There have been a plethora of posts on Bangkok’s ‘Top 10’, one of my favorite being from CNN: 50 reasons why Bangkok’s the world’s greatest city. However, many people have asked me about my trip lately (i.e. during interviews) and I’ve tripped up a few times in my efforts to succinctly sell my experience in the World’s greatest city in 2 minutes. So with some reflection, here are the top 10 reasons answering the question “Why travel to Bangkok?”

1. Thai People

Straight chill waves. Peaceful, nice, accepting, and relaxed. Perfect, Western-friendly culture for confused travelers. There are obviously scams and touts like everywhere in Asia, but just use common sense.

2. Food

Say goodbye to too-sweet $15 American pad thai, and hello to $1 street Pad Thai glory. A decent diet can be made up of a rotation between noodle dishes, rice dishes, street fruit, and plentiful international cuisine.

3. Cost of living

Overall, there’s an extremely friendly cost of living for those interested in living like a Thai while traveling. However, if you prefer to live like an American or European in Thailand while in Bangkok, costs will be slightly lower or at par with your homeland. Pretty much a win win.

4. International - Rough Hybrid

Bangkok is an extremely International city in parts, yet extremely Thai everywhere in between. Their interesting economic history plays a large part in this, as extremely rapid expansion in the late 90’s was on pace to transform them into a Seoul, South Korea until the Asian financial crisis originated in Bangkok in 1997 and almost sent them back to the stone age. I attribute the lovability of Bangkok to the extreme visual and cultural contrasts to the volatile economy left behind in the form of city layout and buildings.

5. Weather

Well, weather is hit or miss. Let’s just assume you go during high season November - January. Weather is a solid 75-85, humidity more than manageable,and sunny. The islands, always much nicer as well. Hard to beat that.

6. Travel Center

Bangkok is theeee epicenter for travelers in Asia. Khao San Road sees the most of the backpacker vibe. Even if you hate the backpacker overload, you’ll appreciate the services that come along with it - dirt cheap buses departing Bangkok, cheap hostels, tons of travel services, and a sense of comfort.

7. Hawt Threads

Shopping in Bangkok is awesome, coming from someone who hates shopping. As a thrifty shopper trending towards quality rip off merchandise, Bangkok is spot on. Malls and markets full of decent, negotiable clothing and merchandise are awesome. ALSO, Bangkok it is a necessity to get some clothes tailored when in Bangkok - some shirts at the very least, but suits recommended. Just be wary of touts and scams and do real research before choosing a tailor.

8. Cheap flights

As a travel center of Thailand and Southeast Asia, Bangkok serves as the hub for most Southeast Asian flights. Flights from Europe has some of the best flights to Bangkok coming from London, and airfares coming from US are consistently affordable as far as Asian destinations go.

Even better, Air Asia uses Bangkok as it’s second hub (after its HQ in Kuala Lumpur) servicing almost every Southeast Asian destination possible.

9. Sense of Lawlessness - A sense of anything goes and lawlessness in Bangkok is refreshing to a Midwestern audience used to getting $150 police tickets for driving 10mph over the speed limit. Traffic is crazy, the rules that do exist only do to be broken, and you feel like you’re living on the edge even though it’s really not that crazy. Favorite example of this ‘lawlessness’ –> motorcycle taxis & moped rentals. Nothing pleases me more than motorcycle taxis taking me on sidewalks and renting mopeds for $6/day.

10. Well documented

My IT background may be shining a little to brightly here - but Bangkok is an easy travel destination partly due to its documentation. There are a gagillion amazing travel resources for Bangkok online. TravelFish.com, TravelHappy.info, and Bangkok.com to name a few along with the legendary WikiTravel.

First, what am I talking about with vacation rentals and villas? Well, I’m talking about self catered apartments or homes. Considering a few nights at a mid level hotel or resort will run the same as a month’s rent from a nearby apartment, there are a plethora of vacation rentals out there. Finding them is the tricky part. Fortunately, the interwebs revolution has helped out and given us a few tools. First is HomeAway the legit short term rental website that has gotten some recent love from TechCrunch for its apps.

HomeAway’s European flavor comes in OwnersDirect that serves some of the Euro/UK demand. Both legit, comprehensive, and a good place to start.

So..a quick budget travel, villa feasibility analysis after my twelve minutes of research and high level thinking.

First fact: Budget friendly ‘villa’ gems - they do exist at 30-40 euros/night.. 200 euros/week. Perusing both villas in Greece and villas in Majorca, cheap apartment rentals are present, but definitely are a minority.

Vacation Rental Pros

• Off the Beaten Path - if you’re a slow traveler looking for some relaxation off the beaten path, vacation rentals are probably for you. You may be in a less bumpin’ locale further away from the clubz, but the feeling of a home and culture could be more prevalent.
• Comfort - Getting to share a home with a group of friends on a foreign beach with a pool might be more comfortable than your bunk in a hostel dorm.

Cons

• Social - Meeting other travelers in hostels is easy and bomb. Let’s be real. Secluding yourself to a rental might inhibit the ability to run into rando travelers.
• Effort - Planning and making reservations beforehand is a novel idea to many, and = effort that many of us don’t want to put in. Simply showing up at a hostel at 11pm is a little pleasure in life not offered here.
• Uncertainty - we fear what we do not know. I know cheap guesthouses, not vacation homes and the best practices involved in short term rentals.

Bottom Line: PRICE. Personally, vacation homes vs. hostels in a group travel setting would be a push for me in most cases. What I’m intrigued most by is the price. A 2 bedroom Greek apartment for 40 euros/night, split 4-5 ways seems bomb for a long short-term stay. Plus, it’s something different, and variation is always good. I should end with a rhetorical sentence as well, right?

So how does it work???????

1. Take 5 cool pictures
2. Write some good copy about those pictures
3. Tell a story about why you rule

If you win, you get free travel, Pentax photography gear, and published in National Geographic. The way latter definitely having the highest present value due to the leverage and credibility it could offer you in the photography biznass.

So, for more information check out the World Nomads site for their Travel Scholarship to Bhutan, and if you’re really feeling literate they have a press release out too.  Also, if you’re interested in more of these types of free travel ops, be sure to watch the world nomad webspace since these come around once in awhile if memory serves correct.

Why go to Cyprus:

• Decent prices – as far as hot beach escapes on the Mediterranean go, Cyprus is a different and affordable option.
• Not yet fully in the EU – They have the Euro, yet with their inclusion in the EU just 2 years old, they haven’t been completely unionized in a sense of prices and entrance requirements that are a bit murky when compared to the free flow of people elsewhere through the EU.  So if ever, now might be the time when looking at price levels and ‘difficulty’ of entrance.
• Interesting Politics - Its current political state is, erm, interesting. Some may dislike the conflict, but I think it adds allure as compromised safety is nowhere near an issue. Stats show Cyprus is unbelievablye safe and content.

Why not go to Cyprus

• Greece – With Greece in the economic shit hole, you may be better off just going to Greece. Greece offers more diversity, islands, historical significance, and [probably] beauty. While Cyprus’ financial situation is very questionable at the time as well, Greece’s seems more likely to discount travel options only in the short term. Its dealing with the crisis seems likely to lead to an economic rebound in the next 5 years or so.
• Limited transit options – Cyprus is accessible only by plane and ferry from (drumroll) Greece, as services from Israel and Turkey are no more. For vagabonding budget travelers seeking a little passport stamp diversity in their travels, it may not be ideal to sit in one spot the entire trip.
• Tourism saturation – not everybody loves British tourist saturation. ‘Cyprus holidays’ is a prevalent British buzz word resulting from its status as a former British colony. So if you have an issue with stereotypical Brits, maybe more off the beaten path destinations are better worth your time.

The Lowdown:
The political issues stem from a few Turkish and Greek disagreements in the past. The North is a bit fractioned off with Turkish influence, while the South is predominately Greek, and more of the stable EU part, per say. You’ll be going to the southern part, atleast for entrance purposes. Holidays to Larnaca in southeast Cyprusare the most common method of visiting Cyprus due to the availability of cheap flights. Other airports include Ercan in the North and Paphos (another beach area)  in the southwestern part of the island. A journey between Paphos and Larnaca would be the obvious route of traveling. The coastal drive linking these two destinations along the beautiful azul waters looks spectacular and is the highlight of a few journals I skimmed.

Internal Cyprus Locomotion
Getting around within Cyprus can be done by bus, shared taxi, or car rentals. Obviously, bus it up if you’re on a budget.

Cyprus Lodging
The term “hostel” doesn’t seem too prevalent in Cyprus from initial research. No worries, however, as quick online searches yielded cheap private hotel rooms for 15 Euros and up. The supply of budget hotels seems a bit sparse, so booking ahead might be a good idea.

Off the Beaten Path
Going off the beaten path in Cyprus seems plausible. I’ve read a few interesting reports and commentary on expeditions, but nothing link worthy. With the prevalence of British tourists and the industry catering to the resort type traveler, you’ll have to search a bit harder. With that comes great potential for genuine Cyprus experiences as well, since low travel saturation in secondary non-resort cities could leave amazing experiences to be had.

Conclusion: I’m intrigued by Cyprus. It’s politics interest me, and hopefully with my future Turkish language skills, a trip to both southern and northern Cyprus is in the near term for me.

• Study Abroad
• International internships
• Volunteer abroad
• Language study
• Working

Study Abroad

University Partner Exchange

I always advocate for high school or university study abroad programs. Your best bet will be to go through direct University exchange partner. Coming from a big land grand university, it’s easy but somewhat naive to expect everyone has such opportunities. Doing so will ensure credits transferring and support so you don’t have to go another $10,000 semester of college to make up for a ‘lost’ semester abroad.

Directly Enroll Abroad

While there are 3rd parties that facilitate a lot of exchanges, I’ve heard some not ideal things about some operators. Maybe another option might be deferring a semester, finding a university you like abroad, and go off the grid to study for a semester. Your uni will probably frown on this since they won’t get a cut of the profits from unnecessary fees, but it’s a possibility. This way you’ll pay the local university rate which is likely much less than your current tuition.

For example, a colleague in Thailand directly enrolled into the college as an exchange student. While it was a research, credit transfer, and paperwork nightmare, he paid something like $1,500 for a semester, whereas most others paid their home university’s tuition (likely $5,000+). Definitely worth the hassle considering the savings in this case.

Conclusion: Look at direct university exchanges offered through your college, or target a country and google yourself into oblivion looking for universities and inquiring about exchange programs.

Internships

Tons of for-profit offerings. I call complete bullshit and would avoid them out of principal. Paying placement fees for low or non paying internships (in addition to flights, visa expenses, etc.) is ludicrous and I find it hard to believe that most are beneficial. I have no personal experience, this is just the strong vibe I (and most others who’ve been on the internet for more than 2 years) get.

AIESEC

A slight alternative to such internship-arrangers (can i make up that word?) is AIESEC, which is a very large, diverse, and reputable student run non-profit that arranges international experiences and internships from their large database. Unfortunately, there are annoying fees, but the wage for internships with business or technical focus is substantial enough to probably make it a net $0 type of program in the end after all is said and done.

As a student run non-profit, it caters to undergrad or grad students and requires you to be within 2 years reach of either study option I believe. To find out more, seek out a local AIESEC chapter and they can explain more of the details and possibilities. Or just email me.

Corporate

If you go to a good university or take your career seriously, you could have a chance at a real corporate internship abroad. Dual language speakers win at this as well. Probably best for business and finance majors, look at massive multinational companies like Siemens and Unilver, and also at multinational banks and investment banks if you have the resume and experience to land a great internship.

Nonprofit love

Finally, getting an internship in a NGO / nonprofit might be your best bet outside of AIESEC. Don’t expect to be paid much more than living expenses, if that. If you’re motivated here, look at grants available to those going abroad in case you qualify for a grant to go abroad and save the world through a good NGO.

Conclusion: If you have the skills, you can make mad money and build your resume going corporate. AIESEC is reputable, but be wary of other 3rd parties that act as middle men. nobody should need to pay to work, period.

Volunteering

Volunteering, like most for profit ‘internships’ can be a bit tricky to search for. I highly recommend not paying $3,000 to volunteer with babies in India for 2 weeks. There are plenty of organizations out there that would just love you to help out for free.

I’m no expert on the subject, but fellow travel blogger Nerdy Nomad has created a well-received ebook on the subject titled “The Underground Guide to International Volunteering.” I haven’t been able to read it myself, but the blogosphere seems to like it so far and she’s a great resource. I’d surely shell out $14 if I was in the market to volunteer abroad.

If you want to totally DIY, due dilligence is necessary. Here’s a quick list of reputable volunteer possibilities:

• Idealist - Authoritative volunteer search
• Peace Corps - Have 2 years? Tons of benefits upon return
• Red Cross Volunteer
• Kiva Fellows - For microfinance, Kiva rules. There are tons of microfinance programs out there if Kiva doesn’t work for you.
• UN Volunteer - its da UN, I’m assuming it’s legit
• WWOOFing - Work abroad on organic farms for room and board. This is legit.
• WorkAway - Similar to WWOOFing, but a lot more options here not limited to farm or outdoor work necessarily
• Matador Travel list of 44 International Volunteer Organizations
• Esacape Artist - Just another link list.

Language Study

Traveling slowly and learning the language along the way through private language schools is a great option for anyone. 123TeachMe is hands down the greatest resource I’ve come across that caters to those primarily interested in Spanish. There are a multitude of larger language learning companies that offer experiences around the rest of the world as well. Due dilligence will be key here though as quality can vary as the offerings have probably been commoditized recently.

Alternatively, if you’re an outstanding student you may have a shot at programs through the State Department. The Government sponsors several distinguished critical language learning programs that I’ve mentioned numerous times before.

Conclusion: If you have a shot at a grant to study or going through the State Dept, this should be your first choice. Otherwise, once again, due dilligence. Shop around and compare hourly rates. A place I found years ago with good rates was AppleLanguages - I have no experience, but 5 years ago they looked decent, so take that for what it’s worth.

Working

Teaching English

The last option is for those that actually want, or need, to work..most likely for financial reasons. Teaching English is your best bet. I’d even go so far as to say it’s a shoe in for all native english-ers. Anybody with a pulse can go to Asia and teach English, typically with just a Bachelor’s Degree. Some positions may require a TEFL beforehand, while others will offer training opportunities or sponsorship for the certification.

Teaching English is great in that it’s location flexible and/or is paid well in some areas of high demand. The possibilities are essentially endless if you’re into the whole teaching thing. Some resources to get started:

• Wikipedia TEFL - possibly information overload, but get used to it.
• JET Programme - competitive teaching program in Japan
• ESL Cafe - Active teaching forums at ESL Cafe as well
• TEFL Net
• Ajarn - Teaching English in Thailand resource
• Tealit - Teaching English in Taiwan Resource
• Footprints recruiting - Get recruited and let a 3rd party help match you.
• Teach English in Korea - Matador Travel resource
• Teaching in Japan - Matador Travel Post
• Matador ESL - All of Matador’s ESL resources

Online Entrepreneurship / “Lifestyle Design”

Lifestyle design, independent living, vagabonding entrepreneurs - whatever you want to call it, this is in. There are a ton of blogs on the subject and people to help inspire your own lifestyle designing abroad as an entrepreneur. My favorites, most definitely being AONC and Thrilling Heroics

Through the fluff, this is online entrepreneurship. Sell online products, offer online services, or run profitable advertising driven websites. Many like Cody at TH do this while living and traveling abroad where the cost of living can make online cash flow a lot more sustainable.

Multinationals & Executive search firms

If you’re a corporate executive type you should be in pretty good shape in our globalization environment. Get in touch with executive search firms and multinationals. I’m assuming that if this is you, you wouldn’t be reading my lowly budget travel blog.

When I decided to spend a few weeks following my studies on a large trip, India was the only option in my mind. Its mystique, massive population, rapid economic growth and prowess, and completely foreign culture drew me in quickly.

When I tried reading up on India and getting started, I immediately realized I knew very little about the place and how manageable a solo trip would even be for 3 weeks. So here, I’ll quickly cover the main points and to help you plan and prepare for an extended trip through India and let you use my trip as a quick case study….the point you to a few resources to continue your due dilligence.

India Big Picture:

India is huge. A billion people, and pretty diverse landscapes and peoples. As a former British colony, everyone speaks English, so fear not knowing Hindi, Urdu, or one of the other 67483 Indian languages.
With a few weeks, you’ll likely wish to explore a combination of the following, major areas.

Dehli – Agra
Dehli is a likely entry point as it’s the capital and a huge city. Tons of typical urban things to do in the massive, ruthless urban center. A hop skip and a jump away is Agra, relevant because of a little attraction called the Taj Mahal. It’s worth the hype especially after escaping a big city.

Rajasthan
The desert. Ancient fort cities and oasis-es in the sand. Camels, food, desert, sun, and majestic describe this area. Easily my favorite part of India so far. Likely path includes holy city of Pushkar, possibly Jaipur, forts of Jodhpur, and maybe Jaisalmer if you venture even further west.

Goa
fIf you’re aware of party destinations, this is it. Some beautiful, warm southern beaches and raging parties if you so wish. Personally I never set foot in a bar there and enjoyed a quieter beach. It can accommodate all types. It’s developed, so easy to get to and navigate

Mumbai / Bombay
Yes, just a city, but a great one at that. Mumbai/Bombay is a great metro area. Nearby is Pune, which is something to look into if you’re one to meditate for weeks at a time.

More South
More south = everything south of Goa. More beautiful, less people, better culture, but also slightly harder to get to than Goa. This includes Karnataka and Kerala ‘backwaters’ which you may have heard of. Area can definitely be explored for a long, long time.

Kolkata and the East
If you’re around Kolkata, I bunch this as the east. Kolkata is a nice city (Mother Theresa, duh). Somewhat nearby must see includes Darjeeling and super holy city Varanasi more west.

Other
Variety of other little regions worthwhile for special interests or business, but generally less so for the typical traveler. If you know of such areas, this article may be too amateur for you anyways.

My Trip:

For my trip, I had 18 days. I attempted to run through India and hit all that I could at a reasonable pace. This was a preferable strategy as well as a solo traveler to cut down on lodging costs, even though they were negligible in some cases.

I traveled..
Dehli – inbound flight
Agra - train
Pushkar – bus to Ajmer, transfer to Pushkar
Jodhpur – bus
Goa – bus to Pune, then to Goa (not recommended at all)
Bombay - bus

So essentially, I was able to hit 4 of the 6 major areas I mentioned. This was doable, but fast. Hitting more regions would’ve been impossible, especially considering how much time the South and East demands to get a full experience and the transit times.

Fort in Jodhpur, shot by me from tent at the top of Cosy Guesthouse

Traveling through India

Getting through India can be done a variety of ways. I suggest taking advantage of all mediums.
Bus
Private and public buses run everywhere a traveler will want to go. I found no trouble booking the day of or a day in advance in a local travel agent’s office.
Pre-booking is possible as well, but a little trickier in some cases. Most sites require an Indian phone number, but I found one that allows booking without: MakeMyTrip.com.
The fares are okay, but not the greatest. And finding pickup/drop off points is more of a hassle versus receiving directions from a local agent.

Public Bus:
In addition to the private bus companies, there are even cheaper Indian buses that are run by the state or localities, I believe. These are an absolute riot. Take one for a short jump if possible for the authenticity of it. I’d imagine it’s comparable to chicken buses of Latin America.

Conclusion: use buses for point to point legs and book on the fly, not before

Train
Train is the preferable mode of transportation throughout India. The system works. How, I still don’t know. It is somewhat complex for noobs and requires some studying to truly understand the entire process.

The train system gives preference to tourists to facilitate those that fly by the seat of ther pants. There are a variety of classes that vary in quality. I recommend taking one of each, again for an authentic experience. I recommend, again, to read more on trains if you choose them at India Mike’s Train guide – great resource that explains it. Seat 61 has a supplemental guide on Indian trains as well. For booking train tickets in advance, I recommend ClearTrip. Here, you can also check statuses for wait lists (PNR) as well, unless you prefer using the Indian Railway Official website.

Flights
India budget airlines are getting up and going. Fares are still a bit less economical than desired and don’t make sense as a strategy to get around. However, for time crunches and going from Dehli or Rajasthan in the northwest to Bombay or somewhere in the south, flights DO make sense economically and time wise. Sometimes losing 24-35 hours in transit with trains or buses is a poor mistake. Personally, my bus from Jodhpur to Pune was scheduled to last 24, but ran at 30 hours in all. Not worth it at all.

Conclusion: for jumping between Kolkata, Dehli, and Bombay, budget Indian flights make sense. Indian airlines are growing super fast and im sure my knowledge is already out dated, so check flights regardless at Cleartrip or your other favorite flight search.

Final Word, India

India’s an interesting place. It’s an entirely different animal as far as culture and people go from my experience comparing them to Southeast Asia. It’s extremely easy to communicate and get around, and purchasing power of Western monies is spectacular. One warning is just to be very cautious and wary of scams and hustlers.

To go on your way, here are my favorite Indian travel resources which will answer all the questions you really need:

• Forums - India Mike and Bootsnall
• Indian Railways Guide - India Mike and Seat 61
• Train and Flight Booking - Cleartrip.com
• Bus Pre-booking - MakeMyTrip.com
• General India Wiki - WikiTravel, of course

Sure, us backpackers and wannabees can sift through BootsnAll, Lonely Planet, and Trip Advisor for prices and then brag about how much time we spent [wasting] planning our trips, but why? Or better yet, we could definitely all order new copies of the recent Lonely Planet guides off of Amazon! not. that’s just silly.

I’m obviously not leaving you hanging with ranting post here shaming the big boys of travel for not developing a travel price database already. So Here comes BudgetYourTrip.com.

BudgetYourTrip is something of what I’ve described above. It’s a relatively new, but no soooo green, website that is alot of what I wanted to develop before I understood database powers. In their own words:

Estimate travel costs by country, city, and category. Use the Estimate Trip Costs search form to plan your expenses, or browse the list of countries. The trip expenses entered by other travelers help us calculate daily averages by location and category.

It’s straight forward, and a golden idea.  There’s no reason for me to sit around and talk about it anymore. Just check it out. Better yet, contribute!

Final Disclaimer This is NOT a paid post at all, surprisingly enough. I’m just a fan of truly helpful travel websites, unlike most of the gunk out there.

First and foremost, I’ve only wandered through its chapters aimlessly due to time issues, but collectively it seems like an interesting read Budget Globetrotters may be interested in. The book comes from an established National Geographic travel writer and chronicles his journeys world over on shitty forms of transportation. While perhaps slightly over dramatic at times, all in all I’ve decided it’s a book that, at some point, I will read front to back.

Mainly, I really admire Hoffman’s travel style which takes the comfort and luxury out of transportation. Having bussed around India for 3 weeks in more than hellish conditions, I can really relate to his stories, ideas, and train of thought. Taking 8 hour, public buses in less developed countries does something to you and shows you a more real side of a country that is otherwise missed. As I plan on using this strategy in more locales outside of India in the future, first reading his own distressed story will provide an entertaining source of inspiration.

For more information, go click around the Lunatic Express book site. If you’re looking at an entertaining account true budget travel, the Lunatic Express might be a good east read to check out for some of your own travel inspiration.

Why Spring Break Sucks

1. Poor Excuse for a Break

First off, while I open a week off from my studies with open arms annually, I hate how it’s become hardly a break at all for me. Between getting taxes done, trying to figure out summer plans, and working on projects due immediately after Spring Break, it’s really not too relaxing. I’ve always found it nearly impossible to take a week off due to my academic and extracurricular workload, but I evidently this could just be me.

2. Too Damn Expensive

Spring Break is more often than not, not a good deal. Airlines know spring break, and if you follow the fares, the difference between February ‘deals’ and March ‘deals’ is stark. If you DIY spring break with “cheap tickets“ and find lodging independently, get ready to fork over too much money. Same goes for the spring break packages from places like StudentCity.com or STSTravel.com. Maybe my cost expectations are too high being use to Asian travel prices, but $500 seems like it should go a longer way than 5 nights in a hotel.

3. Duration, People! Duration.

As a finance student, I have the privilege of studying bonds. While studying bonds, duration is important. Think of traveling like you think of bonds (the similarities are striking!… right?). Traveling for 5 days is just not that much, people. I understand that we have busy lives, but why not save some dough for a real, longer trip that you can enjoy for more than just 5 days!

For as much money as you spend on a flight, or agony that you spend driving 2,875 miles, take some time to enjoy your destination for more than 5 days. (sidenote: I would support the idea of skipping the subsequent week of class)

4. Spring Break Weather?

The weather around spring break is questionable for most destinations. Florida and Texas have hit or miss weather, and spending but loads of money to lay on a rainy cloudy beach is counterintuitive. I wouldn’t shell out for anything farther north than Cancun to be honest.

5. General Health and Being a Real Person

Spring break is meant  to be relaxing and to recover physically and emotionally. After attending a standard American spring break, I would require at least 10 days of R&R immediately following my SB. Alcohol fueled everything, parties every night, drama, repeat doesnt sound too relaxing to be honest. Fun, possibly, if my liver doesnt die and I avoid diseases. But it comes down to being a real person, and i kind of want to always be a real person, even while traveling. You Should Too. So go read a real travel guide and find a real trip with cheap airline tickets and cheap hostel lodging (see: go abroad).

My experience, Flying Bangkok - Minnesota:

Leaving Bangkok: United personnel acted as security agents during checking asking ridiculous questions that I did little more than prolong the already painfully slow process at 4:00 am.

Arriving in Tokyo: After a full security check in Bangkok and leaving the plane in Tokyo, travelers continuing on must go through another security check. Not sure where during the flight I found a bomb, but whatever. An hour later of standing in snaking lines, I cleared. Who’da guessed?

Boarding in Tokyo: Before boarding my flight Tokyo-Seattle, you guessed it. Another security check, mandated by the US Government due to heightened terror threats. So not only might have I found a bomb on the Bangkok-Tokyo plane, but also in the waiting area for my flight to the US. Interesting.

After the flight was already delayed 30 minutes, before boarding the plan a 18 second pat down and bag search, serious questioning ensued:

United agent: “Do you have a knife?”

Me: um, no (trying to think of somewhere i could’ve got a knife)

United agent: Okay that’s all.

While I realize my experience was nothing excessive, time consuming, or annoying as many travelers face in the US, it is a ridiculous process that really questions the greater underlying purpose and need for everything.

A recent Wall Street Journal article Undressing the Terror Threat addresses the issue best. In short, he shows the irrationality of our overreaction to the threat of terrorism (especially in travel) when compared to the homicide and traffic fatalities rates, amongst others.

Is our constant beefing up of travel and airport security necessary? Is it justified? Are we wasting funds? Should we be concerned about other more likely threats?

Travelers - ask yourself:

Okay world globetrotters and tax paying travelers. What do you think?

• Do we need full body scans?
• Are you okay with a more cumbersome airport security process?
• Do you feel safe traveling now or is more security needed?
• Would $100 billion more for tighter security be needed or justified?