The abundance of clean tap and filtered water here in the U.S. makes sustainable hydration a relatively simple lifestyle choice. But it’s easy to forget this isn’t the case in many parts of the world, even those that are relatively developed. My fiancée and I recently returned from a trip to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The weather was hot just and we were always on the go, so staying hydrated was a big priority.

We brought along our KOR Deltas, hoping to find reliable sources of clean water along the way, having read that the tap water would generally not be potable. Our first glimmer of hope came at Taiwan’s Songshan Airport, where we were delighted to see several high-tech water dispensing machines. These were the last such machines we would encounter for three weeks, until we spotted another one at a gleaming new airport in Can Tho, Vietnam.

In between, we drank our way through three countries and eleven cities, consuming on average about four liters of bottled water per day each. We tried our best to reduce our waste by buying big two-liter bottles and using these for refills, but these were hard to find and even harder to carry as we moved from city to city.

I was feeling pretty guilty by the end of the trip and actually wondered if I’d picked up a habit that would be hard to break. But I’m glad to report that I’ve been back over a month and haven’t missed bottled water a bit!

How about you? Have you made any trips recently where you were forced to drink more bottled water than usual for health reasons?