Tag: Books

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Our FOURTH 30 Days Abroad: By the Numbers

These posts feel a bit like the monthly baby photos– we should have brought some sort of cute stuffed animal to mark our time away!

Not to compare our travels to raising an actual human child, but I will admit to feeling a little #proudparent -ish of how we are growing as travelers.  These posts may not mean as much to our readers as they mean to us, but Rich and I really enjoying spending time together reflecting and crafting these every thirty days.

Amanda has an unhealthy obsession with Gritty, the new Philadelphia Flyers mascot. He’s ugly, but he’s our ugly. It was only a matter of time before she slid him into the blog.

Without further adieu, our FOURTH 30 days!  And if you like this post or want to see the progression of thirty day reflections, be sure to check out our first , second , and third thirty day review posts too.

Dates Included: September 24 – October 23, 2018

Countries Visited: 4 (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia)

Cities/Towns Visited: 9 (Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi, Koh Samui, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Yogyakarta)

TRANSPORTATION

As you can see, our modes of transportation varied greatly in these 30 days!  It’s not just planes, trains, and automobiles for us.

Flights: 7

Bus Rides: 1

Taxi/Uber/Grab Rides: 28 (22 Grab rides)

Van Rides: 3

Tuk Tuk Rides: 1

Funicular Rides: 1

Ferry Rides: 1

Train Rides: 1

Long Boat Rides: 2

Rich boarding the ferry to Koh Samui, Thailand
LODGING

AirBNB’s: 5

Hotels: 4

FOOD

Percentage of Meals Eaten Out: 60% (41 meals)

Percentage of Meals Eaten In: 21% (14 meals)

Percentage of Meals Eaten in Airport Lounges: 15% (10 meals)

Percentage of Meals Provided by Hotels or AirBNB’s: 4% (3 meals)

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

If you are a frequent reader of these posts, you know that while Rich and Amanda spend most of their time together, walking what you would assume to be the same distances, Rich consistently records many more miles than Amanda.  Will the tide turn?  Or will Rich continue his walking dominance?

Rich

  • Total Distance: 342,795 steps (158.40 miles)
  • Average Daily Distance: 11,460 steps (5.28 miles)
  • Daily High: 22,434 steps (10.30 miles)
  • Daily Low: 1,676 steps (0.77 miles)

Amanda

  • Total Distance: 296,857 steps (133.22 miles)
  • Average Daily Distance: 9,895 steps (4.44 miles)
  • Daily High: 20,759 steps (9.07 miles)
  • Daily Low: 132 steps (.06 miles)

Rich wins.  I am also confident that the day I only had 132 steps was a day that I had my FitBit off, if only because we have not stayed anywhere where I could have only gone 132 steps and still eaten food.

INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY

We had a tough time finding anything to read where you would want to read the most: the beaches of Thailand!  As you can see, Rich and I both continued to love Kevin Kwan, the author of megahit Crazy Rich Asians.

Rich

Amanda

Reading at the beach in Koh Samui.
OVERALL COSTS AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL BUDGET

Flights: 16% (12% decrease)

Other Transportation (Buses, Trains, Ferries, Taxis, Funiculars): 10% (5% increase)

Lodging: 41% (1% decrease)

Food:  21% (5% increase)

Sightseeing: 3% (same)

Other (Books, Haircut, Laundry, Toiletries, Massages, Yoga): 9% (3% increase)

FAVORITES:

Favorite Meal:

  • Amanda: Rich’s birthday dinner at Akira Back in Bangkok.  We had the best sushi of my life.
  • Rich: My birthday meal at Akira Back in Bangkok. Amazing sushi.
The aforementioned sushi. It was so delicious, we forgot to take a picture of it until after we had eaten a few pieces already.

Favorite AirBNB:

Favorite Hotel:

  • Amanda: I really loved the Grand Sunset Hotel, our hotel in Phuket, Thailand.  There was a beautiful rooftop pool, and they had all kinds of little free treats throughout the day: coffee from 3-4 PM, popcorn and a cocktail from 6-7 PM, and free ice cream from 8-10 PM.
  • Rich: I loved our boutique hotel in Singapore, Hotel Yan. It was stylish, sleek, and perfectly located. They had the best toiletries and mini bar with free Cokes, M & M’s, and chips replenished daily.
At Hotel Yan!

Favorite City/Town:

  • Rich: Singapore
  • Amanda: Singapore

Favorite Beach/Pool: 

  • Amanda: So many beaches!  I really liked Railey Beach in Thailand.  Runner up goes to Phuket where we got the amazing sunset pictures.
  • Rich: Railey Beach was beautiful, but so hot! We lasted maybe 30 minutes before we were covered in sweat and retreated to the water, followed by a couple of Tiger beers with a view.

Favorite Mode of Transportation: 

  • Rich: I really enjoyed the rawness of traveling in the long boat to Railey Beach and back. It was exciting wading into the water and climbing in and out of the boat. There was a real authentic feeling that made me feel like a local.
  • Amanda: I did not enjoy the long boat because I thought we might drown.  I don’t have a specific flight, but I loved anytime we flew and got to go to an airport lounge.  It is so nice to be able to eat as much as we want and drink an extra latte without worrying about costs.
In front of two long boats in Krabi, Thailand

Favorite Book:

  • Amanda:  I weirdly read two books (Truly, Madly, Guilty and The Slap) about adults behaving badly at backyard barbecues in Australia.   Me Talk Pretty One Day was the first David Sedaris book I had ever read, and it was both hilarious and touching.  So it wins as my favorite book for these 30 days.
  • Rich:  Crazy Rich Asians. If you have not noticed yet, I…love…Kevin…Kwan… Almost as much as Amanda loves Gritty.

Least Favorite Moment:

  • Rich: We landed in Yogyakarta and our hotel was only a 23 minute walk from the airport according to Google Maps. We decided to tough it out and walk, can’t be that hard right? WRONG! We had to go a different route than what Google Maps stated due to airport security, and it added about 10 minutes to the walk in 90 degree heat with 20 and 25 lb backpacks on. When we arrived at our hotel, we were tired and drenched in sweat. FAIL!
  • Amanda: Trying to hike to the Big Buddha statue in Phuket and failing because the blog directions I followed were terrible.  I should have done more research before leading us down the wrong road in really hot weather.  Not finding a statue is really not that bad, but Rich and I got cross with one another, so that moment stands out as being my least favorite.  If you are going to argue, you should at least be able to do it in air conditioning.

Most Favorite Moments: 

  • Amanda:  I loved the day in Singapore where we walked and walked and walked and saw the SuperTrees and then had a drink at the top of the magnificent Marina Bay Sands.  It helped that we had seen Crazy Rich Asians in Singapore the night before– on our long walk, we passed so many places from the movie.  I also loved getting a Thai massage in Krabi, Thailand, and I loved our routine in Kuala Lumpur, especially getting to go to the amazing gym in our building.  On our last morning in KL, we got up to go to the gym but it didn’t open until 7 AM so we headed to the building’s putting green (yes, the building had a putting green) to do an Aaptiv strength training workout in the dark.  Right as we finished, the Call to Prayer came on softly in the background, and we were surrounded by all these huge skyscraper buildings– it was a moment where I really felt like I was a world away from home, experiencing something I never could have scripted if I tried.
  • Rich: I loved the sunsets at our rooftop pool in Phucket. I also loved our Thai massages in Krabi. But my favorite thing was EVERYTHING in Singapore. From seeing Crazy Rich Asians to eating at the hawker stands to the beautiful SuperTrees to the drink and view from the Marina Bay Sands, it was everything I imagined.  One day, I will swim in that infinity pool.
Enjoying Singapore and being on top of the world at the Marina Bay Sands.

DELTAS:

Looking back on the last thirty days, here are a few things we might have done a little differently.

  1. Eating out so much has been tough.  I think we have been to three grocery stores in Southeast Asia.  There are frequently 7-11’s or small local markets, but if I were to try to cook a whole meal, I’m not sure I would know where to start.  Eating out occasionally is nice, but Rich and I are both pretty introverted and so we find eating in way more relaxing.  And I miss cooking and eating what I have cooked.
  2. We would not have gone to Iceland.  Wait, aren’t you supposed to be talking about Southeast Asia?  Yes, stay with me.  We were looking at the budget last night, and we have done a pretty decent job staying on budget in Southeast Asia.  And yet, we are still over budget on the trip…for almost the exact amount of money it cost us to go to Iceland.  Iceland was pretty but was SO expensive, especially when viewed in light of how far the money for those 6 days would go in Southeast Asia (read: it would pay for everything for 19 days).  And we slept in a tent in Iceland and ate hot dogs.  We should have saved Iceland for a trip of its own versus including it in our around-the-world trip.
  3. We wish we had picked a better AirBNB location in Bangkok.  As I think about how much we loved Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and how meh we felt about Bangkok, I have to think that if we had been in walking distance of the things we wanted to visit in Bangkok, we would have liked it more.  Bangkok traffic was insane (makes 75/85 traffic in Atlanta and 676 traffic in Philly look light) and so it took forever to get anywhere.  And Rich and traffic are not friends.

LOVES:

  1. Our new planning routine.  Since Phuket, Rich and I have dedicated time to meet with each other to calendar out our time in each new location.  This facilitates a discussion about our priorities for what we want to see and do in each place so that we are on the same page from the jump.  If I am being honest, sometimes it is hard to really tune in and listen to Rich, not because he isn’t charming and interesting, but because we spend all of our time together and sometimes he’s talking to me, but I am daydreaming or playing on my phone or am just otherwise distracted.  During our meetings though, I can totally tune in, focus, and pay attention.
  2. The balance of beaches and cities in the last 30 days.  We had a lot of beach and pool time in Thailand, but we also spent a significant amount of time in some of the largest cities in Southeast Asia in Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.  The balance was nice.  We could chill in the beach towns, and then enjoy walking and moving as much as we did in the big cities.
  3. Being together!  Nope, not sick of each other yet.  In fact, the longer we are gone, the more common experiences we have to compare and share with one another.  Rich was organizing our Insta stories the other night, and just watching videos of everywhere we have been and all we have done was so fun.  Remember when we watched the World Cup in Croatia (but left because the fireworks were scary and the fans were throwing beer bottles!), and then we were in Malta and we ended up at Friday Happy Hour with the St. Vincent Retirement Community, and then we were in Hanoi, Vietnam exercising with thousands of people in the early morning hours? All of our experiences build and build and build.  This is truly a trip of a lifetime, and we love sharing all of it with each other.
Sunset in Phuket
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Days 90 – 93: Chiang Mai, Thailand (Our Favorite, Our Favorite, Our Favorite)

So, of course, we loved Budapest and Korcula  and Heraklion and  Hoi An and the list goes on.  But when I say we LOVED being in Chiang Mai, Thailand– we LOVED it.  We stayed in the Nimman neighborhood, and it was just. so. hip.

I’m excited to write about it, and I hope you are excited to read.  Come explore Chiang Mai with us!

Day 90: Travel from Luang Prabang, Laos to Chiang Mai, Thailand

At this point, we pretty much have airplane travel down, and this was an easy one direct flight trip.  We took a tuk tuk from our AirBNB to the Luang Prabang airport, and then our host arranged for us to be picked up from the Chiang Mai airport when we arrived.

Our AirBNB in Chiang Mai was in a pretty new apartment complex that wasn’t that different from any apartment building we had lived in DC over the past ten years.  There was a pool and a gym– perfect!

We are taking a new approach to travel days, especially in Thailand where we have pools everywhere we stay: Get to the AirBNB/hotel.  Go to the pool.  Relax.  Make a plan for how to spend the next few days.

This plan was on point.  First, I arrived in Chiang Mai having read all of the books we had with us, but in the apartment, there was a copy of Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood.  A free, great book to read at pool?  Hallelujah!  Chiang Mai is already winning.  Second, the pool was an infinity pool with spectacular views of the hills of Chiang Mai.  Does it get better?

Reading at the pool. Does it get better?
Pool in Chiang Mai
Rich also “reading” at the pool.
The Nimman Neighborhood and Nimman Social

So our neighborhood is named Nimman for Nimmanhaemin Road which runs through the center of the area.  In Nimman, you will find cafes, bars, and boutiques that all look like they jumped off the pages of Instagram’s top accounts.  The food is delicious and healthy, the shops are adorable, and everything is right next to everything else.

For my American readers, you may be thinking, well, is Chiang Mai as hip as Brooklyn or as Twelve South in Nashville or Fishtown in Philly?  IT IS HIPPER.  Seriously.  We thought Nimman might be like our favorite neighborhoods in America, and instead, we may have even liked it better.

The first night in Chiang Mai, Rich walked the seven minutes to dinner repeating, “I love Chiang Mai.  I love Chiang Mai.”  He was giddy.

We went to dinner at Nimman Social, a part indoor, part outdoor bar/cafe attached to a nearby hostel.  We drank a beer and ate two noodle dishes and the most incredible french fries, sitting under white bistro lights, for less than $10. Can’t beat it.

Nimman Social in Chiang Mai
Enjoying dinner at Nimman Social.

Day 91: Umm, We Enjoyed Nimman Some More

If you are reading this thinking you want to travel to Chiang Mai for a few days, umm, this may not be the itinerary you want to follow.  If you are traveling the world for a year, I highly recommend a day EXACTLY like this.

How we spent our day:

  • Slept in.
  • Worked out in the apartment gym.
  • Walked to breakfast at Overstand Coffee.  Ate avocado toast.
  • Found a bookstore that didn’t sell any fiction in English.  Were directed to a bookstore in the mall.
  • Walked to the wrong mall, explored it.
  • Found the right mall, the MAYA Lifestyle Shopping Center, which happened to be unbelievably fabulous.  Bought two books and a dress at H&M (on sale!).
  • Went home and went to the pool.
  • Got ready and ate dinner at the mall food court.

Perhaps you are wondering about this mall food court eating.  That’s because you are imagining an American mall food court.  This food court had every kind of Thai street food prepared fresh in clean booths for cheap.  Remember: In Southeast Asia, we are eating the majority of our meals out.  Being able to grab quick, casual, delicious, inexpensive dinner may have been one of our favorite parts of staying in Chiang Mai.

Gym? Check.
Avocado toast? Check.
The outside of the Maya Lifestyle Shopping Center.
The INSIDE of the Maya Shopping Center. All of the games of mall madness I played as a young girl led to this…
Umm, this is pad thai BAKED INTO AN EGG. Genius, mall food court, genius.

Day 92: Temple Time in Chiang Mai

Rich and I woke up, hit the gym, and then enjoyed a yummy bowl of cheap chocolate cereal in our apartment.  We decided we should probably check out some of the famous temples of Chiang Mai.

Wat Phra Singh

We walked from Nimman to Old City to reach Wat Phra Singh.  Wat Phra Singh was one large, beautiful temple, surrounded by several smaller temples.  Every year, during the Buddhist Songkran festival, the statue of Buddha that is housed here is paraded through Chiang Mai.

Not unlike what we witnessed in Sicily with the statue of Mary arriving on a boat to celebrate the Assumption!

Amanda at Wat Phra Singh
Lots of gold at Wat Phra Singh
The Wat Phra Singh gardens
Rich outside of one of the temples at Wat Phra Singh
Wat Chedi Luang

I had a bit of beef with Wat Chedi Luang because my new H&M dress was deemed to be too short, and so in order to enter the area, I had to borrow a big piece of cloth to wrap around my waist.  I will eat that I knew that my dress didn’t come quite down to my knees and that I did some risk analysis on whether I would be able to skate through on temple entry (also similar to Catholicism– figuring out how to pull your school uniform skirt down to pass skirt checks-ha!).

What I did not bank on was receiving the longest piece of cloth ever  when my skirt didn’t pass inspection and having said cloth reach my ankles.  I was tied up pretty tight which made walking, well, pretty miserable.

But the temple was huge and old and really stately.  So it was probably worth it.  We just didn’t stay too long.

Wat selfie?
With my long bound skirt
One of the smaller temples at Wat Chedi Luang
It really was beautiful.
Rich Gets a Haircut!

After we left the temple, we got lunch in Old Town.  The restaurant had a good TripAdvisor rating, but didn’t hold a candle to the mall food court.

We then walked back to Nimman for Rich to get his haircut.  He did a lot of research and landed on 56 Barber Shop.  Rich has very thick, curly hair, and as any of his family members reading this can attest to, is very particular about his appearance (I type this hearing his voice in my head say, “Isn’t it worth it in order to look this good?”).

Chan at 56 Barber Shop did a phenomenal job.  He played old school hip hop (read: Biggie, Eve, J-Lo) the whole time and took close to an hour to get everything perfect.  This was a big haircut a few days before Rich turned the big 4-0, and Chan came through.  It also further fueled our belief that Chiang Mai is A-MAI-ZING (get it?).

Before…
After! This almost-40 year old walked out feeling great!
Dinner at the Mall Food Court

We couldn’t resist.

food court dinner in chiang mai
Pad thai meets nachos in this mall food court crispy pad thai dish. This was Rich’s VERY FAVORITE dish in the past 30 days and cost less than $2.

Day 93: Work Day in Chiang Mai

But First, Coffee

As I mentioned (over and over), Nimman had a ton of cute cafes.  We wanted to try Ristr8to, a coffee shop that had won international latte art competitions.  Our plan was to get a coffee and work on blogging/planning from there.  However, while they had great lattes, they did NOT have air conditioning.  That dog won’t hunt.

Super hip coffee at Ristr8to.
Nothing says good morning like this guy…

We spent at least an hour trying to figure out where to go to work with aircon (as they say over here) and WiFi and finally landed on Healthy B Cafe.  I finished our Siem Reap blog post while Rich booked all of our lodging for Australia.  Productivity win!

Healthy B in Chiang Mai
We enjoyed working from Healthy B!
Pool Time

We headed back to our glorious apartment pool.  I had already finished Born a Crime, and Rich needed to finish it so we could leave it behind in the apartment.  We both really loved it.  Trevor Noah is of course hilarious, and he is also raw and direct about real systemic and familial challenges he faced during his childhood in South Africa at the end of apartheid.  If you enjoy a good memoir about perseverance and chasing the life you believe you can have, pick this one up.

There was another American couple at the pool while we were.  The young man was on sabbatical for a year from his job in Baltimore and was traveling long-term like us, and his girlfriend had flown in from New York to meet him for a two week vacation.  He was a fellow Teach For America alum (go figure), and it was pretty interesting to share thoughts on places we had visited and exchange reflections.

Dinner at the Food Court

I’m telling you: so cheap and so good.  We had already eaten at real restaurants twice that day!  Don’t knock it until you try it.

Final Thoughts on Chiang Mai

I re-read this post, and I’m not sure I am capturing well what we loved so much about Chiang Mai, and perhaps that is because what we loved so much is that Chiang Mai felt like home.  The apartment building felt like our apartment building in DC, and the cafes felt like our favorite coffee shops in Philly. Nimman was super walkable– we didn’t need Google maps to get around.  We went to the gym, we read great books by the pool, we drank coffee slowly, we liked every bite of food we ate.

See, when you go on vacation, you want to see new things and explore different ways of life.  Visit the temples; eat the fancy food;  go, go, go.

But after 90 days on the road, in ten different countries, the escape we needed was to pretend we were home.  Beautiful Chiang Mai gave us that from the minute our plane landed.  That sense of home made Chiang Mai one of our most favorite destinations of all.

100%, we will make it back to Chiang Mai again.

 

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Our THIRD 30 Days Abroad: By the Numbers

I sit here in shock that we are ALREADY on our third 30 days post– meaning we have been gone for more than 90 days total!  We had a lot of fun putting together our first and second thirty day review posts and hope you all will enjoy reading this one as much as we enjoy working together to crank it out.

Here goes!

Dates Included: August 25 – September 23, 2018

Countries Visited:  4 (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand)

Cities/Towns Visited: 10 (Hue, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Vietvianne, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai)

TRANSPORTATION

Number of Flights Taken: 10

Number of Buses Taken: 12

Number of Taxi/Uber Rides: 3

Number of Vans Taken: 3

Number of Tuk Tuk Rides: 5

LODGING

Number of AirBNB’s Slept In: 5

Number of Hotels Slept In: 5

FOOD

Percentage of Meals Eaten Out: 62% (50)

Percentage of Meals Eaten In: 7% (6)

Percentage of Meals Eaten in Airport Lounges: 5% (4)

Percentage of Meals Provided by Hotels or AirBNB’s: 26% (21)

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

So for the past sixty days, as our faithful readers are aware, despite Rich and Amanda spending countless hours together going to all of the same places, Rich amasses MILES more of steps than Amanda as tracked by their FitBits.  BUT this thirty days, we had gyms!  Amanda ran MILES on the treadmill while Rich lifted weights.  Will it make a difference?

Rich

  • Total Distance: 329,684 steps (152.3 miles)
  • Average Daily Distance: 10,989 steps (5.08 miles)
  • Daily High: 28,060 steps (12.88 miles)
  • Daily Low: 3,342 steps (1.53 miles)

Amanda

  • Total Distance: 270,505 steps (121.2 miles)
  • Average Daily Distance: 9,017 steps (4.04 miles)
  • Daily High: 22,953 steps (10.03 miles)
  • Daily Low: 2,511 (1.1 miles)

So, nope, the running did not make a difference.  Sorry trainer Meg and Aaptiv.

Our steps are WAY down from our last 30 days where we were averaging over 2,000 more steps a day.  Europe is set up for walking as a mode of transportation in a way that Southeast Asia just isn’t.  We are hoping to get this activity back up.

INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY

I should really rename this category.  #shade

Our reading was down a bit; we had more trouble finding books in English in Southeast Asia.  We also had to pay for all of these except Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime.  Rich and I had better luck in Europe with taking books that were left behind in AirBNBs and hotels (and usually leaving a few behind ourselves).

Rich

Amanda

We found a HUGE bookstore in Ho Chi Minh City. It was great EXCEPT the books were not in alpha order by writer or title.  Mind blowing. How were you supposed to find anything?!?
OVERALL COSTS AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL BUDGET

Flights: 28% (13% increase)

Other Transportation (Buses, Trains, Ferries, Taxis, Funiculars): 5% (3% decrease)

Lodging: 42% (2% decrease)

Food:  16% (3% decrease)

Sightseeing: 3% (2 % decrease)

Other (Books, Haircut, Laundry, Toiletries, Trips to H&M): 6% (4% decrease)

Rich getting his hair cut in Chiang Mai, Thailand
FAVORITES:

How do we choose?!?

Favorite Meal:

  • Rich: Crispy Pad Thai (from the MAYA shopping mall food court) in Chiang Mai, Thailand; Runner Up– Philly Cheesesteak at Vibe Cafe in Siem Reap, Cambodia
  • Amanda: The Spicy Pork Ragu Noodles at Nu Eatery in Hoi An, Vietnam; Runner Up–Red Curry with Tofu + Mango Sticky Rice at Happy Mango Thai Restaurant in Vang Vieng, Laos (We ate twice at both restaurants!)
Food court crispy pad thai– It cost less than $2!  Imagine pad thai meets nachos.

Favorite AirBNB:

Favorite Hotel:

The view from our room at the beautiful Riverside Boutique Hotel

Favorite City/Town:

  • Rich: Chiang Mai, Thailand
  • Amanda: Chiang Mai, Thailand

Favorite Mode of Transportation: 

  • Rich: Flying for $15 one way in Southeast Asian cities
  • Amanda: The van ride from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang.  We started with one driver, and then midway through the ride, we got a new driver.  We drove over the most treacherous roads.  The second driver got out to pee on the side of the road three times.  But the land was BEAUTIFUL.  It reminded me of the rolling hills of North Georgia where my family is from, and for about four hours, I could just sit, stare out the window, and take it all in.

Favorite Beach/Pool: 

  • Rich: The hotel pool at the Riverside Boutique Hotel in Vang Vieng, Laos
  • Amanda: Our hotel pool in Vietianne.  While it wasn’t the most glamorous pool, inexplicably, for one day at the pool, there was a giant unicorn float when we arrived.  Read more here about how that went for Rich.
unicorn float in Vientiane
So much love for the unicorn float

Favorite Book Read:

  • Rich: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
  • Amanda:  Either Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett OR Born A Crime by Trevor Noah.  Although Crazy Rich Asians was really fun too…#nerd

Least Favorite Moment:

  • Rich: We had a great night out in Siem Reap enjoying a delicious dinner and two amazing cocktails at Miss Wong Cocktail Bar. We had a nice walk home and then…tragedy struck. OK, not tragedy just an unfortunate accident. Our Airbnb in Siem Reap was a really cute little place that had big glass doors opening to a small lobby. First, let me start of by saying the large glass double doors had been open the entire two days we were staying there. Second, they were really really clean. I am starting to tell this story like Amanda. I will get to the point: I walked face first into the glass doors as if I were walking through an open door. My nose and mouth started gushing blood, followed by lots of cursing and a call home to my dad to ask if my nose was broken (it wasn’t). This “clean glass door” incident led to lots of ice, Neosporin, and Bio Oil to help my face heal. I am happy to report that two weeks later I am 90% of the way to being scar free.
  • Amanda: That’s a lot to follow.  We took a van from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang, and in a strange turn of events, the driver dropped us off at a location that was NOT the bus station because “of the police.”  We had a tuk tuk scheduled to pick us up at the bus stop, and since we had no idea how to communicate our new location, we decided to walk to the AirBNB.  Little did we know, this walk, in the dark, involved crossing a VERY rickety pedestrian bridge over a river carrying all of our belongings.   I’ll probably write more about this in my post on Luang Prabang, so for now, I will just admit to having a complete and total meltdown, just short of tears, in the middle of said bridge of death.
Did we mention that the day after the glass door incident was our visit to Angkor Wat?

Most Favorite Moments: 

  • Rich: The four days exploring the Nimman neighborhood in Chiang Mai, Thailand, lounging by the pool in Vang Vieng overlooking the limestone mountains, and our day working at The Workshop Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City.  Oh, also hiking a waterfall in Luang Prabang.  We will blog about these soon!
  • Amanda:  Visiting Angkor Wat .  It was like being on another planet.  I cannot believe such an incredible place exists.  When we first entered Angkor Wat shortly after sunrise, most of the visitors were going straight, and we took a left.  About 100 steps in, and we were all alone, in this huge section of the temple.  It was amazing.  I also loved bicycling to see temples in Chiang Rai and then coming “home” to the hotel to read at the pool.  oh, AND I loved being at a lagoon in Vang Vieng when all of these middle school aged boys got out of school.  Watching them jump out of trees and off bridges into the water was incredible.  I ALMOST FORGOT THE CAT CAFE.  OF COURSE, THE CAT CAFE.

DELTAS:

Looking back on the last thirty days, here are a few things we want to commit to doing moving forward.

  1. Use the 7-11.  Hear me out.  In Europe, we stayed almost exclusively in AirBNB’s with kitchens, and going grocery shopping was a must-do in every new place.  Here in Southeast Asia, it is actually cheaper to buy food out, especially from street vendors or mall food courts, than to cook.  Still, there were many times that we were one or two snacks away from being a little less hangry if we planned ahead better.  We did a good job with this in Chiang Mai, where the “Sev” (as Rich calls it) was on our street, and it made a big difference.
  2. Do more research on the places we are visiting before we get there.  I am going to admit that often I learn a ton about a historical place like Siem Reap when I blog about it after we have already visited.  Several times, people who have vacationed in a place we are visiting have told us that we “HAVE” to get a guide to explore an area, but honestly, that’s just not financially practical on a trip as long as ours.  Still, I want to commit to doing a better job at researching historical sites before rolling out the door so that we don’t miss anything while it is happening.
  3. Schedule our time on a calendar.  At our jobs, Rich and I were both super type-A schedulers with serious calendars.  For better or worse, we have relaxed those tendencies.  There are ways that not being so scheduled allows us to enjoy the moments we are in, but we also can see a pattern of not getting all of the things done that we wanted to do (i.e. blogging, planning, working out) because our “plan” for the day evolves the day of, often after an hour or two in the morning lost to playing on Insta or Twitter.  We both love feeling productive so we want to try to start scheduling out the four or five days we will spend at a place on our calendars on the travel day when we arrive.  We can let you know how it goes.

LOVES:

  1. The confidence gained knowing that we are doing this. Rich and I have been gone for more than 90 days.  We are traveling the world.  We are not by any means perfect at it, but when we run into challenges, like glass doors (too soon?), we are able to keep on keeping on.  Neither had us had ever been to Asia before and now we have both spent more than thirty days in Southeast Asia.  When we first discussed traveling the world for a year, we weren’t quite sure it was possible.  But we are doing it!  That feels great.
  2. All of the support from our friends and family at home.  There are sweet friends who I had fallen out of touch with who because of this trip I am back in touch with as they reach out with kind messages, emails, and likes on pictures.  We both feel like we have a whole big team of cheerleaders, rooting for and encouraging us on our way.  And we have made new friends with other traveling couples through Instagram who provide us tips on places we are going next or even feature us on their blogs.  THANK YOU for all of the support.  It is awesome.
  3. Spending time together. Still.  Even when we melt down on bridges and are hangry.  Having this time to travel, explore, learn, love, and process is an unbelievable gift, and we are having a blast.

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Days 41- 45: Settled in Sardinia

alghero sardinia fort

I write from Hanoi, Vietnam while Rich completes fantasy football draft #2 of three (#priorities), and I am SO EXCITED to have great internet and to update the blog for two reasons: 1.) Sardinia was fantastic, and 2.) my stepdad, blog reader #1, has been slipping not subtle reminders that I am slipping on the blog posting. So here goes!

I almost titled this post “Sardinia: Living Like a Local,” but I’m sure an actual local would find that ridiculous.  What I hope to capture is that of anywhere we have been so far, in Sardinia, we were most able to settle into a routine that included many of our favorite things to do back home: exercising, cooking, reading, not getting on a bus, train, or plane every five minutes, etc.

Day 41: Travel Like Whoa

While Malta and Sardinia are only ~400 miles apart, let’s just say the travel was not the easiest.

Our travel day looked like:

  • Taxi from Sliema to the Malta airport.
  • Flight from Malta to Rome
  • Flight from Rome to Cagliari, Sardinia
  • Two trains from Cagliari to Sassari, Sardinia
  • Bus from Sassari to Alghero, Sardinia

We left our apartment in Malta at about 4:30 AM and arrived to Alghero at about 6:30 PM- whew.

Two things of note:

  1. Malta had an incredible airport lounge.  We checked to see if there was one on a whim when we got to the airport.  There was, and it was bougie and wonderful.  The food in Malta had been really expensive so we looked like maniacs taking advantage of the all-you-can-eat spread.  If you are reading this thinking about ever doing any sort of long term world travel, do not do it without getting a travel card with lounge access (our favorite is the Chase Saphire Reserve).

    Malta lounge food
    Breakfast in the Airport Lounge in Malta
  2. When we walked from the train station to the bus stop in Sassari, an Italian woman Rich’s grandfather’s age (89) on a third floor balcony started waving to Rich like he was Brad Pitt.  I thought she was going to come over the balcony.  I obviously think that my husband is attractive, but it was clear that this lady believed him to be the MOST attractive. Rich was smiling for hours after.

We got to Alghero, got checked in, and ate INCREDIBLE, cheap foccacia sandwiches at Bar Focacceria Milese nearby.

foccacia in sardinia
Rich’s foccacia sandwich. Mine had eggs, tuna, sardines, and lemon on it and was insane.
Our AirBNB

I have had really positive things to say about our AirBNB’s so far, and well, this might be a “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” situation.  I’ll say a little something though.

What was nice: the location as we were right on the bastions in the old town, near the water.  The view out our window was unreal.

AirBNB view in Sardinia
Rich took this picture from our window.

Less nice: no air conditioning, no WiFi, VERY limited cell phone service period, and the place was JUNKY. Imagine a twenty four year old dude’s apartment but the dude doesn’t throw anything away for twenty years.  Oh yeah, and the toilet tank leaked at least a liter of water every time you flushed.

junky airbnb in sardinia
J-U-N-K-Y

Checking in was also incredible: Our host couldn’t meet us so he sent his dad, who spoke zero English, to check us in.  As part of the check-in, he wanted Rich to make sure he could work the key.

So pops and I are in the apartment, Rich closes the door on the outside, the door locks, and then…Rich can’t get the door unlocked.  Rich is sweating, the man is yelling directions in Italian, you can’t unlock the door from the inside without the key so I’m stuck in the apartment with the host’s dad trying to translate which way he should be turning the key.  After about 4 minutes of stress, Rich figured out that while the man was showing me that Rich should be turning the key left which was what I was yelling through the door, in fact, you needed to turn the key right.  The door opened!  Let’s just say one of us found it infinitely funnier than the other.

Dayss 42 and 43: Enjoying Alghero, Sardinia

About Sardinia

Sardinia is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and is located south of Corsica.  Sardinia is part of Italy– sometimes it felt very Italian to us, and sometimes it felt really different from the parts of Italy we had visited before (Rome, Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, and Venice).

Life expectancy in Sardinia is 82 years, and Sardinia ties with Okinawa, Japan for the highest rate of centenarians (>100 years old) in the world at 22 centenarians/100,000 inhabitants.   The birth rate is really low (1.087 births/woman), and here’s how these statistics play out: you have the proudest looking grandmothers and great grandmothers I have ever seen.  Babies in carriages are gold– the babies are dressed up, the grandmothers are dressed up, and they parade around for everyone to ooh and aah over these fabulous, plump children.  The women literally glow with pride.

Day 42 in Alghero

Rich and I chose to stay in Alghero because its central location allowed for easy day trips around the island, and Alghero had a lot to offer as well.  Imagine a beach town (think Wildwood or Ocean City on the Jersey shore) that also has a medieval, walled old town in the middle.  You have rides and a boardwalk type atmosphere, a long beach, and then a bustling Italian square.

We slept in until about 9:30 AM to recover from our busy travel the day before and then ran two miles along the beach.  It was really hot and, not for the first time on the trip, people looked at us like we were crazy for running.  Then, we decided to do an Aaptive workout by a fountain in a park (imagine push ups, jumping jacks, lunges, etc.), and the curious looks increased exponentially.  We assumed the Italians didn’t work out.

running in sardinia
Post-run Rich. It was HOT.  THe is covered in sweat, not fountain water.

We got home, ate some cereal (yes, it was chocolate), and headed to the beach.  Rich and I spent several lazy hours there, and then ate our seccond foccacia sandwich at Bar Milese in 24 hours.  After that, we went home, showered, read, explored the town a bit, then I cooked pasta for dinner.  A solid day!

beach sardinia
Headed to the beach!
The DaVinci Code was left behind in the junky apartment. I had read it years ago but it made for a great beach read for Rich.
sunset in sardinia
Sunset views near our apartment
sunset in sardinia
Amanda at sunset
old town alghero, sardinia
Exploring Old Town
streets in alghero, sardinia
The streets of Alghero
alghero sardinia fort
Rich at a fort in Alghero near our apartment
dinner in sardinia
Dinner! Ravioli with homemade pesto and tomatoes with balsalmic and mozarella
Day 43: Wash, Rinse, Repeat

So Day 43 was almost an exact replica of Day 42- run, beach, reading, home cooked pasta with eggplant eaten in.  The repetition may sound boring but remember that at this point we have been traveling for over forty days: routine was just what the doctor ordered.

beach in sardinia
More beach in Alghero. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime was also really good. Although it is a novel, it should be required reading for anyone who works with children and adults with Asperger’s.
pasta in Alghero
Eating in again– pasta with eggplant, basil, and homemade bread crumbs (if I learned anything from Blue Apron, it’s to toast the breadcrumbs).

One quick note: we did wake up earlier- closer to 8 AM- and when we went out a few minutes later to run, there were runners everywhere.  We thought Italians didn’t work out, but in fact, Italians just didn’t work out at 10:00 AM!  They were smart enough to get it in early before the heat became unbearable.

Running in Sardinia
Rich running. I am always at least this far behind.
working out in Sardinia
Post-workout selfie

Day 44: Daytrip to Stintino, Sardinia

The beach in Alghero was nice enough so I wasn’t exactly sure why we would take an hour long bus ride to go to a different beach…until we got to Stintino. WOW.  I have never seen more incredible water in my life.  After being at beaches in Croatia, Crete, and Malta, this beach wins.  It was our hands-down favorite.

stintino, sardinia
Sexy Stintino!
Beach life in Stintino
stintino, sardinia beach
We have arrived.
blue water in sardinia
No filter. The water is this clear and blue. It was amazing.
selfie in sardinia
Leaving Stintino after a happy day.

More reading, more sun, more beach, more water, more heaven.

Day 45: Daytrip to Bosa, Sardinia

On our last full day in Sardinia, we took one more bus ride to Bosa.  Bosa is a beautiful town with brightly colored houses with a large castle/fort that overlooks the city.

bosa, sardinia blue house
All of the houses are really this colorful.
bright house in sardinia
Rich with a brightly colored house

yellow house in Sardinia
Yellow! 

We got up and went for an early run, grabbed a cappuchino in Alghero, then hopped on an 11:00 AM bus for Bosa.  We got there at about 12:30 in time to hike up to the castle/fort, walk around the colorful houses, and then eat lunch.

For lunch, we stumbled upon this hipster fish foodtruck garden place– it would have been cool anywhere and was that much cooler because we were halfway around the world.  We ordered two super cold beers and a basket of fried seafood.

Too cute.
Are we at a pop up in Philly?
beer in sardinia
Yes to the coldest beer on a hot day.

A note on the fried seafood: All of the little fishies still had bones.  While we aspire to Anthony Bourdain levels of travel coolness, I’m going to go ahead and freely admit that we are not there.  We devoured the calamari and clams and then tiptoed around the sardines and the anchovies a bit.

fried seafood in sardinia
Amazing homemade chips with fried fish

After our beer and our late lunch, we were ready to hop back on the bus to Alghero.  Let’s just say that while bus travel in Crete was phenomenal, we found bus travel in Italy to be, umm, confusing.

The bus schedule posted online did not correspond to the bus schedule posted at the bus stop and then the time posted at the stop came and went with no bus.  We ended up waiting at the bus stop for about an hour and a half, but let’s just say things got a bit dicey because we had zero certainty on how long we would wait in total.

Maybe taking pictures when things are tense isn’t the best strategy…

Guess who has the better attitude about waiting for the bus?
So. Over. It.

We made it back to Alghero and elected to eat dinner out.  We went to a trendy wine bar and had a plate of meat and cheeses along with two glasses of sangria.  While the bar was super hip, it was also super not air conditioned.  I’m assuming there are no pictures from this night because all we would have captured was a big puddle of sweat!

sixers jersey in sardinia
Meanwhile, back in Alghero: two Italian kids: one with a Boston jersey and one wearing a SIXERS jersey. Trust the Process.

Final Thoughts on Sardinia

While our accomodations in Sardinia were pretty terrible, in every other way, this was one of the most relaxing stretches of our trip.  The people could not have been any friendlier, and several times, actual Italians stopped us- us! American Rich and Amanda!- to ask us for directions because they thought we were Italian.  If you have never been to Italy, see Rome and Tuscany and Cinque Terre first.  If you have been to Italy before and want an Italian experience with a twist, we really had a nice time in Sardinia too.

Pretty Sardinia!
Addendum: Reading in Sardinia

Getting a cell phone to work in our apartment was next to impossible- we posted Instagram photos from the same park bench in town each night- and we had a lot of beach time so I was able to read a TON in Sardinia.  I have done the very worst job of posting about books I have read but wanted to name the ones I was able to knock out over a few short days internet free in Sardinia:

  1. The Shore by Sara Taylor
  2. The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop
  3. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
  4. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
  5. Revival by Stephen King

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine was phenomenal.  I laughed, I cried three times, and I devoured this novel in less than 24 hours.  Revival was the first Stephen King I have ever read– it was left behind in the junky AirBNB– and while it was okay, I’m not sure Stephen King is my jam.  Feel free to tell me in the comments if there’s a different Stephen King I should consider giving a chance.  The other three novels were really solid too, especially since The Shore and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime were also books left behind in places we stayed (read: free).

But takeaway: add Eleanor Oliphant to your reading lists.  So good.

Does it get better than reading in a beach town with an espresso?

 

 

 

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Book #2: Exit West: A Novel

Connecting Pachinko, a family saga of Korean migrants in Japan, to travel in Iceland was a bit of a reach.  Linking Exit West: A Novel , the second read of this trip, to our travels is no challenge at all.

Exit West: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid opens in a fictional war-torn country and follows the arc of the romantic relationship between the two main characters, Nadia and Saeed.  As intense fighting breaks out in their city, Nadia and Saeed clearly cannot stay and so they look to magical doors, popping up all over the world, to transport them away together.

This is a story of human migration, and Hamid helps his readers understand what it is to try to start again in lands that do not want you.  His prose is clear, and at the same time, lyrical.  I re-read The English Patient way too many times in high school (weirdly without ever watching the movie), and Hamid’s beautiful, poetic language, which refuses to look away from destruction and loss, made me think of The English Patient throughout the course of this read.

I will avoid delving into American politics, but this is a book that shows deep empathy to the plight of a refugee.  Rich and I are the most willing of travellers– we carefully and excitedly craft our route, we have loving families to whom we can return back at home, and our American passports act like our own personal magic doors taking us wherever we desire and back again. Businesses welcome us almost anywhere we go because we have money to spend.

And yet, there are still challenges.  It’s cold; it rains; we get ripped off in the Market on up-charges with our lunch.  Sometimes we are tired and cannot find a bathroom. We are sure the locals are laughing at us and our Rainbow flip flops.

I cannot imagine fleeing home in order to survive, only to be met with disgust.  The trauma!  The toxic stress!  How can humanity be both so resilient and so cruel?  (See: Our visit to the Dohany Street Synagogue and Memorial Gardens.)

This novel is absolutely of this historical moment.  It belongs on the “woke” book club list (Looking at you, SDP Office of Talent).  Read it.

Finished Exit West in Budapest (Shown at the Szechenyi Bath House)
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