Wow, I thought I was the only one who had ever done this!

I landed at LAX from BKK back in the day with less than $10 and made my way home to San Diego on public transit buses. It was a long day, but all the drivers were very cool and helpful when I explained what I was doing. One even shared his lunch with me.

I also took local public buses from Chiang Mai to Bangkok once. Not the night bus with box lunch, videos and lavatory, just a plain old bus, stopping at every town. It took about 12 hours as I remember, but it was hella cheap!