I have been thinking about starting a garden recently, and I need to get some materials. I've always loathed online shopping, so I am hoping to get as many materials as possible from a physical store. Anyone got any good spots they go to for their needs?
I'm in the northern part of Phoenix for reference, I'm willing to drive but places like Chandler or Buckeye are just too far for me to justify.
I had to get a new phone a few days ago. Since then, I have tried to use SoundCloud and the app has genuinely been borderline unusable. I've been a Go+ sub for at least 7 years now, and my music just straight up isn't streaming. Initially I thought it was because my gym Wi-Fi was bad, but I'm at home now and I straight up can't listen to anything. I just get message saying "this track can not be streamed"
Before I got the new phone the app was fine. But right now, the only songs I can listen to are the ones in albums that I previously downloaded, literally everything else won't play
I'm at my wits end at this point. I graduated college in April of 2023 and can not find a full time job. To put it simply, the only places that offer me are commission only sales gigs, which I am terrible at.
I've worked some part time jobs since graduation to get some money. Nothing too special, just shitty retail and youth sports jobs. Jobs you get as a 16 year old looking for some cash. I also worked in college but it was mainly the same kind of jobs.
I have spent money on trying to improve my resume, on head hunters, I've gotten my mom to try to set me up, at this point I'm convinced I have the plague. Nothing is working.
I don't care if my job is within my degree field. I just want to make more than minimum wage for once. Any ideas for titles to look into?
I wasn't able to watch season 50's merge live, so I made sure to avoid spoilers. Because of that, I avoided post-season press.
I just saw quote of Coach essentially saying "the blood moon was horseshit, the fans did not vote for this". 50's merge was loaded with twists, and I was wondering if other players who competed on 50 have spoken out on their thoughts on the twists. IK if I was Genevieve I'd want to commit a crime.
I got back from my trip a few weeks ago, and this time I decided to meticulously track my budget. Every single expense was monitored to see how much I truly spent. My spreadsheet was broken down into 9 categories: Visas, Flights, other Transport, Hotel, Food, Fun, Souvenirs, Bank, Miscellaneous.
A little bit about me and my travels for some context. I'm an American in my 20s, was traveling on my own. I was in Vietnam for 28 days, Laos for 11 and Cambodia for 10. I try to travel on a budget, but I am easily lured into impulse buys. I go to places with a ton of tourists and places that don't. I also enjoy tours but realize I can't do them frequently. My greatest weakness is souvenir shops. I booked every single transport ticket and hotel within 48 hours, I did not plan anything.
VISAS:
$133.23 total
Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos all require visas for American citizens. Because I was planning on entering Vietnam multiple times, I bought the multi-entry visa, which was $51.48 after fees. Cambodia was $30 and Laos was $51.75.
FLIGHTS:
$1,225.05 total
I booked one main flight from America to Ho Chi Minh. It cost $888.53. Only one layover both ways, in Taiwan. Because I planned on ending my trip in Ho Chi Minh, I booked a second, one way flight to Vientiane, Laos the same day I flew into Vietnam. I gave myself a seven hour layover. This flight cost $58.90, but I would later be upcharged because I did not know my luggage did not meet VietJet's carry-on requirements, which added an additional $18.21 to the cost. I did not want to fly much, but I did not want to take a 10+ hour bus ride after my nightmare from Luang Prabang to Dien Bien Phu. So, I booked a few short, one way flights for $54.83, $72.68 and $131.90. The routes for these were Dien Bien Phu to Hanoi, Da Nang to Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap. All were booked the week of my flight.
TRANSPORT:
$486.66 total
As an American, all three countries were honestly very walkable (by my standards), so that's how I typically got around. I would book the occasional grab or loca ride, but I would always book the cheapest mode of transportation possible. So I spent a ton of time on motorbikes and tuk tuks. When I wanted to move cities, I would either ask my hostel for help or hit up a local travel agency (which were fairly easy to find, even in the non-tourist areas). Those tickets would typically cost $15-25.
HOTEL:
$385.49 total, or $7.87 per day
I primarily stayed in hostels, but I did find a few fairly cheap private rooms. I would prioritize places with good reviews and in a good location. I used hostelworld, booking.com and agoda to book. I found all of them to be good resources to use. When I was looking at a hostel, I only cared about if they have AC, a place for me to store my luggage and a room size that was less than 10. I can't do those 16 person rooms. Unfortunately, not all these places had the same idea of "luggage storage" as me. As a result I was robbed of at least $500. Look at the pictures.
FOOD:
$793.68 total, or $16.20 per day
As a big back American, I definitely spent a shit ton on food. Cambodia was definitely significantly more expensive in this department compared to Laos and Vietnam. None of the hotels I stayed at had a kitchen, so I had to eat out for every single meal. I would typically eat breakfast and dinner and occasionally snack throughout the day (and give the sugarcane juice venders enough money to retire). But, due to my motion sickness I never ate before a bus ride. When I hit up restaurants, I would always order an app and two entrees, because the portion sizes here are tiny. One side note: I am vegan so I was wary of street food. I am not trying to communicate the concept of veganism to random street food vendors, so I would mainly eat at restaurants that I knew were vegan or could accommodate.
FUN:
$470.25
Guided tours, museum visits, hanging out, everything that was enjoyable went into this department. I tried to have fun on a budget, but I would splurge on tours if I deemed the value to be worth it. My favorite app for tours was get your guide entirely because I could filter by price effectively.
SOUVENIERS:
$153.81
Self-explanatory. I regret nothing.
BANK FEES:
$73.68
I tried to only use the cash I brought and my credit cards, but there were times where I was in a pinch and needed to withdraw cash. Unfortunately, I forgot that my card (Chase debit) is absolutely terrible if you're a traveler. These are just the ATM and conversion fees I (unknowingly) racked up. Look into your bank card well before you leave.
MISCELLANEOUS:
$209.76
Everything that doesn't fit in a category. My cold meds for when I got sick, my physical sim cards since my phone is prehistoric and a bunch of other shit that I honestly forgot about.
TOTAL BUDGET:
$3,931.61
I arrived in Long Xuyen from Cambodia today. I spent most of the time trying to find a tourist sim, but I arrived fairly late in the day, so not every store was open. But all of the stores that were open did not offer to tourists. Because I don't have data, I can't exactly research where to go next when one store doesn't work out. Which shops would be my best bet to find something?
Also, for all you eSim fans, my phone is old. I can't use them.
I'm traveling right now and due to the ineptitude of the ferry company I used, I was never given my luggage back for the trip I was on. I brought a few of my favorite shirts, and bought a few cool souvenirs, all have now probably been lost.
Thinking about it, I was reminded of the fact that I lost my favorite hat in an airport a few years ago. And how I still get a little sad over the loss of a hat. But this loss is that times 10.
Advice on how to get over this? It's all material stuff, so in the grand scheme of things it's not the biggest deal. But I'm still very upset about it! I had a bunch of cool shit in that suitcase that I was hyped about. Now it's just, gone.
And yes, I have learned my lesson. Put a tracker in my luggage.
I just got off the ferry in koh Rong. While they were throwing everyone's luggage out of storage, I never saw mine being taken out. Now, the boat has sailed away with my luggage. What should I do? I'm waiting by the pier rn, incredibly frustrated since all my important stuff was in that bag.
Before anyone says "ask an employee", they could not give less of a shit about me considering they just ignored me whenever I asked for help (using a translator).
I'm from Arizona, have lived there my entire life. I fucking hate it. I have never liked living here. I love actual winters, hate it when it gets above 90°and overall I just find Phoenix to be a miserable city. I'm on vacation right now and am actively dreading coming back.
I have always struggled to find a full time job. I graduated college 3 years ago (business degree) and genuinely the only jobs that give me a shot are shitty commission 1099 jobs. I just want a solid salary, none of this hustle bullshit. My bad luck with full time jobs and hatred of Arizona are the main reasons I'm considering this path. I can actually live in the city, try to apply, put myself out there and try to secure a job while I'm volunteering.
I'm planning on staying in the USA for this plan. I don't want to deal with the immigration process. I have a few states and cities I'd be interested in. But I'd have to do actual research on openings around the country before I made the jump.
Any advice on using workaways as a way to move would be greatly appreciated.
I am currently in Vietnam, but will be in Cambodia in a few days. The roads in Laos were actual hell and some of the roads in Vietnam have been kicking my ass. My motion sickness has never felt worse.
How good are the roads in Cambodia compared to Vietnam? As of right now, my planned route is Siem Reap to Phnom Penh to Koh Rong to Kampot.
I have spent the last hour in my hostel trying to use a hair dryer to dry off my shoes. It poured rain yesterday, and I did not realize how awful my shoes were for the rain since I'm from Arizona. I have fairly big feet and I also pack very lightly, so I can only bring one pair of shoes while traveling. And it's the pair I wear all the time.
What would y'all recommend? Also I'm asking for future reference, I am currently in Vietnam and tried looking for a new pair yesterday, and the largest pair I found was still 2 sizes too small. I'm looking for something that would be good in all, or most adverse conditions.