I am a travel writer who has been around the world three times and dispatched articles from five continents over a period that is approaching two decades. I am author of The World’s Cheapest Destinations – currently in its third edition — and the Travelers’ Tales title Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune: The Contrarian Traveler’s Guide to Getting More for Less. I am also co-author of Traveler’s Tool Kit: Mexico and Central America and author of Travel Writing 2.0.

I am editor of the narrative web publication Perceptive Travel, which is known for publishing the best travel stories on the web, and the leading travel gear review blog Practical Travel Gear. I run this travel writing blog connected to the writing book.

I have won a whole slew of writing awards for work in a variety of print and web publications (you can look it up on Wikipedia) and have been quoted as a budget travel expert in dozens of major media outlets. This blog is an award-winner too:  it scored a Gold in the annual writing awards from the North American Travel Journalists Association in 2012 and a Silver in 2011. It has also won “best travel blog” awards from Forbes, Tripbase, and others. I was voted one of the 12 most popular travel bloggers in a poll at Elliott.org. To learn more about me, get contact info, and see clippings, visit TimLeffel.com.

Rolf Potts interviews me here or you can read an interview with me in RoadJunky, the Freelance Zone, Nomad Lawyer, or The Questionnaire.

I’m a husband and dad, so I’m not on the road non-stop like some other bloggers, but I do travel internationally a half-dozen times each year and own real estate in Mexico. This blog has been up since 2003 (past 1,000 posts) and I’ve purposely lost count of how many countries I’ve visited. It’s not a contest; it’s a journey. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

You can follow me on Twitter (@timleffel) or reach me by e-mail. See the contact link in the right sidebar.