Six Bones

Chronicles of a Wandering Music Fan

Five Ways to Save Money When Traveling in Iceland

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Seljalandsfoss, on Iceland’s south coast.

Iceland is one of Europe’s newly-very-popular tourist destinations. Between airfare deals from their biggest airline, a recent addition as an EasyJet destination, and huge festivals like Iceland Airwaves drawing in foreigners by the thousands, there’s been a steady increase in backpackers and budget travelers visiting this beautiful volcanic rock.

As I embark today on a 2-month trip to Iceland (my third visit in two years…I think I might be kind of addicted), I’m again thinking about ways i can keep to my budget and save money in this rather expensive country. Here are a few of the easiest ways to save some serious kronur, and make the most of your time in this amazing place. [Read more…]

Photo Diary: Lucerne, Switzerland

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Lucerne was probably my favorite city that I visited on my trip to Switzerland this spring. It’s a relatively small city, but it has a lot to offer, especially if you’re wandering around with a camera. Situated on the edge of Lake Lucerne, in the shadow of the Swiss Alps, there’s an unbeatable view from essentially anywhere in the city. With a ton of great shops down little alleyways (including lots of specialty chocolate shops…one of my favorite parts of Switzerland), a wealth of spectacular 18th and 19th century architecture, and beautiful monuments and churches, it’s a great place to walk around with not much of a plan at all. [Read more…]

Photo Diary: Zurich, Switzerland

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Zurich was my first stop on my recent trip to Switzerland, and it was a fantastic way to start my travels through this beautiful country. I was staying in the Altstadt (“Old Town”), which meant I was within walking distance of all kinds of great sights. Cathedrals, museums, the lakefront, great shops and restaurants…two days was not enough time to see all that this gorgeous city had to offer! [Read more…]

Four Ways to Save Money When Traveling in Switzerland

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Switzerland has a lot to offer a traveler: It’s spectacularly beautiful (tons of mountains and lakes? Yes please!), easily accessible from its many bordering countries, and has ridiculously good chocolate. What more could you ask?

Unfortunately, Switzerland is incredibly expensive, which can deter a lot of budget travelers. Worry not! there are plenty of ways to save money, making a trip to Switzerland quite feasible for those traveling on a budget. [Read more…]

10 Great Reads from the Travel Blogosphere

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Here we are, my second “Great Reads” post. I’ve been busy on the road (still trying to figure out this “posting on the move” thing), but I’ve been doing plenty of blog-reading! Here are a few of my favorite posts from the last couple of weeks:

//The Ultimate Guide to Landing a Seasonal Job (and Using It to Travel the World) – Brazen Life

Seasonal jobs are a great way to earn money on the road. Who wouldn’t love to be paid to be in a fantastic destination? Writer Susan Shain provides a ton of helpful info in this post.

//Why I Skipped the Full Moon Party — Caroline in the City

In this fantastic post, Caroline addresses an important point about the common traveler worry of missing out on “must-do’s” when you’re going to a popular destination. It’s important to do what you like, and make your own trip of things that you enjoy or think are important. If something (especially an expensive tourist trap) sounds like something you don’t want to, skip it! You’re bound to find something else you’ll enjoy, anyway. [Read more…]

A Spring Day on the Glacier Express

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I love traveling by rail. Even though it’s much slower and not always necessarily cheaper than air travel, given a choice between the two, I will almost always choose to take the train. It may be because I grew up on the west coast of the US, where taking the train is generally uncommon, but trains have always felt romantic and kind of old-world glamorous to me–even a short, low-rate Amtrak ride from Seattle to Portland.

Because of this love of travel by rail, I was really excited to take a day-long trip through the Alps on the Glacier Express on my recent trip to Switzerland. The Glacier express is a famous railway that goes from St. Moritz to Zermatt. I hopped on in Chur (one of Switzerland’s oldest towns), and spent the following five hours moving slowly across Switzerland, gazing out at breathtaking views of the mountains through the huge windows. [Read more…]

Essential Travel Apps: TurboScan

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So you’re headed on a long trip and you want to make sure you have all of your important documents backed up and readily accessible. Do you buy a scanner? Spending over $100 just to have a copy of your passport on hand seems excessive. What about bringing your documents to a copy shop like Kinko’s? Possible, but inconvenient, and who wants to have their passport number available to more people than necessary? Or trip confirmations available to strangers?

As I am scanner-less, I’ve spent a lot of time looking for a good/secure solution to this problem. A friend recently directed me to TurboScan, which he had used for handouts from his university classes, and I was hooked! [Read more…]

The 9 Worst People You’ll Meet at a Hostel

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Hostel traveling has a lot of benefits, with the low price and heightened sense of community being the most prominent. I much prefer hostels to hotels as a rule, but the more I stay, the more I realize that the same types of ‘bad neighbors’ seem to present themselves over and over again. The following are, in my experience, the nine worst and most common offenders, whose obnoxious behavior can detract from the generally positive experience of staying in a hostel. Don’t be these people! [Read more…]

10 Great Reads from the Travel Blogosphere

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As a new travel blogger, I find that reading other travel blogs is not only a great source of information for your travels, but also for community and inspiration for your own travel writing. There’s a ton of really fantastic travel blogging happening out there, and my Bloglovin’ feed tends to fill up with great stuff much faster than I can read it. I’ve started bookmarking things I really like, and I’m going to start making regular posts of my favorites every couple weeks or so.

That being said, here’s my first-ever Great Reads post!

//What’s Wrong With ‘1000 Places to See Before You Die?’ – Intelligent Travel

This post really resonated with me. I’ve always felt a little weird about bucket lists, but have never really been able to articulate the reason for it. Luckily for me, Robert Reid wrote about it more eloquently than I ever could. Always keep in mind that travel is about the experience, not about ticking boxes on a list.

//The Ultimate Manifesto for Eternal Happiness and How to Find Work Overseas – Around the World in 80 Jobs

This post is extremely helpful for those interested in working overseas. Definitely worth a read! [Read more…]

Trover List: Seattle’s Grunge Landmarks

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Seattle’s Grunge Landmarks – a photo list by Six Bones

As we approach the 20th anniversary of the tragic death of Kurt Cobain, the legacy of Seattle’s grunge movement is once again in the spotlight. The grunge era helped define the culture of Generation X, and propelled popular music into the alternative rock movement of the late 80’s and early 90’s. Grunge’s popularity also drew the eyes of the world to our rainy little corner of the world, helping to make Seattle the major hub of independent music it is today.

The nice folks at location-based photo sharing app Trover (read about it here) asked me to create a list detailing of some of Seattle’s grunge landmarks, and share it using their new widgets. The list highlights some of the spaces and places critical to this slice of rock history, including the original location of Sub Pop Records, important music venues, and Kurt Cobain’s unofficial memorial. You can read about them by clicking “See More on Trover” on the list above.

I’m Katy, a Seattleite quitting my normal life to pursue my two greatest passions: travel and music. I’m documenting my general travel adventures, as well as great record stores, labels, festivals, and music I find around the world.