Before embarking on a year-long trip around the world, we’d never used Airbnb for international accommodations. Because we’d typically only be traveling for a couple weeks at a time, we usually stayed at cozy inns, boutique hotels, or bed and breakfasts (if we weren’t camping). This time, though, we were going to have to sustain ourselves for an entire year. Knowing we’d have to cut corners on the budget in some way, we turned to Airbnb. The increasingly-popular online booking…

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Making the commitment to pack up and spend the world sightseeing is an exciting prospect, but at the same time daunting and perhaps a bit surreal. We are not independently wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but we are pretty diligent penny-pinchers and savers. Before we left on our long-term adventure, my mind continually questioned, ‘can we really do this on a practical budget?’ After months on the road, I learned that the answer simply – if not surprisingly –…

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When packing for a typical trip, items that are at the forefront of most of our thoughts are the basics – clothes, underwear, a toothbrush, rain jacket. But when you are actually living out of a single backpack (think tortoise carrying his house on his back), packing takes on kind of a new meaning. Things that aren’t typically a consideration for a week-long retreat now become increasingly important – How can I segregate all things dirty and gross? How can…

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From maps to money to making reservations, these were some of the smart phone apps we found most valuable during our year-long journey around the world:  Although the first item is not technically an app, for us, it was an invaluable tool. Before embarking on our world tour, we switched our wireless carrier to Google’s Project Fi, which (for us) turned out to be a huge money saver. The service works by pinging off three major providers – U.S. Cellular, Sprint,…

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