travel planner

Dropping pins, one adventure at a time!

by Travel bucket list

Determining my next adventure is 75% based on cost, 20% dropping a new pin and 5% alcohol to pull the trigger. I know, you don’t need to drink to have a good time but it sure the helps me get off the fence!  

I hope some of you get inspired by my blogs and get off that fence too!

I have a world map on my condo wall in AZ that has pins dropped for all of the places in the world that I have visited. 

Some I have visited for work, pleasure or even layovers like in the case of Moscow, Russia. My Moscow visit was on the way back from the Ukraine and it was not comfortable to say the least. Although, I did dig the woman in their fuzzy hats was my distinct memory, LOL.  Like Ukraine, I was fortunate to visit before the war.  What a terrible situation!

 

Since there are 248 countries in the world, I will do my best to list them:

North American: Canada, United States, Mexico.

Central America: Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, St. Croix USVI, Jamaica and Bermuda. 

South America: Peru, Chile, Argentia, Uruguay and Brazil.

Europe+: France, Hungary, Austria (7-10 more Countries soon)

Ireland/UK (Scotland coming soon) 

Asia: Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan. (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos soon)

Middle east: United Emirates.

Africa and Antarctica: Nada

* I will add to this list on my next trip: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and 7-10 European countries.

Top Islands in Asia!

by Travel bucket list

I have been to 4 of 10:

1-Samui, 6-Palawan, 7- Phuket and 8-Cebu.

I missed out on 3-Borocay and 10-Siagaro while in the Philippines.

(It just gives me more reason to visit there again).

I will visit 5-Phu Quoc while in Vietnam in January!

2-Lankawi, 4-Sri Lanka, and 9-Bali all on the radar!

adicting

Best Countries to visit!

by Travel bucket list

When I thought about creating a website, I wanted it to have a few basic things:

Document past travel ✅Current travel blogging ✅Cost effective travel ideas ✅ Inspire to travel ✅

I am probably in the top percentile of people my age who use social media. It was a fad that never really went away for me until now. I would constantly post my travels which most people do as well. It just got to a point where I was just tired of the bullshit that came along with posting.

Starting NorthAmericanDarrell.com was always the answer but it was never a reality until January 2024.

The learning curve has been massive for me but I have enjoyed it so that is all that matters. I have broken down my places visited into Continents, Countries, and cities with a few exceptions like “Islands”.

Now that the structure of the site is developed, I can just blog as memories come across my mind.

The below list shows the best Countries to visit; I have been to the following:

1-Thailand, 7-Peru, 10-UAE, 11-France, 12-UK and 14-USA.

My current trip as of January 2024 should take me to:

2-Greece, 3-Indonesia, 4- Portugal, 8-Italy, 13-Bora Bora and, 15-Spain.

That should make it 12 of 15! Big dreamer – let’s see how it plays out!

Missing but achievable except the last one as I have zero interest in going to India!

5-Sri Lanka, 6-South Africa and 9-India.

Street Food! Vietnam #1!

by HCMC / SaigonTravel bucket list

One of the best things about traveling is street food and trying the local beer!

I don’t care if you are in your hometown, Province/State trying a new food truck or traveling internationally eating from a food cart pulled by a donkey. They are all amazing, so try them at least once.

Mexico street tacos are where it all started for me and, still try new ones to this day and also have my favorites in many cities. I have only been to three on the above list: Mexico City, Bangkok, and New Orleans, and can remember meals like it was yesterday!

Below is a list of destinations that make my mouth water. 😋😋

Mexico City has many vendors selling anything from: Tacos, burritos, Tamales, sweet corn, Quesadillas, and sweets. I have a favorite restaurant in so many Mexican cities that I visit when in each town.

Bangkok along with the rest of Thailand was so awesome too! You could get anything from frog legs, chicken feet, snake, cow tongue, brain, and tofu. 🤮 My go-to was always Pad Thai, coconut soup, Tom kha gai, Tom yum, Tom XYZ (forgot), and of course spicy noodles with chicken.

New Orleans Cajun food is spectacular! Jumbo red beans and rice, Jambalaya, Po’boys, and crawfish (you’re supposed to remove the vein and head—nope). I ate them all by mistake. 😆

This brings us to Vietnam, number 5 on the above list! 

The food street food has been spectacular, I have already found my favorites but try at least one new place every day so far keeping in mind most street food meals are a few dollars.

I found a coffee shop my first morning and I have been going back every day since and today is day five. The owner knows that I love the iced coffee and tea and refills them as needed for the same price, 87 cents! Yesterday, I sat there for three hours and listened to the hockey game and surfed the internet and my bill was under a dollar if you can imagine.

If you know Vietnam food, you know Pho is one of the best things since sliced bread!  It was the first thing I wanted when l arrived and found the absolute perfect spot.  Today, I chatted with the owners who educated me on other dishes and where to find them in our neighborhood.  Their Pho was 2 for 2 and tough not to go there every day, no promises.  Here is Huang and his family Pho master piece:

I did have two other decent variations but will not be cheating my Pho-king Family:

I did not try the below but took a picture of some dude’s lunch like an obsessed Pho’ierdo:

Last but certainly not least, I have had the best Bahn Mi sandwiches and spring rolls, but they were in my belly before I thought to take a picture.  I had a nice recovery today ordering more while visiting the Ben Nghe Street food court. 

 

This place does not mess around as you can see from the above YouTube and pictures I took!

 

I could have pasted more low-quality screenshots, but I think you get the idea, it was badass! 

I settled for three items a la carte: Fresh and deep-fried spring rolls, a couple of pork skewers, and a couple of local Tiger beers including a $1.50 ice-cold draft! 👌

 

Vietnamese food has overtaken Thai and Mexican as my favorite food other than Ukrainian which by default is #1!