

Chile’s Rigid Importation Laws And Why You Should Be Wary of Them

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Stories of customs declarations disasters from Chile, and why you should check - and double check - your bags before entering the country.  More »

Should You Listen To Travel Warnings About Honduras?

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Western governments recently warned travelers to steer clear of Honduras, but is there really a good reason to listen?   More »

How To Make Money Off Your Apartment or House When You’re Abroad

  4 Comments

Sad about the thought of letting your apartment sit there, lonely and abandoned, while you travel? Now you can make money off of it whether you're th  More »

What Do You Wish You’d Known Before You Traveled for the First Time?

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The tips we'd give ourselves if we could go back in time.  More »

Eating Live Animals: One Eater’s Experience in Korea

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With a deep breath and a deeper sigh, I pick up one of the smaller chunks. And it moves.   More »

Maps and Travel : How Would You Map Your Travels?

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How would we construct maps of the places we've visited or would like to visit? What would our maps reveal about what interests us in a trip?  More »

Taxis: Love ‘em or Hate ‘em?

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Come on, you know you want to tell that taxi story. Do it here.   More »

How to Sleep in Your Vehicle

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If you’re adventurous enough, sleeping in your vehicle can save you hundreds of dollars and allow you to extend your trip by months.   More »

13 Classic Japanese Junk Foods

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Think of a long and perfectly cylindrical Cheeto, with Japanese flavors like spicy cod roe, ume boshi plum, okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake), and  More »

A Guide to Foraging for Wild Food in Hawaii

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You’ve found passion fruit if you see a wild tangle of vines, some white flowers, and green oblong fruit which develops purple skin when ripe— its  More »

Eating Asian in Auckland : A City Guide to Ethnic Food

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Although Szechuan hotpot may not be the thing that first comes to mind when you think of Kiwi nosh, it's become just as much a staple as the classic   More »

Five Simple Ways to Cope With Flight Delays

Popular  10 Comments

It’s another flight delay. Your life will not come to an end; in fact, it has been presented with an opportunity.  More »

An Essential Guide to Tofu in Japan for Vegetarians, Foodies, and Travelers

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Whether you're a budget traveler, a vegetarian, or a gourmand, Japan's got a type of tofu for you. Get an overview of all the possibilities here.   More »

How Not To Get Ripped Off By A Cabbie

Popular  14 Comments

No matter how much it may hurt the experienced traveler's pride, being overcharged by a taxi driver is as inevitable as buying a fake Polo or being gi  More »

Learning Experiences: Cooking Tamarind and Tofu in Cambodia

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I have eyes (and taste buds) for only one thing on the menu: the fried tofu with tamarind, chile and basil.   More »

Back To Your Roots: How to Prepare for a Journey to A Home You’ve Never Known

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This April, I made the journey back to Israel/Palestine after my Palestinian family left as refugees back in 1948. I was the first family member ever   More »

9 Ways to Recognize Counterfeit Money

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Many travelers have felt like screaming when they found out their money was fake. Here's how to avoid having this happen to you.   More »

Learning Experiences: Dancing Cueca in Chile

Popular  2 Comments

A few friends and I were sitting around a table watching the festivities while drinking copious amounts of chicha and pisco (two traditional Chilean a  More »

Foodie Primer for Hawaii: 13 Local Foods To Try

Popular  5 Comments

The word “Lomilomi” in Hawaiian means to massage—raw salmon cubes are massaged with Hawaiian sea salt, then left to marinate with chopped onions  More »

A Guide for the Anxious: 11 Japanese Superstitions for Bad Luck

Popular  7 Comments

As tempting as it may be, don’t open the amulet pouch, as you’ll be hit with a double whammy of yaku doshi and bachi (curse).   More »

Twelve Ways to Experience Rio de Janiero Like a Carioca

Popular  6 Comments

As a newly minted Carioca (two months and counting), I’ve learned a few tricks that have let me slip in a little better.   More »

Learning Experiences: Shearing Sheep in the Australian Outback

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More than the physical pressures and the unique skills I had mastered, those long hours spent in the middle of nowhere stuck in my mind.   More »

5 Steps To Building a Startup While Living in Latin America

Popular  9 Comments

The lower cost of living, the tranquil atmosphere, and the abundance of good beer, better food, great beaches and great people have made "working" in   More »

9 Ways to Eat Cheap in Japan

Popular  16 Comments

Fear not--the following are ways to eat well without running out of cash.   More »

Learning Experiences: How to Survive a Chinese Banquet

  1 Comments

It was our first university banquet. I was new to everything in China and I took in the scene with an air of intrigued bewilderment that didn’t lea  More »

Studying Spanish in Guatemala: Quetzaltenango Vs. Antigua

  2 Comments

Xela isn't on most travelers' itineraries in Guatemala - and that's exactly why it's worth checking out.   More »

Budget Travel in Indonesia: A Revelatory Night On a Ship

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There are certain travel experiences that life back home can never prepare you for.  More »

Should People of Color Go To Russia?

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A graduate student who studied in Moscow addresses the risks for people of color traveling to Russia.  More »

Outrageous Attempts To Outwit Airport Security

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Vodka, monkeys, and bullets, oh my!   More »

How to Deal with Friends while Traveling

Popular  22 Comments

We decided then and there to sit down, drink a bottle of vodka, and tell one another what annoyed us about each other.   More »

How to Dial “911″ Around the World

Popular  7 Comments

Flavor Flav may think that 911 is a joke, but you're unlikely to be laughing if you need emergency services in a foreign country.  More »

Veil Shopping In Cairo

Popular  5 Comments

It’s inevitable. As a western woman in Egypt, you’re going to get stared at, even leered at sometimes.  More »

7 Ways To Cope With A Nut Allergy Abroad

Popular  14 Comments

The risk of travelling with a nut allergy is very real but I’ve learnt the hard way, a few precautions and preventions can make the ride a lot smoot  More »

The Obsessive Planner’s Guide to Traveling via Eurail

Popular  5 Comments

Tom Gates takes a moment to discuss the nuances of traveling via Eurail Pass.   More »

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