Travel off the beaten track and experience

With off-peak tickets to San Juan from the East Coast sometimes as cheap as $200 round trip, Puerto Rico is actually becoming a fantastic budget destination. (Another great budget Caribbean destination for East Coasters? Barbados!) Hostels can be found for $15-25 per night, and you can eat some excellent hearty Puerto Rican food for under $10 per meal. Follow this guide to some of my favorite cheap eats in San Juan and enjoy. Just make sure you’re cool with being on island time – speedy service is  not something Puerto Rico is known for.

From our previous blog posts, we mentioned a scooter accident on Easter Island and then I ended up in the emergency room back at home. It’s time to share what happened and what we learned. Prior to our trip, we briefly discussed transportation and then forgot until we landed. Below was how our conversation went when procuring a vehicle for Easter Island. Jackie: We should rent bicycles. We’ll get a good leg workout around the island. They are cheaper to rent than a car. Justin: Let’s go with a scooter. It’s the same price as renting two bicycles and it is motorized. Jackie: Do you know how to drive a scooter? Justin: I have my motorcycle license. I also rode on a scooter in Taiwan. Jackie: (Hesitates) Hmm…okay. There were plenty of rental agencies in Hanga Roa from cars, scooters, bicycles, and ATVs. The bicycle rental was 10,000 CLP ($15 USD) per person per day, and the price of one scooter was a better deal for 20,000 CLP ($30 USD) per day. We received a discount as we re...

Sure, the life of a backpacker is a sociable one. Within minutes of stepping off the plane you’ll no doubt have new friends that’ll last a lifetime.  You’ll forge friendships that can withstand a 42-hour coach trip, with a goat’s breath in your face, no air-con, and a driver whose blatant disregard for road safety awareness is somewhat less than amusing.  You’ll encounter thrilling adrenaline junkie experiences you’ll look back on with pride.  You’ll probably even share secrets that you wouldn’t ever dream of telling your best friend back home. But what if one of those friends asked you to, oh, I dunno… Get naked? You’d be a little surprised, right? Well what if that person wasn’t actually a friend at all? What if that person were a total stranger? Hmm. Go on, strip off For most, the thought of being naked in front of a complete stranger is a terrifying prospect. Especially if this isn’t one of those romantic situations. To get to that level of intimacy with someone, there’s u...

Discover The West Coast Massive Hundreds of thousands of backpackers visit Australia each year, and while huge numbers ‘do’ the much-hyped East Coast, many ignore the West. We think they’re missing out. Here’s our guide to the best places to visit in western Australia. Perfect Perth The modern, vibrant city of Perth is attractively situated between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Range, and offset by the vast yet tranquil Swan River. When astronaut John Glenn flew over Australia in 1962 he was so struck by the glow of Perth – thousands of miles from any other major city – that he named it the City of Lights.   There’s a lot to like about Perth. It has loads of backpacker hostels in the lively Northbridge area; nineteen beaches, some suited for relaxation, and others like Trigg Island and Scarborough great for surfing; the world’s biggest musical instruments, the enormous Swan Bells; camel-riding on the beach; free public transport in the city centre; Aussie rules football – ...

Bovines have beef with UK farmer A farmer from Devon who imported descendants of ‘super cows’ bred by Nazi Germany has had to reduce the size of his herd because the beasts have become too aggressive. Derek Gow, 49, introduced 13 Heck cattle to his land after importing them from a Belgian conservation park in 2009, and managed to breed them with some success for the next few years. However, Gow has had to send most of the animals to the abattoir after concluding they were simply too dangerous to have around. He said: “The ones we had to get rid of would just attack you any chance they could. They would try to kill anyone. Dealing with that was not a lot of fun at all.” The formidable beasts were created in the 1930s by German brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck, who were zoologists commissioned by the Nazi hierarchy to bring back something resembling an auroch – a type of European wild bull which had become extinct in the 1600s, and which held mythical status for the Nazis. The program...

Picture of soaking animal sparks outrage across social media United Airlines has earned the ire of animal lovers the world over after a picture was tweeted of a dog stranded on a runway in the pouring rain. Evil United Airlines leaves dog on rainy cold runway for more than a half hour despite alerts to staff :-((((( boo pic.twitter.com/xcwVOxIpV9 — barbara (@theregoesbabs) December 28, 2014 Twitter user @theregoesbabs claimed that she sat on her plane and looked on as the animal was left in its carrier on the wet runway for over half an hour, despite staff having been alerted. The picture has since been retweeted over a thousand times. United Airlines responded quickly and shifted blame for the overlooked pooch onto its (apparently erroneously named) PetSafe program, which is responsible for airport-to-airport delivery of animals. @theregoesbabs Thanks for telling us. The weather can change & may have been clear when PetSafe dropped off. They’re the ones to call too. —...

With state borders due to open soon and international travel far in the distance, if you’re an Aussie now might be a great time to consider a road trip in Australia. Whether you’re looking to stay closer to home or waiting for inter-state flights to resume, we’ve named the 20 best places in Australia you should visit to satisfy your urge for adventure! 1. Norfolk Island This tiny island in the South Pacific Ocean is one of Australia’s best kept secrets. Norfolk Island is located a 3 hour flight from Sydney, with very limited flights each week. It is therefore the perfect oasis to escape to, especially if you’re looking to avoid crowds and enjoy beaches entirely to yourself. Read more: Why you should visit Norfolk Island 2. Great Ocean Road The Great Ocean Road is a 243 kilometre stretch of road along Australia’s southern coast. The road is most known for the 12 apostles, located off the shore of Port Campbell National Park...