501 Places

Almost everyone has their own story of getting ripped off while travelling. Whether it was a dodgy waiter, a hotel that tried to charge too much or a driver that took you for a ride in more ways than one, however smart we think we are, people will get the better of us from time [...]

One of the best parts of travelling, whether on a long trip or a two week vacation, is the chance to leave the worries of home and work behind and relax. Watching the sun set over the ocean while sipping a cocktail should be part of a carefree holiday. But for homeowners who travel there [...]

A few years ago at a sustainability design conference I attended, speaker after speaker shared their ideas on how to reduce the carbon impact of our everyday lives. Only one man stood out for me. His message was simple: to reduce our footprint we need to demand less; less products, less travel, less power. Only [...]

It’s not often I do a product review on 501 Places. In fact I think this is the first time, so I’ll start with the obligatory disclosure. I have had no contact with Leapfrog (the people behind this globe), I paid full price for it and never intended to write about it when I bought [...]

Anyone who has taken a long-haul flight will know the feeling. You arrive at your destination (or back home) and for a day or two your life is a blur. Waking up in the middle of the night, wanting to sleep in the daytime, and an appetite that doesn’t follow rhyme or reason; you wait [...]

“You’re so lucky, I wish I could travel like you”. Sound familiar? I read many accounts of people who have heard the same sentiment expressed by friends and co-workers. Do we consider ourselves lucky? Have we been blessed with good fortune to travel as we do? Or is it a conscious decision that has everything [...]

There are many posts online that offer us suggestions on how to look and act ‘local’. Even guidebooks sometimes fall into this trap. I’ve seen western folk people dressed up in local Thai and Indian clothes looking like lost hippies, heard others telling us to change our plans to do something that ‘the locals don’t [...]

Listen to someone talking about their adventures in deepest Africa or in the Australian outback, and it’s easy to buy into the dream that their trip was perfect. Great people, exotic food, unforgettable sights and exciting adventures. But we all know that during any trip there are those moments that do not make us feel [...]

It’s a little over 8 months since I wrote my first post on 501 places, and it has been an experience I’ve enjoyed and learned from in so many ways. I have made friends along the way and even met some of them face to face. I hope I have developed my own writing as [...]

In SE Asia, and no doubt elsewhere in the world, there is a growing trend for tourists to visit ‘tribal villages’. These are marketed as communities of people living in accordance with their ancient traditions. By inference, we are encouraged to believe that the state provides protection for these minority groups and that we, as [...]