Cellphones and the internet have paved the way to cheap communication, no matter what remote location you happen to be in. Unfortunately, aging relatives, technophobes and spotty internet often complicate matters on their end.

In this post, I look at some of the cheapest ways to call home and hopefully pave the way for better communication between you and those sitting by the phone waiting anxiously for your call. Though there are hundreds of ways you can get in touch, this post is limited to calling a landline or a cellphone.

Calling home, old school.

Calling International From A Traditional Phone

Surprisingly to some, traditional phones still exist and are used everywhere. Every hotel, hostel and dorm still has a traditional phone somewhere in the building. With international calling services offering calls for around a cent a minute via a regular phone line, it’s not hard on the wallet to pick up the phone and call grandma to wish her a happy birthday.

International calling cards were once the only way to save money when calling internationally and are still available in most stores and shops around the world. If you have nothing else to use, they’re still a great way to save money. Just be careful to read the fine print and make sure the card you buy has decent rates to whichever country you’re dialing.

Many companies also have local numbers you can call to maximize your savings. If you’re in a big center it’s always easier to find a local number to call to minimize your bill, but if you’re someplace remote make sure you find a card with either a toll free number to call or that includes a callback function. Most inbound calls on landlines the world over are free.

Tip: One of the most overlooked aspects of calling cards is focusing solely on the per minute cost. A lot of cards charge exorbitant connection fees. Also be careful of rounding (per second charge versus minute or even block of time charging)  and expiration (some cards expire with no use, some in a matter of months and some at a set time).

Calling Home Using Cell Phone and Tablet Apps

Most travelers these days carry a smart phone or a tablet with them. Whether it’s unlocked and you’ve picked up a cheap local SIM, or whether your normal cell plan from back home is good enough for your simple needs it really doesn’t matter. With tons of apps on the market, all you really need is a WiFi or data connection and you can be talking with Aunt Sally quicker than saying Slide To Unlock.

Many apps from the PC days are still around and actually thriving in the new mobile market. Skype is a perennial favorite and is especially great if the person you’re talking to is technological enough to also be using Skype on the other end. If not, with a little credit, Skype can also make regular phone calls to  your relatives that only have traditional phones. They have plans for every budget and you need to weigh options to pick out the plan that works the best for you. Skype‘s unlimited monthly plans are great deals if you’re a heavy talker.

One of our favorite apps for our iPhone and iPad is MagicJack. It’s the same company that introduced the USB phone dongle for making cheap international calls from a computer years ago. They’ve taken their knowledge of the telecom industry and applied it to cellphones. With free calls to US and Canada and several other countries it’s definitely a good deal for a lot of users. The quality is fairly decent as well. It also features cheap rates abroad.

Google Voice has paved the way for numerous companies to get in on the action as well. If you’re lucky enough to live in the US you can download the Google Voice app. while you’re still in the country and be talking to your friends back home anytime you like. If you’re not, there are dozens of companies and apps that use the Google Voice protocols to connect with others around the globe.

One of our favorites is the free app Talkatone. Since right now calling Canada and the US is free using Google servers, it makes it a very attractive deal. The quality is sometimes a little spotty but in general it works quite well when calling other phones.

One of the nice parts about Google Voice is that you can have a dedicated number. Crazy Uncle John won’t have to worry that he’s being scammed when a foreign number is constantly ringing him up. You can use the same number you’ve had for years and your name will show up on Caller ID just as it always has. It also allows you to receive calls while you’re abroad using the same number as back home.

Calling Relatives From Cell Phones While Abroad

While we’re on the subject of cell phones, there really is no easier way to stay connected with family and friends back home than buying either a local cell phone or a SIM for your unlocked phone. You can buy cheap phones for next to nothing in most markets around the world and a lot of them come with free call credit. They’re often pre-charged and you can usually be talking within seconds of purchasing it.

You can also buy a SIM that works in almost any country from a company like TravelSim. TravelSim has free incoming calls in over 140 countries. You order the SIM card online, and it’s shipped to your home before you travel. These types of SIM cards are great for travelers who are going to several countries on one trip (eliminating the need to buy a new SIM in each country), and they also eliminate any guesswork and huge roaming fees by letting you know calling rates ahead of time.

Tip: A lot of airports and even bus terminals have cellphone kiosks where you can pick up your new phone/SIM as you arrive at your next destination. Be prepared that a lot of them need a valid passport or identification as the telecom industry is heavily controlled in a lot of countries. Once they copy your information down you can be on your way again in minutes.

Depending on the country and provider, you can pay next to nothing for your calls. If the prepaid cell plan doesn’t include cheap international calling, there’s usually an addon you can buy that will drastically lower the cost. If there isn’t, then picking up a prepaid calling card combined with your new phone can be a great combination. You can find this info most places you can buy a cellphone at.

If you’re lucky enough to own an unlocked phone that is compatible with the local frequencies, you can easily pick up a prepaid SIM card while you’re in that country. Ranging anywhere from a few dollars to $20 or $30, once you put the SIM in you can be calling just like you never left home. Like the cheap cellphones, plans vary depending on the country and the provider. Most plans include an option for cheap international calling so talk to whoever sold you the card to find out if it’s better to go that route or the purchase a prepaid card.

Calling Landlines From a Computer

Just like apps for tablets and cellphones, there are a plethora of options out there for people who wish to make phone calls from their laptops while traveling. Skype is very common and with hundreds of millions of users is one of the largest online telecommunications companies in the business. Since it has been purchased by Microsoft, it’s now being packaged with Windows 8 and soon there will be an Xbox app for it as well. As of right now, they have an app for practically every device out there.

Remember these? Photo by Daniel Catt

If you have the need to hold a real phone when you call, MagicJack is a very capable device that lets you plug a standard phone into your computers USB port. The per year license is around $29.99 USD a year but it does give you unlimited phone calls to the USA and Canada and allows you to includes a dedicated number so your friends and family can also call you via a regular phone number no matter where you happen to be in the world.  The new MagicJack Plus now even works without a computer as long as you have a data port.

Google Talk and Google Voice are also great ways to communicate with loved ones back home and I often call my parents right from my browser’s Gmail page while checking my email. With free calls to Canada and the US it’s too easy to pass up.

The Internet Is Only A Fad

Regardless of which product you use or how you call them, your friends and family will appreciate you reaching out to them while on the road. Emails and text messages are great ways to stay in touch but next to siting down and chatting with someone over the phone makes them feel like you’re only down the road and not on the other side of the planet.

In truth, video chatting is even better but if Granny refuses to turn on the iPad you bought her for Christmas and Uncle Frank still only believes the internet is a passing fad then at least you have some way to keep in touch.

For the vast majority of people, the truth is, no matter where you are in the world, you’re only a phone call away.

It’s this chaos that makes Marrakech’s riads a perfect, calm place to escape. We stayed in three riads (in four different rooms) over the course of a week, and had a chance to visit another for a very late brupper (breakfast foods for supper) with friends. The riads ranged from simple budget rooms (Ryad Laarrous) to suites complete with two separate bedrooms and a large living area (Riad Dar Ourika).

What’s a riad? Riads are traditional Moroccan houses that have been converted into hotels or bed and breakfasts. Some are small enough to have only two or three rooms, others have dozens, but most only have five or six suites. They’re always built around a central courtyard, with windows and doors usually facing the courtyard rather than the exterior. From the outside, riads are decidedly unassuming, and even entrance doors are usually simple affairs. The ground floor often holds the dining area, central courtyard and a common sitting room, with individual rooms on upper floors. Most riads also have large rooftop terraces that allow you to bask in the Moroccan sun and watch the sun set over the Medina.

How much does a riad cost?

Rates range from around $35 USD per night for a double room in a budget riad (like Ryad Laarrous, where we stayed three nights), right up into the thousands if your budget can handle it (check out the stunning Dar Anika). We didn’t stay at the Anika (though I really wish we had). You can easily get a double room in a mid-range riad for around $60 USD/night, or a large family suite for around $110/night. You can often even rent an entire riad by contacting the owners directly (most riads have websites, though many are only in French).

Why is there always a water fountain in the central courtyard?

The water in the center courtyard is a form of natural air conditioning. When hot air in the courtyard flows over the fountain, it’s cooled almost instantly. Because hot air rises (and cool sinks), the cooled air stays within the riad’s open air central courtyard, cooling off the building and the rooms around it.

How the heck do I find my riad? These streets are crazy!

Finding your way to your riad is probably going to be the hardest part of your stay. The streets in Marrakech’s Medina look like they were designed by a honeybee strung out on a strong dose of espresso. This is especially true walking through the souks near the center.

Check out this video of the four of us navigating the narrow streets (which would be small for just a pedestrian walkway in North America) on our way to our stay at Riad Ourika in the old Medina. This was our third or fourth foray into the Medina from that riad, and notice that we still got turned around. Twice!

At least our riad had a name and address on the outside. Many are unmarked and often even the street numbers are missing. Google maps will only get you so close to where you need to be so don’t rely on them to get you exactly where you need to be.

So how can you find them? Many riads will have someone meet you at the airport or train station to guide you if you contact them before you get there. Alternatively, you can do what we did, and pick a random kid somewhere near your riad and pay them 10 dirham (about a USD) to guide you to the front door. Your mileage may vary with this approach, as Marrakech is legendary for its touts and hustlers. If you get lost, trust us that within a few minutes you will have someone willing to guide you. Most are very nice but occasionally they can get pushy. Just be firm and realize that for many of them this helpful guidance  is in effect a full time job for them.

What kind of amenities do riads have?

Marrakech’s riads have a surprising number of amenities, including everything from swimming pools, Wi-Fi access, free breakfasts, dining rooms, rooftop loungers and restaurants to onsite massages, spas and hammams. Most will also help you set up tours of the surrounding areas and will hold your bag if you decide to head to the Atlas Mountains or decide to camp out in the Sahara desert for a night like we did.

Swimming pools in most riads are usually fairly small and not heated, making them much more suitable for a plunge after a hot day walking through the souks than swimming laps. Almost all riads offer a breakfast with the room rate and many will also make you a delicious custom Moroccan dinner on site in a private dining room if you set it up a day in advance. We’ve heard from numerous people that the supper they were served in their riad was easily the best Moroccan meal they had in Marrakesh. Of course this wholly depends on the riad you have chosen.

Most riads will also provide you with a welcome Moroccan tea on your arrival or a delicious glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. The Moroccan tea (usually a very sweet green tea with large mint leaves in it) is absolutely delicious and shouldn’t’ be missed.

What’s a hammam?

A hammam (hamam) is a traditional Turkish bath. Many riads have their own onsite hammam rooms and staff, or they can refer you to a hammam nearby. Traditionally, a hammam is a communal experience, meaning you’ll be getting naked in a large room with a bunch of strangers (generally strangers of the same sex, as hammams are usually male or female only). Riads, however, can arrange for couples hammams in their private rooms. The experience can include a massage, or simply a steam followed by a rough soaping by a same sex attendant.

WiFi. Can I get it?

Ah, Internet access, the bane of our travel blogging life. Unfortunately, we had problems with Wi-Fi access in all of the riads we stayed at in Marrakech, despite the riads all advertising Wi-Fi in the rooms. That said, the WiFi signal was strong in all of the riads’ main lounges, and we often resorted to hanging out on the common couches when we needed to connect. You’ll stand the best chance of the Wi-Fi signal reaching your room if you have a room that connects directly to the main area on the ground floor. Unfortunately, this may mean your room is a little bit louder, but it may be a small price to pay for good Internet.

Where can I find a good riad?

We booked all of our riads through Booking.com. They seemed to have the most reviews of all the search engines we looked at, and prices were more often cheaper than booking through the riads themselves.

What’s the difference between a dar and a riad?

In practical terms, none. From what we could uncover, a dar should be a townhouse with a courtyard, while a riad should have a garden. However, many riads in Marrakech don’t have a proper garden.

Where we stayed

Riad Ourika’s Suite Royale

Ryad Laarrous. Decidedly budget, the Laarous feels a bit like it’s falling apart a bit at the seams. Still, it was pretty, with a cozy central sitting area offering a decent breakfast, a small pool, flat screen TVs in the rooms and a helpful front desk staff. Good value for the money however make sure you get a room that faces the inside as road noise from the few rooms facing the street can get pretty loud at times.

Riad Dar Ourika. My favorite of the riads we stayed at, the Riad Dar Ourika had a leafy sitting area and good breakfast. Our room, the Royal Suite (around $116 USD/night was huge, with two bedrooms, an enormous private central sitting area with fireplace and couches, a 15 foot tiled ceiling with skylight, a bathroom straight out of the Arabian nights, and a private terrace to relax on.

Riad Tizwa. Small, lovely, and best suited to couples or singles (rooms aren’t well set up for larger families), this is a charming riad. Our Canadian friends, who met us in Marrakech, stayed here and gave us a tour of their gorgeous room. We arranged for a custom meal on the rooftop terrace, and the cook pulled out all the stops, including rose petals on the table, candlelight, and a delicious spread of fresh fruit, juices, coffee, granola, omelettes and fresh bread.

The email was from Adam Shepard asking us to review his latest book, One Year Lived, and offering to pass on a few free PDF copies to our readers (scroll to the bottom of the post for how to get those).

His first book, Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream, was partly a response to Barbara Ehrenreich’s controversial Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.

In Scratch Beginnings, Shepard’s set out to prove that he could start from almost nothing and have a working automobile, live in a furnished apartment and have $2500 in cash within a year. Where Ehrenreich failed, supposedly showing that those with limited financial resources are doomed to live in an endless cycle of poverty, Shepard succeeded in creating a successful life in one short year.

It’s an interesting premise, and landed Adam attention from the likes of NPR, The Today Show and CNN.

Fast forward a couple of years, and Adam’s email about his new book, One Year Lived, landed in our inbox.

In One Year Lived, Adam chronicles his year trip around the world. The book describes his experiences mustering cattle in the Australian Outback, bullfighting, volunteering with children in Honduras and meeting the love of his life.

It’s an interesting read as a travelogue, following the story of a self-deprecating young man on a trip around the world. Here, he describes bungee jumping in Slovakia.

“One of the guys says to me in broken English: “Just in case line break and you not stop before ground, we really enjoy know you.”

… Screw it. I take a final, lingering look over at Ivana, her expression cheery  and supportive. I spread my arms out wide above my head. I bend my knees. I rise up off of my toes. I curl my head down over the rest of my body. I dive. I soar. An exhilarated shriek explodes through my lips, prying at my clenched jaw. The world opens up. My pulse pounds even harder. I’m dropping. I’m flying. The forest widens, widens, widens—a sea of spiky green spreading beneath me. The fall lasts a day, a week, a month. Three-point-two-five seconds.”

But it’s the bigger themes that Shep (Adam’s nickname) touches on that make the book worth reading.

In the book, he muses, “How does a person muster the courage—or recklessness—to put it all to the side for a year? To shelve responsibility? Alongside heaps of motivation—new places, new experiences, new foods—why does one decide to go and another doesn’t? Whether escaping the mundane or chasing excitement, why do some people talk about their dream to do something anomalous and others actually do it?”

It’s a fantastic question.

What makes one person decide to take a chance, and travel around the world for a year, while another decides to stay at home and forgo that opportunity?

One of my regrets is not traveling earlier in my life. I was was close to 30 when Charles and I set out on our first year long adventure. Why didn’t I go before that? For all the reasons Adam says: I was comfortable, I wanted to go to school, and honestly, I didn’t even know where to begin.

Maybe the reason some people just take off (and why I finally mustered the courage at 30) is something like this (again in Shep’s words), “This—right now, today—this is our time to live, yours and mine. Quality years ahead, presumably, and we’ve already had some great experiences, met some great people, and created some great memories.”

It’s really about an understanding that life is short, that the opportunity that you pass by may never come back again. We’ve written posts on 10 reasons to travel right now, and Shep’s written an entire book filled with reasons why you should travel if it’s your dream.

Why did Shep go? In his words… ”

“I wasn’t angry. I didn’t hate my job. I wasn’t annoyed with capitalism, and I was indifferent to materialism. I wasn’t escaping emptiness, nor was I searching for meaning. I have great friends and a wonderful family. The dude two doors down invited me over for steak or pork chops—my choice—one Sunday, and I couldn’t even tell you the first letter of his name. Most of my teeth are natural. … I felt as if I was a few memories short, as if there was still time for me to go out there and get missing for a little while. Bust out the List o’ Good Times, sell my car, store my crap, stuff a backpack, buy a small mountain of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and hop on a plane. Just this once.”

Sound interesting?

Adam’s given us a few free copies to give away. Just leave a comment below, and we’ll email you a link to your free download (in PDF format) while they’re available.

You can find out more about Adam on the One Year Lived website, or on his Facebook page.

Disclosure: We weren’t paid to write this review (though we’re not above it, just in case J. K. Rowling’s looking for reviewers for her new book), though we did get a digital copy of Adam’s book to read.

Looking back, when Micki and I started traveling together on our first year long RTW adventure in 2003, we each had a moderate sized backpack and a smaller daypack for our daily jaunts. In the first few weeks we arrogantly convinced ourselves that those bags would be all we ever needed. Boy, how wrong we were…

Ah, the days of just one backpack…

You see, some people can go for days without washing their clothes and don’t seem to mind walking around in what I lovingly call the backpacker funk. Most travelers go through times where laundering your clothes just isn’t easy, however there are some backpackers that truly revel in it.

Then there are the ultra lightweight travelers who use their t-shirts as towels and wash their only underwear every night in the sink. To put it simply, those guys are too energetic for me and the reality is that I need a change of clothes every now and again.

To make me feel even worse, there are hundreds of posts out there where travelers are marveling how they’ve never been so happy since they limited their clothing to only a few items.

Frankly, we aren’t those people.

The reality is, on that first trip, our bags were full from the start and as our trip wore on, somewhere along the way we were forced to pick up another large backpack. You might think that it was from all the souvenirs we horded, however it wasn’t. There are still two boxes in our storage locker that are full of all the things we shipped home during that trip that have yet to see the light of day.

Part of the problem was that we’re probably the only backpacking couple that carried a tuxedo and wedding dress for eight months of their travels. 

Since we got engaged a few months into that first trip, we decided to get married before we returned to Canada. As a result, I had a tux custom made for me while we were in Thailand and Micki had her wedding dress designed there as well.

Now don’t get me wrong, we never intended to carry them with us for so long, however our wedding date kept getting pushed back further and further on that trip until finally we decided enough was enough and made it happen. Of course, by then we were almost on our way home so our tux and dress went back into the backpack until we got back to Canada.

That trip told us a lot about our travel habits, what we could live without and what we considered essential. In the few years between then and starting a family, we even managed to reduce and refine our gear to what we considered the ultimate compromise of needs versus wants.

That perfect luggage period was ridiculously short lived.

As soon as Cole was born, all semblance of order was thrown out the window. Extra diapers, extra wipes, blankets, sheets, clothes, portable crib, emergency pharmaceuticals, you name it we carried it. It’s hard enough to travel with a baby, never mind having to pack for every possibility.

Back then we still felt guilty for wanting to continue our travels and God forbid that something went wrong. We would have had to face the accusations of the grandparents and family who thought our errant travel days should be over now that we had started a family. To be on the safe side, back then we packed enough to flatten a donkey.

I’m not going to lie, traveling with young kids is never easy. Not only do you have to deal with all the crap that goes with having little ones at home, but you also have their extra gear and safety to worry about while on the road. It’s still possible to enjoy travel but our days of simply grabbing our backpacks and jumping on a plane were over.

Don’t tell anyone but one of the happiest days of my life was the day we packed up for a trip and left the diapers, blankets, strollers and baby seats behind since our youngest was finally at an age that she didn’t need any of it. Glory days were definitely upon us!

And here’s what bags for a family of four look like…

This trip we went in a new direction and decided to test out the rolling luggage approach. It has been an interesting change from just the backpacks however, besides for the pain of wheeling something with tiny wheels up and down Spain and Portugal’s steep and winding cobblestone streets, it’s been working.

For any of you wondering, on this trip we have two large rolling suitcases, a backpack we first used on that trip in 2003 as well as three daypacks. Considering there are now four of us, I keep telling myself it’s not that crazy.

The smaller daypacks usually hold our electronics while the other one holds travel snacks, spare clothes and toys for the kids. The two large rollers carry our clothes and some extra toys like Lego and a few small stuffed animals that the kids refuse to part from. The large backpack carries extraneous items like our snorkeling gear (two masks and snorkels), schoolbooks, craft supplies and learning activities for the kid as well as a  first aid kit and a few small bowls and cups for those non kitchen equipped stays.

In theory, between the four of us it’s manageable. We also generally long stay in places so the bags are sedentary most of the time.

Of course, that little jaunt we made to Portugal for three weeks kind of went against the norm, but we also had a rental car for that leg of the trip so lugging our gear usually only meant hauling our stuff up and down three or four flights of stairs and then a block or two to our parked vehicle.

Towards the end of our time in Portugal, the joy of staying in charming, old historical buildings on tiny streets was quickly losing against places with ample parking and blessed elevators..

Though we did have a hate on for our luggage in Portugal, so far what we’ve been traveling with has been working.

That said, we just got back from Morocco and frankly, our luggage wasn’t invited. The thought of all the touts and mayhem there was just too much for us to deal with.

I told Micki we were either taking the kids or the bags. I didn’t think the kids could handle hanging out in a locker for a week so I hope our bags enjoyed their little break. I hate to ever leave anything behind, but my nerves and my back enjoyed the break even more.

The worrisome part is that for the most part, we didn’t miss the stuff that was in the two big bags we left behind. Are we finally reaching the point of a small bag for each of us? Probably not but for the first time in years I think there is hope ahead.

Have a horror story about your luggage or some tips about handling baggage and kids? If so, we’d love to hear about it.

New luggage

Is your Mom still toting around the same tired luggage? Maybe it’s time for an upgrade.

Our picks – The Travelpro Luggage Maxlite 2 20″ Expandable Spinner is small enough to fit into an airline’s carry on and gets great reviews on Amazon.com.

If your Mom’s more into backpacking, the Eagle Creek Rincon 65L, made with a smaller frame great for female travelers, is a good start. I’m still using the older version of this model, which I picked up over 10 years ago.

Smartphone

Now, you’d have to love your mother a lot (or have a pretty flush bank account) to pony up for a new iPhone or Droid, but there’s no arguing that a smartphone is a great travel gift.

Smartphone apps are fantastic for all sorts of travel tasks, from checking the weather (we like The Weather Channel) to checking flights (we like the Skyscanner app) and booking hotels (we love the Booking.com app).

Our pick - A shiny new iPhone 5. If the newest iPhone’s a bit too expensive for you, the older generation Apple iPhone 4S is still a great phone, and I love the whopping 5.5 “display Android Samsung Galaxy Note II.

A night away from it all

A night’s stay in a cushy hotel will win you points from almost any Mom. Depending on her likes and your budget, you can go with a stay in a world class inner city hotel, a luxury resort in the Caribbean, or just a night in her hometown.

The gift of helping others

There are some wonderful international charities that aim to help others around the world. Don’t forget to make the donation in your Mom’s name.

Our picks – We like Heifer International (which provides gifts of livestock and training to those in need), Kiva.org (which gives micro loans to individuals in developing nations), and Nothing But Nets (which provides mosquito nets for children in areas with malaria).

Quick drying clothing

Travel clothing these days is truly amazing. You can get rugged, attractive clothes that dry in almost an instant.

Our picks – Well, they may not be the sexiest things on the planet, but these Patagonia Women’s Hipsters quick drying underwear get great reviews. And, if buying your Mom underwear just isn’t in the cards, the Patagonia Re-Tool Snap-T Pull Over Fleece Jacket is a great option.

Waterproof camera

The new generation of rugged, waterproof cameras are a great addition to any travelers toolkit. They’re rugged enough to withstand a drop from around 5 feet and take great photos and videos underwater, and most can take great 1080p video.

Our picks – We like the Canon PowerShot D20 (our review here) and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS4 (we review the DMC-TS4 here).

Books for the traveling soul

If your budget won’t quite reach to a camera or a trip, books are almost always a great option. Here are a few picks to get you started:

Eat. Pray. Love. Perhaps the obvious option for Mother’s Day, Elisabeth Gilbert’s book is a fun, light read. Also available as a movie starring Julia Roberts.

On The Road by Jack Kerouac is a classic travel tome. If this doesn’t get your Mom’s wanderlust up and running, not much will.

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. Written by Rolf Potts, a great read about long term travel that’s chock full of practical advice.

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. Mayes buys and abandoned villa in Italy, and learns to love the simplicity of rural Italian life. The book was made into a movie starring Diane Lane and Sandra Oh.

Still stumped?

Amazon.com has done some of the work for you, and come up with a list of travel gear and gadgets, and there’s always the option of a gift card so she can buy whatever she likes.

Happy Mother’s day!

We’ve scored some fantastic deals using airfare search engines that let you type in your departure city (or country) and search for a list of cheap flights to virtually any destination in the world.

We found our last flight, a one way ticket from Cancun, Mexico to Madrid, Spain for $160 USD all in. We also just booked a one way flight from Istanbul, Turkey to Toronto, Canada for just $288 after taxes and fees. That’s less than your average local flight within Canada.

Sound interesting? In this post, we:

• Tell you how we find cheap flights to anywhere (and no, none of these companies paid us to write this post).
• Review the major flight search engines that allow you to search from a departure city (or country) without including any specific destination

Skyscanner

Let’s start with what we think is the best search engine of the bunch for this: Skyscanner. To find cheap flights to everywhere from your destination, just leave the To field blank in your Skyscanner search.

Skyscanner search to any destination from New York

Skyscanner lets you see up to a week, a month or even a year of fares at a time, which can save you a bundle if your dates are flexible. Skyscanner also lets you type in a country name to find cheap airfares from all cities in the country.

Results from Skyscanner search from New York to anywhere for April

Free Apps: We use the Skyscanner iPhone app a lot as well. The app seems to have almost all of the features of the site, including the ability to search for flights to anywhere, and for a month’s worth at a time. It also features a cool interactive map that lists prices to cities around the globe. The apps are available for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.

Note: The prices listed on Skyscanner are based on previous flight search data. When you click the link the initial prices might differ from the actual listed price. When you actually go to book, prices may change as well.

What we don’t like: Unfortunately, the Skyscanner site itself doesn’t let you see your results in a map. (Clicking the small map link above the To: Field on the search page doesn’t show your airfares on the map, but the map will let you zoom and draw specific routes, which you can then search, which is pretty cool in and of itself). Also, the prices you see aren’t always the final price you pay.

Our take: The best of the bunch. Skyscanner is easy to use, we’ve found that the fares it comes up with are generally accurate, and it even comes as a well designed app. Love it. It also makes a great tool to quickly find cheap alternative routes to your destination.

Kayak Explore

The Kayak Explore tool is made specifically for searching for flights to anywhere. To find flights, type your departure city and select your search options.

Kayak Explore Tool search to any destination from New York

Kayak’s Explore tool lets you search for airfares for different seasons, making it a great tool for long term planning.

Results show up in a map. You can drag and zoom, making it easy to see airfares to different regions, or even for the entire world at once.

Kayak Explore has some fun search options, including searching for fights by weather, and by things to do (golf, gambling, and so on). You can even narrow down results by budget.

Note: The prices listed on the Kayak Explore map are based on flights bought on Kayak in the last 48 hours. When you actually go to book, prices may be different.

Free Apps: Kayak Explore has a free app for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone 7 and Kindle Fire.

What we don’t like: One thing we don’t like is that Kayak Explore won’t let you see all flights from a specific country. Instead, you’re limited to searching from specific cities. We’re also not keen that the Explore tool only lists round trip fares, making it a bit harder to plan trips with multiple legs.

Our take. Very good. We love the map display of fares, and the fun search options, but don’t like that it only lists round trip fares, and that it won’t display the cheapest flights from a specific country.

Best of the Bunch

We use Skyscanner and Kayak Explore almost exclusively to search for flights from a specific destination to anywhere. That said, there are a couple of other flight search engines that do a similar job (though not nowhere near as well). We’ve included them here just for the sake of completeness.

FareCompare

Like Kayak Explore, FareCompare lets you search for fares to anywhere from a specific departure city.

Search for flights from New York to Anywhere on Fare Compare

The problem is that FareCompare only has a fraction of the functionality of Kayak Explore or Skyscanner.

What we don’t like: The huge limitation of FareCompare is that it only lets you search from departure airports in Canada and the USA. You can also only search from specific cities, as it won’t let you search to or from specific countries or regions. Once you select the airfare that interests you, finding that flight can be awkward as it opens a half dozen windows to other popular sites like Expedia.

Our take: Too limited and just another front end to more popular search sites

Whichbudget

Search from New York to anywhere on Whichbudget.com

Whichbudget will let you search from a city (never a country) to anywhere for the cheapest airfare. It also lets you search from a good range of international destinations.

What we don’t like: Unfortunately, the results are a bit clunky, the text is hard to read, and you can’t sort the results to show the lowest price first.

Our take: Too busy site with only average results and a bad interface.

Airfarewatchdog

Search for flights to any destination from New York on Airfarewatchdog.com

Airfarewatchdog is probably the most bare bones of all the search engines that let you find a flight to any destination. It will only let you search from a specific airport (not even a city, but a specific airport), and doesn’t offer useful filters (like one way or return).

What we don’t like: You can only search from cities in Canada and the US. On top of that, it keeps asking for your name and email to sign up and get your results.

Our take: Not bad for searches however only useful within the US and Canada. Might be good as an email watchdog if you’re wanting to go to specific place and are just waiting for a good deal.

Mobissimo’s Activity Search

Search from New York to anywhere on Mobissimo

The Mobissimo Activity Search lets you search for fares from a departure city to anywhere, based on the activities you choose. And no, it won’t let you search to or from entire countries. And yes, you must choose an activity to get it to work.

Results from a Mobissimo search

Unfortunately, the Mobissimo Activity Search just brings up a long list of places. You need to click on each location individually to bring up prices.

Our take: Fail. Unless you have countless hours to waste clicking through each link or just want some ideas of possible locations to check out don’t even bother.

To sum it up

Both Skyscanner and Kayak Explore are both helpful for getting a general idea of flight costs to different places around the world. If you’re flying out of Canada or the US and know exactly which airport your leaving from them you can check out the others.

However, once you’ve used any of them to pick out affordable destinations (and dates), it’s worth it to compare those flights to some of the budget airlines that don’t appear in a lot of search engines. You also need to compare hidden airline surcharges like baggage fees and specialty taxes.

Different airlines charge differently and a lot of these search tools don’t always factor those costs in. It might even be worth it to get actual human help from a company like Flightfox now that you have a decent baseline to compare it with.

You can also now compare those price to the ITA Matrix. This company was bought out by Google and is used as the backend for their Google Flights site. Both are great tools however they don’t include flights to anywhere options so weren’t included in this roundup.

For more tips on finding a great deal, check out our Six Quick Steps to Nailing the Cheapest Flight.

Did you like this article? We’re working on Part 2: Finding the Cheapest Flight to Anywhere: Advanced Travel Hacking. Sign up to get our new blog posts by email so you don’t miss it.

But unfortunately, most of us will not have years to while away in one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. However, all is not lost, because complex and layered as it may be, Rome 101 - the real must-see places of the city – can all be done within a weekend.

Sunset at the Vatican Rome. Photo by Benson Kua.

In fact, the city in some ways lends itself to short breaks, as many of the best things to do and see are in relative proximity to one another, making it easy to fit several into a single day. Here is a suggested itinerary for a three-day stay in the city.

Day 1

If you can, book a flight that arrives in Rome the previous evening. For example, flights from London with Monarch Airlines usually get in at 6:35pm. This will mean you can get up bright an early for a full day of sightseeing the next morning.

Tombs at the Pantheon. Photo by Dennis Jarvis

First up, how about a trip to the Vatican? Located in the east of the city, a visit to the walled sovereign city-state is an absolute must for any first-timers in Rome. You’ll probably want to spend at least the whole morning here.  Make sure you don’t miss the Sistine Chapel, or the impressive Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Afterwards, take a stroll down the along Via della Conciliazione until you get to Castel Sant’Angelo – where the emperor Hadrian is buried – and stop for lunch at one of the many nearby restaurants.

In the afternoon, head across the river where you’ll find the Pantheon, one of the best preserved ancient Roman buildings in the city. Nearby there is also the splendid Piazza Navona and its fountain. This area is also a great place to have dinner, with plenty of restaurants about.

Day 2

No trip to Rome is complete without a visit to the Colosseum, so make this your first port of call on day two. You can combine this with an exploration of the nearby Roman Forum – a huge complex of ruined temples, basilicas, and arches which was the ceremonial, legal, social, and business center of ancient Rome.

Rome Colosseum and Forum Photo by Robert Lowe.

You’ll probably need the at least the whole morning to do both of the above. So after lunch why not enjoy a fairly leisurely afternoon, taking in the magnificent Trevi Fountain – being sure to toss a coin in its waters as per tradition – as well as the surrounding streets.

If you fancy an afternoon treat before dinner, head to San Crispino on Via Panetteria, rumored to serve the best gelato in the whole of Rome.

Day 3

Make the most of your final day in Rome by seeing all the major attractions you haven’t had the time to visit yet. Head towards the north of the city center and you can take in the Villa Borghese and its famous gallery, the awesome Spanish Steps and the Piazza del Popolo, all in close proximity.

Piazza del Popolo Rome. Photo by Filippo Diotalevi.

Later on, take a walk down the Via Condotti for a spot of window shopping, with all of Italy’s most famous luxury fashion brands represented here. For a slightly more Bohemian experience, head to Via Margutta, the famous street of artists.

Have you ever been to Rome? What are your must see sights?

Those picture perfect travel photos that look like they were ripped straight from the pages of National Geographic.

I’ll bet you something right now.

The photographers who took those stunning photos aren’t traveling with little kids.

My normal photo taking pose, with child attached

Especially not cute little monkeys like ours who’re climbing castle walls, perching precariously on the edges of rickety wooden docks, or threatening to dart into traffic when they’re not tired and looking for a ride on Mommy or Daddy’s back.

Now, I think traveling with kids is mostly a terrific experience. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

But travel with children just doesn’t jive with always getting the perfect photo.

Sure, sometimes we get lucky, and sometimes the kids themselves line up for a lovely photo. However, I can count on one hand how often they’ve sat still long enough to get a shot like the one below!

My kids staying still for a change!

But most of the time we’re just juggling the balance of getting a decent picture with the day to day demands of raising kids. Adjusting the white balance? Linking up the perfect composition and waiting for the right light? Fat chance on all of those.

If you’re like me, and just trying to take a good photo while juggling little kids (or just short on time or patience), these tips may help.

Tips for taking great photos with kids in tow:

Think like a newspaper photographer

They’re trained to grab photos quickly, on the run. Always have the camera ready, and grab the shot when you can. Don’t wait for the perfect moment – it may never come. Just get the shot, even if you’re taking it with one hand while holding onto your little one with the other.

Take lots of photos

Long, long gone are the days of expensive film and developing. We delete roughly a third of the photos we take while they’re still on the camera. Our cellphones are great for this since we always carry them with us and they take great photos in a pinch.

Use a photo editing software

Free online editors Pixlr and PicMonkey are both fast, easy to use, and have most of the editing capabilities that you used to only see in expensive software. Plus, they have an autocorrect button that does a decent job if you’re in a hurry. If you’re looking for something a little better than the free options, we love Adobe Lightroom.

Pass the camera to your kids

We take most of the photos on this blog with a shockproof, waterproof, point and shoot Canon D20 (we review the D20 here). Because the camera’s virtually indestructible, we can give it to the kids to use anytime without worry of them breaking it. Passing the camera to the kids keeps them occupied while we grab photos with our iPhone or our other little point and shoot.

Spend a few minutes learning your camera’s features

Even our simplest point and shoot comes with some fun modes like stitch (where it will help you take great panoramic shots), underwater, night mode and miniaturization.

The XShot

We struggled trying to get decent family shots before we found this slick little gadget. All four of us just barely fit into the lens for arm’s length photos, and often there isn’t someone else around to take a photo for us. The XShot  screws into the bottom of our camera, telescopes out to over 30 inches, and lets us take passable self portraits of the entire family.

It’s all about the light

Taking good photos in dim light and at night is difficult, even for professional photographers. If you can take photos in the day, in natural light, your pictures will be much better. If not, use the night or low light mode on your camera, and bring in a tripod if you need to hold the camera rock steady.

Our Gear

We use a Canon D20 shockproof, waterproof point and shoot. The underwater video quality (in full 1080p) is great. Night shots aren’t always the greatest though.We also toyed with getting the Panasonic Lumix TS4 (see our review here). We also carry an embarrassingly old Canon Powershot point and shoot. The much improved Canon PowerShot ELPH 330 HS is the newer version.

We always carry our iPhone 3Gs and 4S. The 4S takes surprisingly good photos, especially in sunny areas though we’re itching to upgrade to an iPhone 5.

The XShot  adapter for taking photos at arm’s length, high above the crowd or from angles that just aren’t possible otherwise.

Do you have any photo tips for those of us taking photos on the go?

I’ve been reading fellow travel blogger Jodi Ettenberg’s wonderful Food Traveler’s Handbook, and it’s led me to think more and more about how food intertwines with our travels.

It’s really as simple as this: When the food is good, our travels are usually good, and when the food is bad, our travels are usually bad. And lately, in the warm climate of Southern Spain, the food has been very good.

We’ve spent the last month sandwiched between Andalusia’s green mountains and the Mediterranean. With the beautiful climate in Southern Spain comes an abundance of fresh, ripe, locally grown veggies and fruit. Since we cook most of our meals ourselves, all of this wonderful produce has made its way into hearty vegetable soups, salads and (one of our travel favorites) grilled vegetable sandwiches.

Grilled vegetable sandwiches with roasted garlic mayo

We first got the inspiration for these sandwiches from the interior of British Columbia, during a visit to the Tranquille Farm Fresh market last summer. The fresh produce and clean air of Southern Spain reminded us a lot of our time in the mountains in British Columbia, making Spain a perfect place to recreate these yummy grilled veggie sandwiches.

This is not a precise recipe, which is why it’s such a great meal for traveling. I usually make it with whatever vegetables are fresh and on hand, and use the local cheeses and breads we like most. We generally eat these as is, however Charles loves his with a few strips of bacon for any of you non-vegetarians out there.

Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 Zucchini
• 1 Eggplant
• 1 Onion
• 1 Red pepper (or capsicum, for those from the UK or Australia)
• 1 Yellow pepper (or capsicum, for those from the UK or Australia)
• 4 Lettuce leaves
• 1 Tomato
• Salt
• Pepper
• 3 Tablesppons olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar (optional)
• 2 Fresh baguettes cut in half (to make four sandwiches) or 4 fresh buns
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 4 Slices Havarti (feel free to substitute Gouda, Cheddar, Edam or any other cheese)

Easy Roasted Garlic Mayonnaise

• 3 Garlic cloves (whole)
• 4 Tablespoons mayonnaise
• A few drops of hot sauce (optional)

Preparation

• Wash vegetables and lettuce and pat dry.
• Slice tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices and set aside.
• Slice vegetables into half inch thick slices, brush with olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Leave skin on garlic cloves and brush with oil.
• Cut baguette or buns in half lengthwise, and spread both sides lightly with butter.

Cooking

• Place vegetables (except for tomatoes) on hot grill. You can cook veggies on a BBQ, an open-faced grill, or even a hot frying pan, and they’ll turn out perfectly delicious.
• Cook until vegetables are tender. Toss with balsamic vinegar, if desired.
• Place baguette, butter side up, on grill and cook until warmed through.

Assembly

• Pop the skins off roasted cooked garlic cloves, and mash the garlic cloves into the mayonnaise with a fork. Add a few drops of hot sauce to season, if desired.
• Spread roasted garlic mayonnaise on both sides of baguette.
• Pile piping hot vegetables on the bottom half of the baguette.
• Cover with cheese. If you’d like the cheese to melt thoroughly, pop the sandwiches under the broiler for a minute to melt the cheese.
• Place uncooked tomatoes and lettuce on top of cheese.

Makes 4 servings.

Enjoy!

Micki

Here are some of the tricks we’ve learned for always feeling at home, no matter where we are in the world.

Stay connected

The hardest part of travel, for us, is being away from family and friends. Staying connected with the folks at home goes a long way to easing homesickness.

Call home! Photo by Myrmi

When we first started traveling (it wasn’t that long ago – really!), Charles and I would shuffle into tiny phone booths to call back home, watching the precious minutes tick by until we were cut off. Today, international calling is affordable and easy, and Internet is almost everywhere on the globe, making it simple to keep in touch.

Stay in a local apartment

A local apartment has a few advantages over hotels, including giving you a more space and a place to cook and relax. An apartment also gives you a better chance to meet locals than a hotel. The generally also have more of a homey feeling.

Airbnb is a great place to start if you’ve never tried an apartment rental, as they hold your payment in trust, and don’t release it to the landlord until 24 hours after you check in, ensuring that your money is safe.

Tip: If you’re a single traveler, try the opposite and staying in a hostel occasionally. While we don’t use hostels a lot (with four of us, apartments just seem to work better), a hostel can be a great choice if you’re by yourself. You’ll meet lots of other travelers in the same boat and chances are good that you’ll meet someone from back home that will remind you of the things you left behind. And forget the stereotype that all hostels are grungy, noisy places. Many hostels are lovely, clean, and come with some surprisingly good amenities.

Comfort food

Sometimes a little taste of home is all that we need to ease our travel blues.

Mmm… The fried, potatoey, crispy, doughy goodness that is a perogy. Photo by Helen Cook.

For us, comfort food like homemade mac and cheese, grilled veggie sandwiches, bean burritos and brownies works wonders. We just need to figure out how to find perogies in Southern Spain and Playa del Carmen, and we’ll be set.

Revisit the same eateries or corner store

It’s amazing how comforting it can be just to have one person recognize you in a strange place.

Last summer, we visited Calgary after a few years away and I was feeling a bit out of place, as if the city that I’d once lived in for so long had become a stranger to me. Many of my friends had moved away, and even many the buildings I remembered had been torn down or renovated.

Then we stopped by an old favorite, a Dutch pancake restaurant. Against all odds, the waitress remembered us from all those years ago, and even commented on how our kids had grown. Instantly, I felt at home again.

Tip: If you ever stop by the Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus in Calgary, check out the potato, onion and cheese pancake. It’s a cheesy, savory wonder.

Bring something from home with you

Whenever we travel, we always carry a few small things with us to remind us of home. A picture of our cat and immediate family always seem to make it into our bag. Our kids each bring a stuffed animal with them. We’ve also been known to throw a comfortable piece of clothing or some pj’s in our bag just so we could wander around our place like we did back home.

So, how do you beat the blues on the road?