While I am a HUGE planner, sometimes you just need to take a leap and DO IT. Obviously it's unrealistic to just seize the day and travel everyday (Gotta pay those bills somehow!). However, I think it's really important to still keep that sense of adventure and excitement in your life. That's why when my husband brought up his desire to explore New Hampshire, specifically he white mountain region, in the fall. He was initially thinking of planning a trip for next year, but I suggested we head out in a few short weeks! We had the vacation days, we will be road tripping and camping so the cost is low, so why not?
The long and the short of it is you aren't guaranteed a tomorrow. While I think it's unrealistic to expect every day of your life to be a grand adventure, I DO think it's incredibly important to put your plans into action. We ordered a guidebook and next weekend we are off on an adventure to see the leaves change color. Oh and did I mention we bought our plane tickets to Australia yesterday? Heck yes!
Seize the day doesn't always mean traveling on a dime, but it does mean you need to take action. Whether that action is hopping on a plane or just buying the ticket, go do it!
If you need help getting started, I'm happy to help! Check out my website at MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com.
Showing posts with label asia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asia. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Top Tips for Thailand
I had an amazing time in Thailand with my fiancé Schuyler. We primarily stayed near Bangkok, but we did manage to travel a ways outside of the city too. There are a few things you should know before heading off on your own adventure!
1) Be wary of street peddlers and taxi cab drivers. It's a fairly common occurrence for merchants and cab drivers to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists. It's nothing too scary, but you should be aware of their games! We had a cab driver try to convince us that he needed to make a pit stop for gas - he didn't! The scheme is to "stop for gas" and then try to sell us an experience or take us to a certain shop. Just insist they keep going or drop you there - that's what we did and SHOCK he made it to our destination just fine. We also had a similar scam when we bought a water bottle off a street vendor. He asked where we were going next, and we said Wat Pho, he immediately had a counter offer. He was trying to convince us that the temple was closed. He proposed we go on a tuk tuk tour that would drop us off at the temple when it "reopened."This was completely a total scam. While we may have had a nice tour with this convenient tuk tuk driver, we knew very well that the temple was open. We had just visited and needed to break our money so we had the correct change, which was required to enter the temple.
2) Carry smaller bills. There were several occasions where we needed to break our money because several attractions required exact change. I highly recommend carrying small bills whenever possible so you don't find yourself wandering around searching for anything small to buy, just to break a bill!
3) Tuk-Tuks are terrifying and fun all at the same time. - but worth it. Yes, they weave in and out of traffic, but hey. We survived. You can also haggle with them, and usually, they'll drop the price quite a bit!
4) Thailand is cheap, so treat yo-self! We ended up at a REALLY fancy hotel for only $40USD a night! To give you an idea, the toilet had like 30 buttons and a seat warmer... it was pretty ritzy! AND the hotel had TONS of free snacks! Of course, we stocked up on those before venturing out each day.
5) Embrace the culture. Like anywhere in the world, it's going to be unique and probably pretty different from your home town. Embrace the experience and go into it with an open mind. I also highly recommend doing your research ahead of time so you are more familiar with that country's cultures and customs. Enjoy yourself, but be respectful!
If you're up for an adventure, check out MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com
1) Be wary of street peddlers and taxi cab drivers. It's a fairly common occurrence for merchants and cab drivers to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists. It's nothing too scary, but you should be aware of their games! We had a cab driver try to convince us that he needed to make a pit stop for gas - he didn't! The scheme is to "stop for gas" and then try to sell us an experience or take us to a certain shop. Just insist they keep going or drop you there - that's what we did and SHOCK he made it to our destination just fine. We also had a similar scam when we bought a water bottle off a street vendor. He asked where we were going next, and we said Wat Pho, he immediately had a counter offer. He was trying to convince us that the temple was closed. He proposed we go on a tuk tuk tour that would drop us off at the temple when it "reopened."This was completely a total scam. While we may have had a nice tour with this convenient tuk tuk driver, we knew very well that the temple was open. We had just visited and needed to break our money so we had the correct change, which was required to enter the temple.
3) Tuk-Tuks are terrifying and fun all at the same time. - but worth it. Yes, they weave in and out of traffic, but hey. We survived. You can also haggle with them, and usually, they'll drop the price quite a bit!
4) Thailand is cheap, so treat yo-self! We ended up at a REALLY fancy hotel for only $40USD a night! To give you an idea, the toilet had like 30 buttons and a seat warmer... it was pretty ritzy! AND the hotel had TONS of free snacks! Of course, we stocked up on those before venturing out each day.
5) Embrace the culture. Like anywhere in the world, it's going to be unique and probably pretty different from your home town. Embrace the experience and go into it with an open mind. I also highly recommend doing your research ahead of time so you are more familiar with that country's cultures and customs. Enjoy yourself, but be respectful!
If you're up for an adventure, check out MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Thailand Adventures (Swimming with Elephants!)
Hello!
I'm sorry for the delay in this post - it's long overdue, I know.
So as I'm gearing up for my next adventure (more on that later) I was looking back at my Thailand pictures and realized I never made a post about it!
Our trip to Thailand was probably one of my all time favorite travel experiences. We only had a few days in Bangkok, so Sky and I made the most of it. We hired a tour company, as coordinating a car and organizing certain activities would have been nearly impossible on our own.
We flew in Friday night and made it to a rather ritzy hotel - the toilet had like 20 buttons! It was incredibly cheap for the quality, but welcome to Thailand.
The next morning, after a fun asian breakfast, we were off for a day packed with adventure! Our first stop was the River Kwai.
The bridge actually has a really cool history and we enjoyed learning about it from our guide!
Next up was the floating market which was actually incredibly cool. We literally rented a boat and floated up and down buying snacks and cool knick knacks. And it was SO beautiful to boot!
I'm sorry for the delay in this post - it's long overdue, I know.
So as I'm gearing up for my next adventure (more on that later) I was looking back at my Thailand pictures and realized I never made a post about it!
Our trip to Thailand was probably one of my all time favorite travel experiences. We only had a few days in Bangkok, so Sky and I made the most of it. We hired a tour company, as coordinating a car and organizing certain activities would have been nearly impossible on our own.
We flew in Friday night and made it to a rather ritzy hotel - the toilet had like 20 buttons! It was incredibly cheap for the quality, but welcome to Thailand.
The next morning, after a fun asian breakfast, we were off for a day packed with adventure! Our first stop was the River Kwai.
The bridge actually has a really cool history and we enjoyed learning about it from our guide!
Next up was the floating market which was actually incredibly cool. We literally rented a boat and floated up and down buying snacks and cool knick knacks. And it was SO beautiful to boot!
The food was delicious and we both had a blast!
Then we made our way to what was surely the highlight of the trip - swimming with elephants! Now I do want to specify here, we went to an elephant sanctuary in the middle of the jungle. These elephants are well taken care of by their trainers, called mahouts. It was beautiful and we were so lucky to have been able to visit with these beautiful animals.
Schuyler, King of the Jungle (one of the Mahouts made him a crown!)
Posing for the tasty orange!
Me and my elephant!
The best water fight in the world!
Look at that jungle!
Oh and I got to backflip off an elephant... so that was amazing beyond all belief
Swimming with elephants was SO FUN but also quite the work out! We headed back to the hotel absolutely exhausted
The next day we took some time to explore some temples. These were beautiful and so fun to explore. My only negative experience was with the rather shifty street vendors (telling you certain attractions were closed so they could give you a tour instead etc.). We had a blast and even got to ride in a tuk tuk!
Overall, Thailand was phenomenal and I 1000% would love to go back!
Lots of love,
Lena
Monday, October 26, 2015
Asia So Far (KL and Singapore)
Asia so far has been nothing short of awesome. I finally am getting to travel internationally with my boyfriend Schuyler, so that's pretty amazing. He is in Singapore for work for 3 months (Ugh) so I decided to come visit him for 2 weeks! Currently he is at work and I'm hanging at a Starbucks in Clarke Quay. I know, I know. Starbucks isn't exotic but it does have darn reliable WiFi so here I am.
I guess let's start with what I've done so far.
Wednesday: I left Raleigh for a 26+ hour journey to Singapore! The flights were relatively uneventful, but hella long. My trip happened to line up with Back to The Future Day which is pretty sweet since I traveled in time (sorta) forward 12 hours. I even watched all three Back to the Future movies on the plane.
Friday: I arrived at like 1am. Yes, I just skipped Thursday. I basically lost a whole day on the way here, haha. My super sweet boyfriend picked me up and we hopped in a taxi back to the hotel. I made a rookie error and slept the rest of the day. I know, I know. I should have got up and headed out for a run, but dude. It was not happening. I tried (5 more minutes.... ZZZZZ). I really did. Anyway, I got up in time for Sky to come home from work and we were off to go prawning with Schuyler's company. We basically sat around a concrete mini pond and stuck chicken hearts on a line and tried to catch prawns and lobster. (Not really my thing, but it was actually pretty fun!) There were a few contests for biggest catch, heaviest catch etc. We did alright, but didn't win any prizes, though Schuyler did get second with this guy:
Saturday we got up at the crack of dawn and we were off to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! We caught our flight and we were off on an adventure! Schuyler's friend Chao and his girlfriend Ming (spelling?) actually offered to show us around so they picked us up at the airport. Our first stop was for food! Can we just talk about how I ate a black egg? If that's not living on the edge I don't know what is! I also even ate a bite of frog.
Next we headed to the Batu Caves. We climbed about a million stairs and passed several monkeys along the way. That was pretty much my goal when coming to Asia was to see some monkeys. Mission accomplished!
Check it out!
Perhaps my favorite picture of all time.
We opted not to tour the caves because the people coming out were mad filthy and I was wearing a skirt and longer WHITE shirt. I was trying to dress a little conservatively so I would respect the temples etc... turns out in general they aren't as conservative as it sounds online.
We went to several more places around the city including the two towers! We even went up to a sweet viewing platform. Side note before these pictures - there is a phenomenon known as "The Haze." Essentially Indonesia is burning land and the smoke is wafting over all of South East Asia. Thus, these pictures may make it seem like it's foggy, but in reality it's the haze.
This is the Chinese Temple we also visited in KL
Sunday we explored Singapore! We walked through the botanic gardens and saw the MerLion of Singapore. That's sort of a famous land mark here. The lore was hundreds of years ago a sailor supposedly spotted a lion swimming in the ocean so they made a statue. I mean, there's probably more to it than that, but ya know.
Monday I chilled the heck out. I took it easy and allowed myself a lazy day, but I still managed to get off my butt and go exploring. There is a Nando's (My favorite foreign restaurant) AND a Crepe stand. There are 3 malls within walking distance of our hotel, which is pretty crazy. It was fun exploring and wandering around new cities is one of my favorite things to do.
Today I headed to Clarke Quay. I will say the train ride took longer than I thought. It doesn't seem that long of ride in theory, but I feel like the trains move slowly. I have set up camp in a Starbucks to get some things done but will be heading out to explore for a bit before heading back to meet Sky. Tonight we are going to go watch the water and light show by Marina Bay Sands, and I'm excited :)
I'll keep you guys posted as we do more and more things. We are headed to Thailand this weekend and I have booked us an
(Humane and ethical) elephant encounter!!! I'm super excited.
Love,
Lena
I guess let's start with what I've done so far.
Wednesday: I left Raleigh for a 26+ hour journey to Singapore! The flights were relatively uneventful, but hella long. My trip happened to line up with Back to The Future Day which is pretty sweet since I traveled in time (sorta) forward 12 hours. I even watched all three Back to the Future movies on the plane.
Friday: I arrived at like 1am. Yes, I just skipped Thursday. I basically lost a whole day on the way here, haha. My super sweet boyfriend picked me up and we hopped in a taxi back to the hotel. I made a rookie error and slept the rest of the day. I know, I know. I should have got up and headed out for a run, but dude. It was not happening. I tried (5 more minutes.... ZZZZZ). I really did. Anyway, I got up in time for Sky to come home from work and we were off to go prawning with Schuyler's company. We basically sat around a concrete mini pond and stuck chicken hearts on a line and tried to catch prawns and lobster. (Not really my thing, but it was actually pretty fun!) There were a few contests for biggest catch, heaviest catch etc. We did alright, but didn't win any prizes, though Schuyler did get second with this guy:
Saturday we got up at the crack of dawn and we were off to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! We caught our flight and we were off on an adventure! Schuyler's friend Chao and his girlfriend Ming (spelling?) actually offered to show us around so they picked us up at the airport. Our first stop was for food! Can we just talk about how I ate a black egg? If that's not living on the edge I don't know what is! I also even ate a bite of frog.
Next we headed to the Batu Caves. We climbed about a million stairs and passed several monkeys along the way. That was pretty much my goal when coming to Asia was to see some monkeys. Mission accomplished!
Check it out!
We went to several more places around the city including the two towers! We even went up to a sweet viewing platform. Side note before these pictures - there is a phenomenon known as "The Haze." Essentially Indonesia is burning land and the smoke is wafting over all of South East Asia. Thus, these pictures may make it seem like it's foggy, but in reality it's the haze.
Did you think this picture would ever happen??? No? Me neither hehehe. #HANDHEART
He must really like me :)
Schuyler is great at pointing at things.
MerLion!
Schuyler pointing at the Singapore Flyer, which is like the London Eye. We opted not to go up because the Haze was pretty bad and we wouldn't be able to see much.
Some flowers from the Botanic Gardens!
I'm all about that knee brace travel life.
Monday I chilled the heck out. I took it easy and allowed myself a lazy day, but I still managed to get off my butt and go exploring. There is a Nando's (My favorite foreign restaurant) AND a Crepe stand. There are 3 malls within walking distance of our hotel, which is pretty crazy. It was fun exploring and wandering around new cities is one of my favorite things to do.
Today I headed to Clarke Quay. I will say the train ride took longer than I thought. It doesn't seem that long of ride in theory, but I feel like the trains move slowly. I have set up camp in a Starbucks to get some things done but will be heading out to explore for a bit before heading back to meet Sky. Tonight we are going to go watch the water and light show by Marina Bay Sands, and I'm excited :)
That is a hotel with what is supposed to look like a ship on top! We are going to go up there and watch the light/water show tonight!
I'll keep you guys posted as we do more and more things. We are headed to Thailand this weekend and I have booked us an
(Humane and ethical) elephant encounter!!! I'm super excited.
Love,
Lena
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Disney and What's Next?
The past two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind - we just finished up a tournament in Disney World! It was a lot of hard work, but was so much fun.
The best part was that the tournament ended the day before my birthday! I spent my birthday celebrating with my coworkers in Universal Studios. We were pretty excited to visit Harry Potter World.
While I loved the location (minus the humidity!), my favorite part of the trip was networking and learning more about what could be in store next - Asia, Australia, London, Paris, Wales, Italy?? I can't wait! Bring on.
One thing is for sure -This December, Barcelona here I come! After that on to backpacking Italy then who knows!?
The best part was that the tournament ended the day before my birthday! I spent my birthday celebrating with my coworkers in Universal Studios. We were pretty excited to visit Harry Potter World.
While I loved the location (minus the humidity!), my favorite part of the trip was networking and learning more about what could be in store next - Asia, Australia, London, Paris, Wales, Italy?? I can't wait! Bring on.
One thing is for sure -This December, Barcelona here I come! After that on to backpacking Italy then who knows!?
Monday, June 30, 2014
Wanderlust
I know the stereo-type is for a 20-something to want to get out and explore, but for me (to be cheesy) the struggle is real!
I recently stumbled across a Bucket List I had made a while back - majority of it is definitely travel-based!
As you can see quite a few things have been crossed off. In the next year I am hoping to cross off a few more! I am backpacking Italy next January and maybe next July I'll go to Greece or Austria. In fact, this August the company I work for has a tournament in Florida and rather than take my bonus and go traveling, I think I might go skydiving! It would be sort of like a birthday present to myself. It's something I've always wanted to do and if not now, when? We shall see.
Right now I am focusing more on Europe-based travel simply because finances are tight and I spend a lot of time there for my work so its cheaper for me to travel close to those spots. As I get a little more established (think build up my savings account and pay off my car) I plan on exploring Africa, Asia and Australia more! In fact I have ambitions of bungee jumping in South Africa. How amazing would that be?
My big problem is that every time I travel, I end up adding more places to explore on my bucket list!
Malena
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