Two of us, one bag each,
nowhere to be by Friday.

We're Prab and Parker, a couple from the Midlands. We used to travel the way most people do: book two weeks off, cram in four cities, come home more tired than when we left, and remember almost none of it.

We stopped because we wanted to live in the culture rather than in what tourism has built on top of it, and you can't do that in a fortnight. The version of a place that gets sold to you in week one isn't the place. So now we pick somewhere, rent a flat, and stay until it stops feeling new.

Where we've actually lived

In 2023 we spent six weeks in Vietnam, three and a half months in Chiang Mai, and three months in Kuala Lumpur. Not passing through. Long enough to have a second electricity bill, a usual table, and strong opinions about which market is worth the extra ten minutes.

Then we came home to the UK for two years, to recoup and settle things that needed doing. That's the part most travel sites leave out. Slow travel isn't a permanent condition: you go, you come back, you sort your life out, you go again.

In 2026 we went back out. Abu Dhabi for a few days on the way, then Bangkok, a month on Koh Phangan, Koh Samui, and now Chiang Mai again.

Why we write this down

Almost everything written about long-stay travel is written by people who were there for a weekend. The prices are estimates, the neighbourhood advice is guesswork, and none of it survives contact with month two. We only write about places we've actually lived in, and we say how long we stayed so you can judge for yourself how much that's worth.

About the money

We track what we spend across both our cards, in every currency, and convert it back to sterling. It's imperfect: some cash spending never gets categorised properly, and we'd rather say so than pretend otherwise. So here's how we handle numbers on this site.

• Fixed costs are exact. Rent, deposits, wifi, tickets, scooter hire. We signed for them, so we know them.
• Daily spending is approximate. We give you a realistic daily average and tell you it's an average.
• We date everything. A price from 2023 is labelled 2023. Prices go stale faster than anything else we write.

We won't publish a number we can't stand behind. If that means a rounder figure than the sites promising precision, we think that's the better trade.

How this site is funded

Some links here are affiliate links, for things like booking sites, travel insurance, and gear we genuinely use. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It keeps the journal running. It doesn't buy a recommendation: we write about things we actually used, and we say when something wasn't worth it. Full details in our affiliate disclosure.

Get in touch

prabandparker@gmail.com — we answer questions about places we've actually been.