If you feel so strongly that the GRS archives lack articles based on travel for what you want, you should write a guest post about it. He’s looking for guest posts, and you’re probably adept enough at the internet to do the research. I’d love to see what you come up with.

And, my kids have absolutely loved the experience of having couchsurfers. We still keep in touch with many of them on social media sites. What a great experience.

Anyway, I haven’t traveled overseas for many years now but I stayed at a hostel in London and it was pretty depraved, you might say. I’m glad to hear that things have gotten better with respect to hostels, although I’m sure there are still squalors out there to be wary of.

I’m thinking of traveling to Thailand and was wondering if you might recommend either a hostel in Bangkok that is clean and comfortable. Or, if you might have contacts there who are open to hosting a couch or showing an American the sights.

Oh yeah, your pictures of the Ukraine are amazing. My father and I were talking the other day about a program on Discovery channel that talked about the thriving wildlife in Chernobyl. Apparently, animals of all sorts: deer, bears, wolves, etc. not only survived the blast but have thrived and grown at rates that baffle scientists there.

Thanks, man.

Also, look into packing a camping tent and camping sleeping bag(they often compress down to the size of a large coffee can) and you can use a campground for a night or two instead of a hotel!

Let’s see–you don’t have to provide even the undoubtedly low going rate for farm labor and you get to congratulate yourself on how progressive you are . Afterwards, you can overcharge for your organic produce. A win for everyone!

Sure, let your guests bring their kids. A little child labor never hurt anyone, did it?

The residents of other countries are not eccentric and cute zoo exhibits. They do not see themselves as exotic specimens put in place for privileged Americas to study. Quite properly, they will make as much money off of you as they can and will laugh at your delusions in the process.

As is usual with community rating, you’ll find a mix of positive and negative reviews, but they can help guide your selection so long as you take them with a grain of salt.

I’ve used listings on tripadvisor to find lodging months in advance, and also just a day in advance when my travel plans weren’t fixed. Worked great every time!

Note that you don’t book through tripadvisor, but it links you to multiple booking options. It’s important to take good notes about what you’ve booked, through whom, and what the cancellation policy is!

You can travel comfortably and still immerse yourself within a culture. You can pay more for food and still experience the culture. You can pay for a private English guide (why would I want one in a different language?) and experience the culture.”

twiggers, while this is sometimes true especially if you go to a developed country like Italy, Spain or Australia, it is very different in a developing or poor country.

You will NOT experience the immersion going to Cancun or Punta Cana or Puerto Plata, and staying at a hotel/resort with their high walls of beautiful white, and right outside is a dirt road with dirty children playing with chickens, local people crammed into shared vans, going to work, serving you steak at the resort restaurant. I’m not saying it’s wrong, but it’s a different thing of vacationing, don’t pretend you’re getting any local culture staying at one of these resorts.

- luxury
- privacy
- safety
- relaxation
- first world comfort
- economical

if you live in NYC, LA, Chicago or any other big US cities, you won’t have any trouble finding ‘authentic’ world restaurants either.

If you just want to stay in a nice hotel and order room service, stay in a nearby city. If you want to go hiking, head to a National or State Park. If you want to go to a beach, head to the closest warm weather destination like Florida.

There are always trade offs, so if you don’t care about local culture, why fly to a beach in Thailand or go hiking in Switzerland? I think this article is great for people who want to experience new, different, or foreign things while traveling. You can have a great trip while staying at a 5 star hotel, but that’s not the reason I’m traveling, so a hostel works just fine.

I’m not completely sure about the costs in said countries but I’d bet my left arm that there is no way you will get from, oh say Gothenburg to Stockholm on 3 bucks.