Traveling is a dangerous activity. Not because you leave the safety of your own couch, but because everything you may think you know about the world and other cultures is at risk of being shattered into pieces through the experiences you make and the people you meet.
Although I can’t claim to have traveled even nearly as much as any of the authors of the posts below, living a life as an expat (although I don’t like the word too much) has taught me a lot about myself and how much “truths” are relative.
Traveling is not only great to fuel up your creativity, everyone who travels a lot keeps running into sometimes expected, but mostly quite unexpected problems that need to be solved on the spot with limited resources. With reaching point X being the first of a series of obstacles, it can easily be said that travelers are problem solvers from the start.
I rarely had so much fun and difficulty at the same time writing a post. Every blog lives off the personality and the personal experiences of its owner. For travel blogs, these couldn’t be more different. Over months I collected a list of over 300 travel blogs, every one of them full of good advice, great stories and a lot of personality, so that it broke my heart not to include them all.
To be as fair as possible, in addition to my favorites I randomly chose another 75 blogs (of these over 300) and selected what I thought fits best in this list. When possible I stuck with the most popular posts, which are usually most popular for good reason, but on occasion I took another post. Obviously, not all of theses 75 made it into this list just like the ones that weren’t randomly picked. You can have the full list here.
Tips and Tricks
IndieTraveler
Popular Post: Why I Travel With a Smaller Bag When I got my first backpack, I got one of the biggest available. Filling it up to the brim was probably one of the biggest rookie mistakes I could have made. Marek makes a great point for smaller bags. The logic is valid even if you are not a backpacker.
Alex in Wanderland
Good Read: So, How Do You Afford This? That’s a legitimate question I think, especially since money is one of the top three reasons for why people don’t travel more. The answers are not only useful for travel enthusiasts but for everyone who wants to do more in life. Read what Alex does to afford her travels.
Active Planet Travels
Good Read: My Guide to Eating Safely from Street Vendors For me the food is one big part of the exploration of a country. No matter where you are, the general population won’t eat in fancy restaurants. Street vendors are ideal to pick up some local cuisine. Ron has written this post to make sure you will be able to enjoy your trip beyond this meal.
Stay Adventurous
Popular Post: 10 Travel Tips on How to Travel Local To really experience a location you ought to do what the locals do. But how? Craig Zabransky tells you how get the most out of your stay abroad.
d travels ’round
Popular Post: Dude, don’t be a hostel dick No, Seriously don’t. If you don’t want to be remembered as This Guy or This Girl then you should give this guide to good hostel behavior a read.
Points and Travel
Popular Post: Points and Miles This is actually a four part series by Dr. Cacinda Maloney with a ton of tips about frequent flyer programs and good credit cards. A must read if you’ve never heard of credit churning before.
yTravel
Good Read: My Secret Jet Lag Cure + 9 More Helpful Tips This list would be incomplete without a post about how to fight the jet lag. Caz has 10 tips of which I knew 9, well this means her secret one deserved the attribute.
Adventurous Kate
Good Read: Ask Kate: Should I Get An International Phone Plan? Kate answers the often asked question about what to do with about a cellphone when traveling. The comments on this post are also quite helpful.
Four Jandals
Good Read: Hostels vs Hotels vs Apartment Cole gives his take on the pros on cons of each accommodation type. Check it out if you are not sure which route to take.
Expert Vagabond
Popular Post: My 30 Best Travel Tips After 3 Years Traveling the World What is there to say? Those are all great tips from Matthew Karsten, who obviously lives all of them. You can spend hours, hours, if not days on his blog. It is such a good resources and covers so many different aspects.
Delicious Baby
Popular Post: Flying with Babies, Toddlers and Kids It’s a vicious cycle: You are stressed because you have so much stuff to take care when travelling with kids. You being stressed causes the kids throw one tantrum after the other, which freaks you out even more, until some co-travellers start to be uncomfortable. What a nightmare! It doesn’t have to be this way, two words: Information and Preparation. Ok, three words… No, you cannot play Angry Birds now. Daddy is writing. Yes,…err.. you can sit on my lap *sigh*. Where was I?
GQ trippin
Popular Post: An RTW guide: Our planning & budget breakdown How much does it takes to travel around the world? What are the spending categories I need to consider? Are you overwhelmed or just curious? Gerard and Kieu spent one year traveling and did an awesome job breaking down all of their expenses. Even if you plan to visit different countries and/or you have different ideas for your accommodation, this post will still be incredibly useful for you, because it covers so much.
Nerd Travels
Popular Post: 12 Nerdy Gadgets Every Traveler Shouldn’t Be Without! No way, there is such a list on my blog without any posts about gadgets. Of course not. Brendon did me the favor to write about his twelve most indispensable travel gadgets.
Lessons Learned & Food for Thought
Twenty-Something Travel
Popular Post: Is the American Dream Holding You Back? We don’t have vacation because we are working so hard to come closer to our dreams. If those dreams include having more vacation then you are doing something wrong. Read Steph’s take on the question.
Never Ending Footsteps
Popular Post: On Anxiety and Travel Lauren writes in a very personal post about how she overcame severe anxiety and manages to travel the world. This is an incredibly encouraging post for everyone struggling with anxiety. No, that is wrong. Her story is incredibly encouraging for anyone. She proves that it is possible to take control of our lives and face our demons, problems, resistance, or whatever you may name the things that are holding us back to do the things we love.
A Dangerous Business
Popular Post: 26 Things Travel Has Taught Me You’ll find out why Amanda lists exactly 26 lessons and also why getting lost can be a blessing.
a little adrift
Good Read: A Little Thanks … For the Lessons We Learned from the People We Met Shannon O’Donnell writes in a great post how she took her niece with her to travel Southeast Asia and how the many people they met taught her their personal lessons that go far beyond what school can teach us. The people we met abroad are a big part of the travel experience. A wonderful post. Read it!
Final Transit
Good Read: Indian passport: Awful for travel, excellent for making friends! This post is full of surprises. I never heard of the Visa Restriction Index or was really aware of how much difference it makes which passport you travel with. Neither did I know that having a visa for country A can help to get a visa for country B.
Don’t Ever Look Back
Popular Post: 7 Reasons Why You Should Take That Round-the-World Trip And Travel Now! Keep dreaming of taking a RTW trip and need a push? Then read this post and follow up with this one.
Where is Jenny?
Popular Post: The Secret to Happiness Jenny writes about her personal journey and the moment she realized what her secret to happiness was. Obviously not the commonly assumed path. I think it is difficult not to relate to her story. Great message!
Over Yonderlust
Good Read: Travel and Contraceptives Birth control is a must have discussion for couples in the first place. Erica makes a good point that thinking about contraceptives is an important part of the travel planning especially for longer periods abroad.
Fun
Everything Everywhere
Good Read: Gary’s 20 Immutable Laws of Air Travel I had to laugh really hard when I read these. Although I would have to fly with Ooompa Loompas to ever be the biggest person on the plane, but other than that, every single situation has happened to me at least once. Even No 14! Reading this post made my day.
On Our Own Path
Good Read: Get Your Fingers Away from my Bum-hole! There is no way you can resist with this title, can you? Please read the post and then imagine how you do this in the most inappropriate situations. Can’t stop smiling.
Snarky Nomad
Good Read: Why the Seven Wonders of the World are totally stupid Even if you never played Civilization and this unnecessary computer gaming reference is lost on you, you may still have wondered at one point in your life what is so great about the Seven Wonders. Then, *cough* and well, yes, in all other cases give this post a read. I loved it.
For Your Bucket List
The Planet D
Popular Post: Visit the Philippines: 10 reasons this should be your next destination If you have never been to the Philippines here is what you have missed. I am sure you’ll find some surprises.
Bridges and Balloons
Popular Post: 17 Reasons to love Helsinki A very charming homage for this beautiful Scandinavian city.
Bumblings of Miss Button
Popular Post: My Favorite 5: Things to do in Orvieto There are reasons why Miss Button (Sara Button) fell in love with this very Italian Umbrian city.
Katie Aune
Popular Post: Travel in the Caucasus: Comparing Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan Very informative post about these three countries of the Caucasus. How about you guess which one is Katie’s favorite before you start reading?
anywhere but home
Popular Post: Swimming in the River Kwai: The joy of ditching plans This post by Naomi Akyssa is both, an argument for going with the flow and not sticking too much to your travel plans and of course for spending time in Thailand.
A Cruising Couple
Popular Post: Taiwanese Hot Springs: The Ultimate Guide to Taiwan’s Hottest Attraction Enjoying hot springs is a big deal in Asia; Taiwan is no exception with over 150 hot springs. The cruising couple Dan and Casey share their great experience with us.
Beyondblighty
Good Read: 10 Ayers Rock Facts Amazing photos and well researched information. What do you want more? Well, ok I guess see Ayers Rock with your own eyes.
Aaron’s Worldwide Adventures
Popular Post: So What’s it Like to Travel in Iraq? Iraq is likely not the number one travel destination for many. On the other hand, how boring is the gazillionandthird report about Paris, Rome or London? Lovely post. It contains a warning, but not about what you may expect. I didn’t.
Aussie on the Road
Popular Post: 10 Different Places to Visit in China The least we know about China is that it is the most populous country on Earth, has a rich history which dates back thousands of years BC, currently produces more goods than any other country, and the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall of China, and the Terra Cotta Warriors are must see places to visit. Chris adds ten different worthy places to visit, which are likely not on everybody’s China itinerary.
Ways of Wanderers
Good Read: What Is It Like to Live in Japan? Jessica describes her personal experience after living in Japan for four months. With this post she answers some of the questions probably every Westerner has about living in Japan.
Fevered Mutterings
Good Read: 50 Amazingly Achievable Things To Do Before You Die For all those of us who feel overwhelmed by their bucket list. How about you check how many of these you’ve already achieved? It’s a very fun exercise! BTW, I had 49.
I hope you enjoyed going through this list of 35 great posts written by amazing people at least to a fraction of the fun I had writing it. And again, here is the full list of 300+ travel blogs.
Do you have a favorite post? What is your favorite destination? Join the discussion and leave a comment.
Thanks for including me in the list — a few bloggers are new to me and I look forward to reading through their sites. 🙂
You are welcome. Good reading!
I appreciate the mention, StayLikeaLocal, Craig
You are welcome. Thanks for the great post!