We arrived back in America at SFO February 28, 2007. Back to the Bay. Back to family. Back to reality? Not so much. Boy are we LUCKY! Maybe a touch Spoiled too! 'Back to Reality' for Mike and myself meant wine and laughter, taco feasts, soaking in Calistoga, catching up with the best of friends, the sights of Tahoe, snowboarding, and reminiscing about times that are sometimes forgotten. Work?...Not yet, possibly not till April (GASP!). Home?...not a set place yet, simply where the heart is with family and friends. Life has brought us back to America but not to reality quite [View Full Entry]

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While planning this trip I had the occuring feeling that it wasn't going to happen. I guess with an adventure this grand it just seems almost too much; fantasy like in a way. Our computer's screensaver in Santa Barbara had a picuture of a beautiful beach in Thailand on it for months. Every once and a while it would change to a waterfall or some other picturesque location, but always Thailand. It's a strange feeling when you seem to have jumped inside the screensaver. That's exactly what has happened. Mike and I have been spending time on the most stunning beaches [View Full Entry]

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". . . Are Those That Are Unexpected." Laos took us completely by surprise. Our original plan was to jump the border before our Thai Visas expired, spend one night in Laos then come right back to Thailand and start heading south. It's now been about a week and we just crossed back to Thailand two days ago. What kept us there was a feeling that we were in a place that was truly special, and through our travels we have learned that this feeling is not to be ignored. Talking to different people on our trip we have heard the [View Full Entry]

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For the next 6 hours Mike and I will be on a bus with air conditioning that doesn't work. We are traveling to Mae Sot. As we slink down the aisle to our seats we notice that the bus was full of Westerners (AKA white people). That's no good; we are trying to get away from those damn Westerners. The front section of the bus has a group of twenty something mormons on a missionary trip of some sort. Someone in the church group hands the bus driver a CD. The bus driver puts it on. To our horror "YMCA" starts [View Full Entry]

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Though it has only been a week since our last blog, it feels like much longer! We arrived in Chiang Mai in the afternoon on the 16th. Our mode of transportation was an overnight train departing from Bangkok at 10pm the previous night. We were a bit skeptical as to how spending 16hrs on a train would be, but we must admit, it was very pleasant. The train car we were on consisted of nearly forty beds stacked two high. Erin slept on the top bunk with me on the bottom. After a surprisingly sweet slumber we awoke to see the [View Full Entry]

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Before this blog may begin an apology is in order. An error was made on our last blog. A huge error. A "Thank you" was not fully given. As Mike and I made made the windy journey by cab to Long Beach on Koh Chang Island Friday afternoon he looked at me concerned and groaned, "I'm an idiot". He barried his head in his hands and repeated those words. I asked, "Why, whats wrong"? He told me he made a mistake on our blog. He made an error on a "Thank You". He thanked ONLY his Dad for a gift that [View Full Entry]

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The most repeated quote from Koh Chang: "We could get use to this". This place is amazing! We left Trat for a ferry to Koh Chang what seems like a century ago. Time on this beautiful island seems to pass by without being recognized. We settled down in what we were told was the quitest and best part of the island, "Lonely Beach". An immediate confirmation of this came when we were the last ones on the taxi that took all other beach goers to their destinations. It took us all of 15 minutes before we were swimming in the clear [View Full Entry]

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Bye-Bye-Bangkok! Hello Trat! Mid afternoon on Saturday... A hop on a bus has lead Mike and I to a magical town called Trat! We love it here. Trat is an adorable town where the people are unbelievably friendly and the overall atmosphere is can be sumed up in one word: relaxation. We arrived in Trat after a six hour bus ride and were stunned at how different Trat was in comparison to Bangkok. Bangkok was a bit too busy for our tastes. From the second we slid out of our taxi we were graciously welcomed by the local residients with suggestions [View Full Entry]

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To say that the transition into our new lives in Bangkok went seamlessly would be a complete fabrication of the truth. We woke early on Wed. with grand plans for the day. Our hotel comes with a free breakfast buffet, so the plan was to get some food then hit the streets. Since we are traveling on a budget, the word "buffet" turned into "stuff your face so you don't have to spend money on food for the rest of the day". I (Mike) was fine with this; however, poor little Erin didn't handle the food-a-thon so well. Let's just say [View Full Entry]

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We made it! After a extremely intense day of traveling we arrived safe and sound in Bangkok. Our hotel is super cool (thank you, Mom/Alice) and we had never been so excited to lay down on a bed. We were so exhuasted and Jet Lagged that the rest of the day was spent relaxing. A little pool time and the worlds most fantastic nap was all we had in us. The plane ride was the most challenging 13 consecutive hours of our lives due to the worlds most uncomfortable seats. We had a 2 hour lay over in Taiwan and a [View Full Entry]

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