Picture this: We 3 vagabonds standing in the cold rain of Melbourne, our only plan to explore the city by foot with a trusty city map. Sounds like a fun adventure, but in reality it was… well, cold and rainy. We didn’t really know where to begin, so we made a quick stop at the Melbourne Visitor Center at Federation Square to grab some brochures. Immediately upon entering the MVC (that’s the super hip abbreviation they use), Bob was approached by a friendly volunteer asking if we needed assistance. Less than 5 minutes later, we were assigned our own “greeter” to take us on a private, personalized tour of the city!

How much does this service cost you might ask? It’s absolutely FREE. I know, it’s unbelievable. Especially considering that we had one-on-one attention for a 4-hour walking tour of Melbourne. Our greeter’s name was Ian, and after asking about our interests, he took us to both big sights and hidden treasures around town. From historical facts, to current city events, to the best bars and shops (or “arcades”), he gave us some great background on the city. And being a walking tour, we were able to quickly get our bearings and figure out how to navigate the laneways of Melbourne.

Maybe we were being too skeptical, but we kept thinking there was some sort of “catch” to this whole “free tour” thing. But no — it’s just a free service offered by the city. We tried to tip Ian (being he’s just a volunteer), but he would have none of it. If you ever find yourself in Melbourne, I highly recommend you take up the city on this really valuable service. Just a heads-up that normally you need to book the tour in advance — we just got lucky and happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Oh— and the tour was so great, we didn’t even mind having to walk through the rain!

When it comes to air travel within the United States, we’ve become experts at packing appropriately. I can pack a compact (but quite full) carry-on bag with enough clothes to last me a few days, and paired with a small backpack stuffed with my laptop and some travel essentials — I’m set. But internationally? Five flights later, we’ve discovered that things are VERY different overseas.

Our intention was to not check any luggage on our flights around the world, thus saving some cash on checked baggage fees. Sadly, we’ve found that the low cost airlines in Australia have severe limits on carry-on luggage. With 3 airlines — Virgin Blue, Tiger Airways, and JetStar — we’ve found that they limit carry-on bags to one per person, each of a size slightly smaller than what would be considered a traditional carry-on bag in the USA, and weighing under 7 kg each (10 kg for JetStar). To put this in perspective, my brand-new, light and nimble Samsonite carry-on bag can only hold a pair of sneakers, a pair of jeans, and a couple of t-shirts in order to weigh-in under 7 kg. This, as you can imagine, is far less than what I packed for the trip. And to make matters worse, this “carry-on friendly” bag isn’t of a “carry-on friendly” size in Australia… it’s just a little too big to fit into the bag check containers outside airline gates. No matter that the bag fits into the overhead bins on the planes just fine, and there’s not an overstuffed bulge to be found anywhere on it – these airlines just consider it too large and heavy to be considered “hand luggage.”

So if you’re traveling and looking to book on a discount airliner, be sure to read the terms and conditions of baggage allowance as if you were reviewing your last will and testament. Otherwise, you could be stuck checking your bag last minute — resulting in some pretty brutal fees. Virgin Blue charges $10 if you pre-pay to check a bag online, $15 if paid by phone, and $20 if paid at the airport. Not too bad… but Tiger Airways charges $50 to check a bag at the airport (and even then it’s limited to 15 kg in weight, and they’ll charge you a $5 credit card processing fee as well). And JetStar? They’ll charge you a massive $80 fee to check a bag when you arrive for your flight (versus $40 if booked in advance).

Long story short? Pack light. In fact, pack nothing at all. You’ll save so much cash (and headache) that you won’t know what to do with yourself.

A couple of weeks ago, I spent the weekend in Florida for my brother’s bachelor party. He wanted to celebrate the final days of bachelorhood with a quiet fishing weekend— nothing but the open sea, fishing gear, and buckets of beer. We had a great time, and I think one of the main reasons was because we were so disconnected from everything. At my family’s “fishing house” on the West coast of Florida, cell phone service is pretty much non-existent. Usually I travel with cell phone in pocket, laptop on my back, and the whole world at my fingertips. On this trip though, all I had access to was… well… the ocean. With little to no communication with the “outside world,” the entire weekend was focused on enjoying our time away from it all. While I don’t see myself living a completely disconnected travel life anytime soon – I mean, I do write a travel blog – I think it’s important to disconnect every once in awhile. Give it a go… you’ll enjoy the freedom.

Photo via Pieter Musterd