Wander the Planet .net

Welcome! Bienvenida! Karibu! Accueil!

Welcome to my travel site! Hopefully you will find the budget travel tips useful and the travelogues and photos interesting!

My first trip out of the country was to Mexico City when I was in the 6th grade. I was fascinated by the pyramids and the floating gardens.

One afternoon, I had had enough of hanging out with my group so I decided to go off on my own (I've always been a loner). I told my chaperone that I just wanted to go to the lobby gift shop to look around and left the room. Then I continued through the lobby, left the hotel, and starting exploring the city. Humm a mixed 9-year old armed with no Spanish wandering the streets of Mexico City alone. Certainly not the smartest thing I've done! Anyway, I wandered in and out of stores for the first hour. Then it started raining hard and I couldn't remember where my hotel was. After an hour of wandering, I finally found my hotel and was scared that I would get into trouble for leaving the group. Luckily I was safe and sound but I was grounded for the last 2 days of the trip.

I first used my passport the summer between my sophomore and junior years in high school. I played saxophone for the Bay Area Wind Symphony and we toured France, Germany and Switzerland. I had a fantastic time and again ditched my group to explore the cities on my own.

I went on my first solo backpacking trip a few years after grad school. I quit my research job and went to Ecuador for 3 months armed with a guidebook and some high school Spanish. I loved staying in the hostels and meeting cool fellow backpackers. I decided then that I would never stay at a hotel or travel with a tour group in a foreign country again!

Anyway, I could ramble on and on but I won't. At the top of this page, you'll find links to budget travel tips that I've picked up throughout the years. To the left, you'll find links to my travelogues and photos by country.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." -- Mark Twain

Top 10 Reasons to Travel

10) It's interesting to see differences between western and non-western culture.

9) Driving from one place to the next is often its own adventure.

8) Pick up cool gifts for your friends/family like rain sticks from the Amazon.

7) Learning a foreign language is sexy.

6) Trying new foods is always fun! Have some grilled cuy (guinea pig) in Ecuador or impala in South Africa.

5) Helps you remember not to take things for granted back home.

4) See/experience things firsthand that you learned about in school.

3) Instead of zoo or aquarium, see animals in their natural habitat while trekking in the jungle or diving in the cayes.

2) Experiencing different places and cultures can expand tolerance.

1) You meet great people and can make lifelong friendships.