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Koh Samui/Phagan/Tao and the Phi Phi Thailand Islands.

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I was in Thailand three years ago from my time in Vietnam. It was pretty cool getting Facebook memories reminding me how awesome it was when I am, so close. Well, I am going back next week!  I also have a daily reminder on my left ankle of a bamboo tattoo:

Time for a new bamboo tattoo!       

 See you soon my homies->>         

After looking at the memories and reviewing the pictures, it would be dumb not to go for a couple of weeks before I leave Asia on March 22nd. Here are some of the memories, I am sure you will agree too. What an amazing set of Islands as they all mesh together as paradise in my mind:

  

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 3 main Thail beers–>

I remember the below A-frame cabin on the Island of Koh Tao.  It was storming and I was listening to music from the hammock on the patio.  It was fucking fantastic!

 

I visited post COVID, so the island was just reopening, and prices were so awesome deals on accommodations.  I was able to get five-star Airbnb for two-star prices in Samui and on the beach in Koh Phi Phi.  Here is one of my all- time favorite Airbnb and beaches in Thailand.

I was on the beach for $20 a night and both of the places go for $75 a night now:

  

The food is amazing everywhere you go.  Here is satay:

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Phnom Penh, Vietnam – inexpensive hostel experience!

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 I have been staying at the Poolside Villa hostel for a few days since arriving in Phnom, Penh on February 18th, 2025. 

I spent the first two nights in a studio room paying USD 21 a night. I was kicked out of my room because it was reserved, so I stayed in a dorm last night for $7 USD.  There are a few people saying long-term in the dorm rooms.  I would guess their monthly budget is under USD 1000.  Here is an example:

$7 x 31 days = $217 accommodations.

$20 a day eating out every meal = $620 (This would be less than half if you ate out like a local outside the hostel).

$5 a week for laundry service = $20

$30 a week for transportation = $120

That is under USD 900; insurance, cell phone, and incidentals based on your lifestyle would need to be added.  

If you upgraded to a studio room for some privacy, your cost would jump to $434 a month.  If that was the case, you could rent an apartment. A fully furnished studio or one-bedroom can be found for around $400-$600 which would allow you to cut back on the $620 meal costs by eating healthier at home.  

Honestly, who wants to cook, clean, and do their laundry but that is a cost savings option? LOL

The prices at the bar and restaurant at the hostel are incredible coming in at $1.50 a beer ($1 for HH) and most meals are under USD 5.  The same beer can go for as low as 75 cents with different meal choices for ~$5 at other restaurants. 

 Imagine, a beer and lunch for $6 with an amazing menu to choose from as well.

I have had the big breakfast, pancakes, and curry chicken off the hostel menu. I have also had the Khmer amok with chicken and rice and loc lak with chicken which was as good as any restaurant. Both are amazing Cambodian dishes:

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There are a shit ton of meal options around USD 5 and drink choices are ll lower priced too:

The hostel itself has a perfect setup some a simple inexpensive stay.  Studio rooms and door rooms are depending on your preference. Since the studio rooms are USD $21 and there is an adequate pool, so it is a no-brainer if you are on a budget.

  It is also walking to “Score” which is a great sports bar where I can catch a hockey game in the morning.  

There are all the bar food and drinks you can find anywhere at half the price including 75 cent draft beers for happy hour.  I will remember this place forever as it is where I watched Canada beat the Americans on February 20th, 2025, on a Connor McDavid OT winner!

I could watch this clip 100 times and it wouldn’t be enough!

The city itself is very congested, so I have not made an attempt to checkout any sights yet. My next stop is Angkor Wat, Cambodia will give me all of the culture in Cambodia.

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Vietnam cost summary – 35 days with road trips!

by Vietnam

Here are some videos of some of the fun times I had during my time in Vietnam: 

I wanted to take the slow travel approach when I planned this trip. 

Slow travel is a deliberate, unhurried approach to exploring destinations, emphasizing meaningful experiences, and cultural immersion. Here are some benefits of slow travel using my experience to date:

– I learned more about Vietnam and its culture other than just the tourist traps. ✅

 

– Slow travel can help you save money on accommodations as I rented monthly and took local transportation. ✅

 

– It allowed me to relish my surroundings, build a routine, and live like a local. ✅

 

– Slow travel reduces stress levels as you are not always on the go (I took too many road trips). ❌

 

– It promotes me visiting local restaurants and engaging in local cultural events (TET – Chinese New Year). ✅

 

– It is the polar opposite of an all-inclusive vacation resort vacation as you’re living like a local. This is a strategy that I need to prioritize now that I am taking a run at full-time travel!

 

 

I did well on the Vietnam leg of my trip but there is always room for improvement. I took too many road trips which brought the cost up. I knew I could do that as it happens the first time, I visit a new country.

Here is a summary of the approximate costs to see how they stack up against my USD $2K monthly budget.

~ USD 600 for accommodations ($420 for Homebase and $180 for road trip Airbnb’s)

~ USD 750 for credit card. (broken down below).

~$800 cash ($200 a week cash for incidentals).

~$2150+ (I would assume this is a bit higher, but this is a summary).

 

 

Here are my Airbnb accommodations:

(I rented the first one for the whole time and the others were road trips)

 

I stayed at some of these places for a few nights, but this gives you an idea of what you get for a very low nightly price.  I will use an average price of $15 a night for the 12 days I was on road trips away from home base HCMC.

 

I used my credit card, when possible, to track my spending after the fact:

This allows me to see where some of my money was spent.

Credit card charges: ~$750

Since I spent a lot of money on my road trips, it skews the actual cost of living in Vietnam.  I can tell you without a doubt in my mind that I could live like a king for $2K a month in any of the cities in Vietnam I visited.

Here is the order of cities I would choose when returning to Vietnam:

1. Phu Quoc Island (one of the most beautiful Islands I have ever visited).

2. Da Nang (there was a huge EXPAT community making it feel domestic)

3. Nah Trang (there was also a huge EXPAT community making it feel domestic)

I would choose one of these for one month each the next time I return to Asia.

One month in The Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and, Thailand.  I would just need to decide which cities in the other three Countries to keep my costs down with monthly rent. 

Since I have visited all of these Countries, here are my current choices as of today:

– Thailand (Koh Samui – it is also an easy ferry ride to Koh Phagan and Koh Tao as they were all my favorite islands).

– Philippines (Siquijor Island – it was also my favorite place I visited).

– Vietnam (Phu Quoc Island)

– Cambodia (Phnom Penh – it is the only place I have visited but it is very nice and inexpensive). 

The key is to pick a place that also can access other places for inexpensive road trips. This keeps things from getting boring being stuck in the same spot for the whole time.

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Moorseville, NC – Home from 2010 -2015

by North Carolina

I got off the road with my telecommunications job in 2003 and took a desk job in Alpharetta, GA.

I had been on the road for five years and, it was time for a change. I was offered a desk job by an old Manager to support Georgia/Alabama Verizon Wireless 3G as a Customer Support Associate (CSAM).  My job was to ensure that the Norel product worked as designed and work with Verizon if there was an outage or any issues.  Once the issues were identified, I would work on root cause analysis, present it, explain how we are going to fix it, and ensure it does not happen again.

I also needed to ensure new parts of the network were introduced, upgraded, and deployed.  This was a 24/7/365 assignment with other States backing each other up.

Fast forward to 2010, our Company won the 4G contract for North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.  I was allowed to manage those three States, and I relocated to Mooresville, NC. Most normal people would rent but since I am not normal, I bought an acreage to rent out and make money.  

It was a great plan on paper as I was going to rent my Georgia house to pay down that mortgage and buy the NC property and rent part of it out to pay that mortgage.  Sounds awesome except tenants are assholes more time than not, useless which is why they cannot buy themselves.

I will write a separate blog on my Georgia rental.  That tenant paid my mortgage down for 13+ years rented and then bought it “as is”. We did each other a favor as he got a deal, and I did not have to fix anything.  Looking back, he was really lucky as the price really increased along with the mortgage rates and he would have never been able to buy anything. WIN-WIN as I banked!

OK, here is the scoop on my five-year stint living in North Carolina five minutes away from beautiful Lake Norman. 

The acreage had a manufactured home on the front of the property and a three-car garage in the back of the property with a loft above the garages.  I would rent the front house to cover the mortgage and live in the loft above the garage for free.  I also bought the lot next door:

Here is a picture from the loft on one of the few snow days we would have during my time there:

It was an amazing setup with two bedrooms a kitchen that overlooked the common area:

It was not technically free as I spent a lot of money and sweat equity getting the property ready to flip as I knew this 4G gig would not last a long time.  I also ended up buying the lot next door, so I had just over three acres to move, weed, and piddle around in the three-car garage.

It was so awesome as there were three full-sized garage doors and a bathroom.

I would end up renting the loft, so I put up a temporary wall.  Two bays went with the house, and one bay with a washer and dry went with the loft. It was such a badass setup, and I would have made a fortune if Airbnb was a thing. Plus, the property probably doubled at this point too.

It just became too much for one person to manage.  I was often working 60 hours a week, traveling all around the Carolinas and Tennessee at a moment’s notice. I also had my Georgia rental, and my condo rented out to snowbirds at the same time. 

I used to say “I had seven toilets for one asshole” due to having so much going on at once.

I remember the day clearly when I had officially decided to sell the place.  The septic tank was seeping and the year smelled terrible.  I would see pools of leaking in the yard and knew it was not good, so I had someone come out and take a look.  

I had to get the yard dug up as one of the two septic fields was not working. Thankfully, it was just a broken switch between the two fields, and one was doing all the work and overflowing.

The septic tank was also full and needed to be pumped out too!  Shitter was full!

I think it cost me $5K to fix the septic issue but the thought of it possibly costing $50K for a new septic system was enough for me.  The roof on both front and back house needed to be replaced and there was also a termite issue every spring.  It was one thing after another.

Soon after, I would get laid off which made it official.

I was done with the South and moving my ass to Arizona where I had my condo waiting.  I knew that my telecom days were coming to an end so bought it as a soft-landing spot closer to home in Canada.  It worked out well, I was able to bank on the sale of the acreage and move west.

Such a great five years living the reck neck life with the local NASCAR people.  Mooresville, NC is known as race city USA (click link) most of the drivers and garages are located there.

Dale Earnhardt JR lived 15 minutes from me on his amazing western ranch.  No invites for me!!

Guess which one is my rental and which one is Earnhardt’s ranch. LOL

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Goodbye Vietnam – Hello Phnom Penh, Cambodia!

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I always say that travel is always as adventurous as the destination and this was no different.

I woke up in Phu Quoc, Vietnam Airbnb where I spent the last five days. I was packed and ready for the day:

1. Uber/Grab to the ferry terminal to catch my 9 AM 90-minute ferry to Hua Hin, Cambodia.

2. 10-minute Uber/Grab to the bus terminal for the shuttle to the Cambodian border. There was an awesome group of traveller that fought through the same cirumstances like champs too!

3. Two hours in the Cambodia immigration office sweating my balls off.

4. 60-minute shuttle to Kampot where most of the passengers were headed. 

5. 115-minute Tuk-tuk to another bus station where my shuttle to Phnom Penh was waiting.

6. Two and a half hours to Phnom Penh. 

7. Tuk-tuk to Airbnb – The host would not reply so I could not check in.

8. Amazing mango salad and 75-cent drafts figuring out my next step.

9. Tuk-tuk to the amazing poolside hostel where studio rooms are $2.

How is that for an adventurous day and 100% winning at the end of a brutal day!!

 

What a rush not knowing if things would work out each step of the way!

Ferry transfer to the border shuttle bus. ✅

Finding an ATM for Cambodian currency and getting a visa approved. ✅

Tuk-tuk transferred from one Kampot shuttle station to the next while the Phnom Penh driver waited for me. ✅

Finding amazing accommodations for the few days I will spend here. ✅

As I blog here at my hostel having breakfast, here are some random pictures and videos from the amazing race. Phu Quoc, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  How is this now awesome?

 

 

Goodbye, Phu Quoc, Vietnam!  

You are one of the most beautiful Islands I have ever visited!! 🙌🙌

 

Hello Cambodia, we are going to tet to know each other this week!

 

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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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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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.