Even in Hanoi I find money on the street…

Vietnamese spirit money... Too bad it's not the real thing
Vietnamese spirit money… Too bad it’s not the real thing

HANOI, VIETNAM – Back in the United States I often found coins on the ground… pennies mostly, sometimes a nickel, occasionally a dime or even a quarter. And one time I found a $20 bill. Whoo-Hoo!

Being the frugal person that I am, I’ve always picked up the coins (as long as I could do it safely, that is) – even the pennies that were so banged-up you could barely tell what they were (OK, I admit it; I’m a cheapskate).
Continue reading “Even in Hanoi I find money on the street…”

We’ve spent ‘millions’ during our first month in Vietnam

One million Vietnamese Dong
One million Vietnamese Dong

HANOI, VIETNAM – Let me first state that our lifestyle in Hanoi is anything but lavish, and I’ll go into more detail about those “millions” in just a minute.

We’re currently living in a one-bedroom second-floor apartment on a busy residential/commercial street about a block away from a small lake. Our apartment is modest in size, roughly 600 square feet.
Continue reading “We’ve spent ‘millions’ during our first month in Vietnam”

Pounds, pence, meaty money and more

British coins from one pence to two pounds
British coins from one pence to two pounds

UNITED KINGDOM – We’ve been traveling around the United Kingdom for just over two months now, and I have to say…

Thank God for the metric system!

And thank God for decimal-denominated money.

Luckily for us, we haven’t had to deal with guineas, crowns, shillings, farthings or any other extinct denominations of British money. Continue reading “Pounds, pence, meaty money and more”