Author name: Alex Mercer

Europe has a reputation problem. Everyone thinks you need a fat wallet to enjoy it — that the continent is […]

I’ve lost money in twelve countries. Not stolen — lost. Dropped, forgotten, overpaid, wired to the wrong account. Once I

I’ve spent more nights folded into a bus seat than in actual beds. Not exaggerating. Nine years of travelling cheap

The first time I drove into Big Bend National Park, I had $340 to my name and a cooler full

I was sitting on a plastic stool in Hanoi, eating bun cha that cost less than a dollar, when a

I crossed from Costa Rica into Panama with eleven dollars and a bag of stale crackers. That was 2016. Since

The first time I tried to answer a client email from a hammock in Canggu, my laptop slid off my

Seven days. That’s the window most of us actually get — not the six-month sabbatical we keep pinning to a

The first time I stepped off a ferry onto a Thai island, I had 900 baht in my pocket and

Big cities chew up careless travellers. I’ve watched it happen in Bangkok, Bogotá, Barcelona — a guy with his phone