Bohemian Traveler

Overall my Southeast Asia trip was a great success. I witnessed incredible experiences, met extraordinarily friendly people, and saw how people live life in places that are very different from where I’m from. What went well Got a good mix of seeing places, people, and experiences. Managed the marriage work and travel together well, stopping [...]

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I just returned from a 3-month trip through Southeast Asia. This was the first time that I traveled while maintaining my blogs, both Bohemian Traveler and GoMadNomad.com. It was a lot of work and I had to adjust my travel style, but all in all I liked this working-while-traveling-trip better than any of my previous [...]

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The Herbal Sauna and Traditional Lao Massage in Vientiane turned out to be one of my best experiences during my almost one month journey through Laos. It was a great way to spend the last afternoon with my friend whom I’d just traveled the last two months through southeast Asia with. We had hiked through [...]

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By Stephen Bugno Before visiting Laos I had images of gliding down rivers at an impossibly  slow speed all the while enjoying both the view and necessary transportation with friendly locals. That was hardly the case. In fact, it describes only one of my four slow boat rides. The reality is, the slow boat is [...]

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By Stephen Bugno There is a reason so many travel bloggers are stopping and staying in Chiang Mai, Thailand for so long: it’s inexpensive, pleasant, culturally interesting, and has most of the amenities you could need.   This post is part of a series that I am beginning to show how I am transitioning into [...]

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By Stephen Bugno Packing light is a refined art—I’ve been trying to perfect it for years. I’m almost there. The good news is the longer my trip , the less stuff I bring. On short trips I tend to over pack. I think I’ve done a good job this time. It takes a lot of [...]

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By Stephen Bugno In December of 2010 I came to a critical point. I had been running two travel blogs for over a year and not only was I failing to make money, but I was actually spending money to keep the blogs going. How could I continue to legitimize all the time, effort, and [...]

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By Stephen Bugno If you’re a member of couchsurfing.org, you may already know how awesome it is. For those of you who are not, I just want to stress all the amazing experiences I have had because I’m using it. Traveling for me is an extension of real life—not some holiday I take for two [...]

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By Stephen Bugno Work and travel as a lifestyle A former coworker of mine and up-and-coming musician recently asked me how I do it. How did I work the same hours at a slightly-more-than-minimum-wage job at a Virginia wine shop for six months and got to travel for the other six months, she wondered. She [...]

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By Stephen Bugno There have been times when, leading up to a big trip, I have read and researched, printed and photocopied, devoured and digested all available information about the places I was about to visit. I was well versed in the history, cultural norms, and current politics when I arrived and the locals responded [...]

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