Tim Leffel

Visiting Ancient Dwellings at the Scottish Crannog Centre The Scottish Crannog Centre on the banks of Loch Tay is a wonderful attraction that offers a glimpse of life in Scotland thousands of years ago.

The Scottish Crannog Centre on the banks of Loch Tay is a wonderful attraction that offers a glimpse of life in Scotland thousands of years ago.
https://www.rfr.bz/b39e78d

Top Digital Nomad Tools for Working Travelers I spend about half the year working away from home, so the digital nomad tools I use are tried and true. For working travelers, these are essential.

As someone who spends up to half the year away from my base, working remotely from wherever I’ve landed, I’ve learned a few things about digital nomad tools. I’ve learned which are more trouble than they’re worth and which ones can make your life easier.
https://www.rfr.bz/b4a818d

The Tequila and Mezcal Museum in Mexico City The small and inexpensive Tequila and Mezcal Museum is easy to reach from the historic center of Mexico City and is worht a visit.

You can certainly find bigger and more impressive places to visit than the Tequila and Mezcal Museum in Mexico City, especially since this city supposedly has more museums than any other metropolis in the world.
https://www.rfr.bz/bbb3e2c

Travel Gear Brands With a Lifetime Warranty: 14 to Trust Which travel gear and outdoor clothing companies really stand behind their design and workmanship? These brands have a lifetime warranty.

n general, if a company has a policy that what they produce is guaranteed for life, you can assume that they make quality products that will last.
https://www.rfr.bz/b994a2c

Big Sur: A Coast That Withholds Its Beauty A personal essay on Big Sur’s rugged coast and why its beauty, isolation, and resistance have drawn writers, artists, and travelers for generations.

The first time I drove the Big Sur coast, there was no GPS to tell us what was coming next. Even then, Big Sur refused to be easy.
https://www.rfr.bz/ba50492

Lodging Travel Hacks Beyond the Norm After a few decades of traveling and travel writing, here are a few lodging travel hacks that you might find useful on your own vacations.

There are plenty of articles out there on travel hacks for packing, booking flights, and getting credit card perks, but not so many about lodging travel hacks. Maybe that’s because the frequent travelers using them just think of them as “what you do to save money.”
https://www.rfr.bz/bd129b5

A Talk With Carolyn Ray, Publisher of JourneyWoman The author of Travel Writing 2.0 interviews Carolyn Ray, editor of one of the oldest online travel publications, supporting women over 50.

This week on the Travel Writing 2.0 blog: an interview with Carolyn Ray of @journeywoman.bsky.social
travelwriting2.com/carolyn-ray-...

The more persistent you are, the more chances you get to be lucky.

For more advice see my book Excellent Advice for Living amzn.to/3mQL4c4 #excellentadvice

The Best Digital Nomad Destinations for Those on a Budget The author of the best-selling book on living abroad runs down 9 digital nomad destinations with good infrastructure and bargain prices.

If you’re working remotely or running a business but you aren’t made of money, where you choose to open up your laptop can have a huge impact on your monthly budget.
https://www.rfr.bz/bb6149a

Find Cheap Flights to Anywhere by Getting Creative Savvy travel advice on finding cheap flights to anywhere via alternative flight deals, better searches, alternate airports, and travel hacking.

There are times when going down the travel search rabbit hole can really pay off. Sometimes you have to set aside some time, then think creatively to find the cheap flights to anywhere.
https://www.rfr.bz/b0ee8e2

Cheapest Places to Travel in the World for Americans To find the cheapest places to travel in the world in the coming years, see this list then pick up the best book on the subject by Tim Leffel.

At the start of 2025, the world was on sale for those with greenbacks. Now if you’re earning in US dollars, it’s a very different story. So you have to navigate more carefully if you’re looking for the cheapest places to travel.
https://www.rfr.bz/b8e2eb3

'Three-legged wombat crocodiles': AI wreaks havoc on tourism website Weldborough in remote north-east Tasmania has lots of natural beauty. But it does not have hot springs — and it is causing headaches for locals.

"An AI-generated article on a travel booking website has sent tourists to a remote location in Tasmania's north-east, looking for hot springs that do not exist".

This is the CDC map for homicide rates by state for the most recent year on their website.

Gov. Landry, who leads one of the states in the nation with the highest murder rate, is on television chiding Minnesota, one of the states with the lowest murder rates.

Travel in the 1990s - 25 Things Travelers Couldn't Do Travel in the 1990s was very different than today, especially on my first trip around the world 30 years ago. 25 things travelers couldn't do then.

Around 30 years ago, I was on my first trip around the world, one that had started in 1993. I had spent much of that year kicking back on tropical islands, staying in $4 bungalows, wondering whether I should have rice or noodles for my next meal.
https://www.rfr.bz/b5e0df9

Cheap Living Abroad - Cheapest Destinations Blog Join the Cheap Living Abroad list and get monthly advice from Tim Leffel, author of the best-selling book on living abroad: A Better Life for Half the

Join the Cheap Living Abroad list and get monthly advice from Tim Leffel, author of the best-selling book on living abroad: A Better Life for Half the Price.
https://www.rfr.bz/b8cb2d4

Your Packing List for Patagonia: Staying Warm and Dry After traveling and hiking in southern Argentina and Chile, here's my advice for putting together a packing list for Patagonia: layering and waterproof.

I have been to Patagonia twice now: once on the Argentina side and then a few months ago on the Chile side. It’s all one wild land mass down there though, with variable weather that can change multiple times a day and vary by microclimate.
https://www.rfr.bz/b61d221

The Best Airlines to Fly Internationally in 2026 Vote with your wallet better flight experience and avoid annoying extra fees. The best airlines to fly internationally are based outside the USA.

I try to keep my advice on this bargain travel blog as streamlined as possible but when it comes to which are the best airlines to fly internationally, there can be more asterisks and footnotes than an academic paper includes.
https://www.rfr.bz/bc8c99f

Coping With Flight Delays and the Worst Airports for Them Flight delays are inevitable with air travel, but some airports are worse than others. Here's how to cope if you're delayed on vacation.

The middle of summer and the middle of winter are generally the times when you’re most likely to face flight delays, so it’s important to mitigate the impact with some smart planning and good tools in your pocket.
https://www.rfr.bz/b09b380

Making Your Round the World Trip More Affordable The author of The World's Cheapest Destinations provides 5 practical tips for a budget round the world trip that can cost less than staying home.

Do you dream of circling the whole globe, of setting off from home for a long round the world trip that will last months or a year? I’ve done it a few times and it was a terrific experience, but making it an affordable RTW trip takes some effort.
https://www.rfr.bz/b4d25a7

The Top Vietnam Scenic Places to Visit on Your Trip There's no shortage of Vietnam scenic places to visit in this long country with mountains, beaches, and historic cities. Here are my favorites.

Vietnam doesn’t get the same hype and press coverage as Thailand or Bali, but it offers some of Southeast Asia’s most diverse and striking landscapes, with plenty of variety.
https://www.rfr.bz/b4db681

Online Travel Aggregators Save You Time and Money You will save time and money in your travel planning by using online travel aggregators for your searches: car rentals, hotels, flights, and trains.

While few aspects of travel planning are 100% effective all the time, you can almost always save time and money in your searches by using one of the online travel aggregators.
https://www.rfr.bz/b1b51e2

American Airlines no longer lets basic economy flyers earn miles Starting this week, American Airlines will no longer reward customers with miles for basic economy tickets.

Yet another reason to never ever buy a basic economy ticket on American Airlines. If you need to save a few bucks, just fly a budget airline where everyone is the plane is getting the same raw deal. www.cnbc.com/2025/12/18/a...

The Most Welcoming Countries for Digital Nomads Plenty of destinations act like they want remote workers, but only a few of them are welcoming countries for digital nomads in policy.

Digital nomads and remote workers are in high demand with smart governments. They spend far more per person than tourists do, they put more money into the local economy than tourists, and they tend to use more local labor services over time than the average traveler.
https://www.rfr.bz/bcac466

Coping With Flight Delays and the Worst Airports for Them Flight delays are inevitable with air travel, but some airports are worse than others. Here's how to cope if you're delayed on vacation.

As we head into a holiday season, in what has been an especially terrible year for air travel, expect a bad situation to get worse as the crowds surge and the weather turns ugly.
https://www.rfr.bz/b77bf54

Nomadico | Tim Leffel | Substack Weekly tips for the working traveler: digital nomads, remote workers, expats, and restless souls. Click to read Nomadico, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

Are you a digital nomad or working traveler? Join 22,000 of your type at Nomadico, my weekly newsletter on Substack: nomadico.substack.com

Not Everything is Cheaper in the World's Cheapest Destinations While many products and services have lower prices in developing countries, not everything is cheaper in the world's Cheapest Destinations.

Just because you’re traveling or living in one of the world’s cheapest destinations doesn’t mean things will be cheaper across the board when you pull out your wallet or credit card.
https://www.rfr.bz/b9d6763

What All Those Spanish Place Names Mean The meaning of common Spanish place names found in California, Florida, the America Southwest, and Latin America, from Boca to Santa.

You probably rattle off Spanish place names many times a year, especially if you live in the western USA or you visit Mexico. But do you know what all those names mean?
https://www.rfr.bz/b1116d4

There are Better Options Than Moving to Canada If a recent election result has you in the mood to escape the USA, there are plenty of easier and less expensive options than moving to Canada.

Have you ever met anyone who moved to a colder place when they retired? On purpose?
https://www.rfr.bz/b6b1949

Every Travel Destination Has Local Bargains If you can figure out what's a great deal locally, you can lower your travel budget. Just look for the local bargains in each destination.

“I was surprised about how cheap [insert product or service] was in [insert destination]” is a surprisingly common observation from people just returning from vacation, no matter where they went.
https://www.rfr.bz/bdadf0f

You Can Get Travel Deals on Black Friday Too Black Friday is usually associated with malls and big box retailers, but you can find plenty of travel deals at this time too, like on hotels and tours.

The thing is, even companies that aren’t selling physical goods feel a need to get in on this game, so every year you’ll see Black Friday travel specials from companies selling experiences rather than something you wrap up and put under a tree with lights on it.
https://www.rfr.bz/b8cf141