This time I stayed put and my blog went traveling.

After about a decade on the server (and domain) of my book publisher, I finally took the leap and moved this award-winning Cheapest Destinations Blog to its own host and a more logical domain: CheapestDestinationsBlog.com. Yeah, I know, not so creative. But I figure if you’re looking for the cheapest places to travel in the world or how to stretch your budget for a long-term international adventure, calling this thing something cutesy isn’t going to help you find it.

For now, nothing else is changing. Over time I might need or want to make some adjustments, but hopefully the old site will redirect like it’s supposed to and you should be able to see the RSS stream okay in your reader as is.

Now that I’ve got this on my own host, I should be able to make some tweaks that people have been requesting for a while, like getting buttons for Facebook and Pinterest on the posts. Meanwhile, if you’ve just landed here for the first time, a few popular and definitive posts you might want to check out:

The Cheapest Places to Live in the World

Out Now – the 4th Edition of The World’s Cheapest Destinations

The Best Backpacks for Long-term Travelers

Travel Prices in Vietnam

No More Excuses – Your Travel Resolution Starts Now

Bargains and Beauty in Bolivia

Meanwhile, if you’re wondering who the heck I am and why you should listen to my advice, see the About Me button at the top of this page. Or look me up on Wikipedia. Or go to the Tim Leffel portfolio site to see articles, awards, books I’ve published, and other websites I run.

In the Old Quarter of Hanoi

So much information spins past us every day that it’s hard to take a break and process it, much less record it for later. So here are a few travel articles I wrote or I’m in that have appeared recently. Lots more to come as the year goes on, but I’ll continue to try to keep the broadcasting to a minimum.

Some of my recent travel writing

The Viator Blog published a piece I wrote on the Buda side of Budapest.

Global Traveler magazine published an article on my time in Hanoi this past summer with my family – Hanoi: Up to Speed

I also had one in there on Mexico City at Night and did a short web piece on the new Microsoft Windows tablets.

Over at Practical Travel Gear, where I’m editor, we all rounded up our picks for the best travel gear of the year in 2012.

Some shout-outs from others on The World’s Cheapest Destinations

Kara from The Vacation Gals was the first to put up a review of the new edition.

EuroCheapo asked me 4 Cheapo Travel Questions

This time last month I did an interview with Gadling on cheap travel destinations.

I had fun participating in this Round-the-world chat with Adam and Sean from BootnAll via Google+ and Twitter.

You can always keep up with me via the RSS feed here or by following me on Twitter – @TimLeffel.

Since this Cheapest Destinations Blog picked up 100 new RSS subscribers in the past month and about 400 new Twitter followers, I thought this would be a good time for a rundown on who runs this site. I’m also a speaker on the kick-off panel at the upcoming TBEX conference (Travel Bloggers Exchange), so a few curious attendees may be popping by for a visit as well.

But first a few fun facts that may be more interesting.

#1 – I used to be a semi-glamorous music business executive. 

With work buddies, circa 1990

Back when the money was rolling, in the pre-Napster days when everyone bought CDs, I worked in marketing at RCA Records, in Nashville and then New York. I hung out with rock stars, country stars, and celebs, but it sure didn’t make me rich. Most of them either, actually. It’s an idiotic business model for most people involved.

#2 – Both parents were teachers and my sister is one now.
So I taught English in Turkey and Korea when I started traveling. It was in my blood I guess.

#3 – My daughter has been to more countries at age 11 than I had been to by age 30.
I got a late start on both her and the travel.

A family trip to the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

#4 – I lettered in track & field in high school.
I ran hurdles, triple jump, and 1600-meter relay. But I was also in the marching band and was one of the leads in the senior play. My mom was my art teacher.

#5 – I’ve been an uncredited ghostwriter/collaborator on seven business books.
No glory, but it pays better than writing about travel. My name made it on to one of them, about the business of hip-hop of all things. Here’s a sampling.

#6 – I went to elementary school with Mennonites in rural Virginia.
Lots of them. Boys in buttoned-up plaid shirts and gray slacks, girls in gigham dresses and pigtails, with bonnets on top.

#7 – My late grandfather worked on the Apollo missions that sent astronauts to the moon.
He was an engineer at NASA and helped develop the heat shield that kept the Apollo 11 capsule from burning up upon re-entry.

So anyway…this blog has been running since 2003, started the calendar year after the first edition of The World’s Cheapest Destinations book hit the marketplace. The reason I’ve been writing about so many different countries so far this year is that I’m researching the 4th edition right now. I’m hitting about half the featured countries in the course of one year.

Almost 1,150 posts have gone up since then, so there’s plenty to check out in the archives. I get quoted in the media a lot, I win lots of travel writing awards, and I attend conferences to find out what’s going on with tourism around the world. So hopefully you’ll find that I know what I’m talking about when I dole out advice on how to travel well for less. If you’re new at this, check out my contrarian travel book for getting a great deal every time you take off.

I also know a good bit about what’s worth packing since I’m the editor of Practical Travel Gear. I review two items weekly there and supervise three other bloggers checking out new gear.

In Bulgaria last month

I’m also the editor of Perceptive Travel, a narrative site featuring interesting travel stories from wandering book authors. It’s a perennial award winner (including a big award for “best online travel journalism publication”) and its writers are a staple of “best travel writing” book anthologies.

My media company runs a few other websites that span the budget spectrum. I occasionally still freelance for print and online publications run by others, but not so much anymore. I’ve got enough to do just keeping my own plates spinning without dropping anything.

The home pages of each of the sites listed here have appropriate social media media buttons to follow along and on some of them we do regular giveaways.

Thanks for reading!

After a long wait, my Travelers’ Tales book Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune is now out in a Kindle version. Subtitled The Contrarian Traveler’s Guide to Getting More for Less, it’s packed with advice on always getting more for your money every time you hit the road. It’s all about figuring out the variables and then exploiting them, any season or any place.

Sure, it’s a few years old, but it holds up fine because it talks about strategies to traveling well for less money, not about which particular website to visit to find the best airfare deal or where to turn for the best price on a room at the Marriott.

If you’re a seasoned traveler already, you don’t need this. Most of your relatives probably need it though, so remember that you can easily gift a Kindle book: you buy it and enter their e-mail address.

If they don’t believe I know what I’m talking about, send them to this Travel + Leisure article where the book just got mentioned. It’s on your local newsstand right now if you want to check out the print version.

Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune – Kindle version.

If you’re curious about becoming a travel writer or are one already and want to earn more from it, you can now cram your Kindle with knowledge for less than 10 bucks. That’s because my most recent book, Travel Writing 2.0, is now available at the Kindle bookstore. Click on that photo to go straight there.

I looked through it on a plane ride the other day and it ported over pretty well. That format doesn’t handle text boxes, so those had to be rearranged, but there was only one graph in the book and no photos, so it’s an ideal e-book. And unlike with the boneheaded pricing from some publishers, the digital version is significantly cheaper than the printed one. (Side note—it has fewer typos too. I was able to correct ones I and some readers found in the print version.)

It’s not up on the Apple store yet for the iPad, but it will be soon. And one of these days I’ll get around to getting it on the Nook store since their new color reader is getting good reviews.

Meanwhile, you can get a good ole PDF at this link for about the same price as the Kindle version and there are no rights restrictions there. Read it on your computer, transfer it to your smart phone, or port it to your iPad. Whatever floats your boat.

Personally, I still like holding a real book in bed or on the sofa the best. You can get that too from the same link or at the online booksellers. Here are all the options, including Canada and Europe: buy Travel Writing 2.0.