When I first visited Europe as a backpacking, hitchhiking college student in 1991, I was content to travel wherever my rides brought me, following a vague itinerary that changed by the day. This strategy offered maximum flexibility to follow every opportunity, but it also meant missing a few. It seemed like every town I visited [...]
Bill Fink
Bill Fink is a San Francisco- based freelance writer who covers adventure travel around the world for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, Islands Magazine, Lonely Planet, and Frommer's. For links to some of his various misadventures, check out
Picking the Right Time to Travel
Why I do Research Before I Travel
The debate on travel planning usually centers on how to ensure you get a room for the night, stretch your budget through the length of the vacation, and avoid peak travel days. What is often forgotten is that travel planning is not just a tool to avoid problems—it’s a means by which you can add [...]
Family-friendly Holi-domes
In the summer of 1979, in an effort to create both quality family-bonding time and geographic educational opportunities, my dad packed our family of five in the Plymouth Volare, and we set out from Chicago. I was 11 years old, my sisters ages 5 and 8. Somehow he convinced my mom that it would be [...]
Read the rest of my journal entries:
Hwy. 1: Beer, views, and more in Half Moon BayHwy. 1: Gloriously foul elephant seals
Hwy. 1: Stand up (and fall down), a paddleboarding adventure
Hwy. 1: Exotic berries galore at the Swanton farm stand