Travel without Turbulence a TripHash Travel Blog

You hear his office door open, as you punch TripHash.com/travel-blog into your terminal. He saunters over, a stack of papers in his right hand, several manila folders in his left. He swings around the corner and peers over the side of the gray fabric-clothed cubicle. An empty chair...

#001: Initial Observations in Saigon, Vietnam

Posted on 21 October 2014 by Tak

Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon or…

Without getting into crazy backstories, Saigon is Ho Chi Minh City and Ho Chi Minh City is Saigon. You won’t be burned at the stake for using either one. It seems that HCMC is used by the government as the official governmental name of the city and Saigon is used by the rest. I will just use Saigon because, quite simply, it flows better as a name and it is generally what the common people use.

First Impressions and Observations of Saigon

Juxtaposing your own impressions against the impressions of others is one of the more fascinating things about experiencing places, things, foods, etc. You go to a restaurant with some great friends, have some bottles of wine, the food is amazing, the discussion lively and you walk away eager to visit again. While this was all going on, Read More →

Philosophy of Street & Travel Photography

Posted on 18 October 2014 by Tak

Dear _______,

If you don’t want to read more than several sentences, then this introduction will summarize the verbiage below. I have less interest in providing poor quality daily updates and more interest in quality weekly updates. I will post as I see fit during the week but if you want a set schedule—check here every Tuesday for new material. For the reason why, continue reading (and you thought you weren’t going to read more than several sentences…) Read More →

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Hotel Policies – Saigon Edition

Posted on 15 October 2014 by Tak

I am one to read hotel rules; makes a good activity while brushing teeth. Rule number five really got me thinking, what exactly constitutes a special case? How does the hotel manager decide an approval (of a “special case”) versus the denial? How awkward is that moment, and how often does this even happen? Enough to constitute inclusion on the hotel regulation sheet? Read More →

Money Saving Tips Before You Travel

Posted on 25 September 2014 by Tak

Yesterday was another interesting day. 0445: Wake up; 0610: On Train; 0900: call time for editorial fashion shoot; 1900-2300: Meetings; Home: 0200 +1. In between all that I got to thinking about what I need to do before I leave for Vietnam in October, and I noted two other important money saving tips if you are leaving for an extended period of time. These two would be in addition to the Five International Travel Tips Before You Fly post the other day. I don’t know if these apply where you are — and generally I only know these things from the perspective of how it works in the USA — but you can look into them:

Are you going to be using your domestic mobile phone plan while traveling overseas? Read More →

5 International Travel Tips Before You Fly

Posted on 17 September 2014 by Tak

So many times when you click on something like a “10 Best International Travel Tips” you find yourself reading inane nonsense like “remember to bring your passport”. Because you & I can only dream of being that creative, let’s go with five international travel tips that don’t involve stock images of passports – although bringing your passport on an international travel mission might be a good idea, too.

Notify Banks & Credit Card Companies: What is more fun than going somewhere only to find out that your ATM card doesn’t work, your credit card company has shut your cards off and the only way to remedy the situation is to find a phone and then make long distance international calls hoping that the time zone isn’t going to snuff your shot. Read More →