Here you'll find all the best inspirational and tip-based posts that I've written over the years.
They're loosely categorized for you to browse here.
Inspiration
You Don’t Have to Ditch the 9 to 5 in Order to Travel
You don't have to quit your job and become a digital nomad in order to see the world.
The World is Not Safe – But You Should Explore it Anyway
Nowhere in the world is entirely safe, but you shouldn't let fear keep you from exploring it anyway.
26 Things Travel Has Taught Me
Travel can teach you a lot, both about yourself and the wider world. Here are 26 things I've learned from traveling the world.
- 5 Ways Travel Has Made Me More Adventurous
- Why I'm Not Afraid to Travel Alone
- 10 Inspirational Tolkien Quotes About Travel and Life
- Life is Short. Travel Now.
- When Their Dream is Not Your Dream
- 5 Things My 86-Year-Old Grandma Taught Me About Travel
Musings/Philosophy
8 Truths About Traveling as an Introvert
Did you know that a lot of people who love to travel are introverted? (It's not just you!) Here's what traveling as an introvert is like.
Why I Won’t Get Mad If You Call Me Lucky
Travel is a privilege, and I AM pretty lucky in a lot of ways. So while I do work hard, I also won't get mad if you call me lucky to travel so much.
It’s Okay to Feel These (Negative) Things When You Travel
Fear, anxiety, boredom, loneliness… there's nothing wrong with you if you feel these things on a trip!
- I Hate to Break it To You, But Travel IS Political
- 9 Reasons You Should Never Travel the World
- Why Traveling as a Female Rocks (and Why it Sucks)
- Why Sustainable Tourism Should Matter to You
- Should You Quit School to Travel the World?
- Is Travel the Best Education?
- Am I a Lame Traveler? (Or Why You Should Never Let Anyone Tell You Where You Should or Shouldn't Travel)
- The Traveler vs. Tourist Debate and Why I Don’t Give a Crap
- 5 Times When It's NOT OK to Take a Travel Selfie
- Why Guided Tours are Not the Devil
- The Pros and Cons of Travel
- What is travel? Why do we do it?
- “Dark” Travel as a Way to Pay Tribute
Travel tips
How to Plan an Awesome Trip in 16 Easy Steps
Wondering how I go about planning all my travel? Here's everything you need to know about how I plan my trips.
How to Keep Your Money and Valuables Safe on Your Travels
Keep yourself safe from pickpockets and other petty crime with these tips on how to keep your things safe on your travels.
7 Ways You Can Help Combat Climate Change as a Traveler
Some suggestions on how you can reduce your footprint and be a more responsible and sustainable traveler.
Travel Checklist: 11 Things to Do Before Going on an International Trip
Here are all the things you don't want to forget to do before leaving on that next trip abroad.
10 Tips for How to Travel More with Limited Vacation Time
Tips for how you can still travel and take epic trips, even if you're limited by not a lot of paid vacation time.
10 Tips to Help You Plan a Successful Workation
Want to work while you travel? Here are some good tips on how to plan a workation that actually… works.
- 10 Tips for How to Pack Carry On Only for Your Next Trip
- 8 Tips for Planning the Perfect Long Weekend Trip
- How to Plan a Weekend Away That Actually Feels Like a Vacation
- The Best Ways to Stay Connected on Your Travels
- 7 Essential Tips for Flying Budget Airlines in the US
- Travel in the Time of Zika: How to Avoid Mosquitos on the Road
- How to Deal With Travel-Wary Parents
- 9 Money-Saving Tips For Travelers From Travelers
- In-Flight Essentials to Make Long Flights Suck Less
- 6 Easy Ways to Use Less Plastic on Your Travels
- How to Photograph the Northern Lights
Solo Travel
11 Tips to Help Make Your First Solo Trip Great
Traveling solo for the first time? Use these tips to help make your first solo trip safe and fun.
Top 9 Questions About Solo Travel Answered
All the questions you've ever had about solo travel answered all together in one post.
Why I’m Not Afraid to Travel Alone
People often assume (or tell you) that you should be afraid of traveling solo as a woman. But I'm not afraid, and here's why.
- Dear Dad: Please Don't Worry (a Treatise on Solo Female Travel)
- 3 Great Destinations for First-Time Solo Female Travelers
- 7 Great Places for Solo Female Travel in 2015
- 5 Reasons Solo Travel Sucks
Personal Posts
Expectations vs. Reality: My Top Travel Letdowns and Surprises
My top letdowns and surprises after 10+ years of traveling all around the world.
How I Failed at Being a Digital Nomad
I tried being a full-time traveler and “digital nomad” once; it did not go well, and I realized that lifestyle just wasn't for me.
My Travel Tattoos and Their Stories
I have several tattoos, all of which are tied to my travels. Here are the stories behind each of my tattoos!
- Where it All Began: It’s Carmen Sandiego’s Fault
- Why I DIDN'T Quit My Job to Travel
- Musing on My Concept of Home and How Travel Has Shaped It
- 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Going on a Digital Detox
- How to Plan a Travel-Themed Wedding That Doesn’t Suck
- 9 Signs You Are NOT a Hiker
Cruising
7 Reasons You Should Go on That River Cruise This Year
River cruising is my favorite kind of cruising. Here are 7 reasons to go on a river cruise.
How to Decide if an Active River Cruise is Right for You
Avalon Waterways has launched a line of active river cruises, which offer brand new types of excursions.
Exploring Christmas Markets with Viking River Cruises
If you want to celebrate the holidays in a new way, consider a Christmas market river cruise!
- Cruising Solo: What It's Like to Go on a Viking River Cruise Alone
- 6 Highlights from an Active River Cruise with Avalon Waterways
- Cruising Eastern Europe with AmaWaterways
- Meet Giannina – Life as a Cruise Ship Employee
Gift/Gear Guides
- Amanda’s Holiday Gift Guide for Travelers and Travel Lovers
- The Quest to Find the Perfect Travel Shoe
- The Best Luggage and Bags for Travel
- A Peek Inside My Camera Bag: My Favorite Travel Photography Gear
- The Top 12 Things I Can’t Travel Without
Travel Blogging
Because sometimes I do write posts for other bloggers.
How I Make Money as a Travel Blogger
It's the number one question people ask me, and I break down my income streams for you in this post.
The Business of Blogging: What I’ve Learned After 10 Years
I've been blogging for more than 10 years; here are all the things I've learned in that time.
How Blogging Has Changed the Way I Travel
For better or worse, travel blogging has definitely changed the way I travel.
- Turning a Blog into a Business: 7 Things I Did Right
- How to Start a Travel Blog in 10 Simple Steps
- 5 Lessons from 5 Years of Travel Blogging
- My Life as a Travel Blogger
- Behind the Scenes: What is Working Remotely Really Like?
- What It’s Really Been Like to Run a Travel Blog During a Global Pandemic
- Is Anybody Out There? Hang in There, Travel Bloggers
- Secrets to Running a Travel Blog When You Aren't Traveling
- How to Work With Tourism Boards
- Why the Travel Blogging Community is Awesome
- 18 Travel Bloggers with Different Perspectives to Follow
I have a question. I’m in my twenties and interested in going on a backpacking trip through Europe for about 6 weeks–by myself. Without using a travel program. (I’d have a self-made itinerary but it wouldn’t be through intrepid travel etc.). Does this seem like a stupid idea? Not safe? Any advice or experience you can share would be so helpful.
I write a TON about independent travel, and have traveled around Europe for months at a time on my own before. I don’t think it’s a stupid idea at all!
Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your blog? My blog is in the very same niche as yours and my visitors would certainly benefit from a lot of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this ok with you. Thank you!
You can certainly link to any of my content that you’d like, but please refrain from copying too much of my text; it could hurt us both in search results.
When you travel, do you have to know the language? Or at least bits of it? Or do you just go and hope someone understands English?
You definitely don’t need to know the language. A few words is nice (like hello and thank you), but you’d be surprised how many people abroad speak English – especially in places that lots of people visit. And when someone doesn’t speak English, you can usually still get by. 🙂
In my country (as in Western Europe) it is rather common that families don’t travel without an additional travel insurance.
I have one for all -year- round, whether I travel just across the border (or in my own country) or to another continent (in that case, I just pay some more euros.
I would be a happy mom if MY children would travel like yours. Backpacking and other big trips are often better life-lessons than studying 😉 or words that parents keep repeating 😉 🙂
(hope you understand my English, it ‘s not my mother language, neither 2nd language…) 🙂
Bookmarked… Thanks.
[…] in Tourism. Plus, she’s a Mid-west girl, like me! Amanda has many really insightful posts about travel in general that I find myself reading over and over again. She also has many posts about travel blogging which […]
While I haven’t read all the postings and comments I get concerned about something not mentioned. Yes, I was one of those worrying parents when my eldest daughter (I have 2) went off to Europe with 2 friends immediately after College graduation – and yes, all they took was a backback each. As a parent you start to worry “what if this or what if that”, but the benefit of travel is undeniable. The one IF I took care of was that each of the girls had a Travel Medical policy – I won’t go into all the details of the dozens of benefits built in and will only mention that the company (whose products I do sell) maintains a 24/7 Emergency call center that is multi-lingual capable, that they have medical experts on call should someone be needed to “oversee” the level of care being provided, and even considerable “Concierge” type services. Knowing that should those types of services is a phone call, fax or email away makes it (only) a bit easier for a parent. I’d like to know if you have the possibility of accepting advertising towards that end – or if I could offer to answer any questions your readers may post regarding this topic. Most people, and not just Americans, do not realize that in all probability their domestic health insurance will not cover them outside the country. That could cause life-long financial problems, not to speak of possible physical consequences. I look forward to a reply. Thank you for your time and consideration.
I always get travel insurance for big trips abroad and agree that it’s important – especially for those “just in case” circumstances. I’m not currently running any insurance advertising, but if you want to get my rates, please shoot me an email ([email protected]).
Hello,
Firstly I would just like to say that your site is pretty awesome; I’m loving the Tolkien theme!
Currently I am writing a persuasive speech for my communication class on why everyone should travel at some point in their lives, and I’m looking for a good solid quote from a blogger who has been out and about in the world. So my question for you is, “How has the world changed you? And what would it be like if you weren’t able to travel?” How would you compile all your feelings about it into a single sentence or two?
I’m very excited to get your response! In fact, if any travelers have a thought on this I would be enthralled to read all of your responses!
Traveling the world has changed everything about how I see the world. The media often makes the world “out there” seem so dangerous, and yet traveling has taught me that people all around the globe are far more similar than they are different.
Travel does what good novelists also do to the life of everyday, placing it like a picture in a frame or a gem in its setting, so that the intrinsic qualities are made more clear. Travel does this with the very stuff that everyday life is made of, giving to it the sharp contour and meaning of art.I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.
Thank you so much for your response! I feel much better. You’ve got a really great site here. The best travel blog I’ve come across.
Aww thanks so much, Rachel! 🙂
Thanks so much for this blog. It’s delightful and inspiring.
I have a question. I’m in my twenties and interested in going on a backpacking trip through Europe for about 6 weeks–by myself. Without using a travel program. (I’d have a self-made itinerary but it wouldn’t be through intrepid travel etc.). Does this seem like a stupid idea? Not safe? Any advice or experience you can share would be so helpful.
Thanks again for being an inspiration!
That doesn’t sound like a stupid idea at all, Rachel! Europe is GREAT for a solo backpacking trip, because there’s so much to see and so many other travelers around all the time, too.
I traveled around Western Europe for a month two summers ago with Busabout, using their hop-on, hop-off tickets. It’s not a guided tour at all – it’s just a bus pass, basically. But it was great because it made it really easy to meet other travelers, and I never had to worry about how I was getting from one place to the next!
I’ve written about Busabout here if you want to read more: https://www.dangerous-business.com/2013/11/whats-like-travel-around-europe-busabout/
i am a female in my 20s from ireland and i am going volunteering in a chrildrens orphange alone in bangkok . is it safe for women to travel alone in bangkok. any advice ?
There are always lots of tourists in Bangkok – and for that reason alone, I think it’s quite a safe destination. I would expect some culture shock, though – Bangkok can be really crazy!! Also, I would make sure to read up on common scams in Thailand and Bangkok. The most danger you face is falling prey to a scam. Which of course isn’t terrible, but also isn’t fun!
Amanda thank you so much for shearing your experience and work with us. I would say Dangerous-business.com sums up and enterly faculty in tourism 🙂 You`re sure helping us sheaping the travel bug some may have hidden in us. Just reading your posts I understood travel the world equals accept the world and self the way it is. Keep up the good work!