Leaning Into Layovers: How Nicole And I Were Able To Visit And Explore Helsinki

Leaning Into Layovers: How Nicole And I Were Able To Visit And Explore Helsinki

Nicole and I knew we wanted to visit Vietnam, Bali, England (to attend a wedding), and France during our trip. The time we spent in Bangkok and Helsinki this past week was a bonus. 

Because we could be flexible with our travel dates, we were able to schedule flights to take advantage of some airline miles we had. In order to make this...

Read More

Muy Thai At Channel 7 Stadium And Port F.C. At PAT Stadium... Our First Day In Bangkok

Muy Thai At Channel 7 Stadium And Port F.C. At PAT Stadium... Our First Day In Bangkok

According to Wikipedia, two of the most popular sports in Thailand are Muay Thai and soccer. I saw both on our first day!

Heading into our short, three day stay in Bangkok, my singular goal was to attend a Muay Thai kickboxing match. Although spectators can watch Muay Thai at many places in Bangkok...

Read More

Our Week Spent At The Westin Resort On The Nusa Dua Peninsula In Bali

Our Week Spent At The Westin Resort On The Nusa Dua Peninsula In Bali

For the past week, Nicole and I used some of Nicole's hotel points to stay at a Westin resort on the Nusa Dua peninsula of Bali, in Indonesia. What follows are our observations:

1. Resort living was a-ok, but doesn't leave me much to write about. Over Bintang beers last night while playing cribbage on our terrace (see picture below), Nicole and I remarked that, after a week of resort living, I had virtually nothing to write about! Most everyday we woke up, maybe watched the sunrise and meditated, then had coffee and oatmeal on our terrace before hanging out by the pool all day. We would mix in occasional trips...

Read More

Our Overview And Observations From Travelling For Two Months Through Vietnam

Our Overview And Observations From Travelling For Two Months Through Vietnam

As I finish up this blog post in Bali, it is bittersweet! On the one hand, we are excited to be visiting new countries, but on the other hand, we are sad to have left Vietnam.  For anyone interested in Vietnam travel, what follows is an overview of our thoughts, opinions, and tips after having spent two months travelling through the country. [Nicole's added notes are in brackets throughout]...

Read More

Observations From The Two Months Where Nicole And I Have Spent Nearly Every Waking Moment Together

Observations From The Two Months Where Nicole And I Have Spent Nearly Every Waking Moment Together

What's it like to spend months on the road with your spouse? Prior to our trip, Nicole and I had no idea. We knew that (a) we would be spending nearly every waking hour together and (b) travelling in developing countries where we don't speak the local language can be challenging and stressful. Thus, combining (a) and (b) could be a formula for marital friction (if not handled correctly)! :) ...

Read More

Learning About The Vietnam (American) War During Our Time In Vietnam

Learning About The Vietnam (American) War During Our Time In Vietnam

A few days ago, on the boat ride out to the best snorkeling experience I've ever had (once again proving that the best experiences need not be expensive -- $17 for a full day's tour including lunch), our guide told us solemnly to prepare ourselves for the day's underwater adventure in the Vietnam Sea.

The Vietnam Sea?

Our guide waited a few beats, raised his eyebrows...

Read More

Our Friends' Take On Their Two Weeks Spent In Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An, And Quy Nhon

Our Friends' Take On Their Two Weeks Spent In Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An, And Quy Nhon

We’ve spent the past week at the Avani Quy Nhon Resort & Spa, located about ten miles south of the city of Quy Nhon near a small fishing village called Bai Xep, with our friends Leigh Anna and Kara who live and work in New York City and decided to take a two week vacation to Vietnam to coincide with our time here. They spent their first week touring Hanoi, Halong Bay, and Hoi An, before joining us here for the second week. It has been awesome having them here and we're sad they're leaving!

Last night, before we dove into a game of Hearts...

Read More

What's This Trip Cost? How Much We Have Spent Travelling Through Vietnam For One Month

What's This Trip Cost? How Much We Have Spent Travelling Through Vietnam For One Month

"Hey Nicole, how about if I do a blog post on how much money we've spent thus far on our trip?" "Great idea, Travis! Can you also post a screen shot of our bank accounts and copies of our previous year's tax returns, too?!"

So I had to convince my better half that this post would be a good idea. :) My sales pitch included that (1) whenever I read about someone else's travel...

Read More

Dealing With Our Disappointment Regarding Da Nang, Vietnam

Dealing With Our Disappointment Regarding Da Nang, Vietnam

Oftentimes when someone returns from a trip and tells me about their vacation travel, I ask if anything went wrong. A lot of times those seem to be the best stories. If someone were to ask Nicole and I that question, thus far our answer would be choosing to spend ten days in Da Nang! (oh that dang Da Nang)

We'd heard a lot of good things about Da Nang's beaches, so our expectations...

Read More

After One Month Of Travelling In Asia, A Few Of The Products We Are Glad We Have With Us

After One Month Of Travelling In Asia, A Few Of The Products We Are Glad We Have With Us

Below are a handful of products that we have been getting a lot of use out of on our trip. In some instances, this was expected, in other instances it was not.

Lululemon Travel Yoga Mat. Nicole completed a yoga teacher training at Yoga Shanti in NYC immediately before our trip and already had been planning to bring her travel yoga mat with her. I didn't have a travel yoga mat and my regular mat was way too...

Read More

Du Du? Reminding Ourselves Of The Benefits Of Attempting Some Local Phrases While In Hoi An, Vietnam

Du Du? Reminding Ourselves Of The Benefits Of Attempting Some Local Phrases While In Hoi An, Vietnam

When Nicole and I took our first overseas trip eleven years ago, we packed a separate translation dictionary for each of the four countries we visited and studied them religiously. I still remember going on morning walks in Italy and saying Buongiorno to every single person we saw. 

Since that time, for the most part I have slowly stopped learning the language basics of the countries we have visited. This has coincided with...

Read More

The Background Of How Our Six Month Trip Through Asia And Europe Came Together

The Background Of How Our Six Month Trip Through Asia And Europe Came Together

A lot of people have asked about the background details of our trip, so I figured it was time to provide some info! :)

Nicole was sort of the brains behind getting the Meserve Reserve website up and running. Originally, we purchased a Squarespace account and the domain name as a means to sell candles that Nicole had been making. But as we were getting that running, we decided to take...

Read More

Too Heavy To Zipline -- How We Ended Up Doing The Most Amazing Cave Tour While In Phong Nha, Vietnam

Too Heavy To Zipline -- How We Ended Up Doing The Most Amazing Cave Tour While In Phong Nha, Vietnam

The highlight of our stay in Phong Nha village came about because of the eating binge I had been on prior to leaving for our trip. 

Before I get into that, one sidenote is that, in our humble opinions, anyone travelling to Vietnam should make time for a stay at this village within Phong Nha - Ke Bang national park. We loved the contrast of staying in a small, rural village after the hustle and bustle of Hanoi. We stayed at a little hotel, the Phong Nha Coco House...

Read More

Teaching Ourselves To Ride A Motorcycle While In Phong Nha, Vietnam

Teaching Ourselves To Ride A Motorcycle While In Phong Nha, Vietnam

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Nicole and I rented a motorcycle. 

This was one of my must do's when we were planning our trip to Vietnam. For a few weeks, I even became fixated on the idea of us traveling solely by motorcycle during which time I probably read every blog that's ever been written on motorcycling in Vietnam. But we came to our senses and realized that renting one periodically along the way would have to be good enough.

Nonetheless, my desire to rent one only increased after spending time in the country...

Read More

We Learned An Important Lesson Packing For Our Six Month Trip: Don't Wait, Drink The Wine

We Learned An Important Lesson Packing For Our Six Month Trip: Don't Wait, Drink The Wine

Flashback to two weeks ago when we were moving our possessions to a storage unit prior to leaving for this trip. We put most of our wine bottles into storage, but a handful were way past their prime and we couldn't justify storing them longer. Among others, we had a bottle labeled "Great Wall" that we bought during a 2007 trip to China, a "Plantation Red" Hawaiian wine we picked up on our honeymoon in 2004, and a Utah bottle I purchased at a convenience store during a mountain biking trip to Moab with my friend Nick. One of the bottles lived with us in Spokane, then traveled by UHaul to Arizona...

Read More

After Being on the Road for Nine Days (of a Six Month Trip), Here's What Nicole and I Have Learned

After Being on the Road for Nine Days (of a Six Month Trip), Here's What Nicole and I Have Learned

1. I should have packed more t-shirts. I've been wearing the same one for 3 days now. But we're doing laundry this afternoon!

2. Nicole could do without overnight sleeper buses. Because of an (unknown to us) national holiday weekend going on in Vietnam, we were unable to book a train from Hanoi to Phong Nha. So our hotel helped us book a sleeper bus. The good: $25/person. The bad: The "beds" would be fine if I were 5'3'' and skinny, and the bus comes with its own soundtrack, ie, the cell...

Read More

Our Packing List For A Six Month Trip To Hong Kong, Vietnam, Bali, Thailand, Finland, England, France, And Spain

Our Packing List For A Six Month Trip To Hong Kong, Vietnam, Bali, Thailand, Finland, England, France, And Spain

The second to last picture taken in our NY apartment of 7 years (the last was a selfie :)). 

What to take on a 5-6 month trip where the goal is to be mobile yet comfortable? Here's what we decided to bring. I'm using a large North Face duffel and Go Ruck GR1 backpack and Nicole is using an Away suitcase, tote, and handbag. We will see how it works out!

Travis

  • 6 plain Hanes tshirts, 2 long sleeve collared shirts, 1 short sleeve collared shirt
  • 1 pair linen pants, 2 pairs cargo shorts
  • 1 pair Nike running shoes, 1 pair Havianas flip flops...
Read More