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Of course, you aren’t a stereotypical tourists – you like to go off the beaten track and into those places no coach tour would dare venture. Unfortunately, where a backpacker leads, the masses are never far behind. The past decade has seen once hardcore destinations such as Thailand “open up” to tourism and subsequently lose much of their appeal. And even in places so remote that they are unlikely to ever become major stops on the global trail, insensitive travelers can still have deleterious effects, from the polluting trail of empty Coke cans left behind them to the offending of local people by their unthinking profligacy and disrespect for local customs. Ironically, perhaps tourists who fly into a resort and don’t leave it for the duration of their stay do the least damage at least the damage has already been done.

We’re not suggesting that you forget the six-month trek in the Andes you’ve been dreaming of for two weeks in Cancun or Marbella but there are some precautions you can take to make sure that your vacation does the least damage to the environment and the indigeneous culture as possible.

Fans of larger fauna can take a full-day boat trip back toward Belize City, to a place where West Indian manatees regularly congregate; sightings of these endangered sea mammals are practically guaranteed ($75 per person). Back in San Pedro, the newly opened Tres Cocos restaurant serves up an authentic Belizean repast. The chairs are mismatched and the floor is sand, but the food is delicious, with an unbeatable value (entrees $3-4). The supermarkets of San Pedro stock plenty of other essentials, from plantain chips to mango juice to locally produced salsa.

Although Ambergris Caye can be world unto itself, many visitors use it as a base for exploring the mainland. From here, tours depart by boat and bus to the Maya ruins at Altun Ha, the birdwatcher’s paradise at Crooked Tree Wildlife Santuary, and numerous other destinations ($88 per person). In this way, one can see a great deal of Belize without ever truly leaving the reef and the beach.

Chicago is the capital of the Blues. The Windy City is the home of Chess Records, the company that first recorded Muddy Waters when he plugged-in the Delta Blues, and “Sweet Home Chicago” remains the anthem of civic pride. Nightly until the wee hours of the morning, musicians pay homage to the blues in the city’s numerous clubs. Gritty, loud, and irreverent, blues in Chicago is dynamic and alive, an integral part of city life and America’s musical heritage. For the visitor, however, getting a handle on a music scene that spans three areas of this vast city (The South Side, the Loop, and the North Side) is a difficult task, and one unfortunately complicated by the realities of urban life: blues clubs aren’t always in great neighborhoods. But with a little planning and a sense of adventure, you can spend your nights in Chicago listening to world-class musicians in their hometown.

Not all clubs are the same, and it’s important to know what you’re in the mood for. Some bring in famous acts from all over the country, while others mine the extensive local talent. If you want to begin your night downtown, head to Blue Chicago or Buddy Guy’s Legends. At Blue Chicago, admittedly a little more upscale than many of its counterparts, paintings of famous Blues artists adorn the brick walls and a rectangular bar provides plenty of seating with a stage view. It’s casual, but definitely not the place for slumming. The management keeps the consistently high-quality music to a reasonable volume-conversations so are still possible.

While the term “backpackers accommodations” is widely used to describe many a venue in Cape Town (there are over 70 such establishments in the vicinity of this metropolis), it hardly does justice to the elegance of these venues, most of which charge under $10 a night. The rooms sparkle (almost as much as the ridiculously bronze sun-bathers who dot the city’s landscape) with smart decorations, clean furnishings, and comfy beds; luxurious pools and jacuzzis await outside; bars, some with restaurants, keep things festive. In fact, the notion that a place is a “backpackers” frequently has no bearing on its quality – many of the budget accommodations offer superior facilities to their more up-scale brethren; the only predictable distinction between budget and other accommodations lies in the social atmosphere. Delightfully, South Africa is also a place in which people have figured out that budget travel remains a service industry – staffs pamper their guests and help to accommodate adventurous whims by detailing the skinny on all of the activities in the region.

And adventures there are. Death-defying risks are the norm, with intrepid and fearless people hurling themselves off cliffs, down waterfalls, through the air, off airplanes, and into general madness. While such activities aren’t cheap per se, they are a helluva lot less expensive than undertaking any of these challenges in other countries. For instance, a catapult off the world’s highest bungee jump — a 216-meter behemoth at Bloukranz Bridge on the Garden Route – costs under $100. A 10-minute paragliding trip from the majestic mountain peaks of Cape Town down to its gorgeous beaches, quite possibly the most breathtaking endeavor in the world, runs less than $75.

June 31, 1997 – When the first explosions rattled the windows of my friend’s 40th floor apartment, I was sure that this was it-the end for me and Hong Kong. I snapped to my feet and watched in horror as the CNN reporter turned to the screen and announced, “Late-breaking news from Hong Kong-the fireworks have begun!” I turned my eyes toward heaven in thanks for fireworks instead of bombs even as I hurled myself at the elevator.

It was no wonder I was jumpy about the handover of Hong Kong from the UK government to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The entire city was suffused with an atmosphere of excitement laced with fear, a truly potent and conceivably dangerous mood. The British and Chinese governments, however, had the potentially volatile situation well in hand. The British fireworks display on the evening of July 31, for example, more than compensated for the nervous tension that most of the city had experienced. The show lasted almost an hour, culminating in the most thunderous and brilliant display I had ever seen-until the next evening, when the Chinese government’s spectacular left me speechless and half-deaf. Other programs, including religious ceremonies to bless the new government, parades of schoolchildren cavorting with Chinese dragons, and even massive protests by students and members of the previously elected legislature, were all conducted as orderly, and as noisily, as possible.