The best way to explore an off-beat destination

I sat down not long ago and decided to try and pinpoint where it all began; to try and figure out what first sparked the wanderlust that oh-so-often flares up inside of me. I finally came to a conclusion: It all started because of a mysterious woman in a red trenchcoat. That’s right —  Carmen Sandiego . Remember her? I didn’t have cable growing up. I lived out in the country, on a Christmas tree farm with a gravel driveway a quarter-mile long. Aside from Saturday morning cartoons on the major networks, most of my television entertainment came from PBS. Ah, PBS. “Sesame Street.” “Nova.” Telethons where you could donate money and receive giant stuffed Elmo dolls in thanks. After school each afternoon in elementary school, I would do some homework, and then my babysitter and I would sit down for an episode of “Wishbone” (where I learned all the important things about classic literature from a spunky Jack Russell Terrier), followed by my favorite show on TV: “Where in the World i...

I'm not a professional traveler. I do not make a living from taking trips around the world. For a long time, I was not location-independent, either — I was just your average recent-college-graduate, trying to figure out how to balance a small paycheck with my desire to travel as much as possible. And yet, people often tell me how jealous they are of all my travels. They tell me how “lucky” I am. They say they wish they could travel like I do. But you know what? They absolutely can. YOU can, too. So many of those out there who are writing about travel are professional nomads. Many of them lack a home address, and can fit most of their worldly possessions into a backpack. They flit from London to Bangkok to Sydney and back again, and we “ordinary” people think this is all so terribly romantic and awesome that we convince ourselves that we can't possibly do the same. We psyche ourselves out and buy into a lot of misconceptions about living a life full o...

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with some spooky tales from around the world? There are plenty of places purported to be “haunted” in all corners of the globe, whether because of violent history, or just thanks to pure superstition. In honor of Halloween, I asked some fellow travelers about some of the creepiest, spookiest places they've ever visited. So if you're looking for somewhere goosebump-inducing to visit this week, here are some suggestions: Dark House in Villisca, Iowa In the small town of Villisca, Iowa, there is a small two story house that was the site of eight brutal murders in 1912 that were never solved. Since then there have been reports of voices, moving objects, and occasional screams. My family visited this house and it is a little creepy. My daughter and I sat in the closet that a lot of reports come from and I sat in the attic where the murderer is believed to have hid, waiting for the family to go to sleep. There is quite a story about...