What kind of people willingly break the law to let foreigners sleep on their couch for free? I tried to get the answer from these three residents of Myanmar. — One night, many months ago now, I was sitting on a bench outside a hostel in Battambang, Cambodia, talking with a young European couple. Like me, they were traveling, but they had made a rule for themselves: No paying for transportation or a bed. They would hitchhike and crash with…

“Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence.” — from Desiderata I think about this quote — not all the time or anything, but occasionally, when I’m not looking for food — when I travel alone. Though traveling alone leads to loneliness…

It seems easy to say this now, in the wake of his death, but the day that someone told me that I reminded them of Anthony Bourdain, my life changed. I had always enjoyed watching “No Reservations,” a fun show about food hosted by a dude who I recognized as…

I’m a millennial. I was also a manager of a group of writers for a digital media outlet for several years. While my time in that position was mostly successful, I narrowly avoided more than a few disasters. …

Paris — a city in France. It’s a place so magical, it sends Japanese tourists into an emotional tailspin, and not the good kind! I recently saw a headline on the Matador Network, which has never accepted any of my travel writing pitches, that boasted “12 things I wish I…

Touring the super-famous Khmer ruins by bike isn’t for the weak, but those who pedal themselves there (and back, and there, and back) can reward themselves with extra visits. — For budget travelers, Angkor Wat can be a wallet-killer. …

Smartphones are making travel easier and more enjoyable. They’re also destroying everything that was once good about it. — It’s been some years since my last long-term stretch of travel. Back in 2010 and 2011, I spent four months moving through Central America, as well as a few more living in Paris and taking a few trips to other parts of Western Europe. Now, I’m on the road in…

Waking up in the dark and realizing that you are on the other side of the world from everything and everyone you know and love can be harrowing. As the sun rises and the world is illuminated, you’re struck by the enormity of the situation. There’s a great big world…

Yesterday, I briefly sent myself into a panic when I couldn’t get in touch with my mom for about an hour after news broke of some asshole going on a truck-assisted killing spree on the West Side Highway in New York. She doesn’t work or hang out anywhere near that…