I was inspired to type this out after watching Reuben Schmitz’s YouTube video series on him and his friend traveling around the world with no money. I saw his list, then decided to make my own list while traveling. This was from a 6 month trip I took from March-September 2025. The list is from Japan-Laos, part 1!

1. Go karting in Tokyo with brother and nephews.
2. Going to a robot cafe.
3. Meeting my new friend in the hostel and becoming friends later as we overlap in Kyoto!! Ending up at a cozy intimate dark jazz bar in Kyoto having convos with strangers that end up feeling like friends.
4. Bathe naked with local Japanese women at an onsen
5. Feed bowing deer at Nara
6. Make dinner together with a friend from Japan who I met in Munich in a hostel! And laugh your asses off together. Second night you make pasta With tomatoes for both of you. Try new dishes with her. Hug goodbye and tell each other you love each other after only two afternoons together.
7. Get your phone returned to you by a local Japanese woman after you drop it on a hammock in Kobe
8. Jump for joy as you say goodbye to your new Japanese friends at a veg restaurant in Kobe. Leave on a high and inspired
9. Try Japanese bidets!!! Best in the world.
10. Meet random guy in Hanoi in front of a palace and hang out together
11. Bella who runs the hostel in Hanoi becomes your Vietnamese mom and sees you off and you hug her goodbye.
12. You ride on a motorcycle for 4 days and 3 nights and have one of the best experiences of your life with 7 strangers.
13. Jump off a bridge. Jump off waterfall ledge.
14. Laugh your ass off with a Greek man for 3 days. Laughed more in 4 days than you have in 4 years.
15. Sing karaoke every single night with your new friends.
16. Dance with locals in one of the villages.
17. Do an overnight trek in sapa with your new German and Armenian friends
18. Play ball with kids in the village.
19. Play with a sweet kitten that climbs on your shoulder.
20. Ride VIP sleeper buses all over Vietnam and have the best transport experience of your life. Eat at random unhygienic stops and wear slippers.
21. Rent a scooter for the first time. A local stranger gives you the keys to his scooter to help you get gas. Get rescued again by hostel. Local at gas station calls hostel for you.
22. Meet friendly Irish couple on hike who tell you to see Memory show in Hoi An.
23. See Ha Long Bay and Lan ha bay! Did that first epic little view point myself.
24. Kayak with a woman in Ha Long bay who is finishing her six-month trip and offers advice to reflect often on this 6-month journey.
25. See a rare and endangered monkey on Cat Ba island.
26. Get your first fish massage!!!
27. Climb to top of dragon hike which was terrifying!!! In Trang An, Vietnam.
28. Rent a scooter for second time to go around and go to pharmacy for stomach help.
29. Become a duck leader – have ducks eat from your hand legs and feeet and giggle hysterically like a child!
30. See the biggest most impressive cave of your life in Phong Nha.
31. Hire a driver for first time ever to take your around and wait for you.
32. Zip around on grab taxis in Hoi An and have the time of your life.
33. Create pottery on the wheel!
34. Go on a tin boat tour and buzz on a high!!
35. Get your first full body massage for only $8!
36. Get offered a scooter ride /rescued by a stranger – young Vietnamese woman who- when stranded in a cafe and no taxi will come get you.
37. Try mung bean tea sold by local women in Ho Chi Minh City.
38. Befriend a little boy on street in Ho Chi Minh and lift him in air as he giggles excitedly. His mom and him offer me a cracker.
39. Experience the most epic water fight of your life in celebration of the Khmer New Year in Siem Reap.
40. Have the most epic dance party while being sprayed by water
41. End up meeting random Indian guy living in Siem Reap who takes you to a club at 2am
42. See Ankor Wat for first time on only 2 hours of sleep.
43. Have a local Cambodian family return your lost phone in a miraculous fashion while on a tuk tuk tour of Ankor Wat
44. Dance with local men at a waterfall outside Siem Reap
45. Meet Enya an Irish girl at the airport in Siem Reap and meet her and her Jewish friend again in Phnom Penh and go to dinner together
46. Have a wild toucan come visit at breakfast time on rooftop of hostel in Phnom Penh and you feed it by hand and it cuddles with you!
47. Go to a water park!!! Fulfill childhood dream!
48. Become friends with kids in Kampot and then end up renting a motorized kids vehicle
49. Taste jackfruit for first time.
50. Go paramotoring with a woman from Australia you meet in a hostel in Vang, Vieng and immediately hit it off with her and become friends.