Wanderlust

So it's been a few months since we returned from our whirlwind Southeast Asia trip. In that time, Lacey and I have spent quite a bit of time talking about what we would do differently if we did our trip over again. Disclaimer: Our trip was INCREDIBLE and I wouldn't really change anything about the trip. This is just a fun exercise for others who want to do a similar trip to what we did. Getting to Bangkok: Our Trip: We bought our flights in two stages, our tickets from Chicago to Bangkok and then separate MPLS to Chicago tickets. This saved us about $300 but it was a pain in the butt on the way back. On purpose, we got seats across the aisle from each other to hopefully give us more leg room.  What we would do differently: Ideally, it wouldn't be winter and we would drive to Chicago and park our car to save the money. If it was winter, we would do everything we could to get tickets from MPLS to Bangkok instead of the Chicago situation. We would also sit next to ...

We had to wake up kind of early again today because we were going to go for a long motorbike ride in the Cambodian jungle and mountains. We decided the day before to hire a company called Khmer Ways to give us a tour. All of their reviews online were positive and we were excited for an adventure. We didn't know what we were getting in to (both good and bad). Us on our cool rides Time kind of got away from us in the morning so we were rushing to pack up and leave. Our guide was waiting for us in the lobby and he had a tuk-tuk give us a ride over to their place. Their little area is basically a house on the edge of town where they store all their motorbikes. We got on the bikes and drove around their yard for a little bit just doing small oval shapes so we could get a handle on accelerating slowly and braking. After about 15 minutes, we worked our way up to driving down their alleyway which had some obstacles to avoid and a long stretch of road so we could go faster.  ...

With the AC that didn't work, my sleep was just okay. I was so tired from our huge day yesterday that it didn't matter for the first few hours but eventually, I did wake up sweaty a couple times. I got up kind of early and went across the street to do some blogging. The lobby area of this hostel is comfortable for me so I didn't mind hanging out. I got a banana shake while I waited for Lacey to get up. Broken Down Tuk Tuk We had breakfast and talked about what to do today. We have a plan for the next couple days. We'll do an adventurous motorbike tour up a mountain on Thursday and see the sunrise at Angkor Wat on Friday before we fly back to Bangkok. That just left us with questions for today. After some research, we decided to go to Beng Mealea. It's a mildly ruined temple farrrr out from the city (about 50 miles). The distance from the city means very few crowds but also limited options to get there. It's $30 to use a tuk-tuk and $65 to use a car. We...

Off to Cambodia! I was surprised at how few people we talked to in the islands area and Bangkok had planned to go to Cambodia. I have read that it is a beautiful country and they use US dollars as their currency so it's easy to navigate. There's one primary reason we intended to head there: Angkor Wat. It's a giant area of temples, some reconstructed and some left in disrepair. ***This is a long post*** Famous Tree at Ta Som Temple When we booked our flight at 6:20am we were concerned about how early it was. Turns out that on this trip we just get up really early all the time no matter what so it was easy haha. Our hotel was only about a 10-minute walk to the airport but they have a free shuttle so we took it. Getting through security and stuff was easy (after 5 flights so far this trip, this is old hat). We got pastries for breakfast and my almond croissant was delicious.  The flight was uneventful (no one leaned their seat back this time!!!). The sunrise was...

Merry Christmas to everyone! Lacey and I had a super awesome, great Christmas. It was fun to spend time with family and I'm so thankful for all the food and gifts and time spent together. So we are 3 days out now. It's crunch time! This is going to be a boring post because I'm trying to get my blogging muscles back in shape. So if you're not that interested in small details or lists, this isn't the blog post (or blog?) for you lol.  Here's some things we're getting ready: We submitted and got our Cambodia visas. Some countries just let you into the country with a passport while others require a fee and some more paperwork. Cambodia is especially weird because they require a passport photo as well as the extra paperwork. So I got our pics scanned in and they approved our visas. That should allow us to just walk in and not wait in another line.  We are tanning. I've never done this before and I don't hate it except when I burned myself the ...

For most people this won't be that interesting to read about but I wanted to post the planned schedule for where we'll be each day for family or friends wondering. This is the longest trip I've done since Europe in college (Lacey went to Europe this summer for 5 weeks so this is old hat for her).  Sunday, December 31 - Fly to Chicago at 3:55pm Monday, January 1 - Leave Chicago at 12:20am Tuesday January 2 - Land at 10:40am, find our hostel, explore a little, and rest up Wednesday January 3 - Bangkok (historical sights, canal tour, lots of food, khao san road) Thursday January 4 - More Bangkok, fly to Krabi at 6:15pm Friday January 5 - Beach Time, Phi Phi Island tour? Or other tour? Saturday January 6 - Ao Phang Nga National Park (Boat tour and canoe trip) Sunday January 7 - Beach Time, take boat to Phuket Area Monday January 8 - Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, more beach time Tuesday January 9 - Fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia at 6:20am, find hotel, explore temples? Wedn...