I remember very specifically one time when I was walking around on the streets of Croatia with a British friend that I had met. He had done a fair amount more of traveling than I had at the time. Although our opinions differed in some ways, I remember us talking a lot about why everyone should travel. I think in …

When I lived in Puerto Rico, I was always amazed at how little people did on the island. So many people visit the island annually, but completely miss out on what the island has to offer. Puerto Rico might be a strange place, but if offers a dynamic and unique list of things to do. I didn’t do absolutely everything …

Photo Journey through Puerto Rico I’ve finally reviewed and gone over most of my pictures from Puerto Rico. I’ve concluded with these as being my favorites. These pictures were taken in many places around the island from San Juan to the islands to the rain forests. I have tried to include variety in this so that you can see some …

My Thoughts After Having a Smart Phone for 1 Year About a year ago, I finally caved in and tried out the smart phone world. For long before that, I adamantly opposed smart phones and many of these ‘technological conveniences’ as I only saw the negative in them. The negative effects that they have on social situations I mean. I …

Why I Love Walking “Just take the taxi” she said, “it’s only a 5 minute ride.” “Exactly,” I replied. “That’s why I’ll walk.” No matter which country I visit in the world, I am always drawn to the most primitive of exploration methods: walking. I’ve found no way better to get to know a city, a country, or a people …

Life lesson: Being Grateful The other day I went to drop off my laundry at a local laundromat. The lady greeted me with her usual big smile took my things and weighed them and proceeded to make the receipt with the computer. Drifting away momentarily, I imagined that if I were asked to describe her, I don’t think that I …

Puerto Rico’s street art scene I think that few people really ever enjoy the street art scene in Puerto Rico. San Juan in of itself, has some great works by some very renown artists. One of the things that I noticed a lot was there are many works that are attempting to beautify areas of the city that are otherwise …

Driving in Puerto Rico and the Various Alternatives Should you? Transportation in Puerto Rico and Tips for Getting Around the Island I recently spent 8 months living in Puerto Rico. I know that a lot of Americans, and other foreigners, would ask lots of questions about getting around Puerto Rico via public transportation and/or driving around the island, riding a …

An Alternative Hostel Etiquette Article Well I am back on writing articles about my experiences working in a hostel. I started my series on hostel management some time ago and have a decent amount to add to it yet. I haven’t added to it for a while due to a slight lack of time, but I’ll likely be back-writing articles as I …

Introduction: Hailing from Roma, Italia, Luca Lampariello is an electrical engineer by trade, but a language lover by passion. He has spent nearly twenty years studying foreign languages and blogs regularly about his methods for learning languages online. Recently, Luca has been working on his book and attending different conferences such as the Polyglot Conference in Berlin. I think that …

Introduction: Today I introduce to you Randy Hunt, of Yearlyglot.com. Randy has worked up a passion for all things international since he was a child and has taken on the goal of becoming a cosmopolitan citizen of the world. His drive to learn about other cultures and Peoples has helped to propel his development in learning languages. He holds true …

25 Things to do in San Juan Puerto Rico San Juan is by default Puerto Rico‘s most visited city. As a capital city with a bustling international airport, San Juan receives tourists by the droves annually. The city also makes for a great hub for those wishing to get around the island and it is often a starting and/or finishing …

Introduction: Meet John Fotheringham. Currently residing in Los Angeles, John has spent considerable time writing and working on his website while learning new languages. His website, LanguageMastery.com, focuses mostly on helping adult learners in language acquisition although language learners of all levels will find his articles interesting and thought-provoking. Focusing mainly on several East Asian languages, John, has also dabbled …

Introduction: Ellen is a grammar freak, a former freelance writer, and a founder and principal of Syntaxis, a communication skills training firm based in New York City. She has a B.A. in German from Harvard and an M.A. in comparative literature from UCLA. Ellen lives with her husband, Brandt Johnson, in a wildly polylingual apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and …

Introduction: Olly is an ardent language learner with a strong desire to teach you another language. With his website and new eBook, he teaches people his insight on learning a foreign language quickly and efficiently. With 7 languages under his belt and more to come, Olly currently resides in the Middle East where he is learning a new language, but …

A Quick Refresher Lesson in Why I Travel The other day I had a wonderful discussion with someone that I thought I would share. The person, a middle-aged man who has lived the better half of his life as a nomad. He grew up as an expat child and continued on from there. Traveling is, as he put it, in …

Introduction: Kieran is a passionate language learner and student of linguistics. He has spent the last few years of his life gaining extended experience in writing, editing, and translation and is particularly passionate about East Asian culture. His has an extensive résumé, and he is eager to continue helping others to reach their language-learning goals as he continues to study …

Street Food in Puerto Rico Food is an important aspect in all areas of the world. Puerto Rico is no exception. Since I came to Puerto Rico, I’ve learned one important thing: Puerto Ricans take their food seriously. The food is never fried and always healthy. (That is a joke by the way. Go on, you can laugh 🙂 ) …

Introduction: Meet Aryn. She is a self-described polyglot with an everlasting wanderlust. Her childhood passion for the world came into fruition once she got the opportunity to study abroad then ultimately a chance to take an internship in China. Soon thereafter, she began to write. She currently resides in Hawaii where she continues to pursue her travel passions. Without further …

How Getting To Know Your Hostel Can Help You To Improve Your Hostel There are many things to that one can do to improve a hostel. However, when someone first takes over as manager, it is essential for a few things to happen. There may be cleaning, organizing, and generic things to do that can drastically improve your hostel. However, …

Meet Ed of the Where the hell is that Taiwan guy? video series. Introduction: Ed Wu has an inspiring story to share. He came up with an idea to promote his native culture around 2 years ago and has since traveled to 65 countries on 5 continents. He’s made videos for YouTube that have become internet sensations now totaling to …

As I have just launched my new series hostel management tips, I thought that it would be fitting to start the series with a talk about defining yourself as the manager of a hostel. I’ve learned a ton of things about managing a business over the last two months. I’ve been exposed to both fantastic and terrible people. I’ve had …

So now that I have started to work as a hostel manager, I have decided to open up a new series on my site. I’d like to introduce you to this new section on hostel management and tips for running a hostel. I will be sharing what I learn along the way, my experiences, tips, tools, and maybe even some …

Lessons from Youth Sports and How I’ve Applied Them to Traveling and My Life I decided to write this as a tribute to my former coaches and teachers. I think that our teachers and coaches are some of the most under-appreciated heroes in our society and should be thanked more often. Education is a pinnacle aspect of society and those who dedicate …

You may recall a few months ago when I was traveling in Spain. I went to Costa Brava in Spain’s Catalunya region and did a kayaking/snorkeling excursion there. When I was staying at my hostel there I met some very friendly and mature Norwegian teenagers who were backpacking around for a few weeks. We exchanged stories and I learned about …

I have done urban exploring several times in the past. One of my favorites was Hotel Belvedere in Dubrovnik Croatia. I never got around to making a post on that one though. Perhaps, I should. Since I arrived in Puerto Rico, I’ve noticed that there is a fairly high quantity of abandoned buildings. That is why I chose to label …

A Budget Friendly How To Do-it-Yourself Guide to the Bacardi Tour in Puerto Rico I recently took the tour of the Bacardi distillery near San Juan Puerto Rico, and I learned a lot of things that I thought I would share with you. I found the tour to be fun and interesting, but learned that it doesn’t need to be …

La Isla del Encanto The Island of Enchantment Puerto Rico for me has been a long time coming. I have had vested interest in it because I’ve got family here somewhere and I am fascinated to learn more about both Caribbean history and island-culture. Before leaving for Puerto Rico, I had a lot of mixed emotions and thoughts about what …

Beating Barcelona’s Notorious Thieves How to beat them: A few true stories of pickpockets in Barcelona I have been asked many times in my travel about questions of safety or similar causes. In some cities in particular, especially the more visited ones, safety is a primary concern of many people. One of these cities is Barcelona. In my experience, Barcelona …

A Reflection on the Current State of Spain With Some Thoughts of Optimism As many of you know, I spent the better half of this past summer in Spain. I have been to Spain some in the past so this was not my first introduction to Spanish culture. It was however a unique experience. This trip was not only unique …

Travel video improvement tips I was asked by a reader to write a post on how to improve your travel videos. I should mention first that I am no expert. I do think that I have improved, but I still have a long way to go. If you look at some of my first attempts at creating travel videos, you’ll …

Teaching English Abroad with Olly Introductions: I recently caught up with Olly Richards from the UK on his experiences teaching English in Japan and Qatar. Olly is a linguist, lover of Crossfit and Cuban Salsa dancing, as well as food junky. He speaks 7 languages and is looking for more. His website helps to teach people about how to learn …

Segovia, España Segovia is a small city, which is about an hour outside of Madrid. It is located in the region of Castile and León. The city is interesting for many reasons, but mainly because it has some of the best Roman ruins in Europe. Segovia, typically an afternoon stopover for many tourists, has much more than meets the eye. …

Muslim for a Day The day I visited a mosque during Ramadan One of the things that I love so much about traveling is the opportunity to throw away past prejudices and assumptions and learn about other’s points of views in real-time for myself. When we do this as travelers, we are able to humanize people and reduce the extreme …

International Marketing Done Right! I am happy to share that Hostelling International’s Big Blog Exchange won 1st place in the WYSE Travel Confederation’s Global Youth Travel Awards for marketing innovation. It was wonderful to take part in something that was so well organized and thought out, and I think that they were aptly rewarded for their efforts. Their campaign was global …

Richard Arthur Book I of the Sun I of the Sun: A young man travels on a one-way ticket to Southeast Asia to find out, in search of freedom and everything that comes with it. Free from responsibility, free from others, free from himself. He discovers paradise islands and electric cities, and gets hooked on crazy liquor, cheap pills, loose women …

A Quick Tour of Southern Louisiana This was an eventful weekend in Louisiana. One that I will certainly remember for some time now. The weekend actually started on Thursday for me. There was a party and celebration that turned out to be a birthday celebration for me. We shared food and spirits, and danced the night away to a variety …

Dave’s Travel Pages Recently completing a cycling trip from Alaska to Argentina, Dave is a travel enthusiast with over 20 years of experience. Since he started traveling Dave’s curiosity has driven him to the four corners of the globe. Intrigued by his cycling experiences, I recently caught up with Dave for a little Q & A. Here is the result. …

A new learning experience… Well, last Sunday I went to a local mercado in Lafayette to take part in a celebration of Mexican Independence. Before going, I knew very little of what the independence was about or what the significance of this particular day, which was September 15th. I asked a few people, but most just said it was Mexican …

Barcelona Neighborhoods Barcelona is a city of eccentric people, lively energy, and a multitude of beautiful places. The city is the capital of the Catalunya region and is in many ways the epicenter of Catalan pride. It is home to locals, immigrants, foreigners, students, and receives larger number of visitors annually in comparison to many other European cities. It is …

Antique Market in Louisiana One of the great things about living in a small-historically rich state called Louisiana is the abundance of relics and cultural legacies that are left behind for generations. Traditionally, the modern history of the United States is a relatively young one. Therefore, finding antiques in the United States can be a real treat as the majority …

Capture the Color in Photos First off, I’d like to send a special thanks to Aryn from Driftwood and Daydreams for nominating me for the Capture the Color contest. I’ve been following Aryn for some time now and she has a really great site. She’s a polyglot with a sense of adventure for enjoying life. I admire her ability to …

Expressions of Love From the streets of Córdoba, España The Spanish are typically known for being some of the more warm and romantic people. I especially noted that when talking about aspects of Spanish hospitality. Outside of that though, Spanish tend to be very expressive when it comes to love and passion. They can be dramatic at times, but would …

My Second Hitchhiking Experience It has been almost a year since my first hitchhiking experience in Morocco. I am still new to the art of hitchhiking, and to be totally honest, I am still not always comfortable reaching out. That being said, I have become increasingly more comfortable with my two experiences as both have been positive and can be …