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Best Wheeled Backpacks

For travelers who spend a good deal of time in urban areas, or flying a great deal, a wheeled backpack is a great option. A few years before these babies were common place I had a long conversation while lugging a giant rucksack through Bratislava that wheels would be a nice addition for urban travel. Apparently the travel gods were listening and some of the best luggage companies are out there making awesome wheeled backpacks.

The Victorinox CH 22 Tourist Expandable Carry-on is an excellent bag for versatility and urban travel. It seems to have everything a seasoned travel dreams of: front load, comfortable straps and supports, wheels and expansions. If you’re looking for something that can go from rugged terrain to urban jungle, this is your bag.

For something with a bit more color, try the Eagle Creek Activate Wheeled Backpack, which is expandable, wheeled (of course) and has a sleek design that is perfect for flying because there are no lose straps, flaps or hangers on. And since the wheeled backpacks come in bright red and neon yellow, you’ll be able to identify your bag easily on the carousel.

Osprey consistently ranks highly for their quality and design. The Osprey Ozone Convertible is great because it features a zip-off day bag, carry straps, wheels, sleek design and decent colors. It’s another slam dunk for Osprey. My favorite part is the zip-off pack perfect for exploration with the essentials when you can check your big bag behind.

Best Backpacks for Women

Bar none the best backpack for women is the REI Venus 75, which is the pack I use. The frame is curved for a woman’s shape, the hip supports carry more than the shoulder straps, catering to a woman’s lower center of gravity. But while the design features female features, it remains tough, versatile and ready for rugged use. With both top and front-load options, this is great for all packing types, and the compact design makes it perfect for air and train travel. Unfortunately, this  pack is no longer available, which is a real shame because it was a slam-dunk design. The replacement seems to be the REI Flash, which by all accounts has the same features and similar design. The big sell here is the claim that it will swivel and twist with your spine, and its lightweight design.

For women who plan on spending serious time with a backpack on, the Ospry Aether 70 is a great option. It doesn’t have the features I love so much in the Venus, but it’ll do. The removable hip belt is an interesting feature but perhaps not the greatest idea for longer expeditions where secure, snug fit is key.

The Terra 65 by The North Face is reported to be a great design, and offer a hydration pouch, female frame and Optifit design. It is lightweight and hardy, but since it is marketed as multi-day and not long-expedition wear I’d reserve this pack for shorter backpacking expeditions.

Best Backpacks for Photographers

Photographs have too much gear. It’s true. We all know it and yet we’re still lugging around DSLRs and tripods because hey, night shots of the Hagia Sophia are worth it. If you’re willing to bring less clothing, then there are travel backpacks for photographers that can handle your gear and your garb.

The Loewpro Photo Sport 200 AW is a great option because you get a top loader backpack for your personal stuff (what more do you need than a toothbrush and a change of clothes?) and then most of the pack is for your photo gear, which is housed in a separate compartment along the base so the weight is evenly distributed.

The Rover Pro AW Series is great because you’ll find enough space for all of your personal stuff as well as a laptop, lenses, a DSLR and a few special pieces like a tripod on the side. This sexy blue bag is pictured above, tripod in place. Check out the waist strap, which adds to the stability needed for clear, crisp shots.

One of the down sides of a photography backpack is that in third-world regions you’ll be quite the prepackaged target for pick pockets or thrives. The Rover Pro AW Series doesn’t look so much like a camera bag that you could be singled out for it, but those looking for cameras will spot them.

Best Tactical Backpacks

This section is sure to garner the most comments and debate, and for good reason. A tactical pack is designed to be durable, strong, versatile and easy to access. You need to be able to get to items quickly and, sometimes, silently. And (apparently) most importantly you have to look cool doing it. A ruck that can meet all of those requirements is hard to find– well, it was twenty years ago anyways. Now there are all manner of tactical backpacks on the market. Now we did get some insight from one Marine, and one Green Beret before suggesting the backpacks below.

The Maxpedition Falcon II Backpack offers a fantastic design, structure and fit, but still offers tactical options like a water pouch, strap on options and is made of nylon– strong and waterproof.

Grey Ghost Gear Wraith Pack Kryptek is a great bag for anyone in love with serious tactical packs. You’ll get superior quality, versatility, durability and of course the tacti-cool points you’re looking for. This comes with the hydration pouch, which is key for serious expedition hikers, backpackers and long-haul explorers.

If you’re looking for something segmented, compartmentalized and yet compact, look no further than the Velox II Tactical Backpack. This epic find is perfect for the hyper-organized (like me). There is a compartment for everything, specially designed to keep your organized and chaos-free. And it’s all easy-access, and yet with a few ratchet straps you’re able to keep it compact.

Best Carry-on Backpacks for Flying

Flying is tough, and it’s tougher when you don’t have the right gear. The Timbuk2 Aviator Travel Backpack is great because it’s versatile and can handle fragile items like a laptop and camera as well as a book, notepad, pens, and a few clothing items. If you’re the kind of person who can travel light, this might even be all you need, and the shape is perfect for fitting into the overhead bin. One of the things I like best is that it is tall and thin, so your elbows wont’ rub against the sides, back or waist support. For someone with a small frame, this is paramount, and if you’re on small planes, trains or buses it’s imperative to fitting down the aisle.

Another great carry-on option is to go with what’s winning awards- the Goruck GR1 is a great backpack, slender and contained. It has a laptop pouch and sleek design, but is durable and sturdy enough to toss around for a person constantly on the road.

I’ve had road trips in the USA on my mind recently. There is something supremely liberating about jumping in your car and facing an open road. Sometimes you know what’s ahead, most of the time you have a vague outline of what you’ll see (and end up seeing completely different things).

From the largest ball of twine to Wall Drug, to gem mining along the side of a highway, to battleground tours, Mystery Spots and monuments to American heroes– the roads in the US hold it all. At times, I feel like the open roads in America are the real libraries and museums of American history– the keepers of American pop culture, war histories and accurate indicators of the American economy.

I set off to build a page on ATC where I could house all the research on routes, hot spots and highlights for road tripping around the United States. In the end, I built a single page for this purpose, and will continue to expand the offerings across the US. Check out Best American Road Trips for the first two installments in what I hope will be an ongoing series of fun American road trips.

The allure of the open road

Some of the routes I’d like to research and write itineraries for include:

• The Biggest ______ in America! — A tour of all the strange highway attractions claiming world records
• The Best Trans-continental Drives
• Southwest USA with Cinema Guide — hey, I actually wrote this one!
• Where the hell is Wall Drug, and other things to see in South Dakota –Why North Dakota is Jealous of their southern neighbor.
• Mystery Spots Unraveled— a post that goes behind-the-scenes at highway mystery spots.
• The South-to-North Pacific Coast Drive— done, and done!
• The Best Festivals to Road Trip To in the USA — Mardi Gras to Stergis, and beyond.
• East Coast Battlegrounds Trip— How to hit all the top Civil War spots along the Atlantic.
• ATC Road Trip Routes — Hey, a trip we actually did already!

One of the things I love most about travel is the slow, ambulating way cars make their way across a terrain. They are stuck on a road (well, most of the time) and so the views are limited to the car’s track. But while this could be seen as a negative, in the US– the tracks were like the arteries that carried life Westward, to Manifest Destiny. When you hop on Route 66 you’re not just riving down some dusty road, you’re driving down history alley– towards the future (well technically, the past– they are the last to watch the sun set each day).

Just what is a Mystery Spot? When I know, you’ll know. Pinky promise.

Europeans are always shocked when the visit the US for the first time. You know it’s huge, and yet when you get there you realize how large the continent really is, and how little you’ll likely have time to see. Tourists are shocked that you can’t walk to anything, and that’s true. Without a car, you’re stuck! That’s why cars are such a big part of American culture. Whether you drive a $2,000 beater or a $200,000 sports car, you share the same road, going to the same places, and feel the same liberating wind in your hair. The road does that to people– it equalized them and makes them all capillaries, on their way to other places but just enjoying the ride.

Stay tuned and check back often, because Best American Road Trips is going to grow into an awesome collection of US escapes that anyone, with any ride, will love.

Staying fit and active is an essential factor to healthy living. The only thing is, running on a treadmill or pounding the cross trainer isn’t fun for those of us who aren’t gym bunnies and it isn’t an appealing option while you’re travelling. So, if you’re looking for inspiration to make fitness fun, look no further.

Here are our favorite options for staying active and enjoying yourself at the same time:

Bouldering

Climbing walls have increased in popularity recently, even popping up in gyms as more and more people are discovering the benefits of climbing for building strength and staying fit. Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that involves some tactical thinking as well as careful planning, making it a work out for your brain as much as your body.

It’s safest (and most convenient) to do this indoors as you don’t need to invest in so much equipment. And, you can take part whatever the weather.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquene/4137504741/

Snowboarding

You don’t need to live near the mountains to enjoy snowboarding as there are plenty of dry slopes to practice on. Although, these can be a little rough, quite literally, it you fall. That’s no deterrent though as there are lots of indoor facilities these days that provide snow covered slopes and, once you’ve honed your snowboarding skills, you can use it as the perfect excuse to get away for winter holidays!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/18percentgrey/3345699782/

Hula Hooping

We all remember it from childhood; the classic hula hoop was always a fun, if not a frustrating activity. For adults though, spinning a special weighted hoop is a great way to tone up! It works your core muscles and is ideal for toning your abs, glutes (to give you a firm bum) and thighs! It’s also highly addictive as you try to perfect your technique to keep your hula hoop spinning for as long as possible.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/suprememoocow/5053874762/

Kitesurfing

This water sport is something everyone must try at least once. It’s constantly growing in popularity, which reflects just how incredible an experience it is.

A lot like surfing but even better, kitesurfing adds wind power into the mix, meaning you can fly high above the waves and soar across the sea as you cling to a huge kite. You’ll find kitesurfing improves your strength, balance, agility and reaction times. Not only that, it provides a huge adrenaline rush as you whizz across the waves.

There are lots of places where you can try this sport but one of the best by far is Morocco.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/erase/3044679142/

The weather here is perfect with constant winds, sun, and blue waters. Check out the Explora Morocco website to find out more about kitesurfing in Essaouira, on the North West coast of Morocco.

Doga

Everyone knows about yoga, but few people have tried Doga. It’s a trend which started, like so many off-the-wall crazes, in the US when health-conscious dog owners asked for a way of combining their favorite exercise with spending quality time with their pets.

Now Doga is growing in popularity in the UK too. Doga is said by practitioners to create a better bond between owners and their pets, while offering their dogs the same health benefits yoga provides to people.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1000photosofnewyorkcity/5588487454/

It certainly gives the exercise position the downward dog a whole new meaning.

Whichever activity you opt for, if you find exercise boring, you won’t carry on with your workout routine. By searching for a sport, hobby or activity which you enjoy, you’ll get fitter and healthier without it feeling like a chore.

If you’re following our road trip then you know we hit the U.P via Wisconsin from Rockford, Illinois. This after a long stint in Beijing. Beijing is home to twenty million. The U.P has less than a million in the whole massive area. Needless to say, agoraphobia set in as soon as we hit the dimly populated area. One nice comparison is that there are probably as many birch trees in the U.P as there are people in Beijing.

Having come from a massive city, we found the U.P to be a delight. The people are tough, and remind us of the characters in Northern Exposure. They tell stories that end in “eh” and involve bear hunting, being snowed in for months on end or else hilarious tales of drunken debauchery as they were snowed into the tavern for the night. A great sense of humor and thick skin are prerequisites to living in the U.P. But more than that you need to love the outdoors, because they creep in, and in the U.P there is no contest about which side would win- humanity or nature.

While in the U.P we baited bear, went fishing, hiked around waterfalls and up on the golden hills, and watched the leaves go from green to yellow to vibrant fire red.

See more of the epic photos of the leaves in transition on our photos page!

We’ve met quite a few people who make their money on the road in interesting ways. Whatever allows you to travel and make a bit of cash to break even is good enough for most.

Surprisingly, though, we’ve met a rash of people recently who have made their travel money playing poker. If you’re interested in making your money via gambling you can try a site like Playpoker.com, where you’ll get the opportunity to play and earn a few bucks in the process. In Beijing recently we met a lucky fellow who won a jackpot and used all of his winnings to fund his entire trip to Asia– several months on the road in exotic lands. A few years ago we met another man who would play online for hours each day, thinking of it as his 9-5pm job. He would pull in thousands each month and once he’d saved enough he took off on a round-the-world tour. If you know what you’re doing, playing poker online can really rake in the dough. Whatever gets you back on the road!

We’ve also met people who, like us, make their money selling their experiences in the form of writing contracts. Some have written books, some have lucrative blogs (those with SEO experience, anyway) and some do journalism or travel pieces as they tour. This is a great way to make travel cash if you’re a decent writer and have a few contacts in the industry somewhere. Sadly, the field is overcrowded and standards have dropped.

We also met a fellow who makes his travel cash building websites. It’s a mobile industry– you can do it from anywhere! He sets up a few website contracts and then travels as he builds them. It’s difficult to find constant internet access in some regions of the world (ahem, Mongolia!) but if you know how to structure a decent site (and perhaps a bit about SEO and marketing) this is a lucrative potential way to make travel cash.

Whatever helps you fund your travels can’t be a bad thing! Get out there, try a few of these techniques and make a few bucks to extend your travels or launch a new adventure. The road awaits!

Recently we’ve had a rash of strange creatures find their way into our little Beijing hutong. Perhaps it’s because we finally broke down and installed air conditioning. The weather outside the hutong is humid, sticky, hot and gross so when little creatures find their way inside it must be quite a relief.

First it was blood worms. At least that’s what I nick-named the bright red worms who crawl out of the shower drain whenever the drain cover is removed for a shower. A search online revealed that there is already something called a blood worm, and it has nothing to do with Beijing’s horrible plumbing practices or the long worms that emanate from the drains in our bathroom. Still, they don’t do any harm so we share the bathroom with them and in return they clean the grout. Not a bad trade off. By the way, as far as I can tell the worm is a regular compost-style worm but when they live in water they turn red. That might be BS because I got it off the internet. I’m not too interested in doing further worm research.

Last autumn we noticed a new scratching noise above our heads. Somehow a creature had worked it’s way inside our roof, but not quite into the house. We debated what the creature could be for a long time. We named it “Chuck” and when he didn’t who up for a few nights in a row we would worry about Chuck’s safety. It turns out Chuck was a feral ferret, or more appropriately a common Siberian golden weasel. They infest the entire area of Beijing…. infest it with cuteness!  We hate to be greedy, but eventually Chuck got so loud that we couldn’t sleep at night, so we bought chicken wire and climbed up on our hutong roof and blocked poor Chuck’s entry into the house. No more Chuck, though I hope he is doing well and has infiltrated someone else’s ceiling.

Next it was the geckos. These guys are pretty cute. So cute in fact that I wish they would stay out of the house because our two little cats are enjoying their first crack at real hunting going after these guys. The geckos are about five to seven inches long as adults, and the size of a postage stamp as infants. They can really crawl quickly. A few weeks ago I watched an outdoor gecko of the same variety attack a giant centipede. The centipede quickly coiled into a ball and flung it’s mighty tail at the gecko, who didn’t let go but furiously flung it’s head left and right. It lost grip on the centipede who scurried into a hole, but the battle was epic while it lasted. On another occasion Gremlin (our cat) caught a gecko and it detached from its tail, leaving the tail to distract the fascinated cat while the rest of the body scampered up the wall and out of reach.

Which brings me to the centipedes and millipedes. These guys are not really welcome, and were the first creatures to get the boot from the house. When we find one, it’s Mike’s lucky job to toss it out of the house before the cats get a hold of it. I’ve read that some centipedes are quite poisonous. They haven’t managed to climb up the walls at all, so at least they are confined to the floor. We keep finding them near the cat food bowls. Not a smart move on the part of the centipede. When the cats do find them, they poke at them but generally are not interested in a quick meal.

Finally this morning we had our most recent house guest, the common yellow scorpion. When I found him I was barefoot rummaging under the bed for our extra blankets. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a shape that registers the flight impulse. So I flew out of the room. Mike came in with a bucket and turned it over the scorpion. Later, he discovered it was already dead. Another causality of the cats, it seems.

So after two years of living in a Beijing hutong, these are the only guests we’ve had. Not bad considering other people have reported cockroaches, ants and rats.

The Adventurists are launching a new concept for a rally, this one is so daring, so amazing, so fantastic that once Lauren saw it she hasn’t been able to talk about anything else. She is literally rally racing in her sleep. So, what’s the big idea? Rather than tell you, look at the image below and let your sleepless, dream-filled nights begin!

This, our dear lovers of adventure and friends, is a sidecar motorcycle in Siberia pulling a guy on a snowboard. They haven’t launched this rally yet, in fact these lucky folks in the picture are probably the first to do a rally of this sort, though they did it solo in an attempt to ascertain if it would be crazy and wild enough for an Adventurists Rally.

If you recall, in 2010 we did the now famous Mongol Rally from London to UlaanBataar, Mongolia. It was awesome, and it was organized by The Adventurists. Sure there were hiccups (why were we waiting at the border for three days, two nights without the paperwork the organizers were meant to have supplied?) but that will happen in any trip and especially one of this magnitude with over 500 people participating. I know it’s only been roughly one year and about a week and four days since we launched on the Mongol Rally, but already I can feel the shiver of excitement about the next one. Mike isn’t as energetic about the thought of driving around The Road Of Bones in the snow, pulling me on skis, but I can assure you the smile would be frozen to my face, even if I skied right off a cliff.

At the moment there are no more details on the Siberian Rally. Rest assured, I’ll be delivering details as I hear them. Since I’m currently in Beijing, it’s nothing but a short overnight train up to the frozen tundra to launch this awesome adventure, and I want to be there when it kicks off!  For other volunteer options, Original Volunteers provides the opportunity for anyone to volunteer abroad in over 18 countries around the world.

Let’s go Team Abandon the Cube: LOST IN SIBERIA

Beijing is a funny place. If you don’t have a sense of humor living here, you simply can’t survive. Some of the funniest things I’ve seen lately in the city involve food.

For example, did you know that the Oreos sold in Beijing have a different recipe than the ones sold in the USA? They are less sweet, and the dark brown cookie aspect doesn’t taste of chocolate but of wheat. This was done intentionally because the Chinese don’t like overly sweet baked goods. To me, however, they taste like burnt air.

The funniest thing to do with odd food is to sample and then laugh about it. One of the things we constantly get a kick out of are the new varieties of Lays and Pringles chips on the market. The most disgusting was blueberry flavored, the least disgusting was kebab flavored. The oddest was potato flavored, leaving me wondering if the Pringles are made with rice here in China. Either way, they are gross.

Cheese isn’t really consumed in China. You’ll find most Chinese have never even tried it. The cow to human ratio here is so skewed towards humans that there simply arn’t enough utters to go around. Meanwhile, the only cheese at the market remains a Chinese brand of white singles slices.

Its very hard to find some of the most simple items imaginable. For example, a can opener. Since most Chinese get their vegetables at the little street markets, canned foods are simply not that popular. As a foreigner, canned foods were a primary source of nutrition back home and I had found a place to buy canned items in town (a place that mysteriously had no suggestions on how to open them). I imagine wealthy Chinese shopping in the expat food store, buying canned items and then going home and bashing the can against the counter or trying to twist off the top.

Chinese kitchens don’t have ovens. This means you can’t bake anything. In fact, most stove tops are gas, and the gas doesn’t go down very low since most Chinese cook in a wok, which means that trying to cook something with a Western recipe in an Eastern kitchen is like trying to ice skate while standing on your head. Its hard to do. I can testify as someone who has tried to bake a cake in the microwave at the importance of ovens for Westerners.

But cooking at home and shopping are not the only food related oddities you’ll encounter in China. Remember that post a while back about the frog in the soup in Shanghai? We come across things like this all the time. For example, a few days ago we took a friend to a popular burger joint in town called the Blue Frog. When he looked at the menu he wasn’t shocked to see a ‘blue frog burger.’ We all took this as proof that he had been in Asia too long, it was a branded burger, not an actual blue colored frog as substitute for beef.

From the most populated country in the world plans to build a mega city to house some 42 million doesn’t seem that surprising. China is already home to the largest port and biggest city (Shanghai) as well as home to the 1/5th of the world’s population. Costing 2 trillion yuan, the project to merge 9 smaller cities around the Pearl River Delta would cause water, communication and transportation networks to merge. Urban planners think the 150 projects in the planning stages to merge the cities will, ultimately, reduce pollution, drive down prices and increase resident happiness due to better transportation, lower prices and jobs.

The problem is, most infrastructure gigs are given to migrant workers. Case and point- the subway going in near my house. They quickly (and quietly) threw up a three story shack one day in an empty lot. A few days later they installed power, a day later a busload of folks from the countryside began to toss their tiny bags of belongings into tiny bunks before tightening worn out belts and starting up the construction equipment. The Beijing subway may expand the jobs market in Beijing eventually when it hires drivers, ticket sales and security, but right now the new line under construction is only bringing more workers into the city.

Mega cities may be an increasing thing in the future. Check out the work on green mega cities that was featured in Popular Science. This work was done by PopSci.com and features plans for the city as well as the good and bad news about population increases and mega centers of society. This cool city has alge farms, sidewalks that gather energy from footfalls, wind turbines powered by gusts from passing highway cars, and much more. Its really cool and the towered farms are something that could be constructed now. Take a few minutes to watch the demo slide-show that explains all the unique features of these preplanned cities using the link above.

Like the mega city plan (image right) the lillypad design by Vincent Callebaut,  tries to build on the green concept. They are floating cities that look like lilly pads, hence the name. It free floats around the gulf stream or can be anchored to near shore. Each city holds 50,000 people and is entirely self sufficient as well as eco-friendly. It was created to hold climate refuges, and its floating design makes it possible for humans to exist in what Callebaut seems to think will be a world where land is scarce. The designs are cool, and the imagery is amazing. Check it out using the link above.

I think it would be amazing if China were to use this opportunity to make a green mega city, or to start plans on a massive green city elsewhere in China. With such a massive population, these cities may be extremely useful in China, and open up more land for farming around the cities.

The Bone Church is roughly an hour outside of Prague to the east, which was great for us since east is the general direction of Mongolia. The caravan now had about five cars, and once we finally reached the Bone Church we found a few other rally cars already parked outside. We paid our minimal sum to get in and then all stopped as our jaws dropped open.

The bone church was erected prior to the black death (plague). As people were dying off at an extremely quick rate the general feeling towards death was altered to be a casual and inevitable occurrence. People started to think about their own deaths and what they wanted done with their bodies. Its all a bit morbid, really. Cemeteries were filling up quickly and there simply wasn’t room or time to deal with everyone. People paid to have their bodies kept in crypts under the churches, essentially mass graves in dark cellars.

Long after the actual plague ended, a private family bought the church and discovered the crypt full of human bones. They hired a designer and allowed him to renovate the church using human bones as decoration. From the center of the room dangles a chandelier that the artist boasts has every bone in the human body. The family crest hangs on wall, made entirely of bones as well. Strings of bones, like one would make with popcorn for the Christmas tree, hung from the ceiling in all directions and in all four corners of the room stood huge piles of human skulls that were about nine feet tall and ten feet wide, and not hallow.

The ralliers filled the church and started walking around quietly at first. Eventually, people just get used to being around strange things regardless of what they be.  A room full of bones becomes simply the room you happen to be standing in at that moment and ralliers gathered in small groups to talk about their routes, or tell stories about what had happened to far to them on the trip. At one point I watched a young woman not associated with the rally put her finger into an eye socket while her friend took her picture. Later, one of the ralliers said it was hard for him to imagine they were ever real people, which explained why he could take pictures of himself smiling in front of a pile of skulls. Humans are a strange animal.

After the bone church we stopped at a local supermarket to fill up the trunk with food for the long haul ahead. One of my favorite things about traveling is shopping for food in foreign countries. Whole chicken heads in a jar, or even boiled eggs mixed with mostly-developed chicken fetus line the shelves in some places we’ve shopped. Czech had fairly normal food, but it was still fun to look around. I bought a tub of meat paste which ended up being gross (who knew?) while most people bought ramen, soda and water. It was a strange thing for the teller to see a whole row of dusty, disgusting ralliers holding food like precious cargo.

We set off with two other cars in convoy to Vienna, having said our goodbyes to the Aussies and a few others.

I noticed something recently on an American TV show called ‘Pawn Stars’ and that is the fact that Americans have no idea how to bargain. You’ll see the same thing on ‘American Pickers’ and other History or Discovery Channel shows. It is a common tale, you take something into the pawn shop and they talk you down from your original asking price and in the end they get the upper hand. Since we’ve been traveling quite a bit, I think we could take on the folks of ‘Pawn Stars’ and the ‘American Pickers’ with the bargaining skills we acquired traveling through Asia. But, in case you are new to the concept here are a few tips in the event you are traveling to Asia or are about to pawn an item.

As a Seller:
• Find a realistic and well researched asking price for your item by doing your homework. Look online for other items in similar shape and of similar age. Get a number from an expert, if possible.
• Now head to the market or pawn shop and ask for literally three times the number you are willing to settle for.
• Do not hesitate to turn a buyer away. You are one person with one product, and there are millions of people who are potential buyers, you don’t have to land the first one.
• Stick to your bottom-line price and do not go lower than that. Always attempt to go higher.

As a Buyer:
• Remember all the techniques you used as a seller and try to preempt their game by cutting their original asking price into 1/3rd of what they asked. This is a safe maneuver.
• Don’t be uncomfortable bargaining. In the bargaining game the goal is to end up with a number you are happy with as a buyer. Don’t worry about the seller’s feelings.
• Arrive at a price in your head that you are happy with and take one of two roads: 1) if you really want the product buy it at any price, or; 2) separate yourself from your desire to have the product and only buy it when the price is right. Don’t say your final bottom line price out loud until you get towards the end of your bargaining spiel.
• Try the walk away method. If the price was right, the seller will stop you from walking away. Naturally they are trying to get as much out of you as possible so don’t be the weak link. Hold your ground. Sometimes you will lose and your walk away bluff will result in you losing the item. Most of the time, however, the negotiations will reopen as soon as you take your first steps.

It is supremely important to stick to a deal once you make it. You don’t want to be responsible for making your whole country look bad by going back on a deal. Despite what anyone tells you, you are somewhat of an ambassador for your homeland. While some sellers overseas may change a deal once it is made, it is important to always uphold your end and take the high road. It is not at all uncommon in Central Asia and other nearby regions for a deal to be reached and then, as the product is being delivered the deal will change. Keep a level head and don’t ever give in to someone who breaks a deal. For example, we set a price for a cab ride in advance across a section of desert in Uzbekistan, as is the custom. Mid way across the desert, to no one’s real surprise, the driver pulled over and demanded more money to finish crossing the desert. When something like this happens, even if it makes your life a bit more difficult, you have to hold your ground. If they really won’t honor the original deal, get out of the car with all of your belongings. Someone else will pick you up. If you do pay someone extortion like that you make it worse down the road for the next guy, and make the scam artist a life-long fan of continuing this practice. We forced a driver to pull over and got out with all of our gear, leaving him with nothing for driving us half way. He could either stick to the original deal or get nothing. Naturally, he got us back into the car and we paid the original price. He tried the entire drive to get more money out of us, which is always annoying, but sticking to something you shake hands on is important as a person, and as a representative.