Book Review: Nomad and Practical
Nomad and practical - the words separated seem to conjure up old school lessons by teachers and parents on how one should behave, or aptly where we would end up if we did not. But combine the two words and worlds and we have, not a conflict of interest, but a symbiosis of young, dashing energy with gritty and valuable practicality. What we have is knowledge. What we have is Edward Hasbrouck's The Practical Nomad, subtitled How to Travel Around the World.

Hasbrouck not only handles the main questions of the independent traveler and otherwise, he provides detailed answers to questions you should be asking, so as to avoid getting yourself into unfortunate situations once on the road.

Everything from the right way to find the cheapest airfare to sexual behavior and health concerns every traveler should know, to choosing the regions that are right for you based on your budget, your interests, visa requirements, accommodation and transportation planning. In a recent phone interview from San Francisco, Hasbrouck addressed some of the concerns many travelers may have about his book, and traveling in general.

Student World Traveler: How do you approach travel issues in your book and how are they different from traditional guide books?
Edward Hasbrouck: It is not a book to bring with you. It is not a book I expect people to read in one sitting. It is a book to help people plan a trip: what travel will be like in different places, what types of transportation will be right in different regions, strategies for getting the best deal on international airfares, how to find places to stay if you haven't reserved them in advance, how to communicate if you don't know the language, and ideas about how to deal with money and other issues on the road.

SWT: What information in The Practical Nomad are readers unlikely to find elsewhere?
EH: First, how airfares work. So much of what gets written about airfares comes from ... writers who don't work in the industry like I do. They don't have access to inside information. So many wrong guesses about how airfares work have become widely accepted myths among travelers and travel writers alike. I explain what's going on behind the scenes, so you can make sense out of what happens when you go shopping for tickets. [Second], detailed explanations of visas, passports and travel documents. [Third] there is a lengthy section on budgeting: how to develop you travel budget, what kinds of items to include, how to come up with realistic numbers. It's much better to come back with money left over, but much more common not to budget adequately and thus have to come back too early or curtail parts of trips ... things you would have been able to do if you had more help in planning your budget. These are all types of general information that guide books to specific countries don't have room for.

SWT: What, in your experience, holds people back from traveling?
EH: The largest thing is their fear of the unknown; how they will deal with things in a strange country. It's a big hurdle to get your feet in the water and take your first trip abroad. Most people find travel to be easier than they thought it would be. In The Practical Nomad they can find answers to questions they would never have known to ask. I explain a lot of things that could go wrong and a lot of what people think of as problems...in order to show people how travel can be easier than they think... and to get people over that fear. Most people find travel to be easier than they though it would be, and [in the Practical Nomad] they find answers to questions they thought they would never have to ask.

"It's a big hurdle to get your feet in the water and take your first trip abroad."

SWT: How are college students and recent graduates different from the typical budget traveler?
EH: Budget travelers as a whole are much more diverse. There is a perception that the only people that could get the time are young people who haven't embarked on a career yet. But a surprising number of people ... middle aged, careerists ... are finding ways to take long-term trips. People ask 'how will I explain it on my resume if I take a year off to travel? My response is: It is not a year off, it is a year on - the most intense experience, including educationally, that you'll ever have. Instead of trying to hide travel on a resume, put it at the top.

SWT: What are some assumptions for those who have never traveled before?
EH: Traditionally Americans taking their first trip abroad go to Western Europe. The assumption is that Europe is the logical region not to start with because it seems closer, cheaper to get to, more familiar, and less scary. I question all of those as reasons, and I'd do the opposite. If you have to choose, go first to somewhere in the third world.

SWT: How is starting in the third world easier?
EH: On any extended trip, daily expenses total much more than airfare. The choice that makes the most difference to the cost of your trip is not whether you get discounts, or how clever you are at bargaining. What it comes down to is whether you go to rich and expensive countries or to poor and cheap countries. The cost of travel is almost purely a function of local labor costs. Part of what that means is you can afford more in terms of service than in richer countries; for the same budget you would d have to stay in hostels and eat [in grocery stores] in the richer countries, in the poorer you can stay in hotels, eat in restaurants ... you can afford to hire a guide occasionally when it is too difficult to get someplace on you own ...because of those things, it is much easier and more comfortable to travel on a budget in a third world country. Learning [how to travel] in a third would country is also easier because the mistakes are less costly. So, if you are going to travel around the world, you should put places like Western Europe at the end of the trip because those are places where you need more travel experience.

If you only go to rich countries like the USA, you're missing most of the world. One of the great rewards of traveling to more diverse places is seeing how many different, yet equally valid, ways of doing the same things, accomplishing the same goals, and interpreting the same phenomena that are around the world.

Edward Hasbrouck lives and works as a travel agent in San Francisco. According to his book, he has visited over 21 countries.