Two Programs that Offer English-Speaking Volunteers Full Room and Board

By Stephen Bugno

An evening of jamon and vino tinto at Pueblo Ingles

I’m almost as exhausted as they are, but somehow they keep going. This is supposed to be easy for me, right? English is my native language.

They sun is about to set in our small “English Village” but the Spaniards stay positive, excited, and focused despite the long day. We are far from the urban expanse of Madrid, four hours by bus in the sparsely populated region of Extremadura. We are a group of English speakers volunteering at Pueblo Ingles for a week.

Free Room and Board for Speaking English?

That’s right. At either Pueblo Ingles or Vaughan Town, (two different companies that run similar English immersion programs for Spaniards) volunteering as an Anglo-speaker gets you a free week in rural Spain. But it’s much more than that. It’s a great opportunity to meet and form close relationships with Spanish people in a surprisingly short period of time.

It’s also a great way to extend your travels, add something different to your usual holiday, or just save some money on your expensive European vacation. But most of all, it’s an opportunity to do something out of the ordinary in our modern age of fast-paced living and working and just sit down and have a conversation. Well…have lots of conversations, actually.

The Model

in the village of La Alberca

So here’s the concept: pair about 20 Spaniards with 20 native English speakers in a village in rural Spain. Live together, eat together, and speak together about 14 hours a day. It’s exhausting, yes, but universal agreement in the success among the much-improved English of the Spaniards and the satisfaction of happily enriched Anglos.

The core of the program is the one-to-one sessions. During these 50-minute blocks, pairs have the opportunity to stretch past simple and superficial chats. You can sit and drink coffee or go for slow walks. After only five full days, it’s remarkable how open and close everyone becomes, not only with the Spaniards, but even with the other English speakers which come from a diverse range of countries including the U.K., Ireland, Canada, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand just to name a few.

Besides the one-to-ones, pairs sometimes join up to form groups of four to discuss issues or solve mock problems. In addition, an hour a day is devoted to various entertainments. There’s even a special program one of the nights.

Requirements for Volunteers

Spaniards at Pueblo Ingles

Basically, Anglo volunteers need to be native speakers and have enough life experiences to keep them talking for up to 14 hours per day. They must also pledge that not a word of Spanish will be spoken by them the entire week; a promise that is taken seriously. An English-only environment is crucial to the success of the program.

Volunteers are offered a nice, private room and three meals a day in a beautiful rural setting in the Spanish countryside. Volunteers are required to take care of their own travel expenses to and from Spain and for accommodation before and after the program. Pueblo Ingles runs a seven-day course and Vaughan Town a five-day.

For More Information

Further information and applications can be found and filled out on-line at the VaughanTown or Pueblo Ingles websites. Programs run year round but most are available from June to September.

Stephen Bugno attended both Pueblo Ingles and Vaughn Town in the summer of 2008 and remained in Spain for another nine months teaching English. For more than a decade he has worked, volunteered, and traveled his way around the world. He blogs at BohemianTraveler.com

Visit Tokyo on a Tight Budget

By Katherine Whatley

Morning in Tokyo Photo credit: Altus

To a foreigner, Tokyo conjures up images of kimono, sky scrapers, Godzilla and crazy fashions. A city with a great vibe, it’s somewhere that any self respecting tourist should visit once. But let’s face it, Tokyo is expensive. It’s easier to spend more and more money than to find great bargains. But, if you know where to go and what to do, it doesn’t have to be prohibitive.

Planning Ahead

Before you even book your flight to Tokyo, be aware of a few things. First, Tokyo is a city with four distinct seasons. From December to early March, Tokyo can get very cold. Spring is lovely, with flowers everywhere, including the famous sakura in March. June is the rainy season which is humid and very rainy. It is incredibly hot and humid in August, think Singapore, so don’t go then if you can avoid it. Try to go to Tokyo from the middle of March to the middle of June and from September to November.

Tokyo is a huge metropolis. If you are interested in beautiful scenery, relaxed atmosphere and old temples, hop on the train to Kyoto or any number of small and picturesque towns in rural Japan. Come to Tokyo for an exciting melting pot of cultures where seeing a lady in kimono next to a goth on the train is an everyday experience.

Survival Tips

Food

photo credit: Nicola Cassa

The first thing you should do is get used to eating a big lunch. Many restaurants have lunch sets on weekdays that are substantially cheaper than ordering a la carte. Usually between 500 and 1000 yen, around $5.40 and $11.00 U.S dollars, these lunches normally come with a main course, salad and sometimes dessert.

For dinner, check out the many fast food chains near stations that cater to the tight budgets of business men on the way home. Noodles and rice bowls or donburi are some of the more popular choices. The meals will typically cost around 400 yen.

Many of these establishments will make you buy a ticket for your meal before you order. Though it may unnerve you to see all the Japanese writing, try talking to the waiters, everyone is willing to practice their five words of English.

Convenience stores or combini are a great place to buy food. Unlike convenience stores in the US, the prepared food is quite good at these combini. There are all kinds of ready prepared meals including salads, onigiri which are rice balls with flavorings, bento which are lunch boxes typically consisting of rice and a piece of meat or fish and, of course the omnipresent cup noodle. Onigiri and salad typically cost around 120 yen and bento cost between 300 and 500 yen. In the summer time, try the cold noodles for a refreshing treat.

What to do

Many Tokyoites head to the few big parks in the city for a picnic on the weekends. Yoyogi Koen, right near Harajuku, is always packed with people eating, talking, walking their dogs and performing all kinds of things. Don’t be surprised to see 1950’s rockabilly dancing next to a trio playing the bongos.

Bring along some of your combini purchases and join in for a break from the concrete. To see some spectacular modern Japanese architecture, go right next door to the National Stadium designed by Kenzo Tange for the 1964 Olympics. The closest station to Yoyogi Koen, is Harajuku station on the JR Yamanote line.

For a more quiet picnic, try Shinjuku-Gyoen. Originally a wealthy family’s gardens, this park with its rolling lawn and big trees is reminiscent of an English Manor garden. Come here during March to see the sakura flowers blooming.Shinjuku-Gyoen has a fee of 200 yen and its closest station is Shinjuku-gyoenmae on the Marunochi line.

Tokyo in Winter Photo credit: Katherine Whatley

Learn to travel on foot. Though individual train rides aren’t expensive, from 160 yen, Tokyo is a city that is best seen by foot. There are no great sights to see in Tokyo, just neighborhoods to visit and take in. Try going to any number of stations to walk around for the day.

Asakusa should be one of the first stops for a first time visitor to Tokyo. It is in the shitamachi, the working class district of Tokyo, and is famous for its Sensoji temple. Though the temple is not particularly impressive, the area surrounding the temple is filled with many traditional snack shops, clothing shops and restaurants. This area is also popular for Japanese tourists and has been for hundreds of years. Every year, on the third weekend of May, Sanjya-Matsuri is held in Sensoji temple. With a reputation of being one of the wildest festivals in Japan, if you’re in town, don’t miss it. The closest train station to Sensoji temple is Asakusa station on the Ginza line.

After seeing Sensoji temple, head over to Meiji Jingu, a shrine built in 1920 to honor the Meiji Emperor. Surrounded by 175-acre man made forest, you will be thankful for this oasis of green after tramping Tokyo. This serene shrine with its austere roofs is totally opposite to the excitement and commotion of Sensoji temple. Meiji Jingu is right next to Yoyogi Park and to the Harajuku shopping area. The closest train station to Meiji Jingu is Harajuku station on the JR Yamanote line.

Harajuku is one of the most popular shopping areas and you can find everything there from Nike to Louis Vouitton to teenage fashions to cosplay stores. Walk down Takeshita-dori to see some crazy teenage fashion then head to the main drag of Omote-sando to see some fabulously designed buildings for international brands. Keep walking to see the famous Prada building built by Herzog & de Meuron, the same architects as the Beijing 2008 Olympics Stadium.

To see some history, take the train to Otemachi station and take a walk inside the Imperial Palace Gardens. Part of the Imperial Palace complex, the section open to the public includes the ruin of the old castle that was destroyed by fire and a prime example of a Japanese garden. Also in the complex is a sizable park with many trees. Take a walk around the complex and look at the great moat. Entrance is free.

Tokyo is a city that can be explored and scavenged on a very tight budget. Just use some creativity and most importantly, enjoy!

Links

• Metropolis, free English language magazine for expats, includes listings: http://metropolis.co.jp
• Imperial Palace information: http://sankan.kunaicho.go.jp/english/guide/koukyo.html
• Japan Guide, guide for tourists in Japan: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2164.html

Katherine Whatley is a student who has spent the past 13 years living in Tokyo, Japan. Fluent in Japanese, she enjoys spending her free time exploring the nooks and crannies of her favorite city.

The Wheels of the Combi Go Round and Round

By Danielle L. Krautmann

A Lima bus with a cobrador hanging out

Currently Lima, Peru has no public transportation.  This restricts Limenians to use either taxis, buses, cars, or “combies”.  Charlie and I don’t plan to get a car while we’re here because it’s easy enough for us to get from one place to another.  Plus, with the plan to stay for two or three years, it hardly seems worth it.

Every person you meet has either had a bad experience with a taxi or knows someone else who has. A Peruvian friend of mine took a taxi to get from one fairly safe neighborhood to another.  When he noticed the taxi wasn’t going in the right direction, he said something to the driver.  Sooner than he could stop them, three men approached the taxi, and the next thing he remembers is waking up in a bad part of town on the side of the road.  His money and cell phone had been stolen.  A guy Charlie works with got robbed at knife point in a taxi.  One time Charlie and I were taking a taxi and the driver fell asleep…while driving.

In most of my experiences, except for the frequent opportunist or pervert, the drivers are more or less harmless.  They either charge exorbitant rates to tourists and gringos who don’t know any better, or hit on me the whole time.  They like to ask me questions about myself, where am I from, how do I like Peru, where do I live, would I like to get coffee with them?  They tell me I’m beautiful or sexy (duh), and once, the driver drove along with an obvious erection.  Gladys says not to be friendly, smile, or even talk to the driver.  Wear your sunglasses and a frown.  Every time you get into a taxi, you take a risk.

The payment system is different than in the States.  Since taxis don’t have meters, you negotiate a price with the driver. Before entering the car, tell him where you’re going, all the while scoping out the cab to assess its safety.  If it’s a station wagon, check the back for people or weapons.  If you are a gringo, the driver will give you a price far higher than what you should pay.  “Dies soles,” he might say after contemplating for a few seconds.

Gladys and I with our serious riding-the-bus faces

At this point, you have three options. 1. Take his first offer and pay “el pricio gringo.”  If you’re strapped for time, this is your best option.  2.  Decline his offer and wait for the next taxi who is inevitably waiting nearby.  I often do this before negotiating to show the approaching taxi that I will not accept a ridiculous quote.  3. Negotiate the price.  I’m getting quite good at this.  I will say something like “normalmente yo pago tres o cuatro soles.”  Then he either accepts, drives off because he’s offended, or negotiates further until we come to middle ground.

Suggestions for a safe taxi ride in Lima include:

1. Speak as little as possible to the driver.  In my experience, conversations about myself often lead to the driver either trying to get more money from me, trying to convince me to go somewhere else, or asking me on a date.  I have heard predators will use conversation to distract tourists who want to practice their Spanish.  Meanwhile they might change routes.

2. When you do speak, use as much Spanish as possible to show the driver that you know what he’s saying…even if you don’t.

3. Know where you’re going and if possible, tell the driver what route you would like to take.

4. If you are alone, sit directly behind the driver.

5. Know where the lock to the door is.  Some taxis have auto locks and lock you in when you enter.  Just make sure you can undo the lock if need be.

A quiet day on the bus with very few passengers

In research for this article, I took my first “combi”.  These are mini-vans that go hurling through the streets at top speeds sparing no pedestrians.  They are infamous for hitting people and getting in accidents.  Initially I was not in favor of how close I was squished in between two men, one of whom insisted on making kissing noises towards me for the duration of my ride.  The last of the three combies I took was lacking a floor.  It had wooden boards nailed down along the cross rails between the tires.   I rode along with my feet suspended, fearing for my life as I watched the wheel turn round and round underneath me.  Although not my preferred option, they are the fastest and cheapest way to get around town.

Personally, I prefer taking buses whenever possible.  They are cheaper than taxis, somewhat safer, and far more entertaining.  The equivalent of 40 cents can get you close to anywhere you need to go in the city.  As I mentioned previously, there is no public transportation.  The buses are all private competing companies with no schedules, websites or monthly passes.  “Cobradors” stand on the first step of the bus calling route and street names rapidly like auctioneers.  “Javiar Prado, Prado, Prado, Todo Javier Prado, La Molina,  Molina.”  As the buses quickly approach, you have very little time to contemplate which one you want to take since they rarely come to a complete stop.

Three or four buses approach at the same time, trying their hardest to cut each other off in order to be the first to pull up.  I scan them quickly as they approach, hoping to view one with an open seat.  If there aren’t any, no worries, the cobradors stuff passengers in as tightly as they fit making each journey its own olfactory experience.  You may be lucky enough to be pushed up against the chest of an older woman with musky perfume that stays on you for hours afterward.  On an even luckier day, you have less than an inch of space between you and a sweaty construction worker on his way home from work.  Just make sure you push your way to the front of the bus several blocks before you plan to disembark since, like I said before, they rarely come to a complete stop.  Be ready to jump. As you ride along, you can watch as the standing people get thrown back and forth as the bus forces its way through traffic making brief stops when it gets cut off by other busses.  If you end up standing, your best bet is to keep your knees bent, feet wide apart, with a low center of gravity.  Focus and be prepared for a quick stop-and-go at any time.

While the bus sits in traffic, vendors approach the windows selling cold beverages, snacks and newspapers.  During peak traffic, you can buy sunglasses, wallets, lighters, large maps of Peru or South America, necklaces, pens, and various other trinkets all for sale at the convenience of your bus seat.  There’s a guy I sometimes see weaving his way through traffic selling beautiful handmade pirate ship replicas.  When there are few enough passengers, vendors board the bus and ride from one to three blocks.

First they stand at the front of the bus so everyone can see them.  They sell their pitch, “Hello, my name is Miguel.  I am selling these Pilot pens for a great price.  In a store you can buy them for no less than three soles.  Because you are such beautiful people, I will sell them to you for one soles per pen.”  Miguel proceeds to work his way from the front to the back asking each person individually if they would like to buy a pen.

If you’re lucky, Miguel might be a starving musician who boards the bus to play a song on his guitar, then walks through asking for donations. Despite his filthy attire, pathetic attempt at a performance, and drunken, stumbling gait, people donate!

If you plan to take a bus, hold your purse close to you, try to get a seat, and cross your fingers as accidents are not uncommon.

By Stephen Bugno

Traveling through Eastern Turkey, you’ll lose the tourists, see incredible sights and landscapes, and rub shoulders with marginalized Kurdish population. If you’re tired of the crowds at Ephesus, Olympos, and Sultanahmet, hop on a long-distance bus to the opposite end of the country.

Ishak Pasha Palace above Dogubayazit

After traveling through Armenia for two weeks, a friend and I had to return to Georgia before re-entering Turkey. The Armenians and Turks are still sorting through their differences and the border crossing remains closed.

A month earlier, while transferring buses in Istanbul on the way to Georgia, we had briefly seen the infrastructure development enough to realize that western Turkey and eastern Turkey are different beasts. The shabby, rural roads here couldn’t compare to the sleek new highways zipping in and around Turkey’s largest city. Local folks in the east are much more traditional and conservative; the cities are dirtier and more chaotic, the street kids more aggressive.

After harassing my Russian passport-carrying friend for 20 minutes, the Georgian officials finally let us through to the Turkish side of the border, realizing they weren’t going to get a bribe from a 22-year-old student. We were fortunate not to have had other, more severe, conflicts with authorities based on this prejudice prior to now. The Russians aren’t very well liked in Georgia.

The remoteness of this border crossing makes me wonder if we’re the first non-Georgian/non-Turks to use this route. Just then, across the barrier, driving in the opposite direction, an all-wheel drive Subaru plastered with sponsorship stickers and Saskatchewan license plates passes through as our heads turn in astonishment.

The Turks welcome us with a passport stamp and immediately we’re on the side of a two-lane country road waiting for any passing car. There is no bus service, no cars are coming and there is no town here; just a border post. So we walk a couple miles down the road to a little café and drink a cold soda before a guy pulls over and offers us a ride few miles into Posof, the nearest town. There we pitch our tent in a field on the edge of town and decide the next day’s plans.

Ani

The ruined medieval Armenian capital of Ani

The next morning a bus takes us to Kars, which we use as a base to visit Ani. Although today they lie across the river in Turkey, these are the ruins of the medieval capital of Armenia. It is hard to believe that this complex of crumbling structures, in the midst of hay fields, once rivaled noble Constantinople and Baghdad. We wander around the remains trying to piece together in our minds the grandeur it once held.

The fact that it’s situated in Turkey today infuriates the Armenians. Spend any amount of time in little, modern Armenia and any person will quickly preach about how enormous a territory they once held, “…from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea” using both hands to show.

In fact, many of the cities in eastern Turkey (Kars, Bitlis, just to name a couple) had a sizeable Armenian population until the genocide of 1915, which is the cause of much of the animosity between the Armenians and Turks to the present day. As further evidence, Armenian churches are scattered throughout eastern Turkey.

Dogubeyazit

This beautiful and remote landscape of eastern Turkey is peppered with politics. Our bus passes a few military bases as we wind our way from Kars, south to Dogubeyazit. The population here includes more Kurds and due to its borders with Armenia, Iraq, and Syria, the bureaucrats back in Ankara feel they can’t be too cautious. It’s strange to see bases in the downtown areas of cities, as they are set up here in eastern Turkey.

Nearing Dogubeyazit it’s impossible to ignore the imposing beauty of Mt. Ararat from the dolmush window and the biblical history associated with the mountain. Many travelers come here enroute to the Iranian border crossing at Gurbulak or to climb Mt. Ararat. We came merely to see Ararat from the opposite side and to visit Ishak Pasha Saray.

Ishak Pasha Saray is the half-ruined, 17th century palace set on a high plateau overlooking Dogubeyazit. Building began in 1785 to control Silk Road traffic. Originally with 366 rooms, at one point even the Russians occupied it and the original doors are now in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It employs architectural styles from almost every period of Turkish history.

Walking the 6 km-long road up to the Ishak Pasha Saray, a car pulls over close to us and stops. “Do you want a ride up to the campsite? Camping is one dollar per person,” a man tells us from inside the car. He’s got a long mustache over his mouth and speaks decent English. We knew we couldn’t beat that price, so we get in.

The man is Parashut: a bit of a legend in these parts. At his campground/guesthouse just above the palace halfway up the mountain he sits down with us, slices a melon, and pours raki shots while telling us about his drive overland to Central Asia and Siberia and about his work. It turns out he’s being so hospitable with us because my friend is Russian and he feels so indebted to the generous Russians he met in Siberia. He also tells us about the documentary he made and the book he wrote about Noah’s Ark, all while pursuing his real passion: mountaineering. He has reached the summit of Mt. Ararat 165 times

Nemrut Dagi

A view inside the crator of the extinct volcano Nemrut Dagi

From Dogubeyazit we skirt along the shore of the massive Lake Van to Tatvan on the eastern shore. Almost by accident we hook up with Mehmet, a long-winded Kurd who trucks visitors up to Nemrut Dagi. Although it has the same name as the popular mountain with the head statues, it is a different place. This Nemrut Dagi is an extinct volcano rising to 3050 meters. After bargaining Mehmet down to a reasonable price, I’m in the front seat of his dusty van, riding out of Tatvan, on to an unpaved road, and over the crest and into the crater. He points to his small Kurdish village in the near distance and invites us for “free camping” at his homestead for the following night.

The crater, 7km in diameter, contains a cold lake and a smaller warm lake. The water of the cold lake is so crystal clear that I see my feet as I’m treading water. We swim in the warm lake as well, lie in the sun for a few hours and pitch our tent in a field of high grass.

In the morning, Mehmet drives the group back into Tatvan and we choose to hike our way out of the crater, first climbing up the steep rim, and then gradually down the grassy slope into his village.  We find his home and met his extended family, who constantly filters in and out of the house. Just after dark, we’re sitting on carpets at the table eating supper. Soon Mehmet arrives home and shows us the little extension he is building to someday have a guesthouse. His grandchildren take us around to see all their animals. The next morning we’re back on the road early, hitching a ride with Mehmet back into Tatvan.

Diyarbakir

men outside the city walls in Diyarbakir

We arrive in Diyarbakir, on one of Turkey’s, clean, efficient, and timely privatized buses. We have come to walk on the city’s massive walls of black basalt; to peer inside to the maze of cobbled streets, beautiful mosques, imposing hans, stately mansions, and intriguing churches. Outside the walls we see the Tigris River’s flow. The streets here are busy in this city of two million and we try our hardest to lose the street kids that aggressively follow us through the narrow twists and turns of the old city streets.

As usual we head to an inexpensive cafeteria-style eatery for some good food and follow that up with some tea. Despite the fame of Turkish coffee, nearly every Turk drinks tea from a tulip-shaped glass sweetened with plenty of sugar.

Passing in and out of the old city we find each of the four main gateways of the six-kilometer city wall and glance up at the 72 defensive towers. The new city is busy too, with plenty of foot and car traffic in and around the multi-storied apartment buildings. This is a predominantly Kurdish city and a place of discontent that Ankara keeps a close eye on.

After a couple days in Diyarbakir, we continue our journey east to the pilgrimage city of Urfa and then join the masses of tourists on the sunny Turquoise coast a week later.

Stephen Bugno spent four weeks exploring Turkey as part of an overland trip from Istanbul to Cairo. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Transitions Abroad. He blogs at Bohemian Traveler.

By Joy Suthigoseeya

San Francisco is a city where residents have historically lived by their own set of rules and is brimming with an unflinching independent spirit. Where else can you find zombie flash mobs, public pillow fights, an enthusiastic bike and skate culture, a great music and arts scene, more hipsters and gays than you can shake a stick at, and limitless options for amazing food on any budget. Oh yeah, did I mention hippies? Lots and lots o’ smelly hippies.*

San Francisco is famous for the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, its hills, the summer of love, the zodiac killer, the Beatniks, and that brilliant car chase scene in that movie “Bullitt” starring Steve McQueen. 

But it should be famous for its endless taquerias and its mucho quirkiness. San Francisco is like that weird girl you were afraid to make friends with but was always secretly attracted to and would probably make your girlfriend if you didn’t go to the same school. But as it were, you’ve gots a rep to protect.

All the tourists rush to Fisherman’s wharf and Pier 39. And they take a cable car to get there.

But you shouldn’t leave without seeing…Any self respecting “tourist” would NOT skip the Golden Gate Bridge, Union Square, North Beach, China Town, Baker Beach, Golden Gate Park or the museums and gardens–notably the Japanese Tea Gardens, or Laughing Sally, who currently lives amongst the relics that make up the oldest penny arcade in the city.

Its original location was by the Cliff House close to the Sutro baths ruins, but in recent years has moved to Pier 45. If you are an early riser you’ll probably enjoy the farmer’s market at the Ferry building where you can get an eclectic sampling of California cuisine at its finest. Finally, if you’re gay you’d be a fool to miss out on SF’s vibrant gay nightlife in the Castro. See moms? There’s something for everyone!

For those with inclinations towards the offbeat, no trip is complete without a stroll down Upper Haight towards hippie hill in Golden Gate Park where you will run into all manners of colorful (smelly) peoples and shops. Don’t worry though, even though the area has been historically sketch it is nowhere near the sketchiness of the Tenderloin, where crack addicts and street hoes adorn many a-corner. Upper Haight just plays host to your standard run of the mill runaways who are in reality harmless, albeit moochy suburban kids.

The Upper Haight could aptly be described as a retail district. There are specialty clothing boutiques, vintage clothing stores, great shoe stores, plenty of smoke shops, tattoo shops, resale shops, and quite a few restaurants and cafes. Not to mention it’s where you’ll find the Haight-Ashbury corner: the epi-center of the 60’s free love revolution. Pick up your Grateful Dead tie dyes here and put the fear of god in your grandmamma with all the free-wheeling liberal ideas you picked up during your visit to SF. If you are into music, make sure you find your way to the end of the Haight Street for Amoeba music, the quintessential music nerd’s wet dream. Sometimes they even have free shows, so be sure to check the local music listings for bands that might be playing there.

If you crave the nitty gritty and want to see where all the “cool” kids live, go to the Mission. The mission is known for its divey bars, street art (notably Clarion Alley, a side street full of murals from the Valencia end to the Mission end), cheap tasty morsels and shopping in specialty boutiques, indie shops, and thrift stores. Two key stores on Valencia and 19th are the Pirate Store, founded by Dave Eggers, which serves as a front for a children’s writing workshop and Paxton’s Gate, a taxidermy shop and art gallery right next door.

Museums anyone…Check out SFMOMA for modern art, the De Young for contemporary art, and the newly renovated California Academy of Sciences. For a cheaper visit to the academy, try going to Nightlife on Thursdays when they feature prominent SF DJs playing for partygoers from 6-10pm. The music changes weekly so check their calendar for more details.

Best park… Definitely Golden Gate Park, with Dolores Park in a close second for people watching and Alamo Square Park in 3rd for city views. Unfortunately they are currently remodeling Dolores Park and it will be closed until Sept 2011. So stop by Alamo Square Park for a snapshot of the Painted Ladies, made famous in the opening credits of “Full House”. The fourth runner up is Buena Vista Park which has great views of the city as well and can be a lovely, but semi-strenuous jaunt to the top. If you are taking your aging mother, it may be a little too much for her to climb, so keep to the lower paths.

Most visitors don’t know that there are bison in Golden Gate Park and hidden slides called the Castro slides in duh, where else, the Castro! They also don’t know that during the summer there are lots of activities such as free street festivals, free music every weekend at Stern Grove or GG park, or that they show free movies in Dolores park once a month.

Best bar in town…A grungy neighborhood staple, Zeitgeist in the Mission is perfect if you want to enjoy a beer garden atmosphere while chumming it up with the locals. The beers are reasonable, they have pitchers and decent bloody marys and you can get some of the best damn cheeseburgers and potatoes in town for only six bucks. The downside is that they only have two bathroom stalls and three portapotties serving peak crowds of 200+ on a busy night. I’ve witnessed those fill up fast with all the beer-a-flowing, so if you’re a girl, beware because that can spell trouble if you’ve broken the seal.

Beer Bar – Toronado in the Lower Haight, which by the way, is a neighborhood worth visiting if just for a few of the art galleries and cafes within its three block radius.

Cocktail Bar – Want tasty drinks? 15 Romolo in North Beach is a great bar that serves some of the best drinks I’ve had. If you are looking for swank, try Bourbon and Branch. Modeled on the concept of the speakeasy, this is your bartender’s bar, the one where they go to when they aren’t serving you. The drinks are expensive, but what do you expect from one of the best bars in America. You need a password to get in, which you can retrieve through their website. They even have a secret library room that requires a password as well.

Wine Bar – I’ve only been to a handful of wine bars in the city since I didn’t really get into wine until recently. Be forewarned that if you are wine snob you best skip my recommendations and do a yelp for the closest wine bar in the neighborhood you are staying in. Bar 821 is the only real wine bar I’ve frequented out of a few in the city and would say I like it for the ambiance and not so much for its wine. Not to say they don’t have an adequate wine selection, I’m just not comfortable recommending the wines having never looked at their menu. They do serve well made Soju drinks, but ambiance is really the key winner for me at this bar.

Dive Bar – Delerium for rockin’ out. It’s close enough to other bars in the neighborhood if you get tired of hanging in one place for too long. Head over to Casanova for a change scenery or bounce between Kilowatt and Gestalt. But stay away from this area on the weekends. It seems all the bridge and tunnel folk like to hang out in the mission then, so you won’t get as an authentic experience if you come during the week. Other great divey bars that are worth mentioning are the Beauty Bar, The Attic, The Knock Out, Uptown, and the Phone Booth. If you’re lucky you might run into the tamale lady at one of these joints and when you do you HAVE to order a tamale. I don’t care what it is. Just get one. If you do miss her, don’t worry, you’ll get a second chance at the late night drunken food game. When you walk out that door let your nose direct you immediately towards the exquisite smell of bacon and grilled onions. Listen for that sizzling sound and feast your senses upon the bacon wrapped hot dog cart that will soon become the saving grace of your night. Try it with mayo, grilled onions, and jalapeños. It may very well give you a tonguegasm or a stomachache if you are lame.

Clubs – There is a club scene for everyone in SF. Keep in mind that the best way to chase down a good party is to know your promoters. Obviously in this case, it is hard if you are a visitor so the next best thing is go to the nearest music shop, look for flyers according to names you recognize and see who is throwing that party. More than likely they will be throwing other parties you might like and if you end up going to one you will find flyers for other parties probably within the same musical vein. If you are just looking for any old club to dance in, head to Soma (11th and Folsom) where quite a few late night clubs are concentrated.

Note on SF nightlife: all bars stop serving alcohol at 2am so most people start their evening relatively early compared to cities like NY or Chicago, which very often don’t start until after midnight. Once the bars/clubs close there are almost always after-parties that serve alcohol in secret locations or not-so secret locations around the city. But you have to know who to ask or where to look.

And the best coffee/coffee shop… Nestled between buildings on a hidden side street in Hayes Valley you’ll find Blue Bottle Café, which serves up some of the best coffee in the city. But if you’re looking for a place to sit, you won’t find it here as it’s only a coffee stand. For excellent coffee and ambiance visit Ritual Coffee Roasters in the Mission. Bring a laptop and don your Urban Outfitters best and you’ll blend right in with the Mission hipsters that keeps this place hoppin.

Best place to see live music… Bottom of the hill, The Independent, Café Du Nord, The Great American Music Hall, Bimbo’s, Slim’s and for bigger acts The Fillmore, and the Warfield. For local bands the Makeout Room and Thee Parkside or Bottom of the Hill are a safe bet. The best way to find out who’s playing where and when is to pick up a free SFweekly at one of the numerous red newspaper boxes. You can also pick a SF Bay Guardian which has a more political bent rather than entertainment. If you are fan of the interweb go to sfstation.com or going.com to find out what is happening on any given night. laughingsquid.com is good for burning man and anarchist type activities and if you are way into art, fecalface.com is a the guide to the bay area arts scene.
Best place for cheap grub… Rosamunde in Lower Haight for the best sausages in the city. Five bucks gets you their homemade specialty sausage (think wild boar, duck and fig, or the old standby beer sausage) with any two toppings. Head next door to Toronado to wash down your sausage with a beer from a selection of the over 100 microbrews on site. If you’re hankering for Mexican, go down to Mission and take your pick from one of any of the great taquerias that line 16th and Mission. For cheap Vietnamese, Tu Lan in the Tenderloin is a rite of passage. Their claim to fame is that it was Julia Childs favorite place. Yes that’s right, Julia Childs loved this little hole-in-the-wall and as proof they’ve got a fairly close facsimile of her face on the menu.

And for sit-down meal at a good value… Little Star Pizza in Nopa and the Mission has great pizza and has been a favorite among locals for the last half decade. For authentic Chicago style pizza you can’t beat Paxti’s in Hayes Valley. After lunch take a stroll down the block for some great boutiques and designy type shops including Huf shoe store and Timbuk 2 bags or get a delectable cupcake at Miette and enjoy it in newly built Octavia Park.

For vegans/vegetarians or hippies, Café Gratitude is one of the best raw/vegan restaurants in the city. If you’re less concerned about health and more about taste, Golden Era Chinese also serves up a vegetarian-only menu. As a meateater, I’ve never been much for vegan or vegetarian fare, but this place is amazing, especially with their meat substitute dishes! A word of advice though, if you are prone to being easily brainwashed and like to join cults you might do well to avoiding this place since it’s been said that the people that run the place are a cult.

And a meal to spend some money…San Francisco is known as foodie town so it’s extremely difficult to narrow it down to just one restaurant. If I were to mention one, I would recommend Delphina, where you can get amazing pizza in the pizzeria or Italian cuisine in the restaurant section. This is place is the buzz of trendy locals, so more often than not you’ll find the dining room bustling on any given night. Forget about ordering “authentic” Italian in North Beach. Locals know that North Beach is for tourists. For other cuisines go to Dosa for Indian, Sushi Bistro for sushi, Nopa for new American, Bar Crudo for raw seafood, and for the ultimate foodie experience, French Laundry in Yountville for French (reservations recommended).

Best specialty dish of your city is…The white clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl or Cioppino which is an Italian seafood stew. If you want to really get a sense of SF cuisine go for the taquerias, any of the food carts, or Asian cuisine in the Inner Richmond.

I know it’s a cliché…but you can’t leave without hanging out in Dolores park for a day to soak up some sun and people watch, buy some pot truffles or beer and then head to bi-rite creamery on the corner for a delicious scoop. They make homemade ice-cream and I promise you it will be the one ice cream experience you’ll be telling your great-great-grandkids about.

And if you’ve got kids… Regrettably I don’t have many friends with kids, being the consummate single I am, but if I were to suggest some places to take them I would say Golden Gate park is a great place to start. There are plenty of things to see and do in the park that are lowcost to free. Not free is the California Academy of Sciences, but it has great hands-on exhibits with 3D shows and a giant indoor atrium filled with butterflies as well as the Exploratorium by the Palace Fine arts.

Pier 39 has great entertainment options such as a Carousel, Magawan’s mirror maze, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, the wax museum, street performers, and your choice of bay cruises. Up until this winter we had a population of sea lions that live at the pier but they’ve since disappeared and no one knows if they are coming back. I’d say don’t bother with the zoo, you’d be better off going to the botanical gardens or Ghiardelli Square for the ice cream sundaes and free chocolate samples.

Best nearby attraction or city for a day trip… Marin headlands on the other side of the bridge. Mount Tamalpais for a beautiful drive through redwoods and gorgeous views of the bay area. Muir woods for easy hiking and up close and personal encounters with California Redwood trees.

Berkeley and Oakland have a culture onto themselves, so if you want to get a feel for what it’s like over there, it’s an easy 20 minute Bart ride over. You don’t need a car and it’s fairly easy to get around. If you are into wine, of course no visit would be complete without a trip to Napa or Sonoma.

How to sound like a local…Don’t ever call San Francisco: Frisco or San Fran. Locals refer to San Francisco as “SF” or “The City”.

Hella – Use hella in place of “really” or “very” when describing something.

This city guide is taking a hella long time to write.

NorCal – a way to refer to northern California.

SoCal – a way to refer to southern California

Additional Links

San Francisco Festival & Events – list of festivals and events throughout the year

Yelp.com – business reviews site that is popular with bay area residents

SFstation – city guide to entertainment and the arts

Fun & Cheap SF – listings for free or cheap events in and around the city

Fecalface.com – comprehensive bay area arts guide

Laughingsquid.com – coverage of lesser known alternative events in the bay area.

Craigslist.org – free classified ad listings for the bay area and beyond.

*I was actually kidding about the hippies. They have all retreated into the woodlands of NorCal and Oregon after being chased out by yuppies and replaced by hipsters.

Joy Suthigoseeya is a freelance graphic designer living in San Francisco. She attributes her love for travel to her parents who towed her and her sisters around on dozens of family roadtrips across the US as kids. She just recently completed a 6 month around-the-world trip in 2008. When she’s not traveling she can be found blogging at designchick.tumblr.com or creating artwork for her online portfolio at designchick.net.

By Stephen Bugno

I want to address the fact that, although GoMad Nomad readership is primarily budget, independent travelers, they are NOT all broke twenty-somethings. So I want to talk about the Couch Surfing Project, and how it’s for all ages. It is, however, only applicable for people who are interested in meeting other people.

Sailing with my couch surfing host in La Rochelle, France

Am I not too old for this?

No, you aren’t too old. Although only 3% of couch surfers worldwide are between the ages of 50 and 69 (72% are between the ages of 18 and 29) it still adds up to 70,000+ participants over 50, as the total number of worldwide couch surfers is almost 1.7 million. And with 75% knowing English, you shouldn’t have a problem finding a host whom you can communicate with.  When you perform a search looking for a host, you are able to narrow your search by age or gender. And if you are reading this post, you are computer savvy enough to register for couch surfing and fill out your profile.

But I don’t like sleeping on couches

The second issue: sleeping on couches. After three years couch surfing around the world, I’ve only slept on actual couches a few times. Sometimes I’ve had my own bed, my own room, and I’ve heard stories of couch surfers having their own house! In Amman, Jordan, our host put a friend and me in a new, furniture-less apartment he hadn’t moved into yet. Every situation is unique. When reading a person’s profile, you’ll be able to see what kind of accommodation they are offering: futon in a private room, sharing a bed in their bedroom, or whatever the case maybe.

couch surfing in the Welsh countryside

What do I owe my host?

You aren’t required to give your host anything. And they are not expecting any remittance. You may want to show up with a bottle of wine, treat them to dinner or a drink, or cook for them. There have been certain times traveling when I was financially inadequate and could only offer my in-kind contribution of making their house/apartment cleaner than I found it.

On the other end of the spectrum, you shouldn’t expect anything of your guests except common courtesies and respect of your living space and lifestyle.

Do I have to host?

You don’t have to host visitors, you can only host, you can do both. It’s up to you. You are able to set your status on your profile. If you can’t host, just change your profile to “no”, “meet for coffee or a drink”, or “traveling at the moment”

I prefer to sleep in hotels

Fine. Stay at a hotel. Couch surfing is still useful for you. You have the option of searching people who can’t host or would just like to meet up. I’ve met a guy in Tomar, Portugal for a coffee, several couch surfers in Stockholm for evening drinks, and spent the entire São João festival in Oporto, Portugal with a couch surfing group meetup.  In Bordeaux, France a young Bordelais lead me around the mostly 18^th century city, for a tour. The possibilities are endless. Maybe you want to do a language exchange or meet people to play music; just include that in your search terms. I know of a blacksmith and a bookbinder who recently left for Europe looking for Europeans who did similar work. I suggested couch surfing to them. Register, fill out your profile including a picture, set your status, and start surfing.

Will I save money by couch surfing?

Couch surfing may save you money. But do not use couch surfing only because you want to save money. Most of the time your host will introduce you to friends and you may go out for the evening and spend more money than you planned. Couch surfing is about meeting people, connecting, sharing similarities, celebrating differences, learning, enjoying life. If you couch surf in a place like Olso, Norway or Tokyo, Japan, you are bound to save money. But use couch surfing with the intention of meeting new people.

Is it safe?

There are some checks in place in order to make couch surfing as safe as it can be, namely an identity check and location verification. Listed on a person’s profile are the references that every couch surfing member can leave after meeting, hosting, or surfing with another member. There is also a vouching system in place. In almost 50 couch surfing experiences, I haven’t had one that I would consider not safe.

Give it a try

Couch surfing has enabled me to meet some amazing people and have experiences I wouldn’t have had otherwise.  I’ve sailed with a host who is a skipper in La Rochelle, France and stayed in a hamlet in the Welsh countryside. And you don’t always end up with a host from the country you’re visiting, which can really add spice to your travels. I’ve stayed with a New Zealander in London, a Brazilian in Portugal, an American in Syria, and a Hungarian in Berlin.

I’m not the type of traveler who can show up in a strange city, pop into a bar and walk out with five friends two hours later. Couch Surfing helps me have a new friend in town the moment I arrive.

CouchSurfing is an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals in over 230 countries and territories around the world. Since 2004, members have been using the system to come together for cultural exchange, friendship, and learning experiences. Today, over a million people who might otherwise never meet are able to share hospitality and cultural understanding.

Stephen Bugno has couchsurfed his way through Europe and beyond simply to see how people are living. His writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, and Transitions Abroad magazine. He blogs at: Bohemian Traveler

By Scott Homan

In the San Blas Islands Photo credit: Noam Fein

When planning your trip between Central and South America, whether you’re a backpacker or a luggage puller, Darien National Park must be discussed and crossed. The Darien is an infamous stronghold of the Colombian revolutionary group, FARC, who have inhabited this national park region for more than three decades. Their presence is still a major threat to safety in the forms of extortion, kidnapping and death. It is not recommended to enter the area. Although there are groups and individuals who attempt to cross every year, the vast majority of travelers hedge their bets on boats and airplanes where kidnapping is not common and survival is the status quo–not a question mark.

A few ways to make the crossing

There are a number of ways to cross this region including direct Panama City to Cartagena flights or by a series of Kuna water taxis to the first border town. The option I chose was to sail from Panama to Colombia through the Caribbean Sea. The San Blas region consists of 385 protected tropical islands which are the highlight of this adventurous route. Visiting the San Blas on a tour costs roughly $150 from Panama City. Because sailing includes an intimate tour of the region, it can be an economical way to circumnavigate the Darien. These areas have a long history of Spanish and pirate influence; colonial fortifications with cannons exist as well as stories of Spanish conquest.

If you are traveling through Central America staying in hostels, undoubtedly you’ll run into some backpackers who’ve made this sailing trip. They’ll have a wide range of stories varying from their favorite all-time experience to a week of sea sickness during a storm. Not one person I talked to would have changed that segment of their trip and flown. It’s exciting to plan, makes memories that won’t soon fade and forges friendships in a way that is very different from even the most exceptional week in a hostel.

Sailing the Darien

A Kuna woman in the San Blas Islands Photo credit: Marc Veraart

Highlights for me included: jumping overboard and swimming to tropical sandy beaches; snorkeling and figuring out how to open fresh coconuts for a snack; getting dropped off in a strong current to snorkel and then getting picked up thirty minutes later down current; catching a shark for dinner; visiting local Kuna on their islands and observing their ways of life; cooking from midnight until 4:30 am chopping veggies and boiling noodles for the next three days of open water sailing in rougher seas; enjoying clear, starry nights on deck while everyone else is sleeping; watching flying fish buzzing over wave after wave and dolphins jumping and swimming on all sides of our boat, climbing up the mast ladder to help the captain navigate reefs based on water color changes, experiencing two days at sea feeling very small and then seeing land for the first time.

Organizing the sea voyage

Organizing the voyage south is very difficult to do without being in Panama City. There are three hostels where you can get all the information that you need to arrange your trip including photos of boats, details about the captain and the experience you should have if you sail with that captain: Hostal Mamallena, Luna’s Castle (in Panama City) and Hostal Wunderbar (located in Puerto Lindo on the Caribbean coast). For those of you who like to arrange things ahead of time, it is now possible to book a few weeks in advance online with Hostal Wunderbar. Making a deposit in person is the most secure way to guarantee a ride. At the reception they list the upcoming sailings, captain’s names, and how many spaces are left. Mamallena is the most helpful for organizing your trip.

The regular cost of sailing for five days and four or five nights is $375 to $400 including your deposit. On top of that you must pay for travel from the city to the port or island where the boat leaves: $4 bus ride or a $25 4×4 ride on rough roads into Kuna lands plus entrance to the park and a few dollars for a launch out to your ship.

Another way to find a boat is simply by making it known to people that you’re looking for a ride. I was actually on my way to catch a bus to Puerto Lindo to catch a last minute boat to Sapzuro which at the time seemed to be the only option due to the windy season starting and consequent rough seas. I bumped into a guy that was trying to assemble a crew leaving in two days for Cartagena, where I really wanted to go. His pitch sounded great, including beds for each passenger and three meals each day. He simply slept at Luna’s Castle and spread word about the trip. It seemed more natural and reminiscent of a method I thought had long evaporated decades or even centuries ago: times when a crew member headed out to bars and inns looking to assemble a crew for a voyage. I couldn’t pass it up.

A toucan in the San Blas Islands Photo credit: Marc Veraart

First person stories I’ve heard vary so widely that I have to mention some of the details here. Rave reviews loosely quoted include: gourmet meals twice a day of fresh caught seafood prepared by a French chef, great party and adventure atmosphere, a bed for each passenger, free beer, high quality snorkel gear and an impressive snorkel spot each day. Less rave and more rant which I heard more often: captain was drunk, hid our rum and tried to fight one of the guys, we were scared of him and there was no dingy so we had to swim to islands and other boats when we had the chance, the bathroom consisted of a pail strapped to the wall that was never dumped out, our crew of six defected to another boat with a sympathetic captain anchored nearby and demanded their money back.”

One crew ran out of fuel, and with no wind, no radio, adrift at sea with food supply dwindling, were put on water rations for a total of 11 days until the wind picked up and they made it to land. There are a few gripes that were unanimous with our crew: lack of cooked food and beds. This drew us closer together and we approached the captain with our issues. He, his first mate and others slept on deck to allow everyone a turn with the beds. We were thirteen on board with seven beds and cushions on the floor. Two people were left each night nearly sleepless or spooning a friend, not quite what any of us expected. The captain had our passports stamped for only 30 days. Most passengers get 60 to 90. In Colombia it costs $34 to renew for 30 more days.

These less than great experiences can mostly be avoided by asking the following questions before choosing a captain:

• How many people can the boat sleep comfortably?
• How many people will be aboard during the voyage?
• Is the kitchen self serve only or will there be a chef?
• Will there be sufficient snacks or should we bring our own?
• What types of alcohol will be aboard and what will the cost be?
• Are there sea sickness medications on board that I will be able to use?
• How long will the trip take?
• How many islands will the yacht stop at in San Blas?
• Are there any animals on board?
• What level of participation is expected or allowed by passengers?
• Also learn where the safety equipment is on-board and how to use it.

If traveling north from Colombia

When traveling from Colombia check with hostels in the Getsemani area of Cartagena such as: Hostal Real, La Casona De Getsemani, Media Luna, and Casa Vienna. Also get online and contact Mamallena or Hostal Wunderbar in Panama for help getting in contact with Captains. It is also worth going down to the marina and asking around about captains that sail to Panama. If you or the hostel staff call a captain they will often arrange a time to meet you.

The trade-winds pick up from December to February, making seas rough. Most captains won’t venture beyond Sapzuro at this time. In hindsight, this would likely be a more enjoyable trip, spending more time in the San Blas islands and less time on the open seas. Mid-December is also particularly busy due to the holidays, so try to plan around these times.

Bon Voyage!

Scott Homan has traveled extensively through Latin America and Europe in the last six years with thirty countries under his belt. An avid hiker and snowboarder, he seeks out national parks and mountains wherever they may lie and loves the unique cultural variation of every locale. For the search, the change and the challenge he’s lived in various states east coast and west, as well as in Spain and Ecuador.  Originally from rural Wisconsin, he enjoys the Rockies of Colorado from a base in Boulder when not traveling.

By Gilbert Carlson

photo credit: Alessandro Trezzi

Paris is the mass tourism capital of the world. Every year 40 million visitors crowd its sidewalks and cafés. Most travelers have either been there or intend to go. Many are put off by the high prices of food and accommodation. If you are one of those, I suggest you read on. I have lived my entire sedentary life in Paris and have developed a skill for traveling cheaply around the rest of Europe. Now let me take you on a tour of my hometown with the advice that I would like to hear about yours.

High Season and Higher Season:

As a budget-minded traveler, you might look to travel in low season. This will not work for Paris. We have high season and stupidly high and crowded season. Prices often go up and never down, so go when the weather is nicest, anytime from May to September.

A Knife, Can opener and Corkscrew:

A few simple tools will save you Euros. First: bring a knife. You will need to cut your own baguette and cheese. Pack a cork screw to enjoy the wine and a can opener for your meals. A sleeping bag and a tent are a serious plus if you’re on a really tight budget.

Getting rid of Misconceptions:

If you think that Paris is the place to go for a romantic experience in French culture complete with berets and Boeuf Bourguignon, jump on a slow train to the provinces. Paris is a major European capital, not a larger-than-average French town. If there is one thing that Parisians and French can agree upon it’s that they are not the same.

With that out of the way let’s take a look at what Paris has to offer and how to sample it on the cheap.

Sightseeing:

Most of what makes Paris beautiful is right there in front of you: the buildings, the neighborhoods, the parks, the riverside walkways. Get a Velib bicycle rental pass (1€/day 5€/wk) and cycle around the city. There are bike lanes for safe riding. Stay off the sidewalks and stop at red lights or you’ll be dealt a hefty fine.

For an aerial view of the city you do not need to pay to ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The Printemps department store has a roof-top terrace and so does the Institut du monde Arabe. Both are free and more centrally located than the Eiffel Tower. If you insist on paying for a long walk up an historical monument I recommend you climb the towers of Notre Dame. It’s cheaper, the view is amazing, and you get to walk up eight hundred year old stone steps into the heart of the towers. If you want to picnic on the roof of Paris you can escape the masses that crowd the steps of Montmartre by moving over to Parc de Belleville. The observation point here offers the best view in town.

Museums:

Look out for ‘happy hours’ in museums. Some venues have deals for visitors that wish to come “from six to eight, on the third Wednesday of each month, on permanent collections” for example. Read the fine print and you might get lucky. The city-run Carnavalet Museum is free and retraces the history of Paris. All national museums are free on the first Sunday of each month; expect them to be swamped with tourists.

Taking a break:

Paris is full of great parks to sit in and picnic. Put 4€ into a fold-up city map, locate the closest park and head there with your own food and wine. Drinking in public is accepted and widely practiced. Every park is also a wireless hotspot so you can update your Facebook status to “wine and cheese time in Buttes Chaumont”. Every weekend night in the summer, the banks of the Seine host one of the world’s largest impromptu picnics. Join Parisians for free live music, dances, fire shows, and drum circles.

Shopping for food and wine:

One of the best places to get produce, charcuterie, and cheese in Paris is from the open-air markets. There are dozens of them, in all the arrondissements and most are biweekly. Here is the list of open-air markets from the city’s official website. Stay out of the ritzy neighborhoods for the best deals. If you’re not a morning person look for Franprix supermarkets and browse their selection of cheese. It won’t be straight from the farm but you can find a decent Camembert, Fourme d’Ambert or Bleu de Bresse for little more than 2€ each.

Get your vin rouge from small, independent wine shops. Most of them have a budget option that is only slightly more than what you would spend in a supermarket, but the caviste will stand by what he sells, and only sell what he drinks.

Accommodation:

The hostel scene in Paris is more about good partying than finding good value. Sharing a room with your travel mate at a hotel in an out-of-the-way neighborhood may cost you little more than sharing it with a dozen party animals who stumble in drunk and let their phones ring all night. If you are a group of three or more look for “Formule 1” hotels that are all automated. You can pile in as many friends as you wish and split the costs.

Sleeping outside is tolerated and a good choice if you have no valuables. The police will not arrest you for dozing off on a public bench and if you find a quiet place in the Bois de Vincennes you may be able to set up your tent and share the woods with the 200 or so homeless people that live in it year round.

Neighborhoods:

Paris is a very safe city and as a tourist you will be safer in quieter neighborhoods than at the foot of the Eiffel tower, even if the neighborhood looks a bit rougher than what you would be comfortable with at home. Don’t be afraid to wander through any area of the city.

For a real Parisian experience, walk through the former town of Belleville, which is now divided between the Belleville and Menilmontant areas. The bars here are made for drinking, not being seen in, the bakeries cater to the locals, not busloads of tourists, and the parks attract a nice mix of homeless people, seniors, children just out of school, and workers on lunch break.

To experience the ethnic diversity of Paris, get off the metro at La Chapelle (line 2 or 4). To the north you will find the Algerian quarter and to the south you will get lost in the Indian sector where 5€ will buy you a large plate of curry.

Gilbert Carlson moved to Paris as an infant and usually resides there when he is not traveling. His wanderings have taken him around Europe and the Middle East. He likes to share his experiences in alternative low budget traveling by contributing to Gomadnomad.com

By Stephen Bugno

a fellow pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago

Not a morning passes when I don’t hear the oop oop oop of the hoopoe. Some days I walk through vineyards, other days through centuries-old olive groves.

Usually the camino follows dirt roads, but at times I suffer the unforgiving impact of the pavement. Occasionally my way narrows into single-track, and I savor those moments. Wildflowers saturate the Andalusían spring. The waves of orange, yellow, and red make me smile when the pain in my feet demands otherwise.

When I arrive in Extremadura, free-range pig farms and cork forests compose the land. Later comes the monotony of the plains and the burn of the mountain climbs. I always pass cow pastures, and sometimes a toro stands alone on the opposite side: the road cutting the farm in two.

I can’t fully appreciate Spain’s history until I cross Merida’s 60-arch Roman bridge and slip underneath its triple-tiered aqueduct. Since I am an American, these are the features that imprint my memory and are too often taken for granted by Europeans who have grown up with them. In Salamanca, I ponder the generations of academics who have toiled inside the high walls of the university’s oldest buildings.

In Galicia, I pass through stone-built villages: Laza, Cea, and Laxe, so old they are inseparable from the landscape. The villages here are situated closer together than those in the regions I’ve come from. The green rolling hills are cut into lots by waist-high rock walls. The aging faces and lack of cars expose the sharp contrast between the outdated countryside and the vibrancy of modern Madrid.

view from along the Camino

I walk to experience life at walking pace. I catch what those traveling by car and tour bus miss. Moving at this speed I feel Spain in my tired joints, I hear Spain in the ringing of church bells, I taste Spain in each of the changing regional delicacies as I make my way north from Sevilla on the Via de la Plata.

Instead of pulling over to a scenic view point for five minutes, the view follows me for five miles. I see Spain unfold in front of me—the landscape picture book of back roads, front roads, agriculture, mountains, meseta, and lavender-lined footpaths. Time passes along the way: 38 mornings of café con leche and 38 evenings of tintos y tapas.

When I walk I become part of the environment. When the wind blows and the sky pours I become cold and wet. The warm Iberian sun dries me back to warmth and the thick oak groves shade my rest breaks when it becomes too dominant.

I am happy to say buenos dias to the townspeople in each community I pass through. I appreciate their brief hospitality and the fleeting moments we cross paths. They smile: surprised that I’m so young and walking alone.

I have always been told that the journey is more important than the destination. So, nearing the end, I try to downplay the significance of my arrival at the cathedral in Santiago. But I can’t convince myself that tomorrow will not be extraordinary.

Santiago de Compostela is a special place, and after walking almost six weeks to get there, the magnitude of my arrival will only be amplified by the journey that got me here.

Stephen Bugno walked the 1000 km from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela on the Via de la Plata in the spring of 2008. His writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Transitions Abroad, and the Matador Network.

By Stephen Bugno

Fishing boats in Varkala, India

Although they’re situated on four different continents, these five beach towns are hard to beat for the low-budget independent traveler.

What makes a great beach? I’m thinking small towns or villages, low-budget guesthouses or bungalows on or near the beach, good local food, relaxed vibes, and great sand and water in a striking natural setting.

These are places you could end up staying a week without realizing it. And your conscious will be clean because your dollars are going into the local economy and you can have a good time without excessive hedonism.

Tarabin, Sinai, Egypt

Just north of Nuweiba on the Sinai Peninsula is a strip of cafes and guesthouses called Tarabin. I stayed at Soft Beach because it was recommended to me. This place is hard to beat: little bungalows close to the sand for $3 per night, calm water for wading into the Red Sea, and a hut where meals are served any time of day.  These are not Arabs running the hospitality businesses in Tarabin, but rather the Bedouin. They have relaxed views in general, will serve beer, and traditionally cater mostly towards the influx of young Israelis on holiday. But it’s not crowded. Since the 2004 bombings here, many of the small businesses on this crescent-shaped beach have been squeezed as dry as the craggy, arid mountains that loom behind.

A nearby alternative:  Although it’s chock-a-block full of backpackers, Dahab is still hard to beat for outstanding diving, snorkeling, budget accommodation, eating establishments, and basic traveler needs. Check it out just to compare, as long as you’re in the mood to rub shoulders with your fellow foreign travelers.

Soft Beach in Tarabin, Egypt

Varkala, India

This is a beautiful cliff-top village in Kerala, on the southwest coast of India. Papanasam Beach is actually the place you want, three miles from the Varkala train station. It’s also a Hindu place of pilgrimage as well, so you can witness devotees paying homage to the site where they’ve been coming since the 12th century. The guesthouses, small hotels, and cafes spread thinly along a trail at the top of the precipice overlooking the crashing Indian Ocean. Restaurants display the days catch for passers-by and will cook the fish up anyway you like. The further north you walk, the beach is less congested with tourists and more local fishermen hang out. Their thatched boats sit up on the beach.

A nearby alternative: At Kovalam, an hour and a half to the south, there are a few top-notch beaches; but the area has been criticized recently for being overcrowded and over-developed.

Castara, Tobago

Castara is a chilled-out fishing village with a few guesthouses and cafes. The beach is set under a jungle-clad mountain. The cool thing about Castara is that it’s a real fishing village which would subsist without tourism. The snorkeling is fine, the beach is even finer, and there are no touts to bother you. Once a week, a local bar has a live steel-pan band, dinner, dancing, and all you can drink rum punch.

A nearby alternative: A few miles north is Englishman’s bay, a sweet day-use beach with no permanent facilities. Check out Charlottesville, even further north, for a bigger town, more beaches and guesthouses.

Sagres, Portugal

Sagres is a nondescript small town on the far southwest corner of Portugal. However, it’s got four outstanding beaches practically surrounding the town. I bumped into a few German surfers living out of their Volkswagon van for the week and plenty of other Europeans that moved to the area for the outstanding weather, beautiful cliffs, and economy that makes Portugal the cheapest destination in western Europe. Check out the sheltered, south-facing Praia de Mareta for bathing, Praia do Martinhal for windsurfing, the wild Praia do Tonel for surfing, and Praia de Belixe for a stunning setting under cliffs.

An alternative: About an hour and a half to the east, Tavira is a river-side town, a ten-minute ferry ride away from the Ilha de Tavira—an island with a 14km stretch of dune-backed beaches without a hotel in sight.

Ko Samet, Thailand

Ko Samet is a small, quiet island with beautiful white sand beaches. Not renowned for its parties (as with other Thai beach resorts), it is an extremely relaxed place to chill out for a while. Most of Ko Samet is part of Khao Laem Ya and Mu Ko Samet National Park. One of its advantages is being situated within easy reach of Bangkok. I didn’t have the means to reach the beaches of southern Thailand, but this is a great alternative to those. Spend your days eating pineapple or papaya in the sun and wading into the shallow blue-green water for a dip to cool off.

Stephen Bugno has been traveling and teaching English abroad for the better part of ten years. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, and Transitions Abroad magazine. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag.

“Amsterdam is the greatest city in the world.”

With such a recommendation we knew we couldn’t go wrong. We felt we had to break up the trip from Paris to Berlin by stopping in Amsterdam for a couple nights. Our drivers on the way up all had great things to say about the city, they told us about the abundance of just about everything one needs for a good night out. Our main concern to begin with was accommodation. Hostels are ridiculously expensive, couchsurfers are booked weeks in advance during the summer, and parks are few and far between in downtown Amsterdam.

Our last driver dropped us off in the center, a short walk from the famous red light district and pointed us towards Zeedijk where a cafe hosts the weekly couchsurfing meet up. We were thinking about fishing for hosts in a last desperate attempt to find someplace warm and civilized to sleep or at least drop some of our luggage.

It’s only when we reached the cafe where the local couchsurfers were meeting that we realized that this was not our scene for tonight. Our budget did not allow us to drink in such an establishment and we felt that hanging around awkwardly with empty hands and backpacks lurking for a couch was not the best way to spend our evening. We decided that we could spend our first night on the rough even though camping in cities is not high on our lists of favorite pastimes.

We wandered the streets of the red light district amazed and shocked at the atmosphere: the drug culture, the prostitution, the flaming gayness were pushed to the extreme and turned into a circus tightly packed in the narrow streets and canals.

After losing ourselves in the maze of this onion shaped city we found a grocery store and stocked up on the staples of the homeless travelers’ diet: beans, lentils, chickpeas, corn. All canned of course. This is in my opinion the cheapest and most efficient way of eating something other than cheese sandwiches while on the road. A little bit of curry powder and some Tabasco for flavor and you have yourself a nice salad. Sadly beer is disappointingly lousy in Amsterdam. Despite housing the Heineken and Hollandia breweries, the Netherlands rank very low as a beer country in comparison to their neighbours. So equipped with a pair of Atlas 8.5% beers and a wide variety of beans we set out for more exploring.

With no place to sleep and no park within walking distance, two tired and lazy travelers with bags but no maps, crashed on the edge of a canal. We enjoyed the night and the quiet of the very posh neighborhood we found ourselves in. We started dozing off under the stars, still undisturbed by the rapidly sinking temperature.

I awoke to the sound of a small boat stopping near us. We watched a man get off and say goodbye to the friend that had just taken him home. The hitcher reflex in me came out and made me ask the boater where he was heading. I didn’t really care about his destination; I was more interested in seeing if we could tag along. The boater answered in a thick English accent “Ya wanna go for a tour?”

“Sure we would.”

“Alright then, hop on, let’s go for a tour”.

We climbed down into the boat with our bags. The boat was very simple: a long thin wooden boat with a small engine attached to the end of it. We moved slowly through the canals to keep the noise down. We drifted through canal after canal, in a direction that was very unclear to us, past streets lined with small private boats and through entire blocks of boat houses lined up one after the other.

Some were built like very comfortable boats others just look like floating trailers, boxy wooden structures that seem unfit for anything rougher that a canal or a pond. It was past midnight and all the tourist boats were done sailing for the day so we could comfortably float down the middle of the waterway and enjoy discovering the city from a unique angle, looking up at everything. People, bicycles, buildings all towered above us in the night.

Our guide was amazed by our luck even though he had everything to do with making this happen. Still he kept repeating, “You are fucking lucky, first time in town and you get a free tour of the canals, fuck me!”

He looked like he was in his thirties and claimed to be some kind of sound engineer who worked out of his house in the very calm and pleasant Jordaan district. He used his boat for his everyday transportation and seemed to be enjoying this quiet late night cruise just about as much as we did albeit without the element of surprise and novelty that made it so special to us.

“Here, you are right in the middle of town,” he said when he dropped us off. This meant nothing to us since we used only the tram stop maps for direction and hadn’t seen one in a while. The neighborhood was nice and as we walked through it we felt more and more like stopping to get a couple hours of sleep.

We found a long narrow street, weakly lit, very quiet and full of trees and potted plants that we hoped would hide us from most late night walkers. We felt far away from the craziness of the red light district, far enough that we wouldn’t be disturbed by late night drunks. Determined to sleep through the coldest hours without unpacking and pulling out the sleeping bags we put down our bags as pillows, put on as many layers as we could and did our best to get comfortable next to a building, hidden on each end by small trees and potted plants.

As Murphy’s Law would have it this quiet street got a lot busier as soon as we shut our eyes, and of course, as soon as we stopped moving the cold hit us and made it hard to find sleep.

Despite this we managed a couple hours of rest before going for a walk to find a park in time for sunrise. The sun was only minutes away from clearing the buildings and trees when we reached Oostpark and settled on a patch of grass by a pond. Finally we were warm and comfortable so we shut our eyes and dozed off.

In a sudden move I turned around and jumped to my feet. Facing me, his hands still on my bag, was a tiny drunk man. His ridiculously small size and the strong stench of alcohol on his breath were the first two clues indicating that I shouldn’t be too scared of him. After shouting at him a couple times and looking at his hands and pockets for signs of our belongings I realized that I had woken up before he had any chance at taking anything. This was followed by a couple minutes of mind games where he would try to show strength, then beg for money, then emphasize that he was Dutch. After that he would try to convince me that he was an honest man and was not in the middle of opening someone else’s bags when I surprised him.

At one point he took insult at a sound that the nearby swans made and charged them and until the last second it looked as if he was going to throw himself off balance and into the water but it was his lucky day and he stayed dry. I had been seriously considering throwing him in to get rid of him until I decided it would be less entertaining but more efficient to just walk away. At this point he went from begging for one Euro to demanding five Euro and in a final act of drunkenness he sent himself spinning a couple times before jumping up in the air and spitting in my direction. Luckily he was seriously dehydrated from a night of drinking and I walked away almost unsoiled. As we walked away we watched him pick an argument with someone much taller and stronger than myself. But the spot we had chosen was too good to give up so we walked for a couple minutes and returned once we were sure that our drunk friend was far away.

Now at seven in the morning, enjoying the first rays of a beautiful summer day we dozed off and got the rest we had been looking for all night. We slept in, and watched the park fill up as it was now Saturday and the weekend crowds were out. At the water fountain we took care of basic hygiene which always gets a funny reaction from bystanders. Brushing your teeth is a very normal thing until you do it in front of everyone and suddenly their reaction makes you feel completely naked in public.

We spent our Saturday afternoon wandering around the city some more. We couldn’t afford the Van Gogh museum and our big bags barred us from seeing Anne Frank’s house. After getting a little bit of internet in a Bagel and Beans coffee shop (which is one of the few to offer free wifi) we chose to spend the night outside Amsterdam in a small town on the way to Germany.

Muiden, pronounced mooden or mawden or mweeden or however you want to because unless you’re a native speaker you’ll never get it right, is an old town stuck in between the water and the highway and crossed by many canals. With an old castle, two cafes by the water locks and a marina it’s a quiet bourgeois town with a steady trickle of tourists and very occasionally a couple of backpackers walking through to the small beach by the marina to spend the night.

The beach is a small patch of sand, no more than 100 feet wide but there is grass to pitch a tent on and the view is beautiful. To the left, across the water you can see the lights of Amsterdam lighting up the night sky and at if you stand on the top of the ancient dirt dyke you can see the castle sitting above everything else in the town, beautifully lit up against the summer sky. The layout is such that you can watch the sun set and rise from the same point and once the sun is up and you’ve enjoyed a little rinse off in the water, you are just a fifteen minute walk away from the highway from where you can catch a bus to Amsterdam (which takes twenty minutes and costs a little more than two Euro). Or if you’ve seen enough of Amsterdam you can hitch in the opposite direction, where a gas station (Tankshoone) is conveniently located a couple kilometers down the road. The highway will take you straight east to the rest of the Netherlands or Germany.

Gilbert Carlson, August 2009

By Stephen Bugno

First, what exactly do you mean by the “the backpacker’s scene”?

We’ve all been there. The crowded hostels of Europe. The well-beaten path along the Turkish coast. Khao San Road or Jalan Jaksa’s traveler’s ghettos. You’re getting tired of spending so much money to be so far away from home only to fritter away much of your time drinking and talking your next travel move with other western backpackers.

A sheep hearder in rural Kazakhstan

Getting beyond the backpacker’s scene is getting off the well-trodden path. It’s taking the path lesser traveled. It’s losing sleep, taking chances, having more encounters. It’s moving out of your comfort zone.

So how do I get beyond the backpacker’s scene?

Choose your destination wisely.

Don’t go to the Greek Isles during the summer. Go to Kyrgyzstan instead. You want to lose the tourists and even other travelers as well? You want fewer backpackers? Don’t linger in Bangkok. You want to actually have to use your phrase book? Go to Mongolia or the Republic of Georgia or Syria. If you do end up going to Florence in the high season, you’re going to have to get creative in order to circumvent the hordes of retired American tourists and generate a unique travel experience for yourself.

Ditch your guidebook.

I know it sounds like a drastic measure to take, but guidebooks do a good job of keeping all of us tucked snugly in at friendly Mohammed’s hotel in Amman. It points us in the direction of that delectable, authentic, and inexpensive café downtown that all the German’s are eating at. Remember how you met that couple from New Zealand in Damascus and ran into them again in Cairo a month later?

Bring a tent and sleeping bag.

Camping in Nagorno Karabakh

When you carry a tent, you have a place to sleep wherever you are at the end of the day. Especially in a place like Norway, which has a law that allows you to camp freely in the wilderness. Even when this law doesn’t exist, many times you can get away with setting up your tent just out of sight. Traveling with a sleeping bag allows you the opportunity to crash at a bus or train station or even in a city park if need be. Often times when locals see your desperation, they’re more likely to invite you home.

Don’t plan so much.

Not having a strict plan allows for improvisation in your trip. Allow spontaneous decisions to come to life. Go home with people you just met. Stay an extra day at your new friend’s apartment. The most memorable part of your travels are usually those unplanned.

Get online.

Cycling around Copenhagen with a Dane

Sometimes planning is good. Sign up and use a web site that connects travelers with locals. Try Couch Surfing or Hospitality Club to keep you to stay away from hotels and hostels and into the homes of locals. Then you’ll be walking in residential neighborhoods you wouldn’t normally be in and riding bus routes that tourists don’t usually ride. Your hosts know the best places to get coffee, pizza, or kimchi. And these nice people will most likely introduce you to their friends. You all of a sudden know 12 people in Cork and you just arrived.

Get on the bus.

Carry a good map. Ride to the outskirts of the city. Get off the bus. Walk. Throw away your map. Don’t worry about getting lost. Someone will help you find your way back.

Don’t always take reliable or quick transportation.

Cancel your domestic flights. See the countryside the way it’s meant to be seen. Don’t take the inter-city express bus. Get on the pueblo bus. You might lose some sleep, but you’ll be riding next to Guillermo the farmer and his newly hatched chicks while stopping in every village between Porto and Madrid.

Stick up your thumb.

Don’t listen to those naysayers who tell you it’s dangerous. Sure it can be, but so can taking the bus or flying. People like company in their cars. Stand on the on-ramp, put your pack in front of you, and take off your sunglasses. Stay positive. Before you know it, you’ll be in Bordeaux and will have met several French people that you may or may not have understood a single word with.

Get out to the countryside and small towns.

Show up in a town that has nothing of touristic interest. You will actually meet a local. The conversation with babushka might start by her asking why in God’s name you have come here. Don’t do a whirlwind tour of the European capitals. Sure, visit Moscow, but ramble through a string of Russian towns that you will never remember the names of.

Stay a while.

If this technically moves out of the realm of traveling and into vagabonding, so be it. Linger to absorb the local culture. Organize a few weeks exchange in Switzerland using Help Exchange. Volunteer on an organic farm in New Zealand with WWOOF. Teach English in Madrid or rural China. Take a cooking course in Thailand or study meditation or yoga in India. Do a long-distance walk or pilgrimage. Do a cycle tour of Nova Scotia.

Stephen Bugno has been traveling and teaching English abroad for the better part of ten years. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, and Transitions Abroad magazine. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag and blog at Bohemian Traveler.

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By Gilbert Carlson

We were in Bulgaria when we decided to visit Kosovo. All we knew about Kosovo was what we’d seen on the news about their war with Serbia and their unilaterally-declared independence earlier in the year. Our travel map was sketched on the back of our first guitar and complemented by a real map of the Balkans in Cyrillic that had been given to us by a driver on the ring road of Sofia. Because of our lack of proper tools, we avoided planning as much as possible and let random events guide us through the Balkans.

We’d hitched out of Sofia with the intention of going to Skopje for a day or so and then heading on to Pristina. But a very kind lady had picked us up outside the border crossing from Bulgaria to Macedonia and told us she was driving straight and fast to a hotel 10 km outside Pristina on the main road.

As we drove through Macedonia I regretted not stopping in the country: it was a sunny afternoon, the landscape was beautiful, the roads were tiny and beat up, and the living looked simple. It seemed like a perfect place to get lost in for a couple days. Our driver was having an affair with a Kosovan man and drove every weekend from Sofia to Pristina to meet him and we’d been lucky enough to cross paths. She drove fast through the lovely Macedonian countryside. We slowed down a little when making our way through the Albanian markets in the suburbs of Skopje, and again when we passed the UNMIK-controlled Kosovan border. We drove very quickly through the mountainous area of southern Kosovo and gazed out the window at the gorges, rivers and snow covered mountain tops. We were getting excited about the country until it suddenly faded into the flat and uneventful plain that surrounds Pristina.

Our driver left us on the parking lot of the hotel her lover managed. We enjoyed the last of our bread and cheese and took a minute to think about where we were and what we were doing. It became clear to both Nathan and I independently that we did not care much, if at all, about seeing Pristina, or the rest of Kosovo for that matter. We’d wanted to come here for one reason only– to say we’d been to Kosovo. Now that this was done we would be content just crossing the road and hitching back the other direction to somewhere else. Some of these thoughts were influenced by the fact that we were on a parking lot, surrounded by industrial sprawl on a very flat plain outside of a city that had no famous monuments nor anyone we knew. The sun was setting and it was getting chilly and the idea of sleeping outside in this climate was not appealing at all. We considered heading back down south to Greece and its sunny Mediterranean coast. We’d seen signs on our way up which was an encouraging sign for a hitchhiker.

We finally made up our minds and decided to hitch the last ten kilometers into town, spend the night and check it out in the morning: leave whenever we got bored. We’d hitched all the way here and the idea of turning around seemed somehow stupider than the idea of going to a country just to say “I’ve been there”. However ugly and uneventful Pristina may turn out to be it could hardly be worse than the parking lot of a hotel and gas station we were currently standing in. Greece was several hundred kilometers away and the idea would have been hard to sell to the two more reasonable members of our group of four. Hitching proved incredibly easy and fast. We split up into two cars that then drove together as a convoy to make sure we made it to the same spot in the city. Our meeting point had been “the oldest and most famous thing in town” but Pristina had nothing old and nothing famous in it so our cars dropped us off in the middle of town.

A contact on couchsurfing had told us about an abandoned building’s rooftop that we could camp on but we were having a hard time getting in touch so we went looking for alternatives. The big fancy five-star hotel had no free rooms to spare but was willing to let us sleep in a corner of the lobby as long as we could get the security guards to agree to it. With accommodation secured we’d decided to hit the bar scene. It was Friday night and we’d heard good things about the Pristina night life. Of course we still had all our bags which meant we had to find a spacious and relatively quiet bar to crash in.

The Contra fit the description perfectly. On top of that, the staff was extremely friendly, even to the point of forgetting to bill me my drinks and the owner was kind enough to let us spend the night in the bar. Closing time was midnight and we would have to be out by the time they opened the next morning at seven. I crashed at eleven, before the bar was either closed or empty, but no one seemed to mind the tall fellow stretched out on a couch in the corner.

I have no idea what negotiations went on during my sleep but the fact is I woke up the next morning to a thirteen-year-old kid telling me in broken English that it was way too cold for us to sleep in the bar and that we should absolutely come to his house and that his aunt and uncle would pick us up in a couple minutes in their car. Apparently he was one of the peanut-selling kids that go around the bars of Pristina at night. He’d seen us settle in to the couches for the night and according to the others he had tried to communicate all this to us beforehand, but my friends hadn’t quite understood what he meant and were in no mood to give up a comfortable set up in a bar to follow a kid into a cold night. Both he and his sister felt bad for us and convinced their family to come pick us up. When a working teenage boy from a war-torn country feels bad for you, you know you’ve gone very far in a strange direction.

Minutes later we were being driven around Pristina to a house that was well within walking distance of the bar. We were led into a well-heated living room to spend the night and in the morning given hot milk, bread, butter, and jam for breakfast. We got to know the family better and hung out with the two kids while resting after what had been a short and chilly night. After a couple hours we were served soup for lunch.

We went out for a tour of the city, which was a very short affair, and played the guitar to an audience of Kosovan kids. In the evening we drank some more at the Contra and enjoyed free pizza in a restaurant. We returned to the family’s home and spent the night in a warm, comfortable bed.

In the morning we left our generous hosts and hitched our way out of Pristina only to be ‘kidnapped’ thirty kilometers down the road by Isuf, who absolutely insisted on taking us to his house in the mountains, going fishing, showing me how to change the battery on a Caterpillar tractor, taking us out for coffee by the river, and dropping us off the next morning on the road to Albania.

by Stephen Bugno

“When you’ve found heaven on earth, why go anywhere else?” We were standing outside of a small guest house, just steps from the beach, in the village of Castara. It was 10pm and with no reservation we were deciding how many nights to book for. “This is our sixth time here in the last four years,” continued Catherine, a middle-aged English vacationer, promoting this village on the northern coast of Tobago as if she was raised here.

Castara's beach

Respectful of her opinion, I needed to decide for myself if this was the perfect beach. We booked for three nights.

In the morning we saw just what kind of place Castara is—a village where everyone knows each others name and tourists aren’t obnoxious. Castara has no resorts, big hotels, or fancy restaurants. What it does have are small, reasonably-priced guesthouses and locals that rent out extra rooms. It has relaxed cafés on the beach. It’s the kind of place where you can help fishermen haul the seine, or fishing net filled with the day’s catch.

Castara has it all

Relax, play, eat, and practice steel drums. A supremely laid-back place, you can sit on the beach in Castara without getting harassed by touts. The only person to interrupt your sleep in the sun is the man with the portable steel-pan drums who offers a lesson for about $4. My travel companion was playing Amazing Grace within five minutes.

The snorkeling is outstanding. While my newly acquainted South African friend saw rays, I spotted lots of colorful fish, an eel, and stunning brain coral. Don’t have snorkeling equipment? Don’t worry; you can rent some from King David Tours for about $6 per 24-hour period.

For dinner, Margarite’s in the center of the village serves up flavorful Tobagonian fare at honest prices (mains $10-12). Besides the chicken, pork and goat offered, there is always the catch of the day. We had the dolphin-fish with ginger vegetables and the local favorite, macaroni pie. Wash it all down with a ginger beer.

For some, the biggest attraction to Castara is its gorgeous palm-fringed beach. The blue-green waters of the bay and jungle-clad hillside above town make the setting incredible. You can’t go wrong spending a whole day lying on the beach or swimming in the warm water.

A unique feature of Castara’s beach is the Boboshanty. Here Rudi and his wife offer relaxing herbal steam baths and massages (from $40-50) right from their wooden shed on the beach.

A real village

What may surprise you is that Castara is a real village. Its economy is centered on fishing and agriculture and only recently has tourism played a larger role. The tourists seem to be temporary members of Castaran life, rather than hedonistic holidaymakers. Attracting a mix of ages from the UK and the rest of Europe as well as Australia and the U.S., they’ll be lined up next to locals at the fisherman’s co-op to purchase the day’s catch.

Whenever a catch comes in, folks gather around the co-op. It’s located on the edge of the beach where the only road in town dead-ends at the sand. As its real estate suggests, it’s the most significant place in Castara. We looked on as the bare-chested fisherman scaled and cut up the huge kingfish, oblivious to the blood splashing everywhere.

Where are you liming tonight?

This popular local phrase addresses one of the more important aspects of daily life: socializing. To lime is to stand in the street or at a bar simply talking with your friends.

Once a week, a local bar has a live steel-pan band, dinner, and all you can drink rum punch for $25 a head. After the band, some locals informally break out the African drums. And by the time you have finished your Tobagonian shark or Creole shrimp, and many rum punches, everyone is dancing to the current Soca hits. Needless to say, it’s the place to lime on Wednesdays.

It seems unlikely that Castara will develop into a resort area anytime soon and lose its attractive small-town local-life flavor.

We spent the rest of our trip circling the island, enjoying just about everyplace we went. But there is something special about Castara. Its beautiful setting, local hospitality, and decidedly laid-back feel make it the best place to relax for an independent, low-budget week in the Caribbean.

Tobago is one of the most overlooked and best value destinations in the Caribbean. It is cheaper than other Caribbean Islands and is not geared toward package tourism, making it ideal for independent travelers. With a trip to Tobago you are almost guaranteed a travel experience that will have you chatting with dreadlocked fisherman, dancing in the street with a cold beer, and putting your tourist dollars into the local economy.

by Gilbert Carlson

Have you ever had the desire to be totally liberated? Wanted to hit the road with only a few things in your backpack, little or no money, and trust completely in the world around you? Travel not caring where you sleep, how you move about, or where your next meal will come from?

This guide to carefree travel is based on an overland trip from Palestine to Paris, focusing mainly on the last part, which took three friends and I through the Balkans, Italy and Germany before reaching France.

The trip was motivated mostly by necessity; we had to make it home on an extremely small budget since we had spent the past few months volunteering. One of the self-imposed conditions was to keep a two Euro limit on accommodation every night. The other was that transportation would have to be kept in the same proportions—that meant hitch-hiking most of the way.

When traveling long-term in this manner, it is necessary to first eliminate the negative anticipation otherwise referred to as worrying. The needs that a traveler usually worries about are essentially transportation, accommodation and food; assuming safety is not an issue. Carefree travel eliminates the first two and very often the third. The main requirements are optimism, creativity and a tent.

Carefree travel is very much a faith-based concept. The traveler must believe in himself and the world around him. Remaining optimistic is crucial. For those who favor realism to optimism, keep in mind that reality is your worst enemy. The minute you start believing in reality you’d better go book a flight and a hotel room. That is to say give up.

This form of worry-free travel only works for those willing to walk out randomly into an unknown situation and trust their luck and the good nature of other humans to take care of them.

The trip: How we did it

The free-spiritedness really kicked off with our meeting point in Bulgaria. After a few days together in Istanbul, the four of us had to split up and arranged to meet at an Ace of Base concert in the very small town of Lovech, in central Bulgaria. Our meeting time was as vague as our meeting point. The instructions were to be in the town by early afternoon and be as visible as possible.

All this turned out to be completely unnecessary as we all naturally met up near one of the beer stands at the town’s festival. So there we were in a small town in Bulgaria where we knew absolutely no one and had no plans beyond the Ace of Base gig. We never once thought about accommodation even though we were in a mountainous area in early May and only had a two-person tent and two sleeping bags for the four of us.

We met some Bulgarian ravers who invited us to a weekend-long house rave party with drum and bass playing all day and all night, an endless supply of alcohol, as well as strange characters and language barriers. We walked out of town the next morning, found our highway and hitched to Sofia.

Our plan had been to get to Skopje that night, but after a bad decision in one of the cars we got stuck on the ring road. We ended up spending the night in Sofia with a last-minute-arranged couchsurfer and hitched out the next morning. Leaving Sofia was slow and painful and we thought we’d never make it to the capital of Macedonia before nightfall.

We arrived at the very quiet border crossing in between Bulgaria and Macedonia in the late afternoon. The sun was getting low and the altitude meant the air was already a bit chilly and there were not many cars traveling this road. All signs pointed towards a cold and uncomfortable night in the mountains. We walked through the border crossing and looked around at the mostly deserted shops and buildings welcoming us to Macedonia. After a couple minutes on the side of the road a car took all four of us all the way to Pristina, which was our first-choice destination before reason made us opt for the more realistic goal of reaching Skopje by the end of the day.

These stories may sound like a series of lucky breaks but it’s interesting to consider that they all took place in the same 48-hour period which also happened to be the very beginning of the most absurd and random leg of our trip. To say, upon reaching Pristina, that we felt unnaturally lucky is an understatement.

How to liberate yourself while traveling

By traveling free, and I mean truly liberated, you are detached from obligations, reservations, hassles and other related problems. But how to get to this state?

Determination is key. Things don’t come easily when you rely on other people’s generosity for your necessities. Things might not even come at all but you still have to hang in there. Hitch-hiking is the most random and unreliable means of transportation and waiting for a car may keep you on the side of the road for as little as five minutes or as long as five hours.

Flexibility is a must. Accommodation may turn out to be a spare room in somebody’s house, a hotel lobby’s couch or perhaps a field in an empty lot. The uncertainty is what makes it exciting. It also makes it difficult for those travelers who expect everything to be handed to them. Of course we want the world and we want it now, but if now is five hours from now you’d better find a game to play on the side of the road.

Creativity one of the essential prerequisites to carefree travel, after optimism. Creativity comes in handy in every situation. You have no car, no house and no food and you have to make one or all of these elements appear. The important thing to keep in mind is that everything you need is out there and available. In any given city at any given moment there are empty rooms, almost every car has an empty seat in it, and every restaurant has extra food or leftovers waiting for you. All you have to do is figure out how to cross that bridge that separates you from what you need.

Obviously, things won’t come easily, at least not quite as easily as if you were to book ahead and pay full price for them. Being creative means being able to come up with unconventional ways of obtaining things. It means coming up with a quick story when required and being able to communicate on little or no common language through ideas and signs. Creativity allows us to overcome all the challenges that can’t be ignored.

Don’t be shy. In many situations all you have to do is ask. We walked into a Pizza restaurant in Pristina asking for free food and were served fresh hot pizzas made just for us. We asked a bar owner if we could stay after closing time to sleep and he let us. We asked internet cafes for a couple free minutes and they let each one of us use a computer for more than an hour. If you don’t ask, people won’t think to offer. We were sitting outside a mall in Croatia on our way to Venice when a man walked up and offered us rooms for rent. Instead of just declining the offer I randomly asked him if he was driving to Venice in the afternoon. There was absolutely no reason to believe he might be and as it turned out he wasn’t, but after a couple minutes he came back and offered to drive us to the first rest area on the highway. That ride saved us hours of waiting in the suburbs of Zadar.

Lower your standards. Chances are you won’t be getting a shower and a hot meal every night. You’ll probably sleep outside many nights and go several days without washing. Most personal hygiene can be taken care of with a bottle of water, but you have to learn to live without showering for days at a time. Travelling near water is a good way to ensure basic hygiene. Lakes, seas and rivers are great to wash in if you’re traveling in warm climates. Sleeping outside is not as bad as it sounds, especially when the weather is nice. In Trogir, Croatia, we found an open building and borrowed cushions from the nearby cafes. It turned out to be one of our most comfortable nights. Keep your expectations low and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what comes your way.

Travel light. Anything beyond one change of clothes, a sleeping bag, tent and a basic set of toiletries is excessive. Unfortunately, we had two hookah pipes and three guitars for four people, but things would have been a lot easier with just the minimum. Keep in mind that you will be carrying everything on your back, throwing your stuff into and out of cars all the time, and during some rides you’ll have to hold your stuff on your lap.

Why travel this way?

One question I feel obligated to answer after giving all these tips for carefree travel is: why do this to yourself? Why wouldn’t you just get a job and save up the necessary money to go travelling in a more comfortable, typical way?

The most important benefit is the feeling of liberty that comes with such an experience. Rarely have I felt as free as when I found myself standing on the side of an unknown road in an obscure country with no local currency in my pocket, no knowledge of the language, and no sense of direction or time. Nowhere to be, nothing to do, no deadlines to meet, trains to catch, or bookings to confirm. When you know that you’ve just traveled a certain distance in one direction but you could turn around and go another direction and it wouldn’t make any difference to anyone, you know you’ve reached a certain degree of freedom that few people will be fortunate enough to experience in their lives.

The second major benefit is all the opportunities that arise only for the , carefree traveler. Could I have gone fishing in the rivers of southern Kosovo and spent the night in a farm in the mountains if I’d been taking trains and staying in hostels? Would I have spent the night in a sixteenth century monastery in Montenegro if I hadn’t been picked up by an Orthodox monk on a small country road? Would I have met so many interesting people if I hadn’t had to walk up to them and ask for assistance? On this trip I experienced a lot more of the Balkans than I would have, had I travelled like the typical Euro-rail-pass-carrying backpacker.

The third benefit is the complete absence of hassle. No longer do you have to get up early on your last day in a city to make it to the airport in time. You don’t have to find out how to get to the airport nor how much it will cost you. You don’t need to worry about making it to your hostel before they cancel your reservation. All these problems come with conventional travel and make it painful at times.

The fact that this way of traveling happens to be a very cheap way of doing things is a benefit, but in comparison to the other advantages, it seems so minuscule that it is hardly worth mentioning.

Is carefree traveling for you?

You don’t become the ultimate carefree traveler overnight and it isn’t a philosophy that everyone will embrace. But if you already have a tendency towards detachment from objects and you enjoy peace of mind more than a warm shower, then you should get used to it pretty quickly.

You’ll probably want to phase into it gradually: first by replacing overland flights with buses and trains, then switching to hitching when you can. Then you’ll start replacing hostel nights with couchsurfing, camping or urbancamping.

Before you know it, you’ll be wandering the streets of a city you’ve never heard of looking for cardboard and a bus stop to sleep in while looking forward to hitching to a lake the next morning to take your first bath in four days. You’ll find yourself sitting by the lake on a sunny day with nowhere to go that day and you’ll lie in the grass, stare at the sky and think to yourself “life is sweet!”

by Stephen Bugno

Despite the Algarve’s reputation as an over-developed holiday destination for Northern Europeans, there are a few gems—unspoiled, laid-back, small towns with adequate, reasonably-priced accommodation and fantastic beaches.

Tavira

Although technically a river town situated on both sides of the Rio Gilao, Tavira is a ten-minute ferry ride away from the Ilha de Tavira—an island with a 14km stretch of dune-backed beaches without a hotel in sight. The town itself is very attractive with a few sites of its own, and plenty of accommodation and restaurants, bars, and cafes. Located about 20km from the Spanish border, it’s a fine spot to use as a base while exploring the coast of the eastern Algarve: place such as Cacela Velha, Manta Rota, Altura, and Praia Verde.

Sagres

On the far southwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula, Sagres is surrounded by four superb beaches. Although not necessarily an overly charming town, it is pleasant enough and has the necessities to keep the family, surfer, or backpacker content. The sheltered, south-facing Praia de Mareta is great place for bathing, Praia do Martinhal for windsurfing, the wild Praia do Tonel for surfing, and Praia de Belixe for an absolutely stunning setting under cliffs. A couple outfits in town offer surfing lessons as well.

Carrapateira

North from Sagres, along the untamed Atlantic, sits the small town of Carrapateira. Located on the hillside about a kilometer inland, it has adequate budget guesthouses and plenty of private rooms for rent. From here you have access to two fine beaches with incredible surf baked by beautiful sand dunes. In town there’s a surf school which many come here especially to do.

Odeceixe

Four kilometers upstream from a beautiful beach where the Odeceixe River empties into the sea, the town with the same name is built upon the hill. A haven for campervanners, backpackers, surfers, and families alike, the Praia de Odeceixe is a wide, sandy beach with excellent, mild-temperature-water swimming. The gorgeous, cultivated, river-valley setting only complements the calm atmosphere of this community. Zambujeira do Mar Although located in Alentejo, Zambujeira do Mar has much in common with the surf spots of the Algarve. Set atop a cliff, the attractive whitewashed village looks down to a strikingly picturesque beach surrounded on both sides by protected coastline. Zambujeira is a quiet place to relax for days on end, enjoying seafood or drinks at outdoor cafes and restaurants. Every summer it hosts the huge “Festival do Sudoeste” music festival, which attracts big names in the music world and an alternative, laid-back crowd.

Vila Nova de Milfontes

Understandably, Vila Nova de Milfontes is a popular place, though it remains unspoiled. The beaches here are the main draw at this typical Alentejo resort, located about 30km north of Zambujeira. Sandy spots face the open ocean as well as those strung out along the calm, warmer, estuary waters attracting families and independent travelers throughout the summer months. Vila Nova de Milfontes is a great place to sample the outstanding cuisine that Alentejo has to offer, enjoying the small-town atmosphere while al fresco dining.

Stephen Bugno has been traveling and teaching English abroad for the better part of ten years. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, and Transitions Abroad magazine. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag.