When the wife and I moved to Korea, we left a lot behind behind: our family and friends, a big apartment, the comfort of the familiar, and the very icons of our Americanity: our cars.
We both drove late model gas sippers. We didn’t have a choice. In our town, like most other cities in the States, public transportation is a sad joke. Cities are sprawling messes of unplanned development. If sidewalks exist, they’re usually in terrible states of disrepair. In the country, if you don’t drive, you either rely on …

Let’s lose some weight! When you’re on the road, a lighter pack can give you more freedom to explore, reduce achy shoulders and feet, and make you an all-around cleverer and sexier traveler. Part 2 of Better Packing, Better Travel explores the benefits of a lighter pack and gives you some tips for dropping those pesky unwanted pounds.

Want to learn how to stay dry when you’re on the road? It’s easy, and once you know how you might just find yourself jumping in puddles for the sheer hell of it.

Living abroad isn’t easy. Staying sane is even harder. I’ve relatively new at this expat business, but the past six months have been fun and rewarding. However, I sometimes wonder if my baseline for sanity is changing. I’ve met some crazy people and heard some sordid tales about people breaking down. For example, one guy in Korea apparently skinned somebody’s pet bunny and hung the pelt over a fan to dry. Kimchi fever? Don’t be that guy.
Here’s a few things I think have helped me. Your mileage will vary.
1. Learn …

As of yesterday, I’ve been living and working in Korea for six months. The wife and I arrived on a cold January night, given the keys to our little apartment, and started teaching the next day. Since then we’ve developed a tenuous grip on life here, crazy as it is. I’ve become more adept with chopsticks and less disdainful of karaoke. Seriously, though, here are five useful things I’ve learned since I left my hometown and moved to the other side of the world.
1. If You Don’t Know What You’re …

Are you living or traveling abroad for a long time? Need a way for (not-so-tech-savvy) people at home to reach you without breaking your budget? For the past six months I’ve been using a cheap and dirty prepaid cell + Skype setup to allow people in the states to call me for the cost of a mere local phone call.
Here’s what you need:
1) A pre-paid cell phone. In Korea, you can get one from some LG stores for under 30,000 won ($23 USD) plus 30,000 for activation. We found one …