Imagine yourself staying in a luxurious penthouse suite with a panoramic view of Bangkok. Picture yourself sipping a glass of the finest champagne while dining on the 65th floor of the world class hotel while indulging on some of the most elegant dishes in the world at a two-Michelin star restaurant. Then, imagine the next morning, shoving your designer suit into a backpack, hiring a motorized rickshaw, and having them deliver you to your new home; a cramped, dorm room filled to the brim with strangers that are young enough to be your offspring. For lunch, you are enjoying a fried scorpion that you purchased from a food stand on the side of the road.This is exactly what Ryan Jacobson did for an entire year when he took a year off of his job as a middle school English and Geography teacher to pursue his passion for world travel. In the months prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ryan decided to get the full experience of each destination he ventured by spending four days on a very stringent backpackers budget, staying at hostels, eating scorpions, crickets, or other street food, and spending relatively no money on entertainment or activities. The next four days he would travel on a moderate budget, staying at appropriately-priced hotels, eating at moderately-priced restaurants, and having an allotted budget for entertainment and activities. And the final four days in each country, he would spend on an all-out luxury budget; indulging on the best of what each destination had to offer. All to answer the question of who truly has the more fun, authentic experience when it comes to travel? Is it the backpacker crew that isn't afraid to get down and dirty with the locals or mingle with strangers that don't speak their language? Or is it the luxury travelers that spare no expense to get the full experience of what it means to travel like a rock star? Perhaps the moderate budget traveler has the best of both worlds and truly gets the most out of international travel? Regardless of the budget Ryan was traveling on, his adventures take him through unique journeys that will elicit both humor and horror, many of which at the same time. With Ryan's uncanny ability to find himself in peculiar situations, The Adventures of Mr. Brightside will concurrently leave you with a sense of immense wanderlust, as well as a substantial appreciation for reading this book from the comfort and safety of your own home.

An unforgettable voyage filled with delightful characters, dramatic encounters, and rich cultural details, The Travelers' World heralds a moment of intellectual preparation for the modern global era. Harry Liebersohn examines the transformation of global knowledge during the great age of scientific exploration. We now travel effortlessly to distant places, but the questions about perception, truth, and knowledge that these intercontinental mediators faced still resonate.

Change the world one trip at a time. In this illuminating collection of stories and lessons from the road, acclaimed travel writer Rick Steves shares a powerful message that resonates now more than ever. With the world facing divisive and often frightening events, from Trump, Brexit, and Erdogan, to climate change, nativism, and populism, there's never been a more important time to travel. Rick believes the risks of travel are widely exaggerated, and that fear is for people who don't get out much. After years of living out of a suitcase, he still marvels at how different cultures find different truths to be self-evident. By sharing his experiences from Europe, Central America, Asia, and the Middle East, Rick shows how we can learn more about own country by viewing it from afar. With gripping stories from Rick's decades of exploration, this fully revised edition of Travel as a Political Act is an antidote to the current climate of xenophobia. When we travel thoughtfully, we bring back the most beautiful souvenir of all: a broader perspective on the world that we all call home. All royalties from the sale of Travel as a Political Act are donated to support the work of Bread for the World, a non-partisan organization working to end hunger at home and abroad.

This is not another eat, pray, love story. You will not be finding yourself reading the inner existential crisis of a mediocre western woman in South East Asia, leaving her inhibitions to the hands of idle men. This story is not about love, although there has been love. It is not about second chances or some sort of self-healing guru rendition of the young women who, against all odds, made it out of poverty. This story is about agency, self-determination, and the discovery of how to manipulate the reality around me. It is about making connections between the abstract and the foreign from the perspective of a young woman, pressured by patriarchy; she rebelled with her tattoos and piercings to be her own hero and potentially a hereon in the global effort for peace, justice, and equality.As I am riding a rickety rusted-out blue bus smelling of petrol and cleaning chemicals across a highway three hours north of Bangkok, I can't help but reflect on my life's journey. It has not been an ordinary one, drinking imported beer along the Seine in Paris, conducting research on war-related rape in Liberia, dodging bullets at checkpoints in Occupied Palestine, how did a girl from a trailer park in Michigan come to redefine her socio-economic status to take on the world's most corrupt powers?When I retell my story, usually in a dust-covered Irish pub located in the dodgiest neighborhood I can find, I always receive the same reaction, "how old are you?" Age is just a number, one that is measured by an agrarian methodology, not by your actual experiences here on Earth. "I'm twenty-nine years old, but it feels like I've lived someone else's lifetime." I must forewarn you; this is not a romantic comedy where I meet some amazing person who sweeps me off my feet. This is not a fairy tale. I do not sugar coat my sexual exploits, the death and destruction I have seen working in conflict countries or lie about who and what is responsible for our lack of morality. This also not some humanitarian manifesto where I try to convince you to save the world or a jaded description of how utterly fucked we all are. It's a memoir of a young woman who, despite this chaotic world, found humanity in hidden places.***To help support refugees and other stateless individuals caused by climate change and violent conflict, 20% of all revenue will be donated to the UNHCR, the largest intergovernmental organization for refugees in the world.***