The Ground Truth Guide
A practical guide for getting ready for your trip and navigating local reality while saving money and staying safe. Straight-to-the-point info from someone who is living it.
Firsthand Experience.
No Sponsors.
No Affiliate Links.
No Recycled Blog Tips.
As you’ve probably noticed, many free travel guides on the internet nowadays are fluffy copycats packed with affiliate links and sponsored picks. My guide skips all of that to give you raw, real-world facts for the price of a cup of coffee. It focuses on the unglamorous realities that make or break a trip: getting travel documents ready, saving money, staying safe, and understanding the true cost and logistics of daily living in Da Nang in 2026.
Additionally, some of you might simply not have the time to research everything, or might not even know what specific details to look for before arriving in Vietnam. This guide gathers the most essential information in one place, giving you a clearer roadmap of what to prepare and what to double-check for your trip.
As a bonus, you’ll also get:
You’ll find two parts inside: one for a trip of a few weeks, and another for stays of several months. The guide closes with a final pre-departure checklist page and a personal thank-you page.
This guide is for you if you are:
Note: While most of the practical advice applies to all nationalities, certain details (such as visa requirements, banking, insurance, taxes, mobile plans, managing your affairs without a U.S. home base, USD/VND conversions, and power outlet compatibility) are written specifically from a U.S. perspective.
This guide is not for you if you are:
I’m Vitali, a U.S. citizen currently traveling long-term. Before this, I worked a variety of exhausting jobs, often from early morning until late evening with no weekends. In 2013, I was offered what I thought at the time was my dream job. A decade later, burned out, I walked away from it completely. I decided it was time to make a childhood dream come true instead: to travel until I simply can’t anymore.
Through years of researching both professionally and personally online, I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it has become to find authentic information, especially on an internet flooded with AI-generated content. It feels like everyone is trying to monetize your attention or sell you something using fake reviews and marketing buzzwords. I’m constantly amazed when a seller offers me to leave a review the exact moment I purchase a product, before I’ve even had a chance to see or touch it. How can anyone trust reviews after that?
My main goal with Ground Truth Guides is to provide tested information that helps people explore new countries or solve everyday problems back home. With that in mind, I’ll keep traveling to build useful digital resources based on my own experience, while sharing verified insights I’ve gathered along the way. I’ll offer all of this either as detailed, firsthand guides for a reasonable fee, or as free tips and lifehacks.
As my first digital product, I built this Da Nang guide. I hope it saves you time and money while keeping you safe. Have a great day!
P.S. If you’re interested in my future products and services, drop me a note at hello@groundtruthguides.com (subject: Future products). I’ll reach out whenever I have something I think you’ll find useful. I promise never to share your contact information or clutter your inbox with spam. You can ask me to remove you at any time.
Also, feel free to send any questions you may have in your note. I’ll add them, without your name or email, along with the answers to my Q&A section, so that everyone with the same questions can find the information.
The guide as a PDF, which includes a one-page printable pre-departure checklist, plus a plain-text version of the checklist you can copy into your phone’s Notes app.
Checkout and download are handled by Gumroad. You get the files immediately after paying.
Yes. Buyers get free updates for as long as the guide is actively maintained. You can re-download the latest version anytime from your Gumroad library.
No. Most of the practical advice applies to travelers of any nationality, but some details (visa requirements, banking, insurance, taxes, mobile plans, managing your affairs without a home base, USD/VND conversions, and power outlet compatibility) are written from a U.S. perspective, so verify those for your own situation.
The guide is for personal use. You’re welcome to share it with the people you travel with, but please don’t post it online, forward it to others, or resell it. See the Terms.
All purchases are final: the guide is a low-priced digital download, and payment processors typically keep their fees on refunded sales. Questions before buying? Email hello@groundtruthguides.com and I’ll gladly help, so you can be completely confident. See the Terms.
Problems downloading, missing files, or other technical issues? Email hello@groundtruthguides.com from the address you used to buy, include your order number, and I’ll fix or replace it.
Da Nang, Vietnam: The Ground Truth Guide. PDF plus printable checklist. $4.99.
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