Posts with Category This Writer’s Life

A big thanks to BootsnAll

Since early in 2007, BootsnAll.com has hosted this blog for free.  Today all that changes.

In high school and college I never knew anyone that had or even wanted to throw a few possessions in their backpack and head out for a few months to a foreign land.  Call me sheltered, but at the time I wondered if people even did this sort of thing.  When I started to float the idea with family and friends, most of them never knew either.

Enter BootsnAll and their community of friendly travelers. Their message boards are filled with like-minded folks who are happy to lend help with an itinerary or packing list.

I’ve always felt indebted to the community Sean Keener and Chris Heidrich have created.  They helped me…

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Interviewed by Budget Travel

JD Rinner at Budget Travel recently interviewed me.  I need to take the photo of me in Honduras off the photo page I send to media folks.  They always choose that one. When I use the photo in presentations I accompany it with, “Come on. Would you let that joker into your factory. The fro…the T-shirt… Really?”

The cool thing about the interview is that they asked some travel related questions I haven’t been asked.  Have a sample:

Q: What’s your best tip for travelers going to foreign countries—like really foreign countries?

A: Trust someone you meet, but be weary of anyone who approaches offering help.

Q: How do you make sure you’re experiencing a place as a local would?

A: That’s easy. Experience a place with a local by your side. Make…

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Invisible Bonds

Grandpa Wilt

I almost joined the Navy ROTC in college.  I thought it would be a good way to have some adventures and see the world.  I’m not sure why I didn’t.  I think it had something to do with Jimmy Buffett and this dude that you’ve probably never heard of who had a show on the Travel Channel.

At some point I decided that I could make my own adventures and probably not get shot at.

I graduated in the spring of 2001 and, if I had enlisted in the ROTC, I would have began my two years of mandatory service immediately.  I’ve never been to a desert, but no doubt I would have been shipped to the Mid-East almost immediately.

Instead, on…

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