The Practical Nomad Edward Hasbrouck

Edward Hasbrouck

Author, The Practical Nomad travel book series

Journalist, Blogger, Consumer Advocate, and Travel Expert

Consultant to The Identity Project on travel-related human rights and civil liberties issues

Policy Analyst for the Consumer Travel Alliance



Interviews with Edward Hasbrouck from National Public Radio:

Quotes and clippings from Edward Hasbrouck in the news


"To travelers around the world, Edward Hasbrouck is The Practical Nomad, the go-to authority on international travel, and an expert on airfares and how to get the best deals on the Internet", says Business Week. Hasbrouck is the world's best-known authority on around-the-world travel: consumer advocate, investigative journalist, blogger, author of the acclaimed Practical Nomad series of travel how-to and advice books, consultant on travel-related human rights and civil liberties issues with the Identity Project, Policy Analyst for the Consumer Travel Alliance, and contributing writer for ConsumerTraveler.com.

"A journalist and travel expert, Mr. Hasbrouck brings to the table in-depth knowledge of the travel industry," says the Wall Street Journal."That rare person, the expert who's willing to tell all. Edward Hasbrouck knows as much about cheap airline tickets as anyone," according to the Whole Internet Catalog. Amazon.com recommends, "If you've decided to put your money where your fantasy is, and save for the trip of trips, Edward Hasbrouck is your travel guru". Tripod.com calls him, "A nationally renowned expert [on how to] get the best of the budget deals without getting burned."

The winner of a 2003 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism award for investigative reporting from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation for his investigative reporting on the privacy of travel records, Hasbrouck has been in the forefront of efforts to protect the freedom to travel (as a human right recognized and guaranteed by international human rights law as well as as the First Amendment to the U.S Constitution), the privacy of travellers, and their right to control how their personal travel records are used by travel companies and government agencies. He has testified before the Transportation Security Administration, the Data Privacy Advisory Committee of the Department of Homeland Security, the California Senate and Assembly, and at the European Parliament, and has been consulted as a travel privacy, civil liberties, and human rights expert by Congressional and Parliamentary staff in both the USA and the European Union, in addition to his work with the Identity Project (part of the First Amendment Project). He has contributed articles on travel and privacy to Privacy Journal and Privacy International's Privacy and Human Rights yearbook, and has participated in numerous U.S. Federal and European Commission regulatory proceedings. Hasbrouck has provided declarations as an expert witness on airline reservations technology, data, and business practices in successful public interest and consumer litigation and arbitration against government agencies, airlines, and other travel companies in both the USA and Canada.

Hasbrouck's blog has been recognized and recommended by reviewers from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to the Times and the Telegraph (UK) as one of the leading travel blogs, and his FAQ on the Usenet newsgroup "rec.travel.air" has been the definitive source on international airfare discounts since 1991.

Hasbrouck has been featured in a BBC-TV travel documentary, spoken at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, and been quoted and interviewed as a travel expert by CNN, CNBC, TechTV, "Computer Chronicles" on PBS, "The Savvy Traveler" and "Marketplace" on NPR, Pacifica Radio, Voice of America, The New York Times, London Sunday Times, Guardian (U.K.), Telegraph (U.K.), Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, AP, UPI, Reuters, Newsweek, Business Week, Wired News, Salon.com, CBS MarketWatch.com, FoxNews.com, TheStreet.com, Bankrate.com, Aviation Week, TravelAge West, Travel Weekly, Airline Financial News, World Airline News, Business Travel News, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, National Geographic Traveler, National Geographic Adventure, Toronto Star, Detroit Free Press, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Rocky Mountain News, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Portland Oregonian, Kansas City Star, and numerous other media outlets. In the San Francisco Bay Area, he's been seen on KGO and KRON television; heard on KPFA, KQED, KPOO, and KALW public radio; and quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, and Contra Costa Times.

In 2003, Hasbrouck broke the news on his Web site and in his e-mail newsletter that jetBlue Airways had provided 5 million reservation records to contractors for the USA government's CAPPS-II and Total Information Awareness programs, a week before the story hit the front pages of newspapers across the country and around the world. More recently, he's taken the lead in exposing the implications of plans to put secretly and remotely readable RFID chips in passports and other travel documents. The Washington Post calls Hasbrouck "an expert on travel data privacy", and his groundbreaking investigative reporting and research on privacy policy and technology issues for travellers has been cited everywhere from Scientific American, Inside ID, and Reason to Surveillance & Society and the Columbia Science and Technology Law Review.

Hasbrouck has spoken at:

Hasbrouck's travel how-to and advice books include a consumer guide to using the Internet for travel planning and purchasing, The Practical Nomad Guide to the Online Travel Marketplace (2001), and the definitive guide to independent international travel, The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World (4th edition, 2007).

Hasbrouck has gone around the world three times himself, once in each of the last three decades. The most recent of his trips around the world, in 2007-2008, covered more than 80,000 miles over 13 months, visiting 28 countries on 6 continents. Hasbrouck has visited all 50 states of the USA, 8 Canadian provinces, and more than 50 other countries, travelling by foot, bicycle, train, bus, boat, car, taxi, rickshaw, donkey and pony cart, and on more than 50 different airlines.

Hasbrouck has worked with thousands of independent travellers to help them plan and organize their trips. Long active in peace and human rights organizations, Hasbrouck is an evangelist for travel as a positive force for global change. In addition to his travel books and articles for travel magazines, Hasbrouck has written for a variety of policy journals including Peacework, The Nonviolent Activist, and Privacy Journal.

For more than 15 years, Hasbrouck has been a specialist in independent around-the-world travel, with clients including individual travellers and groups as well as travel technology and consulting organizations. He also remains a paid affiliate of Airtreks.com, where he was the staff "Travel Guru" from 1998 to 2006 before he shifted his focus to full-time freelance writing, Web publishing, and consulting.

Hasbrouck is a member of numerous professional associations and peace and human rights groups, including the National Writers Union (Co-Chair, Book Division), the Bay Area Travel Writers (former member, Board of Directors), the Travel Website Owners Association, Ethical Traveler, Tourism Concern, the National Lawyers Guild (non-lawyer legal worker member), the War Resisters League, Hostelling International (life member and member of the Honorary Committee for HI-USA's 75th Anniversary Campaign for Hostelling), the National Association of Railroad Passengers, the Train Riders Association of California, and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

The Practical Nomad series of books by Edward Hasbrouck is published by Avalon Travel Publishing, the leading publisher in the USA of guidebooks for independent travellers in North America and worldwide. Other Avalon Travel Publishing guidebook imprints include Moon Handbooks, Rick Steves' Guides, Living Abroad In..., Road Trip USA, The Peoples Guide to Mexico, and Foghorn Outdoors.

Quotes and clippings from Edward Hasbrouck in the news

Downloadable publicity photos and book cover images

More about Edward Hasbrouck's background and the philosophy behind his work.


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