Money

Money across six currencies

Each of the six countries has its own currency and none of them is worth carrying home. US dollars in small, clean, untorn notes are useful in Cambodia and Laos, where visa fees at land gates are paid in cash. Card acceptance is good in Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, patchy in Laos outside the three main towns, and thin in rural Cambodia. ATMs charge per withdrawal almost everywhere, so fewer, larger withdrawals cost less.

Flights

Internal flights and who holds the tickets

A multi-country route usually has two to four internal flights. We book them, we hold them, and we watch the schedule — regional carriers move flights by an hour or two more often than European ones do, and a moved flight in the middle of a route can undo a hotel booking three days later. If that happens you will hear it from your coordinator rather than from an app.

Guides

Guides, and how much of the day they take

A guide in each country, local to it, for the parts of the day you want guided. Most travellers find that mornings guided and afternoons free is the right balance in cities, and full days make sense at Angkor, in the Mekong Delta and anywhere involving a boat. Nothing here is a fixed-departure coach: if you would rather walk out alone with a phone number, that is a legitimate way to travel and we will plan for it.

When plans change

When something moves

Borders close, typhoons cancel island flights, and roads over the passes in central Vietnam shut for a day or two in the wet season. Every route with a crossing in it has an air alternative worked out before you travel, and your coordinator makes the call rather than asking you to. Costs that genuinely change are itemised afterwards — you pay the difference or we refund it; we do not absorb it into a round number.

Luggage

Laundry, luggage and the small things on a long route

A three-week route across four countries does not need three weeks of clothes. Laundry is quick and cheap in every town on these itineraries and is usually back the same evening, so a week’s worth plus something warm for the northern Vietnamese or Lao evenings is enough. Hard cases are a nuisance on boat days and on the Mekong slow boat, where bags are handed down into the hull; a soft bag is easier everywhere except the airport. Internal flights in this region are stricter about checked-baggage weight than international ones, and the small turboprops to El Nido and around the Philippine islands are stricter still — we tell you the limit for your specific flights rather than leaving it to the airport counter.

Connectivity

Phones, data and staying reachable across six countries

An eSIM bought before you leave is the simplest answer and works in all six countries, though coverage in the northern Lao valleys and on the smaller Philippine islands is thin whatever you buy. Local SIMs are cheap and easy in Vietnam and Thailand and more trouble than they are worth for a three-night stop. What matters for a route that crosses borders is that your number keeps working while you are between networks at a land gate, which is exactly when a driver is trying to find you — so we swap WhatsApp numbers with both drivers the day before any crossing, and your coordinator holds both.

Your part

What we expect of you

Three things, and they are all about timing rather than money. Tell us early if someone in the party has a mobility limit, a serious allergy or a medical condition that shapes the day — it changes which hotels and which boats we use, and it is much harder to fix once a route is booked. Send passport details as they appear on the passport, because internal flights in this region are strict about name matching and a correction after ticketing costs more than it should. And file the compulsory arrival forms when we send you the links: they are free, they take five minutes, and they are the one part of the trip we cannot do for you.

Journey ideas