Backpacking is a great way to explore other countries and continents on a budget and really get to know the local culture. To fully immerse yourself, you need to take a bite out of what the country has to offer and when it comes to South Africa there are plenty of tasty things to sample. If you’ve never been to South Africa your knowledge of the local cuisine might not extend beyond biltong - that salty mea ...

Departure time for South Africa has finally arrived. I can't believe it! The last few months have been so hectic that I didn't have time to be excited about this trip. But I must admit that today, March 3rd, I am happy to be leaving for the airport and to be sitting on a plane in just a few hours. South Africa, oh boy am I ready for you! Am I ready for this trip? I guess my answer would be yes and no. Yes b ...

With only two weeks away from my 3-week backpacking trip to South Africa, I think I'm ready. Or kind of. Believe it or not, I'm really excited to fly with KLM Airlines again because my experience with them last year to Tanzania was great. We were stuck in the place for over 6 hours due to the weather conditions and KLM kept us informed and fed us the entire time. So with a quick stop in Amsterdam and then a ...

When it comes to transportation in a different country, I can easily find a common denominator if I look back at all my travels experiences. Unless I had a friend who lived in the country I was visiting, I never rented a car and turned my backpacking trip into a road trip. I normally relied on planes, buses, trains or ferries to take me from point a to b. But given that I was in Africa last year and I'm goi ...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="569" caption="Source: Lonely Planet"][/caption] This is it! After getting my 3-weeks of vacation approved, I finally decided on my next destination. South Africa I come! After much back and forth between Indonesia and South Africa, I finally made my decision. The flight isn't booked yet and I guess it won't be written in stone until then but one thing is for sure, I ...

It's that time of the year where I'm trying to figure out where my next backpacking destination will. I was initially planning to visit Indonesia in the spring but it seems that South Africa will also be a viable option. Decisions, Decisions! This is where I need your help! My dilemma with Indonesia is that I'm not quite sure what are the best place to visit in the country. But that aside, I'm not sure if I ...

During the last few weeks, I have been busy making Peru plans. Each day was a day of researching of what to see and where to stay. Finally yesterday, I finished all the booking and planning! My boyfriend and I are going on an 11 days adventure to Peru! We are going from Oct 5th to Oct 15th. Since my time off work is limited, we had to make our trip a fast pace backpacking adventure. I first started planning ...

Prior to my trip to Brazil last winter, I made a quick stop to the Travel Clinic to get important shots for Yellow Fever, Typhoid and Hepatitis A. The doctor also recommended I take Malaria pills since I was spending 6 days in the Brazilian Amazon. There are several types of Malaria pills: Mefloquine, Malarone, Doxycycline and Fansidar. My doctor recommended the Malarone pills, which I believe are the most ...

If there is one really exciting aspect of worldwide events, it's definitely the commercials.  Check out these 3 commercials. This is a really fun commercial! We all know about the rivalry between Argentina and Brazil, especially when it comes to soccer (or should I say football). The AD is about Argentines who drink Skol (a Brazilian beer) and then begin dancing samba. It's fun! You'll enjoy it. [youtube=ht ...

 Hi everyone, my name is Anthony and I am a new blog writer for Off-Track Backpacking. I am currently a Political Science student at UDM. I concentrated my studies in international politics such as Latin America, Eastern and Western Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. Travelers are not always aware of the political climate when traveling abroad so I'll be focusing my posts on this matter. So let's start ...