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The Reality Behind China's One Child Policy
I once took China’s one child policy at face value: a one child policy would mean that people are only allowed to have a single child, right? It all made perfectly clear sense until my first incident of travel in China in 2005. I found that there were far more brothers and sisters than a one child per family country should account for, and families with two, three, or more children were not uncommon. What was going on here? In subsequent years I looked deeper in the so called one child policy of China.
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ESL in the Fast Lane: Teaching English in South Korea
With the summer hiring scene quickly approaching and a load of college graduates and other job seekers on the lookout for well-paying, yet stimulating, employment, thousands are flocking to ESL recruiters with opportunities in South Korea. Like most prospective teachers, before I went to Korea I had gathered the bulk of my “reliable” pre-arrival information from the Internet — a technique I now know is radically skewed by the wealth of bloggers who are spending their days in the country for all the
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How to Make Lockable Backpack Zippers
A lock on a backpack does not prevent theft but it does deter it. An unattended, strongly locked bag in a hotel room or hostel could easily be cut open with a dull table knife, but this is rarely done in relation to how often unlocked bags are pilfered in similar circumstances. It is much more common for a thief to look for the easiest target available and hit it as fast as possible. The trick to theft prevention is to make robbing you appear to be a challenge — most often a thief will just look for a
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How Dangerous is it to Travel in Mexico?
On February 8th the US Department of State intensified its travel warning for Mexico to include 14 of the country’s 31 states. This is up from the April 2011 warning that only advised against traveling in two states and parts of eight others. This recent communique from the state department slaps advisories all over the map of Mexico, but also clearly OKs some regions for travel while making pains to proclaim that even within states where they recommend people to “defer non-essential travel” that th
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North Korea's New Leader: Like Father Like Son?
The recent passing of “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il received substantiaily less fanfare from both those abroad and those south of the border than one might have suspected. While North Koreans mourned excruciatingly – a phenomenal display of chest-beating, swooning, and hysterical writhing – for days on end, setting Kim’s petrified body on perpetual display, neither Washington nor Seoul got word of the death until two entire days after it occurred.
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Hopping Trains in Australia
As expected, I didn’t see a transit officer on my ride to Sydney Central until I arrived at the metro station. Already near the train platform from where I would catch the Blue Mountain Line train, I saw little point in walking all the way out of the turnstiles to the building’s entrance to purchase a ticket for travel. Beside the inconvenience of it, I hadn’t intended to pay for a ticket anyway, so the matter was settled: I would simply remain on the platform and step right onto my next train. I sa
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Mekong River Boat Adventure | Vagabond TV Episode 1
Adventure is not dead, and Sam Bove is my living proof. It is rare that I meet another traveler who not only dreams up fantastic journeys, but actually does them. In the vein of Richard Halliburton, Bove seems to seek an understanding of the world through direct and close experience, and he is not hesitant to use unconventional means in this pursuit. Though only 21, he has already undertaken multiple adventures through the world. This video is about his journey down the Mekong River in a boat he built by
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The Vagabond Cookbook
The vagabond cookbook aims to share a collection of recipes that can be easily and cheaply be prepared on the road almost anywhere in the world. Each meal can generally be made for under $2. These are the foods that fuel Vagabondjourney.com.
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Travel Tips

How to Make Backpack Zippers Lockable
Order Food by Price Not Weight Travel Tip
Top Loading Backpacks are the Absolute Worst Type of Travel Pack
The Benefits of Renting Apartments While Traveling or Living Abroad
What to Do if you Are in an Earthquake

Travel Guides

Vagabondjourney.com’s travel guide section is a massive collection of travel and destination information for the entire globe. Research your journey here: Vagabondjourney World Travel Guides.

Featured travel guide: Colombia

Colombia is a country at the northern tip of South America. It has coasts on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, as well as borders with Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru. Colombia’s population is over 45 million people, making it the second most populated country in South America after Brazil, and the third highest populated Spanish speaking country in the world. Read more on the Colombia Extreme Budget Travel Guide.

Newest Travel Guide

Transportation in Tonga

First of all, avoid arriving in Tonga on the weekend, there is no travel on Sunday. Air travel to and in Tonga Planes � there is a domestic carrier http://www.chathamspacific.com to get you between the island groups. Excess baggage is really cheap so don�t worry about that. International with Air New Zealand, Virgin Blue, Pacific [...]

Family Travel

Petra Shepard is Becoming a Good Traveler
An American Child is a Chinese Spectacle � The Experience of Being a Traveling Child in China
Jet Lag Hits a Traveling Family
The Attachment to Places for Traveling Children
Long Term Family Travel Means Lots of Gear

Travel Gear Reviews

Vagabondjourney.com Travel Gear aims to review the best travel supplies and equipment currently available, as well as share tips on the gear you need (and do not need) to travel the world.
Think Tank Photo Street Walker Harddrive DSLR Camera Backpack

Think Tank Photo - StreetWalker Hardrive

Think Tank Photo brand is synonymous with the pro photographer circuit all around the world. Founded in 2005 the company’s reputation for quality and practicality has grown and grown, and they now have a product range that includes everything you could possibly need to carry audio visual equipment from belt packs and straps to rolling travel bags. [...]

How to Make Backpack Zippers Lockable

I’ve written this tip before but I did not emphasize the importance of being able to lock your travel luggage. This tip shows in detail how to make a standard backpack zipper lockable. Most travel theft is “by opportunity,” meaning that if you give people the opportunity to steal from you there is a much [...]

Travel Help

Travel Help: Ask travel questions, get answers.
5 Best Places for Teaching English in China
How to Marry a UK Citizen and Get an EU Passport
How to Get A European Self-Employment Residency Permit
Hotel Check In for Guests Under 21 Years of Age
Deportation for Schengen Visa Overstay

Vagabond Journey International

Chinese (traditional)
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Travel Books

VagabondJourney.com Book Reviews looks at the best of modern and old time travel literature.

“No, American,” a Chinese friend of mine snapped at a group of young men sitting near us in a restaurant. “They said that you were from a place that is not very good,” she explained to me. The explanation was not needed, I understood what they where saying: they thought I was from Xinjiang province [...]

The Keys for Retiring to Travel | The Senior Vagabond Series

Dump it all and GO! Dump it all! The house, the car, the furniture, and all those clothes you have in the closet that you never wear. If you want to go then do it. Dump it all and just GO! Six months ago, I sold my house, my truck, my furniture, and everything else [...]

Walk to the Yangzi (Yangtze) River

TAIZHOU, China- I began walking south on Hailing Bei Lu with the intention that I would not stop until I’d reached the banks of the Yangzi (Yangtze) River. I estimated the hike as being between 25 to 30 kilometers, and had a day pack on my back filled with some essentials, as I knew that I would [...]

From Hungry Peasant to University Professor | Social Transitions in a Reformed China

“So China has changed very fast, right?” I encouraged Professor Liu to speak. “Yes, very fast,” he replied. “Is life better now?” The professor torqued his hand quickly back and forth and replied noncommittally, “In some ways, yes, in others I’m not so sure.” We were riding a train that was speeding towards Nanjing, and [...]

Red Underwear Chinese Zodiac Year (Ben Ming Nian) Tradition

“How old are you?” I asked Riuwu, an accounting professor at a university in Nanjing. We’d just met on a train returning on the Nanjing – Natong extension, and this is a common question to ask a new acquaintance in China. Asking people here how old they are in this culture is also a must in many [...]

Hiring Journalists, Bloggers, and Travel Writers

As VagabondJourney.com grows and our mission becomes ever more refined it is clear that we need to increase the size of our staff. We are looking to hire journalists, bloggers, and a couple travel writers. The ideal applicants will be experienced in their field and be actively pursuing a career in travel writing/ journalism. We [...]

Petra Shepard is Becoming a Good Traveler

“Petra, we are going to a new city today!” my wife spoke to our two and a half year old daughter, Petra. “A new city!?!” she said with excitement and then scampered off to fetch her Dora the Explorer backpack. With her purple rucksack on her back she ran to the door and put on [...]

Hard Seat Class on Chinese Trains

Unless on a very long journey, when a train ticket vendor asks me what class I want to ride in I say one thing without hesitation: “The cheapest you have.” In China, this often means hard seat class. Riding hard seat in China is not as bad as it may sound — you’re not being [...]

Yangzhou is a Very Modern Ancient City

If any place in the world deserves to be called ancient, it’s Yangzhou. This city is so old, in fact, that when it was first conceived the Romans were just coming up with their 12 tables of law, the Maya were devising their first solar calendar, Alexader the Great was over a hundred years away [...]

The Electric Bicycle Revolution in China

I remember a China where the streets were full of bicycles. I remember peddling in virtual seas of thousands of other cyclists, how rush hour was a critical mass of bicycles zooming every which way, where bike lanes became roaring highways. The bicycle was the top commuter vehicle in the country, and there were hundreds of [...]

Travel News

26% of People Less Likely to Go on a Cruise Following Costa Concordia Tragedy
Playing Football in Cape Town: The Aftermath of the 2010 World Cup
Discover Orlando, Fl
Anthony Bourdain�s top five tips on how to survive travel nightmares
Airline Food Investigation: What Airlines Provide the Healthiest Meals

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Mission Statement

Vagabond Journey Travel is a massive world culture, news, and travel resource which aims to:

Provide a first hand look at cultures and people around the globe
Show the real story behind news stories and current events
Teach how to escape tourism and use travel as a way to learn about the world
Demonstrate how to find work and earn money on the road to travel perpetually
Explain how to travel and live almost anywhere in the world on a budget of under $500 per month

Vagabond Explorer Magazine

Vagabond Explorer Magazine is the official print/ pdf publication of VagabondJourney.com which challenges you to get outside the rounds of conventional tourism, into the open air, and look the world directly in the face. In each issue we strive to give you the best on the ground world news reports, biting vagabonding narratives, as well as practical, tactical, and money saving travel tips. Look inside at Vagabond Explorer Magazine.

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Travel Gear

Katadyn Water Microfilter- Good to purify drinking water
Canon PowerShot D10 12.1 MP Waterproof Digital Camera- Great camera for travel
Lowe Alpine TT Tour 70 Travel Pack- Great backpack for world travel.

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