It was the first night in humongous Ho Chi Minh. I was adrift when it hit me: The phone’s battery is losing its juice really fast. It was almost 10 p.m. I was equipped with a fresh SIM card, but no battery juice
Category: Budget
Ways and places to travel more frugally.
![Bills of various currency: Vietnamese Dong, Thai Baht, Cambodian Rial, Lao Kip and US Dollars.](https://earthdrifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Feature-Money-Budget-1200-X-635-ish.jpg)
I often get the question: How do you travel for so long between jobs? When I begin to answer, I realize it’s not so cut and dried. There are at least 10 ideas that want to jump out of my mouth simultaneously. So
![A lit up boat at night, heads for land on the wide Han River, with buildings and city lights along the the body of water.](https://earthdrifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Boat-Hanh-River-Night-Feature-For-Post-Resized.jpg)
Once in a while I get the question: What’s your favorite country? My answer has typically been:, the exact place I was in, or the last new country I had drifted to. Sheer newness elevates optimism. Fresh surroundings breed content and enhanced excitement.
![Lots of luxurisouly thick sand, buildings, people, cloudy sky, sea and hills at the urban My An Beach in Danang, central Vietnam](https://earthdrifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Urban-City-Beach-Resized-Feature.jpg)
Wide sidewalks, yet long blocks, make Danang a pleasant alternative to Hanoi’s cluttered streets and practically endless buzzing traffic. Hanoi’s Old Quarter thrives in organized chaos while Danang seems to prosper without this potentially-perceived pandemonium. Danang has a wide, luxuriously-long, soft-sandy beach. It
![A view of UNESCO Luang Prabang and the Nam Khan River from atop Phusi Hill in north central Laos.](https://earthdrifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Sunrise-Nam-Khan-Feature-Resized.jpg)
Laos is a land to love. It’s an earth space that can have you feeling like you’ve stepped back in time, while simultaneously, the country is developing at a moderate pace. I don’t believe that Laos is well-known to most of the eight-billion-plus
![At the small night market in Luang Namtha, Laos - How to Haggle in Developing Countries](https://earthdrifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Feature-Luang-Namtha-Market.jpg)
Buying and haggling in most Asian and other developing countries can be a different experience compared to in Europe and North America. Away from shopping malls, stores, and street food stalls, getting used to haggling in the developing world is something we have
![People and a fruit cart outside in Paksong, Laos. From the post: "Why Learning Numbers Abroad is a Great Idea"](https://earthdrifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/People-Fruit-Cart-Paksong-RESIZED.jpg)
When drifting in a land not one’s own, it behooves a visitor to take time to think about why learning numbers abroad is a great idea, along with the phrase: How much? Some vagabonds will disagree, as I’ve observed the majority assume that
![Boundary rock.](https://earthdrifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Museum-Boundary-Rock-Outside-and-Child-1.jpg)
Visiting the Khon Kaen National Museum in central Isaan, Thailand, implements an interesting look into yesteryear. Archaeology museums give a glimpse into the past by way of time travel. Why not engage the mind in a museum? That was my impromptu mantra when
![The view from above the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Vat Phu in Champasak, southern Laos.](https://earthdrifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/View-From-Atop-Resized.jpg)
The ruins and grounds of Vat Phu, in Champasak, Laos, are a uniquely aesthetic and ancient Khmer Hindu site. Like many vintage earth spaces, strolling around and absorbing the open-air energy and its ancestral remnants, provides for great pondering. How different was life
![View of the wide Mekong River in Pakse, southern Laos](https://earthdrifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/RIver-View-Across-the-Mekong-in-Laos-Feature-Resized.jpg)
I’ve been in peaceful Pakse on the calm Mekong for three weeks, with nine days before the 30-day Lao visa expires. The original, but loose plan was to stay in Pakse for the full, in-country time allotment. However, during the first few days,