paradise

53 times around the sun – Addicted to full time travel! 🌎

by Vietnam

We all love to travel and find good deals, right? 

I started this website to share my love for saving money while traveling. It may not have the best grammar, editing, or whatever you can judge me for, but it has been fun. People have reached out asking about some of the deals and how I can help which is my goal. If you want ideas, you can reach me via WhatsApp or email from the homepage.

I also understand that this website is not for everyone as we are different. It’s ok, I hope you take a look anyway!

Birthdays have never been my favorite, but I appreciate the handful of awesome people who reached out. I might not remember birthdays, but I think of all of you, but it may not be on your birthday. 

I have come a long way, kinda! I still like cake and had the same amount of people at this year’s birthday. LOL

I spent my 53rd birthday doing what I love, traveling and eating cake! (I actually had Pho and a beer)!

After getting laid off in February 2024, I spent the last 12 months traveling so I welcomed 53, I planned to wait until 55.

Mexico-Guatemala-Costa Rica-Peru-Chile-Argentina- Uruguay-Arizona-Philippines and now Vietnam. I am traveling trying to understand which Countries I can live in for my $2K USD budget and all of those passed the test.  How confusing!!

We never know where our future will take us but having the time freedom and financial freedom to travel has been amazing.

    

Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Europe, Scotland, and Ireland are on my radar for this trip but my mind changes daily.

So far, I have a $244 USD flight booked to Athens, Greece on March 22nd.  

I also have a ~$200 USD flight home to Phoenix, AZ on April 30th from Dublin, Ireland.  

I have also looked at flights to go home early from Rome, Italy for $238 USD which are really cheap.  I would not mind eating the other WestJet flight and headed home early.

The best part is that I can do whatever feels right!  Keep on trucking or head home and reload for the next adventure!!

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Goodbye HCMC – Hello Phu Quoc paradise!

by Vietnam

I finished the first 28 days of my Vietnam adventures on February 11th, 2025.

I visited much of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC/Saigon) and the surrounding central and southern cities:

After two days of plane, bus, and ferry travel, I made it to my next destination, the island of Phu Quoc

Here is the walk from my hotel and my current situation. 

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Nah Trang, Vietnam – You’re going the wrong way!

by Vietnam

I am always the first to say that traveling is awesome!

You get to visit amazing new places and meet fellow travelers worldwide. I love it 90% of the time but, you need to take the bad with the good.

It still beats going to work, I think!

Well, in the last few days, I experienced the good and the bad!  The good always outweighs the bad long term but, this was some short-term suck for sure.  It started with a self-inflicted 17-hour train ride up the coast from HCMC to Da Nang, Vietnam.  I planned to go all the way North in one day and work my way back South slowly.

Great plan in theory!

I made it through the hellish train ride and had a great first day in beautiful Da Nang as I blogged here.  The dragon bridge was neat to see too but it was just a bridge as blogged about here.

On day two, I woke up with a train hangover and sore throat and my body just hurt.  The good news is that a massage can be had for about $12, I was able to fix my body with a couple of massages.  The bad, my sore throat turned into a full-on chest cold, and I was coughing up nasties.  This chest cold was different as I was coughing up the air pollution as well. Awesome!!

I was able to fight my way through it and made my way to Hoi, An as I blogged here.

It was a beautiful place to visit but, I was just not feeling well enough to enjoy it. After a couple of days, I planned my get-a-way to my next destination, Nah Trang.  It would be another nasty 12-hour train ride South which was more than halfway home to HCMC.  

Well, that turned to dog shit in a hurry!!  

I took a 45-minute shuttle from Hoi An to the Da Nang train station to find out that the tickets were sold out.  I begged the agent to help me as I was sickly, and she did her best.  She put me on two different trains to get me to Da Nang and the train was scheduled to leave in an hour but delayed 45 minutes.  Math tells me that is 1:45 minutes, right? RIGHT!!

The train pulls into the station and the waiting room heads to the platform; I hand my ticket to the train operator and settle in for the long ride.  I ordered a few beers and a sandwich and enjoyed the ocean view on the EAST side of the train. 

Most people would realize that they are headed north, nope, not this guy but look at that view!!

After a few hours of relaxing, we arrived at our first stop, and someone woke me up by asking if I was getting off in Hue.  I was half asleep and three beers deep and, told him I was going to Nah Trang. 

Well, suddenly the whole train knew English!

This train is going NORTH several people yelled while I frantically looked for my ticket.  These trains only stop for five minutes so since I knew I fucked up: I got off the train without my phone charger and favorite hat.

FUCK!!

It took me a good 30 minutes to calm down and put a recovery plan in place. 

First, I had to find a charger so I could use my phone which was easy, I bought one for five bucks.  OK, so I had internet and started realizing my messy situation.  

Second, I sheepishly went to the ticket counter to tell them what had happened which didn’t matter as they could not speak a lick of English. I google translated my story to blame the Railways for taking my ticket and allowing my dumbass to get on the wrong train. They were not buying my sad story, and they wanted the full $70 train fare again.  

They ended up allowing me to use my original ticket, which was a small win, but I needed to be on a train for a total of 21 hours.  I was fucking delusional most of the ride as I had zero sleep.

I like to think that I always win in the end when traveling, and this was no different and just another crazy story. 

I am currently writing this blog drinking a $2 lemongrass peach bubble tea with an ocean view listing to the Oilers pregame show.

I am also staying in an amazing Airbnb for $15 a night to rest my old bones and feel better.

There are also many good-looking Russians and Ukrainians here fleeing the war. They walk on the beach, and you can tell by their language and good looks. 

I also found a $75 flight to get back to HCMC to avoid another 10-hour train ride: 

NAD for the bounce-back win in extra time!! 🤓

 

Where is Waldo – NorthAmerican Darrell (NAD)

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After spending 70 days in Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Singapore) I will then leave Asia for the last time this trip on March 21st. It was an amazing experience living like a local in each country. I would rate them in this order:

 

1. Cambodia (Super cheap and a large EXPAT community with easy access to Vietnam and Thailand).

2. Vietnam (Although it was not as inexpensive as Cambodia, $2K goes a long way each month)

3. Thailand (It is a super nice Country with amazing beaches but it has become saturated with tourists and expensive)

4. Singapore (I only spent a few days in Singapore and do not need to return other than the airport, too expensive!).

 

I will start my European leg in Athens, Greece, and plan to crisscross Europe using my Wizz all-you-can-fly pass for three weeks. I have a flight from Rome, Italy heading home to Arizona on April the 7th.  I cut the European trip three weeks short as I am ready to go home. You might want to check out this pass in the link above as it is a spectacular adventure!! 

 

That will total 84 days of travel this time around which was fun and exhausting at the same time.

 

I visited these Countries the first time I used my pass earlier this year: Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Cypress, London, and the United Emirates.  Starting next week, I hope to expand this list by four to seven Countries. 

 

I am currently touring Athens; Greece and I have booked my first two flights on my pass. 

Headed off to London for a pint and some fish and chips on an eight-hour layover. I will back to the airport and off to amazing Istanbul, Turkey for 20 Euro/USD!  

 

It is a seven-hour flight so I can catch up on my sleep in the air which is how it should be done.



The standby flight options are endless including Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East:

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Hoi An, Vietnam – This river is incredible!

by Vietnam

After spending a few days in Da Nang, it was time to shuttle down the road to Hoi An.

It was a $6, 45-minute shuttle from Airbnb to Airbnb which is pretty cool that both amazing cities are that close together. They are totally different vibes too which is great if you get tired of the melting pot of Dang or the more touristy Hoi An. As of now, I will call it a tie as it is really laid back here in Hoi An.

Just the dragon bridge in Dan, Nang the go to place in Hoi An is the river. I have never seen anything quite like it except on YouTube. There were hundreds of boats and floating lanterns everywhere. Here are a few videos to give you an idea of how unreal a sight it is to see.

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The Dragon bridge – Da Nang, Vietnam

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It is almost impossible to watch YouTube on Vietnam without the Dragon Bridge as a must-visit.

Well, February 2nd, 2025, was that day for me on my second full day in Da Nang.

The Dragon Bridge only does its fire and water breathing show on Saturday and Sunday at 9 PM so if it was going to happen, it had to be today

Just like every other tourist trap, the lead-up was better than the actual show but glad I went. I was able to walk to the bridge from my Airbnb in Da Nang as it was only two miles. 

Here are some videos of the amazing walk:

Once I arrived at the bridge, put myself in the middle of the maze of people to prepare for some pictures. I have to say that some Vietnamese people have zero clue on how normal shit works.  They just parked in the front when they arrived five minutes before the show. 

Here are some more videos before I threw a few of them in the river:

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Da Nang, Vietnam – I could live here too!

by Vietnam

After a 17-hour train ride, I blogged about here and YouTube videos here, I made it to Da Nang, Vietnam!  

I planned to do voiceovers with the YouTube videos, but I have not grasped the challenge, yet.

Maybe if I start getting more views, I will step up my game! HINT!!  LOL

I have 259 videos, and almost 10K views in the first month of my channel and my website:

Let me make this easy for you sitting on the fence.  Here are the links you just need to CLICK:

www.NorthAmericanDarrell.com to bookmark and YouTube link to subscribe or here to buy me a beer!

I never thought anyone would buy me a beer let alone watch my videos, but it’s been a lot of fun:

YouTube pays for the advertising clicks, not the actual site visits so it is impossible to make money without millions and millions of views.  Plus, YouTube pays you for the amount of ad views your video gets. If your video has a million views but no advertising on it, you won’t be making any money. If your video has a million views but only 10,000 ad views, you’ll be making money only on the 10,000 ad views.

OK – selfless plug complete and back to the regularly programmed blog on Da Nang, Vietnam:

There is a very North American feel to Da Nang. It is a hot spot for a lot of Europeans leaving the cold wanting a cheaper way of life in paradise from what I am told.

This was a microbrewery on the beach and the second one visited already with $5 pints of goodness.  I had a $7 burger and fries with coffee and carrot cake for dessert for USD 23. It is not super cheap but for a beach. 🤑

One of the biggest things when traveling is the walkability of the area. Most nice beaches have a boardwalk or Malecon as they call it in Mexico.  Da Nag is no different, but it just seems much more inviting.

Besides the countless inexpensive coffee/tea shops, street food, and restaurants there is hiking on the mountain in the bay. The hiking can take you to other remote areas on the beach along with a large statue of Lady Buddha on the oceanfront which looks spectacular from the boardwalk.  

I have not visited there yet so here are pictures from the internet and the supporting blog:

“From the East coast, visitors can see an enormous white statue with a mountain backdrop, that is the Lady Buddha Da Nang. Located on the ground of Linh Ung Pagoda, she was sculpted by artisans in a Non-Nuoc marble village. Thanks to its huge size and importance in local belief, hundreds of visitors come to this statue daily. That makes it one of the top tourist attractions in the city. So why did people place it there? What does it mean? Or why Lady Buddha? are frequently asked questions. Now, all secrets are opened, to help visitors to know better about the monument and everything around it.”

 

 

My best travel days always start by hitting my 10K steps followed by a local coffee. This place is perfect for me as there are so many options for my morning walk/hike and coffee.  Day one was absolutely perfect, but I replaced the coffee with two micro-brewery which is a great substitute for a couple of days a week!

The last video started with a roofie or in this case a 7% IPA! Look at that amazing view with the mountain in the background. Also, If you drive the opposite way, the amazing city of Hoi An is about a 30-minute drive making it a two-for-one destination. 

Vietnam railways – HCMC to Da Nang, Vietnam

by Vietnam

Vietnam Railways – HCMC to Da Nang was a 17-hour trip!

We started at the downtown station at 6 AM and worked our way South traversing the Oceanside and rice fields arriving in Da Nang at 11 PM.  It was neat to see the Countryside through a window most of the trip. 

It would have been about the same price to fly with an advanced ticket, but I’m glad I did this trip once. It also gave me a pretty good idea of what it will be like using my Europass.  

I put together the below trip but thinking about it for 17 hours may change the aggressive but inexpensive plan:

If I do stick with the plan, I will definitely make shorter trips. I initially thought I would see the countryside via train which still may be the case in Switzerland and colder countries in the Northern part of the map.  I have ten legs for 60 days available to use so trying to get the biggest bang for the buck was going far but that thought process will not work for me again.

Here are some more videos from the train trip:

There were plenty of rice farms.  It was amazing to see how each farmer had their own land setup.  There were water sources and flags indicating the readiness or each separate patch of land. 

A lot of the trip was along the Oceanside which was neat to see.  Most locals were out there fishing.

I was in car three of over twenty cars on the train.  Being it was the New Year’s holiday; the train was relatively full.  We probably made 10-12 stops along the way picking up and dropping off passengers as well but it appears most of us were there for the full 17-hour trip. I also booked a one-way trip as I was unsure how long I was going to stay in Da Nang and then Na Trang on the way home.

I just checked the tickets and there is an 80% surcharge on the tickets due to the holiday!

How about that BS?  The actual train ticket is 16% or $8.39 of the entire $52.42 cost of the ticket without fees.  That is only my halfway point home too so another $50+ to get back which is more expensive than flying!

The overall shitty experience gave me no hesitation to cancel my Euro-rail pass this morning:

I knew there was a chance I would need to cancel so I bought the $8 cancellation insurance. I am sad that I will not see that part of the world via train but thankfully it was the only money lost.  Ultimately, it sounded like a great idea and the price was phenomenal price for a ten-day pass.  

I can still hit some of the cities with my Wizz airlines all-you-can-fly pass as detailed in this blog.

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HCMC–>Vung Tau, Vietnam – Ferry roadtrip!!

by Vietnam

I have been itching to get out of the big city of Saigon for a few days. The problem is that it is New Year’s week and everything is super busy and crowded. 

No problem, I found a way as always seem to when traveling and took a fun two-hour ferry ride.

I booked a ferry ride from the main terminal in HCMC down the Saigon River and then east to Vung Tau:

I am not sure what to expect so I booked a one-way ferry to see if I like the new location.

 

My original Airbnb in HCMC is booked until February 11th, so I packed a light bag and, off I went on January 26th, 2025. The beach looks great and there are tons of “white tourists” here so I might be on to something.

I found an inexpensive Airbnb with a rooftop pool for $17 a night:

I noticed a lot of Lunar New Year displays in HCMC, but Vung Tao goes all in as it was incredible to see.  I have attached a hyper-ink and summary below:

“Chinese New Year 2025 is also called Spring Festival or Chinese Lunar New Year. In Mandarin, it’s called Guonian or Chunjie. 2025 is the Year of the Snake.

Chunjie starts on Wednesday, January 29th, and goes on until the Lantern Festival on February 12th. It’s also the first Spring Festival after it was successfully added to the cultural heritage list. People in China get an 8-day holiday for the Chinese New Year 2025.

During this holiday, they gather with their families and watch the wonderful Spring Festival Gala while enjoying a delicious reunion dinner. A series of celebrations will continue until the 15th day of the lunar calendar, the Lantern Festival”.

I hope the below pictures and video do it justice as a lot of hard work and passion goes into all of these displays.

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Hammock camping! St Croix Virgin Islands!!

by British Virgin Islands (BVI)

This is a blog for the ages! I went to beautiful St. Croix and hammock camped during a tropical storm!!  It was Wednesday October 4th, 2023, and it started great! – LOL!

It was my first flight on my Frontier Airlines AYCF pass was one of the biggest and possibly dumbest adventures yet. I would probably need to do something dumb on purpose to beat this one, stay tuned! 👌

I have traveled with my hammock many places as it is compact, and I just need two trees to be comfy. This trip was no different, I packed my hammock, rain fly, and basic camping essentials.

I had all the base camp basics covered, running water, flushable toilet, beer fridge, and setup in a perfect spot! It was going to be an amazing few days exploring the islands.

Everything was perfect but I was advised to set up camp quickly as they predicted rain. I honestly could have used a bit more of a warning, but I think I was going to be the entertainment for the evening.

This is what they call a Tropical storm in the islands which is less than an actual hurricane.  I was buckled in and ready for a little rain.

After the first night, it turned from the worst experience to the best experience.  If I had used proper tent pegs the first night, it would have worked out. I would not have been soaked and cold with my rain fly sounding like a flag on a windy day. I had such a peaceful sleep listening to the sounds of the forest with a light breeze from my ceiling fan. 

Lesson learned for next time as I am going to hammock camp again in the islands again.