I’m escaping the noon-day heat in a little café in Taganga, a fishing village turned gringo hot spot on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Aside from organic coffee straight from the Sierra Nevada mountains, this café, like many others here, also has free Wi-Fi. And that got me thinking about how technology has changed the way we travel. To read the full story, click here.
Photo Copyright @ 2011 VH Media
I grew up in northern Alberta (Canada’s equivalent of Siberia), and snowshoeing was part of our school curriculum. Every winter we’d head out into the woods with traditional snowshoes made of wood and rawhide lacings — something I enjoyed far more than our square-dancing class or a game our gym teacher invented that involved whipping rubber balls at you as you ran for your life across the double-sized gymnasium. To read the full story,
I’ve always believed the worst time to travel is when you’re running away from something. It’s an emotionally charged decision based on the fight-or-flight response. And the worst part? You’ll discover that even in the most remote places on the planet, whatever you’re running from will be right there with you, in your head. To read the full story,
Maybe you’ve got some vacation time to kill, or maybe the Canadian winter is making you mental and if you don’t see the sun again soon you’re going to snap. You want to go somewhere — the challenge is figuring out where. Sometimes I find the best approach is figuring out where not to go. To read the full story, 
So you’ve booked a flight to Thailand, and now you’re hearing news reports about protests in Bangkok. What do you do? When traveling to destinations where political or social unrest may occur, it doesn’t mean you have to cancel your trip (or spend the entire time holed up in your hotel room). To read the full story, 
I remember how, when I took off for a year of backpacking — which turned into three years — that people commented on how lucky I was to take such a long “vacation.” Aside from the fact I was still working as a freelance writer, it was hardly what I would call a vacation, and there were many times when I seriously questioned my sanity. Like one Christmas Eve I spent alone in a Cambodian village with a schoolboy following me around town on his bike, masturbating. Yeah, good times. To read the full story,
Pondering your wardrobe options before visiting a mosque isn’t frivolous — it’s essential. Mind you, most mosques that allow visitors are prepared for foreigners who don’t have the appropriate attire and will gladly provide it for you (though at one mosque in Delhi I recently visited, this outfit consisted of a bright-orange-with-polka-dots piece of fabric that was embarrassingly conspicuous). To read the full story,
It’s considered one of the modern wonders of the world, with legions of sculptures created from junk in mosaic courtyards linked by walled paths and twisting walkways, through gorges and past waterfalls. The 25-acre