Vagabonding begins!

It’s that time of year when people frantically crowd the malls, battle for parking, and do their best to find gifts for the ones they love.  Backpackers, or just budget travelers in general, can be difficult to buy for – many do not own homes to fill with lots of junk.  Luckily, the best gifts for travelers are usually small, make life on the road easier, and can be found online; no need to square off for a death match in the mall entrance.

As a former engineer and current lifelong traveler, I have decided to write a subjective review for Monster Cable’s “Travel Kit” - a nice collection of gadgets and devices that are guaranteed to make any flashpacker or career traveler on your list happy.  I know the Monster brand well from back in my old IBM days; serious hackers and IT guys always paid the little extra for Monster-brand cables when needed.

To keep the review subjective, I am going to list pros and cons for each piece.  If you are one of the lucky ones that Santa bestowed Amazon.com credit on this year, pay careful attention!

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Travel to Borneo and see stuff like this!

Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam….of all four places I visited this year, none captured my attention or my heart more by surprise than Borneo.

The name “Borneo” just comes across as exotic. Maybe it’s the fact that people were still lopping off heads there only a few decades ago or maybe it’s just the remote feeling of the place.  Either way, Borneo is teeming with rainforests, endangered species, and loads of adventure possibilities for budget travelers.

Thanks to so many tour operations popping up, Borneo travel is becoming synonymous with “too expensive for backpackers”.  From my personal experience this year, I found that as with every other place, you can still travel cheap.  Sure, Borneo may not be as cheap as Vietnam or Indonesia, but backpacking in Borneo really isn’t that bad.  Solo travelers will have a slightly tougher time saving money on accommodation – probably the highest expense, but getting into the national parks and spotting wildlife can certainly be done without hiring guides.

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