Another early morning alarm clock shook us from our sheets, and forced us out of bed to greet the day.
Again, we lathered on coats of sunscreen, packed our cameras and swim towels and strapped on our suits.
Phi Phi island was waiting for us…
Continue reading “Phi Phi Paradise”
Though the plan was to sleep in on Thursday morning, our body clocks betrayed us and we were up with the sun.
Ko Lanta’s beaches sparkle beautifully in the morning, when the tide is in and the waves are crashing.
Continue reading “Beaches, booze and burns!”
We rose from our beds around 4am on Wednesday morning to make our flight from Chiang Mai to Krabi island. … Continue reading Voyage Down South
Monday morning came quickly and we rushed to get ready for our 8am bike tour throughout Chiang Mai. Our guide, Nooh, and our fellow riders were waiting for us outside the Tha Pae Gate where I’d had my fateful accident the day before.
Continue reading “Eat. Drink. Bike. Repeat!”
The overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai took just over 14 hours. We boarded car #3, nestled into our shared cabin with foreign couples and solo backpackers from across the world, and spent the time catching up on some reading. After a cozy night’s rest, we pulled into the Chiang Mai train station around 8:30am on Sunday morning and immediately hitched a ride to our bed and breakfast, located just outside the city limits. We walked inside the gates of Liam’s Suan Dok Mai and immediately fell in love – a plush pool was surrounded by palm trees, fresh greenery and beautiful flowers that made you feel like you were in a secret oasis – away from the hustle and bustle of city life. After shaking hands with our host Daphne, she led us to the open dining room area where I was finally reunited with my little brother, Ian, after nearly a year of being apart. He totally fit the bill of the traveling backpacker; a full beard, long hair and colorful wristbands from every country and memorable experience from his travels in Southeast Asia. We all sat down for a full breakfast, caught up on his latest adventurers and planned our day.
Continue reading “Epic Kickoff”
Maggie and I woke up early Thursday morning to make some final packing adjustments and head to the airport. We opted to take the train to JFK to avoid commuter traffic. Security lines were short, so we found ourselves at our gate with plenty of time to spare before takeoff and headed to the lounge for some preflight champagne. The downtime was welcome, as we knew we had a long trip ahead of us.
We’re finally here! This week has been a whirlwind! Between running my first New York City marathon, balancing our family and friends in town, tackling major work events and packing for vacation… I think Patrick and I are spent. Good thing we’ll have a nice, long (looooooong) flight to catch up on sleep and rest up for our travels.
And there’s always time for blogging, right?
Continue reading “Itinerary Is Set!”
We’re back with Wanderlust like never before! Patrick and I have been spending a great deal of time talking international travel and flirting with online photos of South America, Europe, Asia and more. Our inspiration for choosing Thailand though, was my little brother.
Ian has spent the past year teaching English in a South Korean Hogwon – living and adapting to life in the port city of Busan. His contract was through in August of this year, and since he has been traveling the world like a boss! We knew that we wanted to meet up with him at some point in his travels, and decided on Thailand for the sole reason that it provided us with both adventure and relaxation. Elephant trekking by day, beach bumming with cocktails by night. #Livingthedream.
Continue reading “Talking Thailand”
Maggie and I will be embarking on a new adventure in the next couple of weeks. More to come on that!
In the meantime, we wanted to recap our last big adventure: the ‘Round the World trip last fall.
Continue reading “Back to the skies”
Apologies on the delayed post! We returned to the United States last week and hopped right into our work week, thus minimizing our time to write about Tokyo. Now that we’re settling back into our daily routines (in Chicago and NYC), it’s time to share the last of our adventures with you.
If we were to paint you a picture of Tokyo, it would look like a cleaner, more efficient and much more sprawling Manhattan. In that painting, we would double the number of people out on the streets, add millions more neon lights and incorporate Japanese signs and signals on every street corner. The city is enormous and makes one feel like an ant in a never ending field of grass blades. The other obstacle is that little to no English is written or spoken, which makes it difficult to see street signs, read menus or navigate the train system.
In our opinion, Tokyo was our greatest challenge on our ‘round the world adventure.