Timeline

August 26 – Wednesday – Dallas

August 26, 2015

Eric’s mom Marti dropped us off at DFW around 7am. We flew to Chicago, had a short layover where we had just enough time to eat and get on the Dreamliner that took us on to Tokyo. We arrived in Tokyo about 4:30pm the next day

August 27 – Thursday – Tokyo

August 27, 2015

We arrived about 4:30pm, flight went smoothly and was just over ½ full which made things more comfortable on my bruised tailbone. We ignored advise and didn’t get cash or sim cards in the airport instead we rushed to figure out how to find the right train and started our…

August 28 – Friday – Tokyo

August 28, 2015

Woke up early from jetlag and went to the fish market. Had sushi at the market for breakfast then walked around town and noticed all the men walking to work all wore white button up shirts and black pants. Shibuya crossing was the next thing we saw with a million…

August 29, 2015 – Saturday – Tokyo

August 29, 2015

We found meat! Went to an area known for meat on a stick, didn’t find it on a stick but did find some delicious chicken, calamari and asparagus.

August 30 – Sunday – Tokyo

August 30, 2015

Mini statue of liberty, mall arcade, car museum. We found out our hostel had a kitchen and made Lamb shoulder and garlic broccoli for dinner. It was delicious!

August 31 – Monday – Tokyo

August 31, 2015

Walked to a timple, had a super touristy lunch and then walked to the sky bridge, great views. Walked home from the sky bridge. The Robot Show was all tourists but a fun, weird, overwhelming mess.

September 1 – Tuesday – Tokyo

September 1, 2015

Roppongi in the evening, it’s supposed to be a big nightlife place. Found a place for dinner and had something called mizutaki which is a chicken broth hot pot, they brought a hot plate to our table and we cooked our dinner ourselves. It was delicious but made my tummy…

September 2 – Wednesday – Tokyo

September 2, 2015

Nature & Science Museum & Zoo

September 3 – Thursday – Tokyo/Osaka

September 3, 2015

Checked out at 10am, took the bullet train to Osaka. Walked to the apartment and stayed in for most of the day except for a couple food outings. Went to look for food in the rain and ended up at a Takoyaki place, I call them yucky (tokoYUCKY lol) balls…

September 4 – Friday – Osaka

September 4, 2015

Aquarium day! We headed out for lunch at an Australians restaurant Kua, we got pizza and fries and were not disappointed with our more American meal. The owner Paul was amazing and between him his sister and another guy we go SO many tips on SE Asia and Australia. Much…

September 5 – Saturday – Osaka

September 5, 2015

Went to Dontonbori for lunch, found a fantastic restaurant that cooked kind of hibachi style behind a glass. We walked around the shops and then headed back to the apartment to rest. Eric ended up with travelers tummy and we stayed in the rest of the day.

September 6 – Sunday – Osaka

September 6, 2015

The day we killed the internet. We stayed home and streamed to much and we hit our internet max. We did make it out to dinner, I had some awesome seafood thing and Eric had 5 different types of sausages and a corn side dish.

September 7 – Monday – Osaka

September 7, 2015

Dontonbori at night. Dinner at a hibachi type table, not our favorite food but Eric’s meat and our potato side was okay, my pasta was just ok. Met Fernando at an Irish pub.

September 8 – Tuesday – Osaka

September 8, 2015

Universal Studios and dinner at our “favorite” restaurant next to the 1st apartment we stayed at.

September 9 – Wednesday – Kobe

September 9, 2015

Trained to Kobe after nan pizzas for lunch. Went to Harbor Land, China town Meriken Part & earthquake remains. Kobe Steaks for dinner!!

September 10 – Thursday – Osaka

September 10, 2015

Switched Airbnb’s. Lunch in Dontonbori at a sushi train place. Spent a few hours at Starbucks to use their free wifi until our place was ready to check in.

September 11, 2015 – Friday – Japan, Osaka

September 11, 2015

Store for lunch and dinner. We caught up on work and internetting.

September 12 – Saturday – Osaka

September 12, 2015

Store for some lunch and dinner (Spaghetti & sausage with garlic toast). Pub Crawl!!!

September 13, 2015 – Sunday – Japan, Osaka

September 13, 2015

Ashley was hungover ALL day. Eric went to the store and made burgers for lunch & back to the store to get something for dinner.

September 14, 2015 – Monday – Japan, Kobe

September 14, 2015

Made lunch with what we had and went to Kobe. Took the ropeway up Mt. Maya to see the Herb Gardens and Nunokibi Falls. Ate dinner in Chinatown.

September 15, 2015 – Tuesday – Japan, Osaka

September 15, 2015

Switched AirBnb’s. Lunch was ramen (Eric’s favorite) that seemed to have a chunk of roast or something in it. Dinner in the Tsūtenkaku Tower area which is famous for tempura.

September 16, 2015 – Wednesday – Japan, Osaka

September 16, 2015

Osaka Castle & dinner in the Dontonbori area where we tired alligator tongue. Lost and found the camera case & memory card that was left at our pizza place from lunch.

September 17 – Thursday

September 17, 2015

Stayed in rested and booked the rest of our Osaka accommodation.

September 18, 2015 – Friday – Japan, Nara

September 18, 2015

Day trip to Nara. Udon noodles for lunch, Eric didn’t like his curry beef udon. There are deer everywhere; you buy biscuits to feed them. They are aggressive, they bite, and head butt and chase you around for the food. Apart from the deer we saw the Todaiji Temple which…

September 19 – Saturday

September 19, 2015

Arashiyama & Kyoto – Took a train to Arashiyama to see the bamboo forests the town was small and had a lot of interesting trinket shops and candy. Found a small shop called Jerry’s Pies and stopped for a meet & onion pie for Eric and a strawberry & custard…

September 20, 2015 – Sunday – Japan, Osaka

September 20, 2015

We checked out of our 3rd airbnb and waked to the Tsūtenkaku Tower to meet our cooking class OsakaEats. We made Yakitori, Noodles & Chopstick Oknomiyaki (which is traditionally not on a stick). From there we bought a partially hand crafted knife from Tower Knives Osaka, Joe (an American) helped…

September 21, 2015 – Monday – Japan, Osaka

September 21, 2015

left 4th airbnb hung out at our usual Starbucks. Checked into our 5th airbnb & got dinner from the grocery store.

September 22 – Tuesday – Osaka

September 22, 2015

Our last day in Japan. We grabbed some food from the store to make for lunch and knocked out some work. In the evening we went to the BIC Camera store one last time to buy me a new screen protector because guess what, I dropped and shattered the screen…

September 23 – Wednesday – Seoul

September 23, 2015

Everything was planned and timed, except missing our connecting train that is. We almost didn’t make our flight to South Korea. We made it by minutes and hopped on a 1/2 full plane to Seoul, South Korea. Grabbed a SIM card in the airport and headed to town. We stopped…

September 24 – Thursday – Seoul

September 24, 2015

Our 1st full day in Seoul. Eric and I set out to Gyeongbokgung Palace, the colors on the ceilings were beautifully painted. Across the street from the market was a set of white tents selling some local food and things. We went to dinner with Eric’s friend from Norman Chris…

September 25 – Friday – Seoul

September 25, 2015

Chris and Melissa are so nice to host us at their house displacing their oldest son to the couch (Thank you so much for letting us use your room Austin!!) We got to ride through the crazy streets of Seoul going to IPark for lunch, it sounds like a parking garage…

September 26, 2015 – Saturday – South Korea, Seoul

September 26, 2015

Homemade food!! Melissa and Chris made us pancakes and bacon for brunch and a local dish Bulgogi for dinner, it was delicious!! We went to a 4D movie, Mazerunner 2 and it was like being at a theme park. The seats move and the chair hits you in the back…

September 27 – Sunday – Seoul

September 27, 2015

Everland day! Everland is the biggest theme park in Korea and we spent the day there. It was Chuseok, a national holiday in Korea like their Thanksgiving so the park wasn’t full and the drive was extremely easy because everyone was out of town. Some great crockpot roast for dinner.

September 28, 2015 – Monday – South Korea, Seoul

September 28, 2015

Today we saw Seoul Tower and the love locks (similar to the bridge that used to be in Paris). Dinner was across the street at a local fried chicken place. They don’t divide the chicken the same as in the states but it was just as or more delicious.

September 29, 2015 – Tuesday – South Korea, Seoul

September 29, 2015

We took a sick day. Eric is having trouble with allergies we think and we needed to take a day to relax and decompress. Catching up on work, doing research on new places and watching a little TV.

September 30 – Wednesday – Seoul

September 30, 2015

We tried to visit the war museum today, we saw all the planes, tanks and boats outside on display but the museum was closed sadly. In the evening I went with Melissa to play bunco with some women on base. I’m hooked, it was so fun and easy to learn…

October 1 – Thursday – Seoul

October 1, 2015

Exploring Day!! Eric was finally up to getting out and exploring but of course it was raining… We were pointed towards the Express Bus Terminal Area (I think) and found a huge food court of sorts. We wondered around to see our options before we picked a bbq type place…

October 2 – Friday – Seoul

October 2, 2015

North Korea! We went to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) between North and South Korea. We were able to go into the 3rd tunnel (North Korea dug several tunnels when they invaded starting the Korean War and it was the 3rd tunnel South Korea found) which is so short my 5’3″…

October 3 – Saturday – Seoul/Beijing

October 3, 2015

Another 4:30 AM wake up to catch a flight. China has been a little bit intimidating so far. 1st we couldn’t find a prepaid sim card at the airport but thanks to my planning we had directions. We easily found the airport express train but quickly learned their are no rules…

October 4 – Sunday – Beijing

October 4, 2015

Catch up day. We were big lazy bums and spent the day in the bar/restaurant on the 1st floor of our hostel (hey at least we left our room). Breakfast, lunch and dinner for Eric and lunch and dinner for me were had by the both of us in the…

October 5 – Monday – Beijing

October 5, 2015

The Great Wall… more like The Great Hike! We took a tour from our hostel to the Great Wall of China this morning and it was pretty amazing. We went to a slightly less touristy area however we accidentally wen’t during a holiday so it was still a little congested….

October 6 – Tuesday – Beijing

October 6, 2015

After our long and and exhausting day Monday we took it pretty east staying at the hostel today. We did venture out that evening with our new friends to do more of a night tour we didn’t finish. We started with dinner this time and went to a place near our…

October 7 – Wednesday – Beijing

October 7, 2015

Surprise surprise we went back to that great close and super cheap place for lunch today. Made another new friend from Australia at the hostel and headed to Wangfujing Snack Street with him and Liels (I hope I’m spelling her name right!). This isn’t an ordinary street market we tried…

October 8 – Thursday – Beijing China

October 8, 2015

The Forbidden City; well it’s pretty much yet another temple. We went back to Tinanmen Square during the day, to get into the Forbidden City, it is supposed to be the 4th biggest square in the world. After, wondered around the area stopping at a restaurant for a snack of peking…

October 9 – Friday – China, Beijing

October 9, 2015

Another day of rest. We booked and planned in a booth at the hostel restaurant all day. We are more tired at this point than I thought we would be. We spent the evening watching movies on our laptops and being blissfully anti-social.

October 10 – Saturday – Beijing

October 10, 2015

798 Art Zone, way better than another shrine or temple for us. We took a chance on the recommendation of a friend we made and were not let down. The area was huge and we wondered around most of the day in and out of galleries and there was also…

October 11 – Sunday – Beijing/Xi’an

October 11, 2015

Today is our last in Beijing and we headed out to a place near our hostel for lunch where you cook your food at your table. We had several different kinds of meat all of which I had no idea what they were but Eric sure enjoyed himself. After lunch we…

October 12 – Monday – Xi’an

October 12, 2015

We’ve arrived in Xi’an via a “soft bed” sleeper train (soft bed means there are 4 people/room and you have a door you can close and lock). A girl from our hostel met us at the station holding a card with our name, she was so small though we missed…

October 13 – Tuesday – Xi’an

October 13, 2015

Bright and early we took a tour through our hostel to see the Terracotta Warriors. They were well worth the trip farther into China to see and the sleeper trains to get there. We had a great time with the others on the tour and enjoyed a lunch with a…

October 14 – Wednesday – Shanghai

October 14, 2015

We took a couple of PM’s and actually slept pretty well on our “hard bed” sleeper train. Found our way to our hostel easily and then ventured out for a late lunch to a dumpling place just around the corner recommended by the hostel. We realized fast that Shanghai is not…

October 15 – Thursday – Shanghai China

October 15, 2015

Today we went to The Bund area which is were everyone takes photo’s of Shanghai’s famous skyline. The World Financial Tower (bottle opener building) and the Oriental Pearl Tower (the one with the round part) are the two most known and the Shanghai Tower, which is still under construction, is…

October 16 – Friday – Shanghai China

October 16, 2015

Today we walked to the beautiful People’s Park and wondered around. Old men playing cards and other games, people taking naps in the shade, it was really well maintained and very beautiful. There is one section that grandparents meet on Saturday mornings and try and play matchmaker with their grandchildren….

October 17 – Saturday – Shanghai China

October 17, 2015

I will call this day our American day. We found a deli called Tock’s for lunch that was from Montreal but was filled with Americans, we sat down next to a couple of guys one of which happened to be from Denver, small world right. They worked for Apple and…

October 18 – Sunday – Shanghai China

October 18, 2015

Moving around so much is hard and today I have a sore throat, maybe from the smog, maybe I’m fighting something off I’m not sure. I do know however, that I don’t want to do anything today and I pretty much accomplished that. We had to go out for lunch…

October 19 – Monday – Shanghai

October 19, 2015

Eric accidentally stepped into a puddle he got so excited when I said “Hey there’s an Outback somewhere around here”. So you may have guessed we had lunch at Outback Steakhouse and we are not ashamed, it was delicious! You can only eat so many dumplings. We were headed to…

October 20 – Tuesday – Shanghai

October 20, 2015

A chain that was good enough to be written about in the NY Times, Din Tai Fung is where we went for lunch. The steamed pork buns were pretty amazing! We wondered around a super trendy area with all the high end stores and got all excited when we found…

October 21 – Wednesday – Shanghai China/Hong Kong

October 21, 2015

Did anyone know that Hong Kong is an international flight even from within China?! We took the Maglev train, it got up to 443 km/h (267mi/hr) it’s a Magnetic Levitation Train, I was impressed and it was the fastest way to the airport, double win. So from Shanghai to Hong Kong…

October 22 – Thursday – Hong Kong

October 22, 2015

Since our room in Hong Kong is so small had has no desk or chair Eric found a Starbucks to work from and started early Thursday morning. We found a place for lunch that was on the cheaper side and enjoyed sitting outside, the weather is mid 80’s and just…

October 23 – Friday – Hong Kong

October 23, 2015

We spent the morning working at Starbucks and then headed to Rocco’s Pizza next door for lunch. We went back to our room and worked/planned for a while in the afternoon. Eric’s friend Jimmy just happens to be in town for work and we meet up with him for dinner…

October 24 – Saturday – Hong Kong

October 24, 2015

It’s a ,boys stuff, day today and we meet back up with Jimmy and head towards a hobby area of town. Jimmy and Eric are big on quad copters and RC planes and apparently they get a lot of there parts from this area when they order them online. I…

October 25 – Sunday – Hong Kong

October 25, 2015

Why are we so tired?! Oh right it’s probably because we are living out of suit cases and don’t have a real home. So today we were lazy, we slept in and didn’t get to far outside our room. We need more of these than I was hoping but maybe…

October 26 – Monday – Hong Kong

October 26, 2015

Day 62 of our trip, it’s been 2 months and Eric and I have been together almost all day every single day. So today we take a day to explore on our own and we ended up seeing a lot of the same things lol. I started out trying to…

October 27 – Tuesday – Hong Kong/Macau

October 27, 2015

Macau China, another SAR (Special Administrative Region) like Hong Kong, that doesn’t have to live to mainland China’s strict rules is known as China’s, Las Vegas. They have ton’s of casinos and many of them are actually based off of the ones in Vegas. Eric and I took a ferry…

October 28 – Wednesday – Hong Kong

October 28, 2015

The Big Buddha. You’ve most likely seen pictures of it at some point and it seems like a major attraction however it was only built in 1993 so compared to most of China’s other amazing things to see this is a Buddha is a baby. Honestly the best part of…

October 29 – Thursday – Hong Kong

October 29, 2015

We tried to be cheap and healthy and find a grocery store (even thought we don’t have a kitchen) but we settled on a slice of pizza each and a shared salad for lunch. The laundry fairies smiled down on us today, we dropped off all our clothes at maybe 1:30…

October 30 – Friday – Hong Kong

October 30, 2015

Dragon’s Back Trail = pleasant surprise. A friend recommended this trail to us but we didn’t seem to have very high hopes for it, boy were we wrong. It wasn’t only the great views and the super soft and beautiful sandy beach at the end but just getting out and…

October 31 – Saturday – Hong Kong

October 31, 2015

So at the moment I can’t remember what I we did in the morning but Halloween evening we strolled by the river for the light show (they have a laser and light show from some of the buildings near the river every night) and took the ferry across to catch…

November 1, 2015 – Sunday – Hong Kong

November 1, 2015

Lunch at a local place we’d had before, we both got the sweet and sour chicken and then we wondered around the city. We wondered into a park and out of the park for a bit and saw so many people and families enjoying lazy Sundays. We wondered a bit farther…

November 2, 2015 – Monday – Hong Kong

November 2, 2015

It’s finally time to go to Fiji! We didn’t have to check out of our hostel until noon so we took advantage of that and got some stuff done before we headed out. We decided to have lunch at a place we’d been before called Rocco’s, it was right next…

November 3 – Tuesday – Fiji, Nadi

November 3, 2015

We landed in Fiji and we greeted by a group of guys singing to us as we got off the plane. We grabbed SIM cards and found our transfer to Smugglers Cove, our hostel for the night. We had lunch overlooking the beach at the hostel and headed into town…

November 4 – Wednesday – Fiji, Nadi/Blue Lagoon

November 4, 2015

With a 5 hour time difference between Hong Kong and Fiji we woke up with morning at about 3:30am…. Eric got some work done and I got ready for our boat transfer to Blue Lagoon Resort. We took a big yellow catamaran 4.5 hours to our next destination and stupidly…

November 5, 2015 – Thursday – Fiji, Blue Lagoon

November 5, 2015

Oh jet lag I wish you’d stop following us. We woke up early again (Eric said about 5:30 and I at 6am) and settled into a hammock until breakfast was served. The breakfast here at the Blue Lagoon Resort is pretty great and included in the per day food charge…

November 6 – Friday – Fiji, Blue Lagoon

November 6, 2015

The movie Blue Lagoon with Brook Shields, we went on a cave tour today that was featured in that movie, something about the rock she sat on. We took a boat to another island where we walked down some stairs and jumped into some water inside a cave, the guides…

November 7, 2015 – Saturday – Fiji, Blue Lagoon

November 7, 2015

Eric, Nikki (the American/Aussie), Liz & Chris (the English couple) all went on the shark dive again, apparently they were all a bit nervous the 1st time and it was such a big group they didn’t see much. The 2nd dive was much better for all it seemed and from…

November 8 – Sunday – Fiji, Blue Lagoon/Mantaray

November 8, 2015

Transfer day, we leave Blue Lagoon Resort today and head to Mantaray Island Resort. We’ve been told this new resort isn’t quite as nice as the last but they have good snorkeling. We ate breakfast and checked out of our rooms after then spent the rest of the morning snorkeling…

November 9 – Monday – Fiji, Mantaray

November 9, 2015

We did the guided snorkeling this morning after breakfast, 2 different spots and both were better than at the last resort, we saw so many fish and a shark (I only had a mild heart attack). The rest of the day was spent lounging, reading and taking in the sun….

November 10 – Tuesday – Fiji, Mantaray

November 10, 2015

I’m sorry I don’t have more to report but this whole Fiji experience has been like a vacation from our trip. We don’t do much other than snorkel and eat and maybe an excursion now and then. Today we snorkeled and saw another shark on the reef outside the resort,…

November 11 – Wednesday – Fiji, Mantaray

November 11, 2015

Eric did a 2 tank dive this morning one of which he explored some caves. We snorkeled in the afternoon and tried to take the sunset tube cruise but the weather didn’t cooperate. We enjoyed dinner with some Italian guys and played a few games with everyone at the resort…

November 12 – Thursday – Fiji, Mantaray/Sigatoka

November 12, 2015

It’s moving day again. We sadly check out of our little hut and spend the morning catching up on things I weaved a fan :). Our transfer was late but that was okay because we got to soak up the beach just a little more. The transfer boat was pretty…

November 13 – Friday – Fiji, Sigatoka

November 13, 2015

We decide to explore a bit and walked down the beach to find another bigger hotel, we browsed through a couple of their stores and wondered around their pool before finding our way back towards our own hotel. On the way back we stopped in at a place that does…

November 14 – Saturday – Fiji, Sigatoka

November 14, 2015

Did Eric do a 3rd shark dive today, why yes, yes he did. At least there are more and bigger sharks on this dive and he did love it but my goodness this boy is starting to have an obsession. While he was diving I found a lounge chair next…

November 15 – Sunday – Fiji, Sigatoka

November 15, 2015

On Sunday we watched football, kindof. Both OSU and OU were playing (we are a day ahead in Fiji) and we were able to watch all the updates and everything from the ESPN website while on the patio. There isn’t much open today so we took it pretty easy and…

November 16 – Monday – Fiji, Sigatoka

November 16, 2015

Today we went rafting on the upper Navua River with Rivers Fiji, it was beautiful. We had a group of 8 so 4 in each raft plus a guide. Moses was our guide and he has been with the company for over 18 years, since it started. Our trip took…

November 17, 2015 – Tuesday – Fiji, Sigatoka/Nadi

November 17, 2015

Our last day in Fiji, sad. We finished Fiji on a high note with a cruise to a private island and snorkeling with Ohlala. The tour picked us up from our hotel and because we would be going back to Nadi after the cruise we packed up and checked out. The…

November 18, 2015 – Wednesday – Australia, Cairns

November 18, 2015

This trip is flying by! Today we leave Fiji for Australia and there are mixed emotions, we are very excited to explore Australia and be an a native english speaking country but we are so sad to leave Fiji. The people in Fiji are the most sincerely nice people I’ve…

November 19, 2015 – Thursday – Australia, Cairns

November 19, 2015

Exploring Cairns, we grabbed some pre-made salads and a sandwich to split and walked to the lagoon which is a big pretty public swimming pool they have because the beach in town isn’t exactly desirable. We enjoyed our lunch at a picnic table and people watched for a bit followed…

November 20, 2015 – Friday – Australia, Cairns

November 20, 2015

The first run of our trip, we laced up our running shoes and hit the boardwalk we’d been down a few days earlier. We were happily surprised by our runs, I ran a mile and 1/2 out of the 3 miles and Eric ran the entire time. Walking so much…

November 21, 2015 – Saturday – Australia, Cairns

November 21, 2015

Great Berrier Reef day. We booked an indro dive for me and a 3 tank dive for Eric with Tusa Dive out of Cairns. We walked to the boat and I was sent to the intro divers area and E sent out of the way because he’s already certified. I did my…

November 22, 2015 – Sunday – Australia, Cairns/Port Douglas

November 22, 2015

Check out by 10 am and a bus to Port Douglas at 11 we had a slow morning of packing and relaxing before our pickup. We were the only ones in the van for the drive and our driver a really nice guy and had some great tips for us…

November 23, 2015 – Monday – Australia, Port Douglas

November 23, 2015

On our first full day in Port Douglas we went to the Daintree Rain forest ( he oldest continuously living rain forest in the world, dating over 135 million years) with Tony’s Tropical Tours. We did tour B and were picked up from our hostel at 7:15 in the morning to start…

November 24, 2015 – Tuesday – Australia, Port Douglas

November 24, 2015

A walk into town for lunch and then down to the 4 mile beach was how we spent this incredibly hot and humid day. The beach was pretty but it’s stinger season so you aren’t supposed to swim anywhere but this little section they have netted off. We spent the afternoon…

November 25, 2015 – Wednesday – Australia, Port Douglas

November 25, 2015

Today was pretty slow, we grabbed some Chinese for lunch from a place close by. We are finding that food and alcohol here are just so stinking expensive. We wondered around the town a bit and stopped in at a restaurant on the water that feeds a big Groper named…

November 26, 2015 – Thursday – Australia, Port Douglas

November 26, 2015

It’s Thanksgiving! It does not feel like thanksgiving. It’s hot and extremely humid in this adorable little town of Port Douglas we’ve settled into for now. Since Thanksgiving is an american holiday obviously no one is in the spirit and it just feels like another day. Eric had a phone call…

November 27, 2015 – Friday – Australia, Port Douglas

November 27, 2015

Eric’s 32nd Birthday! We celebrated Eric today by sleeping in, going out for a nicer lunch and for a nice dinner. We had a great relaxed day and I think he’s going to like 32 🙂

November 28, 2015 – Saturday – Australia,

November 28, 2015

The day after Eric’s birthday I’m pretty sure all we did was sit by the pool 🙂

November 29, 2015 – Sunday – Australia, Port Douglas

November 29, 2015

We manage to make it to town to the grocery store and grabbed some stuff for lunch and dinner to make at the hostel. A pre-made roasted chicken and pane pasta in Alfredo sauce and for dinner pretty much the same thing with a salad. We sadly booked our next hostel…

November 30, 2015 – Monday – Australia, Port Douglas/Cairns

November 30, 2015

We said goodbye to our friends in Port Douglas and jumped into a transfer back to Cairns where we would start our journey down Australia’s East coast via Greyhound Australia. We booked a different hostel than we originally stayed at, Calypso Backpakers. We checked in, paid for our room and dropped…

December 1, 2015 – Tuesday – Australia, Airlie Beach

December 1, 2015

Our first bus ride was pretty successful. We got on at 1 am from Port Douglas, got the last 2 seats together and quickly put our ear plugs in and our eye masks on and did our best to get some sleep. Our pillows and my scarf were huge helpers…

December 2, 2015 – Wednesday – Australia, Airlie Beach

December 2, 2015

For lunch we had our hearts set on a place we’d walked by yesterday but was closed and was also #1 on TripAdvisor, Little Vegas Burger & Bar. Turns out they didn’t open until noon and it was only 11:20 so we decided to waste some time at the lagoon area…

December 3, 2015 – Thursday – Australia, Airlie Beach

December 3, 2015

Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday Islands is supposed to be the #1 most beautiful beach in Australia and I believe it. Eric and I took a cruise to a couple different islands and as we wouldn’t recommend the company we absolutely loved our stops. Whitehaven beach was our first stop…

December 4, 2015 – Friday – Australia, Airlie Beach

December 4, 2015

Our last day in Airlie beach. The Airbnb owners were extremely nice and let us hang around after we checked out to catch up on some work. We went to the grocery and grabbed stuff for lunch and got back to work. On our way to catch our bus out of…

December 5, 2015 – Saturday – Australia, Hervey Bay

December 5, 2015

Our 1st full nights sleep on a bus wasn’t to bad. We pulled into our stop at Hervey bay around 8 am and a guy from our hostel (The Friendly Hostel) picked us up after a quick phone call. We checked into our double room with a shared bathroom and…

December 6, 2015 – Sunday – Australia, Fraser Island

December 6, 2015

Fraser Explorer Day Tour ex-Hervey Bay Today we took a day tour of Fraser Island, the largest sand Island in the world. We did a 1 day tour as apposed to camping or doing a 2 or 3 day tour which are all very popular. We picked Fraser Explorer Tours and…

December 7, 2015 – Monday – Australia, Hervey Bay/Surfers Paradise

December 7, 2015

The Friendly Hostel gave us a ride to the bus pickup location at 8:15 this morning and we spent the day driving farther down the coast. We arrived in Surfers Paradise around 4 pm and headed to our Airbnb, it is the prefect location for us, across the street from…

December 8, 2015 – Tuesday – Australia, Surfers Paradise

December 8, 2015

The wine we may have drank while getting caught up chatting the night before may have given us a bit of a headache this morning. The Airbnb we are staying at has an amazing bathtub and since I haven’t seen one of those in 3 months I decided to take…

December 9, 2015 – Wednesday – Australia, Surfers Paradise

December 9, 2015

Starting off our day with a walk/run around a neighborhood area, it felt great to stretch out our legs. For lunch we took the suggestion of David our fantastic host and booked a river cruise for that also served lunch. We were pleasantly surprised by how nice the cruise was….

December 10, 2015 – Thursday – Australia, Surfers Paradise/Byron Bay

December 10, 2015

Packed and ready to go we sadly said goodbye to David and headed out for an early lunch before we had to get on our bus. Eric loved the Greek food we had before so much that he begged to go back there. The 2nd time around the food was…

December 11, 2015 – Friday – Australia, Byron Bay

December 11, 2015

We set off on our walk to the Byron Bay lighthouse as soon as we were up. A later start than we hoped but because we aren’t setting alarms that’s going to happen. The walk is about 4 1/2 miles round trip but there is an awful lot of up on…

December 12, 2015 – Saturday – Australia, Byron Bay

December 12, 2015

The first rainy day we’ve had in a while and it was kind of perfect for us. Eric and I grabbed some sushi from a place we had spotted before and $15 USD later we had way more surprising delicious sushi than we could eat. We decided to made use of…

December 13, 2015 – Sunday – Australia, Byron Bay

December 13, 2015

So many people Eric and I have met through our trip have had nothing but good things to say about Byron Bay and everyone has recommended it highly so we booked a bit longer here than we normally would have. Our bad, I just don’t think we get this place….

December 14 – Monday – Australia, Port Douglas

December 14, 2015

Our last day in Port Douglas and we still couldn’t find anything to do. We packed up and checked out of our room by 10 am as required and stored our bigger bags at the hostel. We found a picnic table and wasted a couple hours calling home and playing…

December 15 – Tuesday – Australia, Sydney

December 15, 2015

We made it to Sydney! The bus ride was bumpy and both Eric and I slept pretty badly so we were thrilled that our hostel was mere steps from where the bus dropped us off. We tried to check into our room at the Wake Up hostel but of course it was…

December 16 – Wednesday – Australia, Sydney

December 16, 2015

For the first time in a long time we woke up to rain. Not just rain but hard thunderstorm type weather. It didn’t damper our spirit of getting out and exploring though and luckily it stopped or at least calmed down to a sprinkle with light showers here and there…

December 17 – Thursday – Australia, Sydney

December 17, 2015

Today we did the Bondi to Coogee Coastal walk after it being recommended to us numerous times. After a bus to Coogee, which is a cute little town we found a spot for lunch and were surprised yet again with some great sandwiches. Finding the trail to start the walk…

December 18 – Friday – Australia, Sydney

December 18, 2015

Today was one of those days that everything just goes right. Eric went for a run in the morning and then we set off for the day not really having any plans just a general direction. We started with some Chinese food, hearing that something call dim sims are really…

December 19 – Saturday – Australia, Sydney/Melbourne

December 19, 2015

It’s yet another travel day, this time we are flying to Melbourne but we do have some time to blow until that happens. So that Star Wars movie just came out yesterday and we were able to get into a showing really easily to our surprise. After we grabbed some…

December 20 – Sunday – Australia, Melbourne

December 20, 2015

Our first day in Melbourne sadly Eric was a little run down, we did make it to a place called Queen Victoria Market where we had lunch. Eric had his eye on some Chinese food and I on a pulled pork sandwich, they were both yummy and hit the spot. The market…

December 21 – Monday – Australia, Melbourne

December 21, 2015

Melbourne is great but it’s not one of those places where it’s obvious what you should do as a tourist. Today we wondered around to a few areas and found a sandwich type place on a busy lane way. We took our sandwiches and ate them in the Federation Square…

December 22 – Tuesday – Australia, Melbourne

December 22, 2015

Today we see Philip Island, home of the tiny penguins. We booked a day trip to Philip Island which is about two hours away from Melbourne. Starting our day with Maru Koala & Animal Park we finally got to get up close to a koala as well as feed and pet…

December 23 – Wednesday – Australia, Melbourne

December 23, 2015

Since Melbourne has such a cafe culture and we had immediately bought groceries and have eaten in or on tours we decided to sit ourselves down in one of the fun restaurants we see for lunch.We went to the most packed laneway we could and found a menu that looked good….

December 24 – Thursday – Melbourne/Queenstown

December 24, 2015

This is an extremely exciting travel day for us. We are heartbroken to leave Australia but we think New Zealand may be our favorite country on the trip. Also we will finally get to see family, Eric’s mom, stepfather and sister are meeting us in Queenstown for Christmas. We are…

December 25 – Friday – New Zealand, Queenstown

December 25, 2015

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Since family doesn’t get in until tomorrow we are spending Christmas day in our hostel. The hostel organized meals for everyone if you sign up so we decided to participate in the Christmas dinner but that wasn’t until the afternoon. Not many stores in town were open but…

December 26 – Saturday – New Zealand, Queenstown

December 26, 2015

Both us and our roommates were checking out this morning so all 4 of us had bags and stuff everywhere it was a bit of chaos for a bit. We all got organized and checked out of our room. Eric and I stuck around the hostel for a bit waiting…

December 27 – Sunday – New Zealand, Queenstown

December 27, 2015

We are starting this family trip with a bang! Helicopter tour of the glaciers, heck yes. Our first tour was a Glacier Explorer Helicopter Tour and it was amazing. Eric and I had never been on a helicopter before and we absolutely loved it. Tour description: Head west over the Queenstown…

December 28 – Monday – New Zealand, Queenstown

December 28, 2015

Leftovers; some love em and some hate em, I happen to fall into the love category and do you know how long it’s been since we’ve been able to have leftovers?! It’s a weird thing to miss but I do. As you can probably tell I started my day with…

December 29 – Tuesday – New Zealand, Queenstown

December 29, 2015

Another day another adventure. Today it’s a Private Wakatipu Discovery of the Rings 4X4 Tour that Eric’s sister Mandi got for the family for Christmas (Thank you SO much Mandi!!). We were picked up early and taken to some amazing views. We saw different areas where parts of the Lord of the…

December 30 – Wednesday – New Zealand, Queenstown

December 30, 2015

Since today is predicted to be rainy and overcast we planed a few more indoor activities. Fergburger is one of the most popular restaurants in Queenstown so we decided to see what all the fuss was about. Eric, Mandi, and I waited in line for burgers and fries, the line took…

December 31 – Thursday – New Zealand, Queenstown

December 31, 2015

New Years Eve Day The adventure of the day is Eric’s Hydro Attack ride. The Hydro Attack looks like a shark and goes through the water, it can go under kind of like a submarine and it can also jump out of the water like 18 feet. He liked the experience and…

January 1 – Friday – New Zealand, Queenstown

January 1, 2016

New Years Day Start 2016 by jumping off the side of a canyon? Yes please! Marti, Mandi, Eric and I all booked a Canyon Swing for January 1st. We thought we’d start the year off with a little excitement and boy did we accomplish that. It was a nervous quiet…

January 2 – Saturday – New Zealand, Queenstown

January 2, 2016

The family’s last day 🙁 The morning started off a little sad as we all packed our bags and left the beautiful house Eric’s parents rented for the last time. Sadness started turning to nervousness soon after we started driving. Eric and I have always said we would bungy jump…

January 3 – Sunday – New Zealand, Christchurch

January 3, 2016

It was dark when we got to Christchurch yesterday so we really didn’t get to see much of the town and of course today it’s raining. We were aware that Christchurch had been devastated by an earthquake in 2011 and is still slowly rebuilding. We had researched a bit before…

January 4 – Monday – New Zealand, Christchurch

January 4, 2016

Waking up to our second day in Christchurch we decided to go ahead and move on, we were originally planning on spending part of the morning in the area but we were just kind of over Christchurch from what we had seen. We stopped for some food supplies and were…

January 5 – Tuesday – New Zealand, Franz Josef

January 5, 2016

Starting off with a hike around Lake Matheson we spend a few hours enjoying the area and snapping pictures. On the right day you can see the reflection of Mt. Cook on the top of the lake. There was a breeze when we were there but the views were still…

January 6 – Wednesday – New Zealand, Franz Josef

January 6, 2016

Yesterday we saw Fox Glacier and today we set out to see the Franz Josef Glacier. Franz Josef was a nicer walk with a waterfall you walk just next to, the glacier was a bit less dirty so you could see a bit of its blue color and the walk…

January 7 – Thursday – New Zealand, Wanaka

January 7, 2016

It’s time again for a new city and on our way we make a couple stops. Our first stop is for the ocean, we spotted a walk next to the ocean and stopped to check it out. We got out of the car, it looked beautiful, and then they came….

January 8 – Friday – New Zealand, Wanaka

January 8, 2016

Today Eric and I accidentally tried to off ourselves though overestimating our fitness levels. Mount Roy sits at 1,578 meters above sea level and almost entirely uphill and extremely steep in some places. We read up on the walk and found that the estimated time to do it was 6-7…

January 9 – Saturday – New Zealand, Te Anau

January 9, 2016

We drove from Wanaka to Te Anau and were so happy to have a down day, we needed it. We found our Hostel, another 6 bed YHA where we dropped our bags then set off to find lunch. An Italian place that was well rated on TripAdvisor was what I…

January 10 – Sunday – New Zealand, Te Anau (Doubtful Sound)

January 10, 2016

Doubtful Sound, it’s not a band name like I thought when I originally heard it but an amazingly beautiful and remote area in the southwest of New Zealand’s south Island. A sound is an area carved out by water and filled in by the sea or something along those lines…

January 11 – Monday – New Zealand, Te Anau (Milford Sound)

January 11, 2016

Milford Sound was misnamed just like Doubtful sound (and I believe any other sounds in the area) and is another fiord. To see Milford Sound we decided to do a kayak tour instead of another cruise. So happy we did. We also decided to drive ourselves to this tour because…

January 12 – Tuesday – New Zealand, Queenstown & Omarama

January 12, 2016

Our time in Te Anau is over and it’s time to start heading back north. The drive to Omarama takes us back through Queenstown at lunch which is great timing because Eric needs to stop and make a business call to get a big deal closed (yay for money when…

January 13 – Wednesday – New Zealand, Hanmer Springs

January 13, 2016

Check out is at 11 and we used every last second of our time there before we headed out. For lunch we decided to check out a place in Omarama where we were staying called Ladybird Hill Restaurant. They are a restaurant and vineyard that also has a pond where…

January 14 – Thursday – New Zealand, Nelson

January 14, 2016

These one night stays are making this trip fly by! Today we leave Hamner Springs and head north to Nelson which is close to where we catch the ferry to the north island. We didn’t see much of the town last night because of our impromptu trivia night so we…

January 15 – Friday – New Zealand, Wellington

January 15, 2016

Goodbye New Zealand’s south island, north island here we come! We load up and head towards the ferry. Our rental car came with a ferry ticket to transfer the car included in the price which was great. It was an interesting but not an exciting experience driving onto the transfer…

January 16 – Saturday – New Zealand, Wellington

January 16, 2016

Do you guys know how exhausting it is to travel and move around so much? I’m sure people roll their eyes and say suck it up your not working and living your dream. You are right but I’m still so exhausted! I want to curl up in our bed with…

January 17 – Sunday – New Zealand, Wellington

January 17, 2016

Before bed on our lazy day yesterday I managed to make sure we had lots of motivation to get out and about today. We started the morning with a walking tour, we had success the 1st time so we thought it’d be a good way to see the city. It…

January 18 – Monday – New Zealand, Otorohanga

January 18, 2016

Today consisted of an almost 6 hour drive and a surprisingly great lunch is a cute little town. We left Wellington and intended on stopping at a popular museum but with the long drive ahead of us and we lost interest in the museum and just got on the road….

January 19 – Tuesday – New Zealand, Waitomo/Rotorua

January 19, 2016

My phone rings…. my phone never rings i’m in a foreign country and it’s a local number calling me. I tentatively answer and thank goodness I did because it was the tour company calling to tell us that because of the rain overnight our tour has been canceled. Today we…

January 20 – Wednesday – New Zealand, Rotorua

January 20, 2016

Hobbiton! Today we drove about an hour away to see Hobbiton, the movie set where the Hobbit movies were filmed as well as parts of the Lord of the Rings. This set is located on a local New Zealanders sheep farm and after the original set was torn down after…

January 21 – Thursday – New Zealand, Whitianga

January 21, 2016

What a way to start the day, we wen’t zorbing! Zorbing: a recreation or sport of rolling downhill inside an orb, generally made of transparent plastic. We went with the company OGO Rotorua which I think originally invented the concept but sold their company and started a new one. We wen’t…

January 22 – Friday – New Zealand, Cathedral Cove

January 22, 2016

Cathedral Cove was today’s main destination and boy did it impress. Not exactly knowing what to expect we drove out to where Cathedral Cove area is and found ourselves having to park and take a bus to the actual site. We then quickly realized this wasn’t just a scenic viewing…

January 23 – Saturday – New Zealand, Auckland

January 23, 2016

We started today getting our hairs cut. 🙂 I had made an appointment a few weeks before at a place called Dry & Tea and found the place adorable. I had a sample of a yummy flavored tea as I waited for my turn but opted out of having a…

January 24 – Sunday – Auckland, New Zealand

January 24, 2016

Eric wanted Chinese for lunch so I did a quick google search to see if I could find any good options and I came up with something we wen’t expecting but quickly got excited about. I found a whole in the wall place that was a Xi’an restaurant, like the…

January 25 – Monday – New Zealand / US / Costa Rica

January 25, 2016

Longest. Day. Ever. For us January 25th lasted 45 hours because of crossing the international date line. Even though it was the longest day ever it wasn’t too bad. Our flight to to LA doesn’t leave until 4pm so we sleep in and watch the Bronco’s win the conference championship…

January 26 – Tuesday – Costa Rica, Mal Pais

January 26, 2016

The longest day ever yesterday didn’t quite manage to get us to our final destination. We actually had to set an alarm this morning and catch one more flight and a 45 min cab ride to our final destination. We checked into a tiny terminal for a local airline called…

January 27 – Wednesday – Costa Rica, Mal Pais

January 27, 2016

Our friends come today!! Sadly not until late in the afternoon but today! Eric and I sleep in this morning and decide lunch was so good yesterday that we want to have the same thing again today. We spend the afternoon by the pool and then I take a nap…

January 28 – Thursday – Costa Rica, Mal Pais

January 28, 2016

This morning started with renting some 4-wheeler’s and a trip to the beach. We took the ATV’s to a beach Katherine and Merritt knew about from previous trips that was less crowded. The beaches were rocky and beautiful but the waves were a little intense, this area is a big…

January 29 – Friday – Costa Rica, Mal Pais

January 29, 2016

One more day with the ATV’s and today we start with a long dusty drive. These darn 4-wheeler’s are so much fun but if you aren’t leading the pack you are covered in dust because of the unpaved roads. We get to a different town and hit the beach to…

January 30 – Saturday – Costa Rica, Mal Pais

January 30, 2016

Happy Birthday to the bride, Katherine soon to be Johnson. Today starts with zip-lining with everyone. We have a huge group of the young and old and everywhere in between. One of the guides is the same guy that waited on us at dinner last night that was so much…

January 31 – Sunday – Costa Rica, Mal Pais

January 31, 2016

It’s the #McJohonson wedding day!!! Unfortunately I woke up with terrible stomach cramps. Eric went to breakfast with everyone at The Bakery why I stayed in bed. After breakfast the bride decided it was beach time so we all walked down to the beach across from their house but sadly…

February 1 – Monday – Costa Rica, Santa Teresa

February 1, 2016

We met the brand new Mrs. Katherine Johnson, Stephie and Haley at a place called The Bakery for breakfast this morning and sadly followed that by saying goodbye to Steph and Haley who are headed back home today. We hugged our precious friends and were sad to see them go,…

February 2 – Tuesday – Costa Rica, Santa Teresa

February 2, 2016

What do you do when you both drank the local water, are now feeling terrible with stomach cramps and you’re in a tropical place where every time you go outside or get hot the cramps come alive inside you and twist your insides into knots? You stay inside, all, day,…

February 3 – Wednesday – Costa Rica, Santa Teresa

February 3, 2016

We are both finally feeling better! We didn’t hear from anyone this morning so we took things slow and finally ventured out for lunch. We picked the sports bar that we had been to on our first night and before we knew it Katherine’s cousin Chris and his wife Bev…

February 4 – Thursday – Costa Rica, Mal Pais

February 4, 2016

Sadly Katherine’s cousin Chris and Bev are leaving today but on a happy note Eric and I get their room! Katherine’s dad was nice enough to pick us up and we moved in with the family today at the Romantica house. Lunch was pizza at the beach restaurant and then…

February 5 – Friday – Costa Rica, Mal Pais

February 5, 2016

It’s our last day with the McCrudy family and our very good friends Katherine and Merritt. Enjoying everyone’s company it turned into a pool day with everyone relaxing and trying not to talk about how it’s our last day together. For breakfast we were invited up to the big house…

February 6 – Saturday – Costa Rica, Mal Pais / San Jose

February 6, 2016

We said goodbye to our friends and packed up our remaining stuff. The house managers were super nice and needed our room to clean up for the next guests but let us use another house to relax in until it was time to leave for our flight. We grabbed some…

February 7 – Sunday – Costa Rica, San Jose

February 7, 2016

Super Bowl Sunday! Our tummies weren’t 100% yet and we were really over budget for Costa Rica so we decided to watch the game in our room. Bronco’s Win!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoo Hooo!!! Oh and we had a pretty good continental breakfast at the hotel this morning. We grabbed some Pho for…

February 8 – Monday – Costa Rica, San Jose

February 8, 2016

We had breakfast at the hotel again and lunch just down the road at Subway. Our day was spent doing mostly nothing, however I did manage to get our laundry done. The hotel had free washer and dryer, score. For dinner we went back to a restaurant we went to…

February 9 – Tuesday – Costa Rica / LA

February 9, 2016

It’s time to start making our way to Thailand. We’ve picked a spot in Phuket, Thailand to unwind for a while, 12 days I believe. We both are exhausted after moving so quickly thought Australia and New Zealand we need some down time. I never realized how important it would…

February 10 – Wednesday – Taiwan, Taipei (airport)

February 10, 2016

Our February 10th started at almost 10 pm because of all the time zone changes. Landing in Taipei we quickly figured out that the airport was big, new and nice. We have just over 10 hours until our next flight but there are so many places to crash in this…

February 11 – Thursday – Taipei / Thailand

February 11, 2016

After a few hours of sleep in the Taipei airport we awoke and it slowly started getting busy with travelers again. Eric and I took advantage of some massage chairs we found, which were free by the way, score. After our massages we grabbed breakfast from burger king and soon it was time…

February 12 – Friday – Thailand, Phuket

February 12, 2016

Jet lag, we both are wide awake at 4:30 AM our first day before the sun is even up. We spend as much time resting as we can but my goodness Jet lag is real. We hold out until 8:30am but we have no food yet and it was dark…

February 13 – Saturday – Thailand, Phuket

February 13, 2016

We wake up this morning and Eric isn’t feeling fantastic. We have a slow easy morning and then meet up with Olga, the girl who is running our Airbnb. She tells us she is managing it for the Chinese owner who also speaks Russian, Olga is from Russia it turns…

February 14th – Sunday – Thailand, Phuket

February 14, 2016

It’s Valentines Day. We did nothing. Sadly I am mentally exhausted to the point I don’t want to leave our room. I don’t want to find a place to eat, I don’t want to think about exchange rates or what that is in USD. I don’t want to go anywhere…

February 15 – Monday – Thailand, Phuket

February 15, 2016

Eric decides he isn’t getting any better and starts a Z-pac today. We hit up my 2nd lunch option that I had researched yesterday, it is close and called No. 9. I got cashew chicken and Eric, salmon, this is actually the best food we’ve had since we’ve been here….

February 16 – Tuesday – Thailand, Phuket

February 16, 2016

I think I’ve forgotten to mention since our failed grocery store attempt the first day we discovered the convenient store worked for some snacks and breakfast items. Toasted peanut butter sandwiches have been by breakfast and Eric opts for jelly on his toast. Yep this is what I’ve come to…

February 17 – Wednesday – Thailand, Phuket

February 17, 2016

Finally feeling better from that Z-pak Eric is up and ready to do something today. Before I know it Eric is out the door to get himself a haircut and hit up the grocery store. He comes back later with a few less hairs and some great looking food! He…

February 18 – Thursday – Thailand, Phuket

February 18, 2016

Eric and I finally woke up both feeling pretty good. Being inside so much we both were itching to use the condo’s gym so we threw on our running shoes and busted a sweat. Running felt good except for the giant blister on my arch. My shoes have never fit…

February 19 – Friday – Thailand, Phuket

February 19, 2016

Since Eric’s shoes weren’t giving him problems they way mine were he got to go on a run this morning without me. Do you know what we did after his run though? We walked into town to find a shoe store. We stopped along the way for lunch and saw…

February 20 – Saturday – Thailand, Patong

February 20, 2016

Ashley’s 31st Birthday Ring… Ring… Ring… What is that? Who in the world would be calling me? It’s some of my favorite ladies! Katherine FaceTimed me so my friends Stephanie, Brittany, Heather, Jessica and Marie of course Katherine could wish me a happy birthday. So sweet of them right! They…

February 21 – Sunday – Thailand, Phuket

February 21, 2016

This morning came a little to early today. Eric extended our scooter for another day so we could use it again today. After lunch we took it exploring and were hoping to find a beach but instead we just found a lot of construction. After our joyride we got some…

February 22 – Monday – Thailand, Phuket

February 22, 2016

After a quick run in the AM we had some pool time. It’s incredible how quickly we are loosing our tans. Lunch time finally included venturing out past our normal street. We went towards the beach to see what we could find in the way of new restaurants and scored….

February 23 – Tuesday – Thailand, Phuket

February 23, 2016

We leave Thailand today but thank goodness we will be back because we are loving it so far. It kind of reminds us of a much cheaper Mexico, to bad they don’t have Mexican food I’d be in heaven. Packing up and organizing ourselves was the task of the morning….

February 24 – Wednesday – Philippines, Boracay

February 24, 2016

We get to the Manila airport at 3 am and you’d never guess it was the middle of the night. Most of the restaurants were open, the duty free was hopping with people and it was almost like the middle of the day. We find ourselves some benches and I…

February 25 – Thursday – Philippines, Boracay

February 25, 2016

Yesterday we went right today we go left. We are in the center of town so yesterday we explored in one direction and today we go the other. We start with lunch which had a great view but was nothing to special before we kept going. We walked until the…

February 26 – Friday – Philippines, Boracay

February 26, 2016

Up and moving early enough to check out our included breakfast today we found it to be, well, interesting. Showers and such happened and then we needed to find an ATM. We grabbed some cash and it turned out one of the things I wanted to explore but hadn’t found…

February 27 – Saturday – Philippines, Boracay

February 27, 2016

What do you do when you wake up to rain? You continue the trip planning you started the day before. Today we finished up laying out our itinerary for the rest of the trip. Eric researched places in SE Asia and I looked into a few gaps later on in…

February 28 – Sunday – Philippines, Boracay

February 28, 2016

Are you serious I woke up again not feeling all that great. It’s just drainage but it woke me up a few times and it’s really bringing my energy down. On a much better note, our morning was filled with flights being booked. Not by us but our friend Mike…

February 29 – Monday – Philippines, Boracay

February 29, 2016

Well I seem to have waited to long to write this post (it’s March 13th) and now I forget most of the day but from what I can remember from pictures… Eric found a chicken place he wanted to try for lunch and after wondering around and asking directions when…

March 1 – Tuesday – Philippines, Boracay

March 1, 2016

Today is our last day in the paradise that is Boracay. Except, we didn’t love it like we thought we would and everyone said we would. Don’t get me wrong the beach is beautiful and the sand amazing but other than that it didn’t feel like there was much to…

March 2 – Wednesday – Philippines, Boracay/Cebu

March 2, 2016

Today started at 5:10 am Rinse off to wake up, throw on some clothes and make sure everything we brought made it back into our bags. By 6:00 am we were out the door and grabbing a ride to the water taxi. The office for the water taxi is much…

March 3 – Thursday – Philippines, Oslob

March 3, 2016

Remember lasts night we got to our hotel when it was dark and so we had no idea what our hotel looked like or what kind of view if any we had. First thing after we awoke this morning I made a b-line to the door to see what we…

March 4 – Friday – Philippines, Oslob

March 4, 2016

Today we swim with whale sharks! We slowly get out of bed this morning, and find out there is no running water in the shower. Ugh. Now I’m in a bad mood and nervous (as much as I like to do fun things like swim with whale sharks, things in…

March 5 – Saturday – Philippines, Cebu

March 5, 2016

Another exciting day! Today we took a tricycle to Kawasan Falls and did a canyoning trip down the Matutinao River. We booked a tour thought our hostel but weren’t given much information about it. Turns out the “tour” we booked was a kid who didn’t speak much English and it was…

March 6 – Sunday – Philippines, Oslob/Cebu City

March 6, 2016

Eric scheduled a whale shark dive for himself this morning so I got to sleep in and get a head start on packing while he was gone. When Eric got back from his dive he was so happy and claimed that it was one of the best dives he’s ever…

March 7 – Monday – Philippines, Cebu City

March 7, 2016

After a night full of coughing and and early morning we weren’t up for doing much today and that’s probably a good thing because after what we saw of Cebu City yesterday we aren’t to sure we want to be out very much. A welcome Snapchat came in from our…

March 8 – Tuesday – Philippines, El Nido

March 8, 2016

Another long travel day for us We are up and grab some free breakfast at the hotel before heading to the airport in Cebu City. With the road construction around the airport the first taxi passes us up but the 2nd takes us with hesitation. Our flights are easy and…

March 9 – Wednesday – Philippines, El Nido

March 9, 2016

Our first morning in El Nido we find out don’t have hot water, not like it’s out like it’s not an option. Of course we both wake up early today after getting in pretty late last night, so annoying. We rinsed off quickly and decided to explore our new city. We…

March 10 – Thursday – Philippines, El Nido

March 10, 2016

**** Warning***** Some pictures are a bit gross. You’ve been warned! We are going on an island hopping tour today so we decide we need some food in our tummies before we go. We passed a bakery a few times and had been eyeing some sugar doughnuts so we grabbed…

March 11 – Friday – Philippines, El Nido

March 11, 2016

We have plans today to meet up with Mark and head back over to Las Cabanas beach but before we do that I went to get Eric and I some of those amazing sugar droughts for breakfast and we met a nice couple from DC while we had our breakfast…

March 12 – Saturday – Philippines, El Nido

March 12, 2016

Eric’s toe is healing well but the man himself if a little run down. We were planning on doing another island tour today but probably did a bit to much yesterday and Eric really didn’t want to spend the whole day on the boat, I don’t blame him at all….

March 13 – Sunday – Philippines, Puerto Princesa

March 13, 2016

My headache is gone thank goodness! I went out this morning and grabbed our daily sugar doughnuts and while I was out I booked our van transfer back to Puerto Princesa for today and paid our room bill. If I had enough cash left I was going to buy a…

March 14 – Monday – Manila / Bangkok

March 14, 2016

The alarm went off at 5:10 AM… It’s yet another travel day and this time we leave the Philippines for good and head to Bangkok to see our friends Erica & Sean. We both pick at our free breakfast at the hotel before settling up and heading to the airport….

March 15 – Tuesday – Thailand, Bangkok

March 15, 2016

It’s time to explore Bangkok! Since breakfast foods aren’t really a thing in Asia we decided to have clams? Stop judging me they were delicious and there was also some crispy pork if that makes it less weird. Since Eric is allergic to shellfish I don’t often have someone else…

March 16 – Wednesday – Thailand, Bangkok

March 16, 2016

It’s finally time to see a temple, but first, breakfast. We headed back to the random clam place from yesterday but the food today didn’t look as good so going in a different direction we headed towards an actual restaurant near our place. Erica, Eric and myself all end up…

March 17 – Thursday – Thailand, Koh Samui

March 17, 2016

Alarms going off at 6 AM we all packed our bags, said goodbye to our awesome Airbnb and headed off to our smoothie place in hopes she was open this early. We were so happy to find her there and she was very happy to see us. Always a huge…

March 18 – Friday – Thailand, Koh Samui

March 18, 2016

Erica and Sean decided to try and find breakfast this morning while Eric got some work done and I, well, I laid by the pool. I did manage to get 1 timeline day done, or at least the majority of 1 day done. haha Unsuccessful with breakfast Erica & Sean…

March 19 – Saturday – Thailand, Koh Samui

March 19, 2016

Can you imagine Eric doing yoga? No? Yeah, me neither but he sure was a good sport and tried it with us. Erica signed us up for a morning class at a local place and it was not a beginner class that’s for sure. The class was pretty hard but…

March 20 – Sunday – Thailand, Koh Samui

March 20, 2016

Ouch this morning came a little too early for us. Hangovers all around 🙁 A fun mood lifter was a surprise call from my oldest friends of 20+ years. They had gotten together for dinner and were so sweet to think of me and FaceTime me. The reception sucked but…

March 21 – Monday – Thailand, Koh Samui

March 21, 2016

This is our last day in Koh Samui and we aren’t ready to leave yet. One last day of adventures here. We have big plans for today and it involves driving almost all the way around this little island of ours. We head out for the day and our first…

March 22 – Tuesday – Thailand, Bangkok

March 22, 2016

We sadly said goodbye to our scooters and soon after our amazing Koh Samui house. We took a cab to the airport and got checked in before finding some breakfast. Before we knew it we were on a plain headed back to Bangkok. Erica and Sean leave in the morning…

March 23 – Wednesday – Thailand, Chiang Mai

March 23, 2016

Erica & Sean woke up early and were out the door and heading to the airport, we barley got to say goodbye to them. Eric and I wake up a couple hour later, pack up and the hostel calls us a cab. We head to a different airport this time…

March 24 – Thursday – Thailand, Chiang, Mai

March 24, 2016

This apartment is fantastic but for 2 things. The TV has zero English channels and the mattress is as hard as a rock. That being said I still slept pretty darn well. There is a market really close by that our host showed pointed out to us that is open…

March 25 – Friday – Thailand, Chiang Mai

March 25, 2016

Geez we were sleepy heads this morning. I got up just after 9 and Eric didn’t make it out of bed until almost 10:30, apparently he couldn’t fall asleep until sometime after 2. We worked and researched until it was time for lunch when we set off to find a…

March 26 – Saturday – Chiang Mai, Thailand

March 26, 2016

We had a lazy Saturday morning and made our way to our local early market for lunch yet again. This time we tried some spicier stuff and defiantly ended up with what spicy. Lunch made us pretty thirsty and we have been missing our fruit shakes so much. There is…

March 27 – Sunday – Chiang Mai, Thailand

March 27, 2016

It’s finally time for a scooter. Our Airbnb host helped us get setup with a scooter that was delivered this morning. It came with orange helmets, I’m happy. Now that we can explore farther out we headed towards a place called The Larder. A guy I met before our trip…

March 28 – Monday – Chiang Mai, Thailand

March 28, 2016

I have a 9:45 am pick up for my spa day this morning! I am booked at Kiyora Spa for a 4.5 hour Spa-Cation package that includes a Body Scrub and Wrap Combo, Swedish Massage and GLOW Facial. It’s not often I splurge on spa days and I’ve only ever had a couple in…

March 29 – Tuesday – Thailand, Chiang Mai

March 29, 2016

Today started off pretty well. For lunch we went to the Japanese ramen place we had spotted a few days before. The food was great and was exactly what we were both craving. After lunch we took a drive all the way around the old city just to explore a…

March 30 – Wednesday – Thailand, Chiang Mai

March 30, 2016

I still have a headache when I wake up today. Eric is awesome and ventures out to get us lunch from the market by our place and dinner from the dumpling place as well as restock our water supply but I spend most of the day in bed. I need…

March 31 – Thursday – Thailand, Chiang Mai

March 31, 2016

We have finally figured out that about 1/2 the reason we aren’t doing more here in Chiang Mai is that we are scared of our motor bike… Now we were starting to both feel more confident after riding around Koh Sumoi with Erica and Sean but this bike despite being…

April 1 – Friday – Thailand, Chiang Mai

April 1, 2016

Today is the 4 year anniversary of when Eric surprised me in Paris, France and proposed. (Swoon 🙂 (NoAprilFooling) This morning I finished booking the rest of our time in South East Asia which included a little splurge for our anniversary in May. It’s not actually on our anniversary but…

April 2 – Saturday – Thailand, Chiang Mai

April 2, 2016

Where did today go!? Would you believe I still had more to organize? Oh and I booked flights from Denver back to Dallas for us for only $117! Oh yeah! Lunch at our market, we are getting good at ordering. This food is good. We watched a few TV shows,…

April 3 – Sunday – Thailand, Chiang Mai

April 3, 2016

It’s Best Friend Stephanie’s Birthday today. Happy 31st DJ Stephie Steph! A TripAdvisor search lead us to a fantastic lunch place today. Massaman Curry will be a new normal in my life, I love this stuff. This must be the day of amazing food because dinner was fantastic too. We…

April 4 – Monday – Thailand, Chiang Mai

April 4, 2016

I started off today with a run and pushed myself to go a little farther than I’ve done in a long time. It was only 2 miles but it felt great and i pushed myself faster at the end. For lunch we wen’t a bit crazy, I found another really…

April 5 – Tuesday – Indonesia, Bali

April 5, 2016

Ugh, 6 am came way to soon. Up, packed and out the door by 6:45 only to wait on our ride. Our Airbnb host, the one who was late picking us up from the airport when we arrived in Chiang Mai, is late. He really is a great guy and…

April 6 – Wednesday – Indonesia, Bali

April 6, 2016

Oh my gosh this bed is amazing, or at least the last bed was so bad this one feels amazing in comparison. We start our morning with a knock on our door, breakfast is included with our room rate and they deliver it to you every morning. It’s a simple…

April 7 – Thursday – Indonesia, Bali

April 7, 2016

Opting out of the free Airbnb breakfast we retraced our steps to a place we saw yesterday that advertised waffles, which Eric loves. Sadly their kitchen was closed for the moment so we headed towards a place called Cafe Moka which is at the end of our street. After…

April 8 – Friday – Indonesia, Bali

April 8, 2016

Venturing out into the heat for lunch I picked an Indian place for us to eat. It had a lot of good reviews but we were the only people there yet again. The food was great and our bellies were happy. This afternoon Eric set us up some appointments for…

April 9 – Saturday – Indonesia, Bali

April 9, 2016

It’s time to explore Bali! We booked a private tour (hey hey!) to see some different things around the island. Our drive Yoga picked us up at 8:30 am and poor Eric slept like crap last night, didn’t fall asleep until 3 I think he said. Yoga, a very tired…

April 10 – Sunday – Indonesia, Bali

April 10, 2016

Today Eric is going on a wreck dive to the USS Liberty. They picked him up at 7 am and he had a 2 tank dive out to explore the ship and area. He said it was pretty amazing and really enjoyed the dive and the guide. They had lunch…

April 11 – Monday – Indonesia, Bali

April 11, 2016

Eric is off and at it again. Today my man is diving with manta ray’s, big ones. He said they were 12 to 14 feet wide and he absolutely loved it. This one was a 3 tank dive and he went with the same company and guide as yesterday still loving…

April 12 – Tuesday – Indonesia, Bali

April 12, 2016

Today we went flyboarding! We loved the company we went with, Bali Jetpacks and Water Sports. They picked us up at our hotel and it was about a 30 min drive to their location. The staff were all very nice and we were out on the water in no time. Eric…

April 13 – Wednesday – Indonesia, Bali

April 13, 2016

Rain Rain GO AWAY! So we were planning on going back to that area we’d found yesterday to play on the flow rider and slides by the beach but it just keeps raining. We tried to hit a new place for lunch, I did my research, their open for lunch,…

April 14 – Thursday – Indonesia, Bali

April 14, 2016

The day is planned. Breakfast, a silver jewelry making class in Ubud and then end the day at the flow rider surf thing since it rained us out yesterday. Well, we talked to the front desk before we went to breakfast to schedule a car, however we asked for it at…

April 15 – Friday – Singapore

April 15, 2016

A new day & A new country. Bright and early at 4 am it was time to wake up and grab a taxi to the airport. We were able to go to bed so early last night that today isn’t as much of a struggle, yet at least. There are always…

April 16 – Saturday – Singapore

April 16, 2016

Little India was our destination choice for lunch today. Eric picked us out a restaurant and got us and Uber to get over there. The area wasn’t as colorful as I thought it would be and our lunch was okay, we got out to see some of the city so…

April 17 – Sunday – Singapore

April 17, 2016

Another day, another adventure here in Sing as the locals call it. We started off by checking out a popular area near us called Orchard Road, it’s really just a whole lot of shopping. We found a place to have lunch 1st and ended up at a place called 4…

April 18 – Monday – Singapore

April 18, 2016

So we have errands to run today. It’s been a long time since we’ve had errands. 1st we need lunch. A ramen place grabbed our eye and like always we way over ordered. The food was good but when it’s so hot outside it’s hard to have hot soup. Now…

April 19 – Tuesday – Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

April 19, 2016

I was really hoping after sending a 5lb plus pound box home yesterday my bag would be a little roomier, nope. I guess I bought more than I thought, sorrynotsorry. I also forgot to include a small bag I bought and a scarf I’m not really sorry I forgot to…

April 20 – Wednesday – Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

April 20, 2016

So I left out that yesterday I started to get some stomach cramps before we left for dinner. These cramps were really just an uneasyness in my stomach at this point more than painful. However throughout the night and all day today I have had some extremely painful stomach cramps…

April 21 – Thursday – Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

April 21, 2016

Another day stuck inside. My food poisoning is better today but still gives me trouble late into the afternoon. We have lunch with what Eric bought from the store yesterday, sandwiches with chips and hummus. In the afternoon there is a thunder storm, we have a balcony and from the 30th…

April 22 – Friday – Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

April 22, 2016

Failing, we totally failed at being good travelers today. I am finally feeling better from my food poisoning bout and we have been planning on doing the one thing we wanted and came here to do, the Batu Caves. We chose to do absolutely nothing today. We ordered in lunch…

April 23 – Saturday – Thailand, Bangkok

April 23, 2016

It’s time to get the heck out of Malaysia. We never gave you a real shot but ya know what, we’re okay with it. We took a couple PM’s to fall asleep at a decent hour and boy did they hit both of us hard. We went to bed at…

April 24 – Sunday – Thailand, Bangkok

April 24, 2016

It’s flippin HOT in Bangkok. It’s 98 degrees with a heat index of 111… This will be the last time we are staying in Bangkok, we’ll fly through a few more times but this is the last opportunity we’ll have to explore the city. That said, we head out to…

April 25 – Monday – Thailand, Bangkok

April 25, 2016

It’s Monday and time to get our Vietnam visas, the whole reason we are in Bangkok again. We woke up on the early side and wanted to get to the Vietnam embassy in the morning since we are doing the rush next day visa. (the alternative takes 5 days) Luckily the…

April 26 – Tuesday – Thailand, Bangkok

April 26, 2016

Heading to the dentist this morning because who doesn’t get a cleaning and their teeth whitened while in Bangkok. That’s right we made appointments to get our teeth whitened while we are here and they recommended a cleaning first. First we thought we’d be nice and early with plenty of time…

April 27 – Wednesday – Thailand, Bangkok

April 27, 2016

I don’t know what our deal is but we both woke up around 8, went to the bathroom and then fell back asleep until about 10 this morning. Eric went to bed at like 10:30 and I at midnight so there is no reason we should have slept until 10….

April 28 – Thursday – Vietnam, Hanoi

April 28, 2016

All day yesterday I had a small headache and overnight it grew 🙁 I think it may be from my stupid jaw problems and having my teeth cleaned the other day. The morning flew by, wake up, pack and Uber to the airport. We left earlier than we originally talked…

April 29 – Friday – Vietnam, Hanoi

April 29, 2016

The weather isn’t the prettiest this morning and it keeps us inside a little longer than we intended. I enjoyed some of the free fruit given by the hotel for breakfast and Eric went downstairs to check out the stuff the hotel provided, which turned out to be pretty great….

April 30 – Saturday – Vietnam, Hanoi

April 30, 2016

A quick breakfast at our hotel before heading out to see the Vietnam Military History Museum that was closed yesterday. The museum was partially outdoors and had a few of the planes and tanks used in the war. This stuff is all up Eric’s ally but not mine so I’m…

May 1 – Sunday – Vietnam, Hanoi

May 1, 2016

Vietnam isn’t what we expected. Supposedly only 5% of people who visit Vietnam return. Most of the blogs we read had a lot of negative things to say about Vietnam and there are all kinds of warnings about getting scammed. This is just not the Vietnam Eric and I are…

May 2 – Monday – Vietnam, Hanoi

May 2, 2016

We skipped breakfast this morning because we are doing a cooking class. They picked us up in a cab for the class but it was only a few blocks away and we could have easily walked it. We started in the restaurant we would eventually be cooking in and met…

May 3 – Tuesday – Vietnam, Halong Bay

May 3, 2016

It’s an earlier morning for us with a 7:30 am pickup that takes us to our Halong Bay Cruise. We are up and packed with just enough time to have some breakfast when our ride arrives. They were supposed to come between 7:30-8 but arrived at 7:25, we took our…

May 4 – Wednesday – Vietnam, Hanoi

May 4, 2016

It’s our 3rd anniversary! The bed on this boat is great and neither of us wants to get up but there is more fun to be had today. Yesterday Eric and I were disappointed with a cave we went to because it wasn’t the one we were expecting, but we…

May 5 – Thursday – Vietnam, Hoi An

May 5, 2016

It’s time to head south again; I’m excited about seeing a new city but not about heading back towards the heat. We were up and had a few bites of breakfast before our car to the airport picked us up. The flight is just over an hour and both airports…

May 6 – Friday – Vietnam, Hoi An

May 6, 2016

It’s time to hit up the tailors and see about getting some custom clothes made. Oddly we are both a bit nervous, I think it’s because we kind of know what we want but don’t want to get taken advantage or end up with crappy results. We’ve decided our strategy…

May 7 – Saturday – Vietnam, Hoi An

May 7, 2016

Geez this room gets so bright when the sun comes up, we thought the curtains were good and heavy but yesterday and today we were woken up by how bright it gets in here. We collected our clean laundry and got ourselves clean and ready as well before heading out to…

May 8 – Sunday – Vietnam, Hoi An

May 8, 2016

Our early afternoon was spent strolling through old town and enjoying it’s beauty. We stopped for lunch at a random little place with a window view. Later on we had our second fitting for our new duds. Everything is looking awesome. Eric’s suits and sports coat look fantastic, he will…

May 9 – Monday – Vietnam, Hoi An

May 9, 2016

We finally woke up early enough to have some breakfast today. Most important meal of the day right? I’m not so sure. We went into Bebe for our last fitting, all we had left is Eric’s blue pants we threw in last minute to go with his blazer. We inspected…

May 10 – Tuesday – Vietnam, Hoi An

May 10, 2016

It’s time to get a little country. Hoi An is not a big town but Eric and I wanted to see a little more than old town so we booked a motorcycle tour so we can explore more of Vietnam. After lunch we took off to see the city, or…

May 11 – Wednesday – Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon

May 11, 2016

It’s moving day but our flight isn’t until early afternoon so we had time to have some breakfast and take our time packing. Some lunch in the airport and then we were off to Ho Chi Minh City formerly known as Saigon. It was a fairly short flight in a…

May 12 – Thursday – Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City

May 12, 2016

Today we didn’t get out to much but we did both upgrade our laptops to Windows 10. Haha We did explore a bit on the way to lunch but other than stopping for some waters and Coke Light that was our only time to get out today. For dinner we…

May 13 – Friday – Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City

May 13, 2016

It’s time to get out and explore, we stroll down Nguyen Hue Street which is right outside our door towards Ho Chi Minh Square and the President of the cities, statue. We are heading towards the War Remnants Museum but it’s a nice walk away so we picked a lunch…

May 14 – Saturday – Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh

May 14, 2016

We are taking today off. No feeling bad for not exploring we are just going to be okay with not being tourists or travelers today. For lunch we went found another 4 P’s, that pizza place we got take out pizza from back in Hanoi. This time we had a…

May 15 – Sunday – Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh

May 15, 2016

Today ended up being a, we are tired of Asia day, and we praying that we get our motivation back to start being excited about exploring again since it’s almost over. Don’t get me wrong we really do like and love most of Asia but for some reason we are…

May 16 – Monday – Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City

May 16, 2016

Today we wen’t on a tour to see the Cu chi tunnels. We got picked by in a pretty nice van and only had 3 other people on our tour which was great since we picked a cheaper one that usually has groups up to 20 people. The Cu chi…

May 17 – Thursday – Cambodia, Phnom Penh

May 17, 2016

We hit country #16 today, Cambodia. Up early we hit the airport and were in Cambodia early. We needed a visa for Cambodia but you get it on arrival for $30 USD /person. The process was actually really easy and very fast, I was prepared with our passport size pictures…

May 18 – Wednesday – Cambodia, Phnom Penh

May 18, 2016

Today we explored some of the tragic history of Cambodia. We got up early and had a car booked to take us to two different areas, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and then the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. 1st the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, better known as the S-21, was…

May 19 – Thursday – Cambodia, Siem Reap

May 19, 2016

Today there was a flight from Paris to Egypt that disappeared from the radar. Eric and I also flew today, thank goodness we had a short and safe flight from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We were lazy to get around and then headed out to lunch at the…

May 20 – Friday – Cambodia, Siem Reap

May 20, 2016

We took today off. We had our free breakfast at the hotel, a pretty good one too. I started refreshing my French, which is very, very little. This app I found is making it fun. Lunch at the hotel, some soups and salads that were pretty darn good but way…

May 21 – Saturday – Siem Reap

May 21, 2016

An unwanted wake up call of Cambodian music was being blasted towards our hotel room this morning, we weren’t exactly sure what it was in the moment though. We, thankfully, are headed out to see the Angkor Temples today so we were up an out of the room pretty early….

May 22 – Sunday – Thailand, Krabi

May 22, 2016

Breakfast time and then we have a car booked to take us to the airport for our 1st of 2 flights to get us to Karbi, Thailand! I’m going to miss the breakfast at this place, so much selection. While enjoying our breakfast I checked on our flight and dang…

May 23 – Monday – Thailand, Krabi

May 23, 2016

Again, thank goodness we realized we’d booked from the wrong airport. We accidentally booked a flight from the DMK airport on the other side of Bangkok instead of BKK, the main airport. If we hadn’t noticed it we most likely would have missed yet another flight and had to book…

May 24 – Tuesday – Thailand, Krabi

May 24, 2016

Guess what. It’s still raining. We didn’t come here hoping it would rain obviously but we also don’t have any real plans so other than it’s keeping me out of our pool we don’t mind it so much. It’s also annoying when it’s time to eat but thankfully it comes…

May 25 – Wednesday – Thailand, Krabi

May 25, 2016

It’s raining, still. For lunch we rand down to the on-site and ordered a pizza and salad to bring up to our room. Watched some Game of Thrones with our lunch. I tried to get outside but it really wasn’t worth it. However the rain did stop for just a…

May 26 – Thursday – Thailand, Krabi

May 26, 2016

Poor Eric had one of those all day hangovers today and was miserable. We went out to grab lunch and spent the rest of the day staring out the window at the rain and I heard a lot of sighs coming from Eric’s direction. I started watching Grace and Frankie…

May 27 – Friday – Thailand, Krabi

May 27, 2016

It’s not raining!!!!! It’s not exactly a sunny day but it’s not raining so that’s a great start. I spent as much time as I could outside getting little glimpses of sunshine occasionally and it was so fantastic. Lunch and dinner at Sabai Ba Bar. Lunch was a little more…

May 28 – Saturday – Thailand, Krabi

May 28, 2016

Today is on of my best friends, Jessicas, baby shower and I’m so sad to be missing it. Thanks to another friend Stephanie I was able to send Jess a few gifts and we went in on a bigger give together with a few more friends. I am so excited…

May 29 – Sunday – Thailand, Krabi

May 29, 2016

The sun is out! The sun is out! The sun is out! I’ve learned to take advantage of the sun while you have it here because chances are it’s not going to stick around. E and I made the best of our time and soaked up a few rays this…

May 30 – Monday – UAE, Dubai

May 30, 2016

We are so incredibly sad to leave this apartment in Krabi. The bed and pillows are amazing, the couch is full size and not from Ikea, the space is a really good size for two people and the patio and plunge pool however unuseful with all the rain just makes me…

May 31 – Tuesday – UAE, Dubai

May 31, 2016

A 3 hour time difference effects us more than we though, boy are we having a hard time getting going this morning. To try and save money and so we didn’t get hangry we opted to grab lunch back at the mall next door again. Picking a place called 82…

June 1 – Wednesday – UAE, Dubai

June 1, 2016

One of the top things to do here in Dubai is to visit the gold souk which is an area with they say over 300 shops selling gold and silver. E and I took the metro a few stops and the gold market was pretty easy to find. Once we…

June 2 – Thursday – UAE, Dubai

June 2, 2016

Check out my henna tattoo after it dried and the paint flaked off. It’s not as dark as I thought it would be but I love it. Should last about a week they told me. Since we spent so much on yesterday’s adventure we did our best to be cheap…

June 3 – Friday – UAE, Dubai

June 3, 2016

It’s 100 degrees outside but Eric and I are going snow skiing! Today we head to yet another mall which is where Dubai’s indoor skiing is located. We loaded up on some taco’s, yumm. Getting our ski tickets & gear was a bit frustrating with long lines and people everywhere…

June 4 – Saturday – UAE, Dubai

June 4, 2016

We went booking crazy today! Today we finally got back to booking part of our trip. We’ve found that we really enjoy having things booked out instead of scrabbling to make plans a few days or weeks ahead of time. That being said we’ve actually decided to change up our…

June 5 – Sunday – UAE, Dubai

June 5, 2016

Totally craving a burger this afternoon but instead of going back to the American restaurant we hit up Burger King, this place has really grown on me sadly. their fries really need to step up their game but their burgers are good. This afternoon we had a 1st for the…

June 6 – Monday – UAE, Dubai

June 6, 2016

It’s our last day in Dubai and also happens to be the first day Ramadan which is a Muslim month of fasting. We were determined to see the the Burj Khalifa in the daytime however our timing couldn’t have been worse. We left not realizing all of the restaurants would…

June 7 – Tuesday – France, Bayeux

June 7, 2016

Yay, it’s time to fly to France to meet up with Mallorie, her mom Cathy and friend Emily. We are up early at about 5:30 am to hop on the metro and head to the airport. Checking out of our hotel and not having a high enough balance on our…

June 8 – Wednesday – France, Bayeux

June 8, 2016

With a tour of Normandy early this morning we grabbed some breakfast from the Carrfour and found our meeting spot. We were all a little dissapointed when our guide turned out to be a pretty young girl however we were al in the end singing her praises. This young lady…

June 9 – Thursday – France, Crouzilles

June 9, 2016

It’s sad to leave our 1st Airbnb Mallorie picked out in France, we pack our bags and load up the car. We had to do a little cleaning ourselves to avoid the 60 euro fee they charge if you dont but it wasn’t bad at all since it was such…

June 10 – Friday – France, La Croix-en-Touraine

June 10, 2016

After a nice breakfast of bread and jam next to a fire we hit the ground running today and were at our first wine tasting by 11am. Hey, when in France. Our first stop may have been the cutiest and their storage room was the picture on their lable which…

June 11 – Saturday – France, Nuits-Saint-George

June 11, 2016

Heading east our next stop is about 4.5 hours drive but before we leave, Sylvie, our hostes set out a beautiful and delicious breakfast spread. Different types of breads, a strawberry cake, jam’s, jam’s and more jam’s, oh and we can’t forget a little fruit salad that included some of…

June 12 – Sunday – France, Nuits-Saint-George

June 12, 2016

After that late night we were all late to get around today and there were many mentions of needing water and food. On our way to lunch in the center of town we found that the tourism office was open so we took advantage of getting some information from them…

June 13 – Monday – France, Cluny

June 13, 2016

After packing up our things Eric and I attempted to get him a haircut before we all headed out of town. We found 4 different salons but none of them open. Defeated, we instead grabbed some breakfast, a sandwich and a tart, from a tiny but busy little bakery and…

June 14 – Tuesday – France, Cluny

June 14, 2016

Eric and I took it easy and stayed in catching up on some work and blogging today while the girls explored the town. We had some leftovers from last nights amazing meat and cheese board for lunch and relaxed in our adorable french home. In late afternoon we set out…

June 15 – Wednesday – France, Annecy

June 15, 2016

We said our goodbyes and sadly dropped Emily off at the train station so she could catch a ride back to Paris. Emily is super outgoing and afraid to talk, or at least attempt to talk, to no one. She is silly, generally positive and just fun to be around,…

June 16 – Thursday – France, Cassis

June 16, 2016

So our bedroom windows have these electronic shutters that block like all light and they are amazing. We all slept like baby’s and woke up a bit later than normal because it was so wonderfully dark in our rooms. Checking out of our Annacy Airbnb we hit the road immediately for our…

June 17 – Friday – France, Cassis

June 17, 2016

With a fairly early start we hit the market Cassis has twice a week. Choosing things for a picnic lunch we grabbed some cheese, dried sausages, some warm sausage and potatoes and of course a baguette. The market had some great looking food, clothing and such but our plans today…

June 18 – Saturday – France, Cassis

June 18, 2016

While Malorie and Cathy set out for a morning on the beach Eric and I decided to stay at the house and take it easy. For lunch we decided to save a few $$ and grab some more pasta to cook at home. This time we got chicken with our…

June 19 – Sunday – France, Antibes

June 19, 2016

A few last hours on the beach in Cassis this morning because our doll of an Airbnb host let us check out a bit later. Sadly we had a disappointing lunch because of a rude waitress, some not great croque monsieurs and very little shade. We said goodbye to Cassis…

June 20 – Monday – France, Antibes

June 20, 2016

This morning the girls got an early start exploring and then headed to the beach. Eric and I took our time and got out to explore around lunch. Finding a spot just down the road we sat down and ordered a pizza and 2 Cokes. Well the waitress wasn’t having…

June 21 – Tuesday – France, Nice

June 21, 2016

It’s time to head to our last location with Mallorie and Cathy. We pack up the car for the final time and head a few hours east to Nice. Dropping of the rental car was interesting. With no instruction about where to leave the car we scratched our heads for…

June 22 – Wednesday – Monaco

June 22, 2016

Feeling sad it’s our last morning with Mallorie and Kathy before we part ways. Mal and I went out for a cappuccino (i’m not a coffee drinker but it wasn’t too bad actually) and ended up at a little cafe perfect for people watching. Mal asked for an almond croissant…

June 23 – Thursday – Monaco

June 23, 2016

Today started off very slowly, Eric and I had a pretty miserable nights sleep. The room we were in had a mettle thing that closed over the window like we’ve seen in a couple other places but this room had no A/C so it was miserably hot with zero air…

June 24 – Friday – Spain, Valencia

June 24, 2016

Sleeping better last night than yesterday because we went ahead and cracked the doors to let air through the cooler room made a big difference. Unfortunately Eric is still trying to kick some chest congestion and woke up coughing a few times. It’s time for us to head to Spain…

June 25 – Saturday – Spain, Murcia

June 25, 2016

Before leaving Valencia we stopped at the central market. Compared to all the markets we went to in Asia this was so clean, organized and less stressful. Now there were still a lot of people to bob and weave through but the stalls were spaced away from each other and…

June 26 – Sunday – Spain, Mojacar

June 26, 2016

Before leaving Murcia we had breakfast at the bakery next to our hotel. I’m not sure they eat this for breakfast but I tried a Spanish tortilla which is made with eggs potatoes, sounds like breakfast to me. There was a random sculpture of a fish in the river on…

June 27 – Monday – Spain, Granada

June 27, 2016

This tiny town is just what we’ve been hoping for and it’s such a fun experience that Eric and had been here with his mother and some family in about 2001. We explored the streets a bit more before sending some post cards to E’s mom and grandmother (since they…

June 28 – Tuesday – Spain, Granada

June 28, 2016

Holy hangover, today I am worthless my hangover lasted all day long. For lunch we decided to try and be cheap with a stop at a fast food type places we’d seen with cheap prices. We both ordered burgers and not really paying attention to what we were getting we…

June 29 – Wednesday – Spain, Granada

June 29, 2016

Another morning of waking up around 11 am. Originally we only booked this hotel for 2 nights however we aren’t quite done with Granada yet, and decided to ask the front desk if we can add on one more night. For lunch we finally explored out past our street thank goodness….

June 30 – Thursday – Spain, Seville

June 30, 2016

Continuing our new schedule of waking up at 11 we packed our bags and were out of the hotel around noon. Our objective today was to see the Alhambra. Only so many tickets are supposedly available daily to see the Alhambra and they have scheduled viewing times for one of…

July 1 – Friday – Spain, Seville

July 1, 2016

Today we started off with lunch at Mercado Lonja del Barranco, it was recommended by the girl who checked us into our apartment and it was kind of like an upscale tapas market. We weren’t sure if it was even open at first but when we started walking around and…

July 2 – Saturday – Spain, Seville

July 2, 2016

This burger place was great other than the fact that our burgers were raw. We had taken them home so we were able to cook them a little longer and they tasted fantastic after that. Annoying but still good. Eric worked all day, he’s always working, how does he keep…

July 3 – Sunday – Spain, Seville

July 3, 2016

I kind of managed to make my pj’s look better today on accident. Apparently my dress I washed with the pj’s turned the white stripes to a pink/purple color, i’m digging it. In search of a recommended place for lunch it turned out to be packed so we found an…

July 4 – Monday – Spain, Salamanca

July 4, 2016

Leaving Seville and this apartment is so sad. Eric went to get the car and I met him with the luggage on the corner near our apartment, the timing and finding a spot to pull over worked out surprisingly well. Driving in the middle of the big cities is just…

July 5 – Tuesday – Spain, Pamplona

July 5, 2016

Before leaving Salamanca we thought we’d grab some lunch at Subway, quick, cheap, and healthyish. Nope, nothing opens in Spain until so late, it was sometime after 11 am. We sadly opted for some McDonald’s where one of our french fries fell all over the floor on the way to…

July 6 – Wednesday, Spain, Pamplona

July 6, 2016

We are in Pamplona, Spain today where the San Fermin festival is held it’s more widely known as The Running of the Bulls. The festival starts at noon so we wake up at 11 and don our newly bought white outfits. I’ve read enough to know we don’t put our…

July 7 – Thursday – Spain, Pamplona

July 7, 2016

It’s here! It’s finally time to see The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain!! The run begins at 8 am, however since we aren’t running, we need to find a spot to watch. We were told to find a watching spot by 6 – 6:30 am or we…

July 8 – Friday – Spain, Madrid

July 8, 2016

It’s our last morning in Pamplona it’s a sad but needed end, our livers and bodies are tired and sore. We slept in and gathered our things but had one last meal before we headed out. We tried a restaurant we we couldn’t get into yesterday, it was called Louisiana but…

July 9 – Saturday – Russia, Moscow

July 9, 2016

Who’s going to Russia today? We are!! We threw our freshly washed undies in our bags and got the heck out of that tiny Airbnb. Took an Uber to the airport and had absolutely no issues getting checked into our flight to Moscow. I think we both expected some questions…

July 10 – Sunday – Russia, Moscow

July 10, 2016

Messed up schedule, nervous about Russia, I’m not exactly sure why but both Eric and I both got completely terrible sleep last night, maybe 3 ish hours. Our tour started at 10 am and we were dressed and ready but not completely awake. Alina, our guide, met us in…

July 11 – Monday – Russia, Moscow

July 11, 2016

Today we have a Full Kremlin Tour, but first Breakfast. There is a little bakery directly beside our hotel and I decided to grab myself a little apple pastry this lovely morning. I really had no idea what I was getting but the person before me got one and it…

July 12 – Tuesday – Russia, Moscow

July 12, 2016

Finally we didn’t have to wake up for a tour this morning. We walked around a bit looking for a lunch spot but finding English menus here isn’t the easiest thing so we ended up across the street from that restaurant we keep going to, at least it was something…

July 13 – Wednesday – Russia, St. Petersburg

July 13, 2016

Another day another airplane. Up early to grab an Uber and head to the airport which turned out to be way cheaper than taking a cab. After getting checked in with mostly paperwork and hand gestures (the check in lady spoke almost zero English) we grabed an early lunch. Well…

July 14 – Thursday – Russia, St. Petersburg

July 14, 2016

Today Eric and I did a tour of St. Petersburg, Russia. We walked around the city for 6 hours with zero stops or breaks of any kind, no sitting at all, I think it is a new kind of torture. Our tour guide seemed to have no problems skipping lunch…

July 15 – Friday – Russia, St. Petersburg

July 15, 2016

Thank goodness we had our tour yesterday because it rained on and off all day today. We took advantage of that rain and slept in, it was marvelous. Lunch time came and decked out in our rain coats and umbrellas we stumbled into an Italian restaurant that turned out…

July 16 – Saturday – Norway, Oslo

July 16, 2016

An early morning Uber and we are off to the airport. We thought we were going to have extremely bad traffic, Uber told it it would take over double as long as it did. Thank goodness it was wrong because as we were pulling up I realized our flight was…

July 17 – Sunday – Norway, Oslo

July 17, 2016

Wow our room is bright at 4:30 AM, thank goodness for sleeping masks. Heidi our host is up this morning and gives us a map with some walking tours marked on it. Showered and ready for some lunch and then to get out and explore we headed out the…

July 18 – Monday – Norway, Oslo

July 18, 2016

The sun is out! We eat a small lunch of leftover pizza and head out for the afternoon. Isn’t this living room adorable. Going on the walking tour we tried to do yesterday we started seeing a much better part of Oslo than we did on our first…

July 19 – Tuesday – Norway, Oslo

July 19, 2016

Yesterday went really well and we had a plan to see a few more areas of town today. We spent a few minutes yesterday evening chatting more with Heidi about some food places to try and she gave us several recommendations. For lunch we hit up the place she…

July 20 – Wednesday – Sweden, Stockholm

July 20, 2016

7:40 am – Alarm 7:55 am – Brush teeth, wash face, and attempt to become a functional person and pack our bags 8:30 am – Out the door, walk to the train station, attempt to buy a ticket on the machine, walk away confused, find a booth selling the ticket…

July 21 – Thursday – Sweden, Stockholm

July 21, 2016

Down the road from our hotel we found a fun little spot for lunch. As far as Scandinavian prices go it was pretty reasonable too, about $25 for all this. There seem to be a lot of equestrian and hunting stores around so we popped into one of the…

July 22 – Friday – Sweden, Stockholm

July 22, 2016

We found a great and fairly affordable lunch spot, why go somewhere new. I tired a different salad this time and boy was it good with shrimp and chili lime dressing. E stuck with the chicken cesar salad. Today we got caught up looking at houses in Denver…

July 23 – Saturday – Sweden, Stockholm

July 23, 2016

Day 3 at the same lunch spot with the same lunch, don’t change a good thing I guess. Today we decided to check out this trendy area on an island we haven’t visited yet. Stockholm is made up of several islands all connected by bridges and I guess…

July 24 – Sunday – Denmark, Copenhagen

July 24, 2016

Heading to Denmark today we finally picked a different lunch spot. With our luggage in tow we decided to try some more food from the local chain Espresso Coffee, it’s the place we had the wonderful goat cheese sandwich as a snack in Norway. Eric liked his salad but not…

July 25 – Monday – Denmark, Copenhagen

July 25, 2016

Eric’s hair was getting pretty shaggy so he set out this morning to get a hair cut. He did a little research and found a place online but when he got there they didn’t take credit cards and he couldn’t find the ATM they pointed him towards. While searching, he…

July 26 – Tuesday – Denmark, Copenhagen

July 26, 2016

Ugh we did it again. We wore ourselves out yesterday and now we have no desire to get out and do anything today. In our defense we saw everything in Copenhagen we wanted to see except for one food spot. We ended up spending so much yesterday, mostly on dinner,…

July 27 – Wednesday – Ireland, Dublin

July 27, 2016

It’s Ireland time! We passed this lovely named restaurant on our way to the train station leaving town. Not sure if that means something different in Denmark than it does in the states. Getting checked into our flights was simple, our awesome Airbnb host was nice enough…

July 28 – Thursday – Ireland, Dublin

July 28, 2016

I guess we weren’t the only one’s who wanted to stay in a popular part of the city, their bed doesn’t look as comfy as ours was though. Eric and I were up and out early because my dad meets us in Ireland today and we need to grab…

July 29 – Friday – Ireland, Dublin

July 29, 2016

Lunch was on the way to the Guinness Storehouse, Eric tried something they called a casserole but it was really like a stew, he loved it of course. I had a pastrami sandwich and dad went with dessert for lunch, apple pie. We decided against a tour of…

July 30 – Saturday – Ireland, Cork

July 30, 2016

Getting out of Dublin today it’s time to start our adventure around Ireland. Our first stop was Kilkenny where we had lunch and saw part of the medieval mile and the Kilkenny Castle. Really pretty and fun little town. Next stop was the Rock of Cashel, it was…

July 31 – Sunday – Ireland, Cork

July 31, 2016

So we wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for the day. Yesterday when we checked into our airbnb they told us we needed to turn the hot water on about 20 minutes before we shower and showed us how to do so. Well, 20 minutes came and went,…

August 1 – Monday – Ireland, Killarney

August 1, 2016

It’s not a pretty day in Ireland but it’s the exact weather we expected, rainy and cloudy. Today we stop at Blarney Castle on our way to Killarney. Next to the castle we found a cozy pub for lunch, these Irish meals sure are heavy. In the…

August 2 – Tuesday – Ireland, Dingle

August 2, 2016

With a bit of an earlier start, 10:30 instead of noon ;), we are off to drive the Ring of Kerry. This drive is through Killarney National Park and along the coast of the regions peninsula. We started our drive the opposite direction of most of the tour buses…

August 3 – Wednesday – Ireland, Limerick

August 3, 2016

Eric picked a spot for lunch in Dingle before we took off. Dad was still stuffed from our awesome seafood dinner from last night, Eric had a burger with some really great smoked cheese and I tried seafood dumplings which were odd but not bad. This drive around…

August 4 – Thursday – Ireland, Galway

August 4, 2016

For lunch I searched, and researched and at the very last minute ended up picking a little spot across the street that only had a few reviews. It was amazing. Dad’s biscuit or scone, i’m not sure which was really good. Eric tried a sweet & crispy chicken dish and…

August 5 – Friday – Ireland, Dublin

August 5, 2016

It’s our last day in Ireland, we drive back from Galway to Dublin and that is the end of our trip with my dad. For lunch we decided to get out of town and see what we could find on the road. I picked out a spot on GoogleMaps…

August 6 – Saturday – Scotland, Edinburgh

August 6, 2016

After a 3:30 am wake up to get out the door by 4, all three of us got in a cab and headed to the airport. My poor dad’s flight wasn’t until much later than ours but between him being nervous about sleeping through his alarm and the weird setup…

August 7 – Sunday – Scotland, Edinburgh

August 7, 2016

Today we started off with a visit to the National Museum of Scotland. It’s big, beautiful, pretty new and FREE! Remember Dolly the cloned sheep? Well she died and they have here there stuffed. They have a lot of great art & artifacts. The Celtic exhibit was interesting although I’m…

August 8 – Monday – Scotland, Edinburgh

August 8, 2016

Eric found a neat old map store nearby so we all started off checking that out. The older gentlemen who ran the store was an interesting one but his shop was neat. We had to knock on his door and maybe call as well to get inside and then while…

August 9 – Tuesday – Scotland, Edinburgh

August 9, 2016

Our Airbnb has access to a private park across the street, you need a special key enter. We all took a short walk and explored the little area which was pretty nice, I would totally love to have something like this if I had a family and lived here. …

August 10 – Wednesday – Scotland, Edinburgh

August 10, 2016

Today we go north and tour the Scottish Highlands. Becky really wanted to see the highlands and Gary made it happen, he booked a private tour for us all and it turned out to be a big highlight of Scotland. We were picked up at 8:30 in the morning…

August 11 – Thursday – Scotland, Edinburgh

August 11, 2016

A French bistro for lunch, poor Gary says he doesn’t like French food but he was outvoted. Today we explored the Edinburgh Castle, the weather threatened rain the entire time but we stayed dry surprisingly. It has rained on and off so much since we’ve arrived. The castle…

August 12 – Friday – England, London

August 12, 2016

Up and at ’em, off we go on a train from Edinburgh to London. While we ladies looked out for the train and after the luggage the men folk went off in search for sustenance. I asked for a Diet Coke from Eric and something to nibble on if…

August 13 – Saturday – England, London

August 13, 2016

After Gary went on a morning run through a nearby graveyard he decided we all needed to see it and I must admit it was pretty interesting. Most of the graves were from the mid 1800’s but while the paths were maintained, trash looked emptied and grass was cleared from…

August 14 – Sunday – England, London

August 14, 2016

Another day of museums for G&B which means another relaxing day for E&A, Sunday is the day of rest after all ;). Becky made us breakfast before they left this morning, Thanks Becky! We didn’t even make it far down the street for lunch, we found a spot…

August 15 – Monday – England, London

August 15, 2016

Who loves the Hop on hop off buses in London? I do! We all got out and explored the city today. We started out heading towards the Westminster area. We started looking for a spot for lunch and walked through St. James Park, there was a restaurant in the…

August 16 – Tuesday – England, London

August 16, 2016

Becky wanted to see an exhibit at the The British Museum, Sunken Cities, Egypt’s Lost Cities. She and Gary were nice enough to buy tickets for Eric and I as well so this morning we all headed out to the museum. With a little caffeine starter we headed in to…

August 17 – Wednesday – England, London

August 17, 2016

With sad hearts we hug Gary and Becky goodbye this morning, they fly back to Scotland for a day before completing their journey home to Colorado. We’ve had so much fun having both them and my dad with us it was so wonderful being able to travel with family. …

August 18 – Thursday – England, London

August 18, 2016

Eric woke up this morning not feeling fantastic, he seems to be allergic to something in the room we are staying in. Trying to kick it out of his system he went for a run, I Facebooked. Ha We are craving something easy and healthish if we can accomplish…

August 19 – Friday – England, London

August 19, 2016

Since today we have afternoon tea reservations for 3:45 we opted for some light sandwiches from the grocery store and the leftover salad. You really can’t see it from this picture but there was a fox napping in the backyard. I scared it when I opened the door of course…

August 20 – Saturday – England, London

August 20, 2016

Eric made it through the night but just barley. He is just so allergic to whatever is in this house and more specifically this room that he is miserable. He tried sleeping in the living room and he’s been on sudafed and or benadryl ever since we got here. …

August 21 – Sunday – England, London

August 21, 2016

Sadly I am writing this one September 5th so I don’t remember much of what happened today. I do remember that Eric is recovering from his allergy fog today from his cousin’s house that we sadly had to leave. He was feeling better but we just weren’t too…

August 22 – Monday – England, London

August 22, 2016

Our last day in London and we have one more thing to check off our list before we leave. Our new apartment is super walk able so we found a spot for lunch and then continued on our way. After I we finished all those World War…

August 23 – Tuesday – Belgium, Brussels

August 23, 2016

Today we take a train from London to Brussels. We said goodbye to our little place in London and took the tube to the station. At the station we had burgers for lunch and a cappuccino to waste some time before our train left. I swear the waitress at the…

August 24 – Wednesday – Belgium, Brussels

August 24, 2016

Today I realized I had like 10 new episodes of Pretty Little Liars to download and watch. Eric was pretty into getting work done so he was happy to call it a binge watch day. The market yesterday had some prepared salads we picked up and boy were they…

August 25 – Thursday – Belgium, Brussels

August 25, 2016

I woke up today with a terrible headache. Eric and I made a trip to a laundromat 1st thing since we missed that our apartment didn’t have a washer. A nice older guy there attempted to communicate how it all worked to us in French and we got our clothes…

August 26, 2016 – Friday – Belgium, Brussels

August 26, 2016

After a terrible night’s sleep I still feel awful, the right side of my head has so much pressure in it and my sinuses under my eyes too. Eric has been getting lots of work done and making me lots of sandwiches. I’m just doing what I can to…

August 27 – Saturday – Belgium, Brussels

August 27, 2016

Another day full of sinus pressure. I’m miserable and Eric is being a trouper not upset at all that we aren’t getting out to explore. Today was a lot more listening to the 1st Game of Thrones book for me and working for Eric. Dinner was really great….

August 28 – Sunday – Belgium, Brussels

August 28, 2016

Another day the headache and pressure continues. Eric keeps taking care of me, feeding me and hasn’t complained once.

August 29 – Monday – Belgium, Brussels

August 29, 2016

Eric stayed up all night working on his business idea. The poor guy couldn’t get his brain to stop turning so after one attempt at laying down he was up working the entire night. Finally around 11:30 am he took a 2.5 hour nap. I still have a headache…

August 30 – Tuesday – Belgium, Brussels

August 30, 2016

I’m healed! My headache is finally gone and I am ready to get out and explore Brussels. For lunch we hit a spot called Peck 47. 2 pink lemonades, a Peck Special of homemade chorizo and goat cheese waffles, 2 poached eggs, bacon and homemade paycho sauce for me….

August 31 – Wednesday – Czech Republic, Prague

August 31, 2016

It’s our last day in Brussels but our flight isn’t until 8 pm. We took our time getting ready and packing, our host was nice and let us use the apartment until we left for the airport. For lunch we hit up one last fun spot. Lunch was nice…

September 1 – Thursday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 1, 2016

We woke up slowly this morning. Annoyingly I forgot to turn off my alarm and it woke me up before I’d have liked, of course Eric didn’t stir at all and slept peacefully through the terrifying sound. Never having a proper dinner the previous evening we were famished when…

September 2 – Friday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 2, 2016

Well Eric’s night of poker didn’t end until 5 am I guess that technically happened today, it also made for a very late morning. Once we finally got around for lunch we only made it as far as across the street. There is a really well rated sushi place…

September 3 – Saturday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 3, 2016

Guess who stayed out at the casino until 5 am again… This time he didn’t even make it to bed I found him asleep in the living room when I woke up, he went to the bedroom and slept until 2 in the afternoon. I ventured out for lunch…

September 4 – Sunday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 4, 2016

Eric is still trying to get back on a normal schedule so we went to a late lunch. We found a nice Italian place and oh my goodness did Eric order well, gnocchi with goat cheese, spinach and dried tomatoes with cream. So yummy. My pasta with pancetta and olive…

September 5 – Monday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 5, 2016

Eric is finally hangover free. He picked us out a fun lunch place Cafe Louvre and we tried some new things. They had orange juice with strawberries which was very yummy and as for the new things Eric got a chicken dish with this amazing sauce and something that looked like…

September 6 – Tuesday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 6, 2016

Today we start with a pizza spot, Pizzeria Kmotra. Eric wen’t crazy and got tomato soup and salmon while I got one amazing pizza. My pie had sausage and caramelized onions and some kind of cream, it was heaven. From lunch we headed towards the river to start…

September 7 – Wednesday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 7, 2016

Today we are doing a segway tour of Prague. Segways are something neither Eric or I have ever tried so we were a little excited for something new. On our way to the tour office we fought our way across Charles Bridge and ended up having lunch at a…

September 8 – Thursday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 8, 2016

Who ate darn near raw chicken today? I did. We hit up this really well rated cafe today for lunch and started off having a pretty nice lunch until Eric noticed my chicken was severely under cooked in the middle. It was stuffed with cheese and tomato so I just…

September 9 – Friday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 9, 2016

Sometimes it’s crazy how hard it is to find a good and affordable lunch spot. After about 10 days here in Prague we finally found our lunch winner Bageterie Boulevard. The sandwiches are great and the”chips” seasoned potato wedges with some kind of white sauce on them are fantastic. …

September 10 – Saturday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 10, 2016

What do you do when you finally found that great lunch spot? You go two days in a row, that’s right, we tried different sandwiches this time if that helps. Still very good. We had a bit of a falling out today over Eric’s late night casino outings….

September 11 – Sunday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 11, 2016

Ummmm, yes, we had food from our new favorite lunch spot 3 days in a row. SorryNotSorry. Today’s sandwich was a meatball something and it was the best of all 3 I tried, I’m going to miss this place when we go. Today I manage to find some…

September 12 – Monday – Czech Republic, Prague

September 12, 2016

For our last day in Prague we decided to make a 2nd attempt for our favorite sushi place. Hooray, they were open for lunch today and as good as ever. Roaming the streets of the old town area again we said our goodbyes to the city we’ve stayed…

September 13 – Tuesday – Hungary, Budapest

September 13, 2016

Super early morning for us, 8:40 am alarm. Haha I know we are pathetic. We said goodbye to our little home in Prague and hopped in a Uber to the airport. It’s crazy how quickly our time here flew by. We were pretty lazy I know but we both needed…

September 14 – Wednesday – Hungary, Budapest

September 14, 2016

WhooHooo Apple’s ISO 10 update came out last night and my phone finally finished updating it this morning! Fun new features to play with. After grabbing a couple local SIM cards Eric and I headed off to lunch. Eric picked out a spot that ended up being fantastic….

September 15 – Thursday – Hungary, Budapest

September 15, 2016

Hello ramen. Lunch was good and right around the corner. Eric isn’t feeling well again and actually I’m not feeling great this morning either. We are both having allergy issues again. Eric the culprit is our pillows, they are down. I think we’ll sleep without them tonight and see if things…

September 16 – Friday – Hungary, Budapest

September 16, 2016

We seem to be in an international food kick here and I’m not complaining. Lunch was Thai food and boy was it good. No good excuses today for doing nothing other than we just don’t feel like it. I’m totally feeling better after sleeping without the down feather…

September 17 – Saturday – Hungary, Budapest

September 17, 2016

For lunch we tired a really well rated sandwich shop that always has a ton of people hanging around it. The menu was interesting, one of the sandwiches claimed it had “brain” in it, ewww. The sandwiches were super cheap but not very good sadly. Overrated on the reviews sadly….

September 18 – Sunday – Hungary, Budapest

September 18, 2016

Waking up this morning to my computer randomly taking it upon it’s self to do a major update to it’s software I got to sit and wait. Apparently “these updates help protect me in an online world” but I didn’t ask for them and they didn’t come at the most…

September 19 – Monday – Hungary, Budapest

September 19, 2016

So apparently somewhere after we went to bed last night and when we woke up this morning Eric got angry at me again. We had a silent Thai lunch and a very quiet afternoon before I finally asked him what was wrong. Thank goodness it rained on…

September 20 – Tuesday – Hungary, Budapest

September 20, 2016

Wow I need to start taking pictures of my day other than just the food. However today, yet again, we did almost nothing. Today we did nothing with 100% intentions because it is our last day alone on our trip. Tomorrow our friends start meeting us and the trip won’t…

September 21 – Wednesday – Hungary, Budapest

September 21, 2016

Our friends are here!!!!! Eric and I had to check out of our apartment at noon and couldn’t check into the next until 2pm. We also expected Steph and Katie around that same time. To waste time we headed around the corner to Burger King and ended up eating…

September 22 – Thursday – Hungary, Budapest

September 22, 2016

Death, Eric and I both feel like death today. We both threw up this morning, I threw up twice. Way too much drinking yesterday. Eric stayed in bed and I attempted to go to lunch with everyone. We walked towards the river and found an Italian spot on the…

September 23 – Friday – Hungary, Budapest

September 23, 2016

Feeling like a normal person again today, thank goodness. Katherine set out to crossfit (Go Katherine!) A bit later Steph, Katie and I searched for coffee and found a really fun spot called the Blue Bird Cafe. Cheesecake for breakfast, yes we sure did. Katherine got cleaned up, roused…

September 24 – Saturday – Italy, Sorrento

September 24, 2016

It’s time to leave Budapest and head to Sorrento, Italy. We said a sad goodbye to one of my favorite cities and flagged down a couple cabs to the airport. A smooth check in, some food on our tummies and we were in the air. We flew into…

September 25 – Sunday – Italy, Sorrento

September 25, 2016

With such a great 1st night in Italy the group was a little slow to get around this morning. Not making it out until lunch we picked a spot in Sant’Angelo with an amazing view of the sea to eat. The weather was perfect and I ordered lobster, I am…

September 26 – Monday – Switzerland, Zurich

September 26, 2016

Hooray for Katherine! This smart lady thought ahead and booked us a private transfer back from Sorrento to Naples to catch our next flight. It was an early and quiet ride but much more comfortable than the bus we took to get to the apartment. Eric and I had…

September 27 – Tuesday – Switzerland, Zurich

September 27, 2016

Katie picked a winner of a lunch spot today. About as cheap as you can get but still so tasty we had brats and hot dogs all around. After lunch we did a bit of exploring but soon found that we had a seen a lot of the town center area…

September 28 – Wednesday – Germany, Munich

September 28, 2016

Today we said goodbye to our amazing house in Zurich and hopped on a bus to Germany. Before leaving we had one last lunch in this really unique burrito place, the decorations were interesting for sure. I’m going to miss Zurich’s super easy to navigate trolley’s. …

May 1st – Tuesday – Denver, Colorado

May 1, 2018

Wake up. Shower. Finnish the packing that we only started last night… oops! Make the bed for the Airbnb guest that is coming in tonight. Call the Uber & get on a plane. Stop in Cincinnati. Wait, why are we in Cincinnati?! Super weird layover…

May 2nd – Wednesday – Paris/Orleans France

May 2, 2018

Landing at CDG around 8:30 AM Eric and I are in France guys! Customs takes a while. They have like 2 people checking passports for several hundred people. Why France why?! I find our bags while Eric gets us some SIM cards and we are off. We tired…

May 3rd – Wednesday – Andorra, Andorra La Vella

May 3, 2018

I wake up and glance at my phone to check the time… it’s 4 AM. I put it back down and pray that I can go back to sleep but a few minutes later I feel Eric stir and soon there is the oh so well known light of a…

May 4th – Friday – Andorra La Vella, Andorra

May 4, 2018

It’s our 5 year anniversary!!!! I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since I married this wonderful man of mine. A breakfast of goat cheese, prosciutto, and bread. Am I dreaming? This is my breakfast? I’m in heaven! An attempt was made to go to lunch but…

May 5th – Saturday – Valencia, Spain

May 5, 2018

On the road again. After another breakfast of that oh so dreamy goat cheese and prosciutto and a little work for Eric we packed our bags and jumped in the car. Andorra, we found out after we arrived has a weird roaming area so our phones were on airplane…

May 6th – Sunday – Valencia, Spain

May 6, 2018

1st full day in Spain, what should we do? After a nice morning soaking up the sun on the balcony I think we’ll just walk. E takes us to a place that served pintxos, ” ‘Pintxo’ is a ‘Basque-ified’ take on the Spanish word ‘pincho’, which itself comes from the…

May 7th – Monday – Valencia, Spain

May 7, 2018

Wake up… work… Play! Today we went to the aquarium, it’s supposed to be rated as one of the best in the world. I don’t think I’d rate it all that high but it did make for fun afternoon. We walked the about 2.5 miles each way stopping…

May 8th – Tuesday – Valencia, Spain

May 8, 2018

Valencia has a very popular Central Market which is a big indoor market with lots of vendors selling prepared foods to raw, and booze, seafood and sandwiches, all of the yummy things. For lunch today Eric and I perused our options and then dove in. We bought a couple sandwiches,…

May 9th – Wednesday – Valencia, Spain

May 9, 2018

It’s beach day! The sun is out, it’s warm, let’s go play. Driving is our best option, it’s about 3 miles away and I just don’t want to walk that. Our new phone holder for the car works great! Parking turns out to be simple and close, which never…

May 10th – Thursday – Valencia, Spain

May 10, 2018

Haircuts, sushi, work and a very late dinner. E got a haircut. Lookin good. Walking around we noticed a pre-made sushi place that was always busy, today we went there for lunch. Super nice girls working there and really good sushi! And now we work….

May 11th – Friday – Cordoba, Spain

May 11, 2018

I am so sad to leave our little apartment in Valencia with the big balcony that gets lots of sun and has pretty views of the city. It has those electric window covers that make the bedroom pitch black even at noon. The location couldn’t have been better we were…

May 12th – Saturday – Malaga, Spain

May 12, 2018

Only staying one day in Cordoba we are both a little sad to leave this sweet town so soon. After checking out of the apartment and storing our bags in the car I wanted to show Eric the things I saw in town and look at a few more patios….

May 13th – Sunday – Malaga, Spain

May 13, 2018

This Sunday is a bit of a catch up day. Eric knocks out a bit of work and then for lunch we finally change it up, Japanese food! It was so delicious. Eric and I get new SIM cards from the different countries we visit and this trip…

May 14th – Monday – Malaga, Spain

May 14, 2018

It’s time to get out and stretch our legs, but first, lunch. Finding a table at a spot we had our eye on last night, we are happy campers. The waiter is friendly and speaks pretty good English (he had a little rant session with us about how they were…

May 15th – Tuesday – Malaga, Spain

May 15, 2018

Sometimes you find a restaurant you just like, it’s easy and the food is good. This Japanese noodle place is ours in this city. Back for lunch I ordered the exact same thing as before, at least Eric branched out a bit. Malaga was home to Picasso and…

May 16th – Wednesday – Marbella, Spain

May 16, 2018

Eric asked if we could check out at 2:30 today so we have a nice relaxed morning. This is my least favorite Airbnb as well as my least favorite city so far, I’m ready to get out of here. We have one last lunch, we split some croquettes and a…

May 17th – Thursday – Marbella, (Ronda) Spain

May 17, 2018

Help me Rhonda! Help, help me Rhonda! Just kidding, no help needed, but we are going to Ronda, Spain today. Like usual we take our time getting ready and then head to lunch. It was a very meaty lunch and Eric was in heaven. It’s about an…

May 18th – Friday – Marbella, Spain

May 18, 2018

Normally having a rule about not going to burger restaurants outside of the states, they are always disappointing, we broke that rule today. Technically we didn’t have burgers we both had chicken sandwiches and mine was phenomenal. A brioche bun with goat cheese, some sauce caramelized onions, and some kind…

May 19th – Saturday – Marbella, Spain

May 19, 2018

It’s our last full day in Marbella and I’m not ready to leave, I love this little town. We tired a bit of Italian for lunch, I had what was like a flatbread calzone and it was delicious. After lunch we walked around town a bit, my intention was to…

May 20th – Sunday – Cadiz, Spain (Gibraltar)

May 20, 2018

I don’t wanna leave! This is my favorite apartment and favorite city so far and we just weren’t here long enough. With that said, the ladies are here 10 min early to check us out and we aren’t quite done cleaning up. Oops. Today we are making a stop…

May 21st – Monday – Cadiz, Spain

May 21, 2018

We have been doing a lot of eating, not a ton of walking and today Eric decided it’s time to go for a run. I on the other hand laid in bed while he went on said run. He said he pushed himself really hard and ran a few miles….

May 22nd – Tuesday – Cadiz, Spain

May 22, 2018

Eric has run himself to sickness. Quickly after his run yesterday Eric started feeling pretty run down, today he is full blown sick. He’s coughing and sneezing and seems to have a head cold maybe. It’s a good sign Eric hasn’t lost his appetite, we went to lunch…

May 23rd – Wednesday – Seville, Spain

May 23, 2018

Eric is miserable. It’s time to pack up and go to Seville and he is using all of his energy to get through this transition. Packing up the car and taking one last ride in the car elevator we are on the road to our next destination and thank goodness…

May 24th – Thursday – Seville, Spain

May 24, 2018

Normally I love it when blow dryers are provided wherever we are staying. The one at our current apartment burnt my hair off! I have never had that happen before. I was just blow drying like normal and all the sudden this funny noise happened and I turned it off…

May 25th – Friday – Seville, Spain

May 25, 2018

Ugh, now I don’t feel very well. I went to bed with a throat tickle and I woke up just meh, coughing and congested. I picked out a place for lunch and that’s pretty much all I did all day. Lunch was actually really good, I ordered their special…