Recent Articles
Construction 24/7
During my first few months in HCMC I stayed in a guest house on and off for a few weeks at a time. The guesthouse was close to work, and next to tons of cheap eating places in the heart of the ‘backpacker’ district. However, with the good comes the bad…right? For $18 a night [...]
A Holiday for ME!
It’s nice to know that other places around the world invent holidays for the flower industry. I have just experienced my first Teacher’s Day in Vietnam! November 20th is a major holiday here in Vietnam; Teacher’s Day. Granted – you don’t get the day off of work, but it is well celebrated. In fact, it’s [...]
I Will Survive
Let’s take inventory. I’ve been in Saigon for two months now. It’s honestly been good and bad. Maybe bad is the wrong word…it’s more like “challenging”. Considering I’m a challenge junkie, one would think that I could have rolled with all of this massive change in my life a bit better, but alas…I am human.
I [...]
Become a Vagabond Master!
Here’s the link to my latest article on the Indie Travel Podcast! Go check it out and peruse the whole site; it’s a wealth of information for the independent traveler!
Do you have what it takes to become a vagabond master? Complete this four-week training regime to prepare your body, mind and suitcase for the realities [...]
Over the Top
It has been a month and a half since I’ve gotten a pedicure. This is normally not how I operate; but when traveling you don’t really get to treat yourself to the pleasantries of foot care. I had a free weekend so I decided to venture out and find a place to do some massive [...]
The View From Across the Pond
This was a really exciting day. I have been marveling at just how far-reaching the US Election is/was. There is a weird excitment in the air - even in the polluted Vietnamese air! One of the fascinating things for me is to understand just how global our US election really is; it’s overwhelming.
I talked to [...]
McCain, Obama, and I; Cast your Vote
I look at the presidential candidates from a far and the meltdown of the US financial markets (as well as my own net worth) and wonder to myself who in their right minds would want to be President? What are Obama and McCain thinking about in the deep, dark recesses of their brains. If you [...]
Net-ti-quette
I made a big purchase today…my first motorbike helmet. I kind of feel like it is my first right of passage. Or maybe I should wait and label my first right of passage actually driving my own motorbike! No, that may need another title…like ‘Dumb Things I Do”. So for now – my helmet is [...]
Bringing Home the Bacon
There’s a reason it’s called Work.
Work is still work. After two years of being out of work, my mini retirement has ended for a while. There’s a part of me that is happy that I have a place to settle for a bit, however there’s a larger part of me that would rather stay unemployed [...]
De-Worming
I was talking to my friend Jill the other day, she’s lived here as an expat for over a year, so she’s familiar with the challenges of joys of living in HCMC. She mentioned to me that her family had to take their worm pills as if she were talking about Flinstone’s vitamins. Of course [...]
Loading ...