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Your Biggest Achievements Start With Conquering Fears

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When Mike and I first decided to take the leap of faith together and move to Asia, we had no idea if anything besides our savings would catch our fall. We worked our asses off, filled our wallets up, and hoped on a one way journey to Koh Tao, Thailand. The two of us hadn’t even been dating for a year before we were in agreement on how right it felt to send ourselves on this adventure together. The whole idea began when Mike, was offered an internship at New Way Diving to do his Dive Master Training. Being a PADI Divemaster (DM) is the first step in your professional scuba diving career. With the DM certification one can take on full responsibility for a dive group and lead already certified divers on their dives. As a PADI Divemaster, one can also assist on teaching courses and qualify to work in any dive shop around the world. This is the goal Mike envisioned as he’s always dreamed of being able to travel the world while following his passion and being able to financially support himself. Mike being a diver and on his way to being a dive professional, he convinced me to try out scuba diving for the first time and get my open water certification. Well, it didn’t go as planned, I was terrified of diving during my group class and couldn’t get off the boat. I cried hysterically out of fear and embarrassment one morning telling Mike how I feared diving “just wasn’t for me.” After a month with one on one pool confined lessons and more solo training, I had enough confidence (and passed my open water course) to go diving alone with Mike. He’s been taking me on dives as often as we both can in our schedules, and with every new log in my dive book, I feel more confident with myself and my life choices. I now understand why the universe drew me and Mike together. We’ve shaped each others lives to help co-create the life we’ve always imagined as individuals. Together, we are living our life the happiest we’ve imagined, in a quaint little bungalow, with an ocean front view and a baby kitty to call ours. While racking up my dives, I work side jobs as Mike works in a dive shop.I’m so excited to be able to further my diving goals and get on Mikes level. I have great confidence that one day him and I will both be Divemasters, traveling to more countries, working in the same dive shop and leading fun divers who share our same passion to see the underwater world. I can’t wait to see the life I’m living unfold in front of me and am kindly asking for your support in helping me achieve my PADI Divemaster Certification. With this first accomplishment in my professional diving career I believe I will be able to work with and inspire other young people to live their lives for passion and happiness. I hope to one day be able to do more scientific research in our ocean and help others have the opportunity to explore the waters and see the world through a different perspective. 
Help support my Divemaster training course by following this link here Go Fund Me <—

Build Yourself A Home On The Road Less Traveled

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 I have no shame in admitting how obsessed I am with my everyday views and adventures. I sometimes can’t justify not sharing with others the beauty that surrounds me on my side of the world. I always love to hear everyone’s opinions and read your responses on what I share with you. I read a lot of you tell me how I’m “living the life” and although I don’t necessarily agree with that phrase, as I believe I am just living my life, I understand it coming from an outsiders view. But one recent comment really got me thinking. “This is just a short time of your life, enjoy it while you can. You’ll be back home before you know it” Someone had said this on one of my recent posts. It makes me wish there were more open minded people in this world. People who aren’t afraid of making their lives an adventure. Who aren’t afraid to call somewhere unfamiliar home. It’s interesting to me, how someone can call this a short time in my life. Maybe I want this to be the long haul, and why can’t it be? 

Mike and I have had “the talk” way too many times these past few weeks. We have been trying to decide what to “do next”. Do we stay, or do we go? I have been trying to use logic and rationality to choose my answer. “We go” I’ve been arguing. “We go”, I say, so we can have stability when we return to the states. So we can have enough money to settle down on an apartment, car, and basic living needs. We can find jobs and work our asses off, “we go”, I’ve been arguing. 

But I haven’t truly been thinking as rationally as I thought I had been and because of that I’ve changed my argument. Now, I say “we stay” 

We already have a place to live here. We have jobs, two bikes, and basic living needs. We have mountains surrounding us and perfect dive sites below us. We live in paradise, we can work our asses off here just as much as we can work in the states, and though we’d make more money there, we make more memories here. I was looking for a rational future so we could fit in with the rest of the American society, instead of looking at the rational now that we’ve already started building. 

We stay, for our own well being. 

We aren’t afraid to call this place our home. We are two people just like you, except we bought one way tickets to a tropical island, and we’re making it work. We are making our lives here work, we are living our lives, not living the life. (What even defines “the” life anyway?)

So with that being said, it is official. We will be staying on Koh Tao for another 6 months, and than we will go back to the drawing board. 

We moved here with no set plans, one goal was for Mike to get his Dive Master, a professional divers certification. Now with that goal coming to a completion, it’s time for the next goal. I’d like to hope that it’s my turn, Mike has shared with me his passion for diving which I’ve learned to understand and love now on my own. My goal is to get on his level, he’s introduced me to the waters and I’d like to see myself becoming a professional diver along with him. We are here in Thailand, living day to day. We are finding more friends and more comfort on this island every day. We are home. 

Thanks Christine Albanese!

    

 

From Koh Tao to Saigon: It Started Off According As Planned 

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It started off according to plan.
We hopped on the night boat at 11pm on Sunday night which was headed to Chumphon. We were assigned a bunk bed and each given a pillow and blanket. We headed to the roof, sandwiched ourselves between the blankets and cuddled as we dozed off under the stars sharing an iPod. We woke up a few hours later, uncomfortable from the steal boat we lay on and went down to our bunks. We cuddled in a twin bed and immediately fell back to sleep. I woke up first around 5am after hearing the boat horns and realizing we were at port, I woke Mike up. We gathered our backpacks and headed to shore. At the pier a van was already there to pick us up and take us to the bus stop. An hour passes and we are on the 9 hour bus up to Bangkok. We settle in the back handicap seat with no seat in front of us hoping no handicap personnel would load on, luck was in our favor. We got comfortable,
shared the iPod, dozed off to sleep. The hours passed, we took a few toilet stops, one lunch stop and finally made it to Bangkok. We find ourselves in a giant Bangkok bus station, we see a sign that says “Taxi” we walk there and catch a cab to the international airport. It started off according to plan. 

   

  

    
 We get to the airport, we find our check in counter and get in line. I hand the woman our passports. 

“Visas?” The woman asks

I show the woman my visa debit card. 

Mike and the woman look at me oddly

I realize I messed up big time. Tourist visas. It was so clear now, of course we needed tourist visas to enter Vietnam. For some reason I thought we got them on arrival, wrong. 

The woman is friendly and gives us advice, I am thankful we decided to bring a laptop along. We log into the airport free wifi and Google emergency Vietnam tourist visas. We fill out the information and go to pay. My debit card was declined. Mikes debit card was declined. I go to call my bank on my phone and assure them, again, that I am traveling SE Asia and it is me using my card, but my phone is out of minutes. I use a pay phone, I get disconnected midway because I am out of coins. We get coins, I call again, we pay for our emergency visa, the company emails me and says we are 30 minutes too late, and they will continue our service at 10:30am. We talk to the woman at the ticket counter, she gives us a flight for the next afternoon, we book a hotel in Bangkok and get a taxi out. We decided a night in Bangkok, although not according to plan, does sounds fun. Than we see the news, a bombing about 20 minutes away from our hotel room. We decide to stay in, we order a banana split through room service. I take a bath, we go to bed. 

It’s a new day, we are starting off fresh, today will go better. 

We enjoy complimentary breakfast, take a swim in the pool, receive a confirmation email for our visas, the hotel prints out our papers for us and transfers us back to the airport. 

     

   
We wait on one line, we are told to go wait on a different line. We pay a fee for missing our flight and switching to today. We go through security and get a little confused at immigration when our tickets were taken, we finally understand we need to fill out a departure card, we than swap that card for our tickets back and continue to our gate. We eat lunch, have a drink, board the plane and share an iPod. 1 hour and 30 minutes until we are in Vietnam. We get ripped off on our taxi we take to our hotel. We get to our hotel and realize we are in the ghetto of Vietnam. The staff does not speak English, we do not feel comfortable. We sit on our creaky bed in our 17 century themed room and connect to the wifi. We trip advisor a hotel in center city and agree to take our loses and upgrade to another hotel. I go to pay with my debit card, declined. Bank of America will hear it out from me, again. We decide to just go to the hotel and book a room in person. This side of Saigon is what we were expecting. A city, with French architecture and bright lights. This hotel is what we’ve been missing as we’ve spent the last 3 months on a hard bed in a tiny bungalow without a flushing toilet and a fan. (Don’t get me wrong, we love our little home) it’s nice to sleep in air conditioning, under a comforter, take a real shower, flush the toilet with out using a bucket and even enjoy English speaking cable television in bed. We head out and enjoy the city looking for dinner, we realize that city expenses are a global thing. We decide to enjoy this week anyway and try not to focus on price tags. It takes me a little longer to do the math and understanding of the dong. 20,000 dong is only 1USD, but makes me feel so much richer. We walk around looking at menus, and a French man walks up to us, gives us a flyer and invites us to his roof top restaurant. We agree and enjoy a drink with a view and some good lamb and steak. We watch an adorable elderly couple salsa and clap as other couples join in. We are exhausted and head back to the hotel. 

       

    
 As much as I always seem to be seamlessly going with the flow of things, I like plans. Planning is my comfort and helps me rationalize. But no matter where you are in the world, how much research you’ve done or who you are with, there will always be bumps in your journey. It’s how you handle those hurdles that really show your true character. Ho Chi Minh City is chewing us up and spitting us out but we’ve added a new stamp to our passport and memories in our hearts and for that I am thankful that we have finally, as planned, arrived in Vietnam. 

Always Choose Happiness and Everything Else will Fall in Place

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It’s a crazy when you take a moment to sit down and reflect on what’s been happening. Life is unfolding and the universe is pushing Mike and I exactly to where we are meant to be. Together, we’ve been making some really big decisions and our lucky stars keep shining through letting us know we’ve made the right choices. 



It was no secret that I disliked working as a receptionist. It wasn’t the job itself, it was the lack of effort I had to put fourth every day, the way my Burmese coworkers were treated and the 45 hours a week I felt like I was wasting on this island. After I had come home one day, Mike sat me down and didn’t give me an option. He told me that was my last shift and he couldn’t stand to see me unhappy for even one more day. I agreed, although I was nervous because that job was our only source of income. That’s why we have a savings, Mike reminded me. And it wasn’t long before I realized how big of a weight had been laying on my shoulders. Those first few days unemployed again, I felt so relieved. I checked out my first yoga class and had never felt so alive. Later that night, Mike even told me he’s never seen me so high. Alive, I think to myself, I’ve never felt so alive. 





As it goes “everything happens for a reason”. After Mike finished up his amazing jam session on the keys at Moov one Sunday night, he was asked to join a band. The next day we just happened to bump into the singer at another bar who almost begged him to play with her. She also told him how much money he could make off only playing for a few hours. An easy source of income. The only catch is we’d have to find him a keyboard, and on an island this small that is nearly impossible. We planned to order it online and have it shipped to the dive shop as soon as our visitors were on their way home and we got our visa extensions done with. 

Let me explain how a visa works in Thailand. In order to stay in this country for over 30 days you need one. There are multiple options but the most common for travelers is a tourist visa. Mike and I have a double entry tourist visa, meaning we can enter the country but must leave by the date stamped on our passport upon our arrival, about 2 months. After the first entry is up we leave the country, get stamped that we left the country and entered another one and than can re-enter on our second entry. However, you can extend each entry one time at an immigration office. So we headed off to Koh Samui on the 6am ferry to get to the closest immigration office to Koh Tao. (Only a 2 hour boat ride!) Once we got to immigration we filled out paperwork, handed in our passports, paid a fee, and waited about 15 minutes and were free to enjoy Koh Samui. 





We had no idea what we would do or where we were going. If Koh Tao is the Stone Pony than Koh Samui is Radio City Music Hall. We saw traffic lights and paved roads for the first time since leaving the mainland in May. We found Big Buddha and I got scolded at by a monk who directed me over to the robes. We explored the jungle and found a waterfall. We played with monkeys and swam in the ocean. It was an awesome day. The best part was as we were driving down a road having no idea where we were headed, we both spotted a small store with ukuleles and guitars on display. Obviously we had to turn around and check it out. Mikes been giving me lessons on the ukulele and he needed to find new strings since his one is on the verge of snapping. Well, when we walked inside we saw a wall of keyboards. It was meant to be. The people in the store were so friendly, and arranged to bring our purchases to the pier for us so we could continue our day with out lugging around a giant box. We even got me my own ukulele so we can play together!  We headed back in time to catch the 5pm ferry and make it to Koh Tao just as the sun finished setting. 







As I was sitting down writing this post at my favorite beach bar, enjoying an afternoon mojito and my Thursday special half price sushi roll, I checked out Koh Tao’s community page. I stumbled upon someone’s post from about 20 minutes earlier “KOH TAO FLYING TRAPEZE PART TIME JOB FOR 5 WEEKS” training provided. It wouldn’t hurt to message her



I sent a quick PM on the FB and guess how my night ended? Flying in the air. She let me try trapeze! Although I was pretty horrible, and think I fell more than I flipped, it was an amazing adrenaline rush. I’m not sure if I’ll get the job, but the opportunity presented itself and knowing that makes my heart happy.  My night ended a lot more unexpectedly than I would have imagined when waking up and I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings! 

The Financial Truths of Living on Koh Tao

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“I’d rather own little and see the world, than own the world and see little”



I’m telling you this now. Visiting Koh Tao, Thailand will not drain your funds. 


How much money do you really spend living on a tropical island?

Well to be completely honest with you, a lot less than you are probably thinking. Everyday we spend a lot less than we planned for, and are living a lot more comfortably financially  than we originally anticipated. 

If you are like us, one of the most expensive things is getting here.
We flew from New York City to Taiwan to Bangkok. Than took a taxi to another airport in Bangkok. Than flew from Bangkok to Chumphon. Than took a ferry from Chumphon to Koh Tao. Collectively costing us about 700 USD each for our one way trip.

Once you reach the island, you’re going to need accommodation. There are handfuls of hostels on Koh Tao with prices ranging from only 6-12 USD a night. Than you can find hotel rooms anywhere from 15 USD to hundreds of dollars, depending on if you choose a fancy ocean front pool villa or just a standard room. The island is the best of both worlds for any kind of traveler, whether you’re here for a backpacking trip with your college roomies or honeymoon with your love. Our first week here we splurged and stayed in a beautiful ocean view bungalow at  Sensi Paradise beach resort for about 60 USD a night. We also recommend checking out Moov Inn Hostel, for $12 a night you get a bed in a dormitory style room. Sunday’s at Moov is open jam night and an all you can eat bbq for 200 baht (6 USD) and it’s DELICIOUS 


If you’re staying for at least a month, you might want to consider renting an apartment room or bungalow for your time here. We’ve seen prices on these very depending on your expectations. For example, we live in a big bungalow in a great location on the quieter side of the island. We pay 9,000 baht a month for a room with a queen size bed, 2 big fans, cable TV (Which we don’t use), a kitchen with a refrigerator and sink and our shower has hot water. We also pay anywhere from 1,000-1,500 on water and electric a month.  The most we pay a month for rent is 11,500 baht, or 345 USD. My half of rent and utilities is only $173 a month, that’s probably less than your car payment.

Keep in mind, we don’t live in the most expensive bungalow, we also don’t live in the cheapest. We rode around the island and checked places out until we found one that was ideal for us. Also, accommodation prices may change depending on if you visit during high or low season.

Food on the island is delicious, cheap, and you’ve got a wide variety to choose from. You can get pizza and pasta at one of the Italian places with prices ranging between 80-300 baht (3-9 USD) There’s an indian place, burger places, seafood, and of course so many thai resturants. You can get food from street carts for a nice 60 baht (2 USD) It really just depends where you go and what you’re in the mood for. Walk around and look at the menus, they are always on display. Most nights we try to eat cheap but we also do splurge once in a while. And when I say splurge I mean we’ll go out and spend 1000 baht on two entrees, an appetizer or two and a few drinks. 30 USD for a nice date night is not too shabby.

The fruit on the island is also amazing. Our favorites include the tropical mangosteen, mango, dragon fruit and young coconut which are unfortunately  uncommon to come by in the states. You can stop at a street stand for a fresh fruit shake for only 30 baht (1 USD). The other day we bought a watermelon, which the woman sliced up for us and split into two big bags, for 90 baht (3 USD) We’ve gotten 2 mangos and 15 mangosteens for 130 baht (4 USD). It’s easy to have a cheap, delicious and extremely  healthy fruit diet here. 

Activities on the island are endless. You can go diving, snorkeling, take a yoga class, get a massage, learn trapeze, take a cooking class, learn martial arts, work out, hit the beach bar, take a hike, shop around or just relax on the beach or near a pool.

Prices for everything are dramatically cheaper than you could imagine.

To get open water certified depends on where you go, but the average price I’ve seen is about 9800 baht, or 300 USD. Head over to the Florida keys and you’ll see that price double. We highly recommend you check out New Way Diving for great prices, awesome instructors and the best dive spots

A one hour massage cost on average 300 baht. (9 USD)

Hiking is generally free unless you go onto private land, in which you’ll find yourself paying only a few dollars to continue to the amazing views 

The beaches are free, if you have your own snorkel gear than you’re in luck and can check out the amazingly colorful coral reefs for free as well. No worries if you didn’t bring your own, you can rent a mask and snorkel at most places for about 50 baht each. (Under 2 USD)


To travel around you’re going to want to rent a bike or if you’re staying buy a bike. You can rent a bike for 150 baht a day (4.50 USD) but remember you will have to leave your passport as a collateral. Make sure you take a lot of pictures of the bike so they can’t try and make you pay for someone elses scratches. Bikes are being sold everyday by people who are leaving the island and no longer need them. You can buy one anywhere from 6,000 to 18,000 baht depending on how nice it is and if it has registered license plates and a green book. We’ve heard it’s really important that your bike has a green book.


You can always find a taxi cab or taxi boat to take you around the island. Obviously price depends on distance, but it’s usually just as expensive to rent a bike for a whole day as it is for one taxi ride. 

Happy hours all over the island offer 2 for 1 drink specials or 60 baht for large beers. That’s 2 USD for a big ass beer. For this reason, I think it’s official to declare that the happiest hour exists in Koh Tao. 

So what I’m trying to tell you, is you don’t need to sell your car, pack your bags and necessarily move across the world. But it is completely affordable to visit Thailand for anyone who plans accordingly. (And we are so excited to host our first round of visitors coming at the end of next week!)

“Life is a book and those who don’t travel only read one page.”


Dead Bikes & Beautiful Hikes

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It’s officially been gray skies and periodically rainy on Koh Tao for over a week now. Yesterday, we both found ourselves with a day off and decided to make an exploration out of it. I get two days off a week, and on my days off Mike and I usually will go out for breakfast together at one of our favorite cafes, Zest. 



Yesterday morning over eggs and fresh fruit, I shared with Mike some research I’ve done on our potential next home and a few details on his birthday trip I’m planning out. For Mike’s birthday last year, I took him to a New York Giants game, so this year as I’m obviously trying to step up my game, I decided he deserves a trip to China. (Next year, he’s getting a handcrafted gift) After we finished up our iced green teas, which surprisingly tasted no where as good as my usual Starbucks fix, we head back to the bungalow.

We were planning to go spend the day at Freedom Beach than hike up this amazing view point that we’ve heard about. But as we got back home, the rain started rolling in, and we opted on a movie while the storm passes by. A few hours later, when the rain stopped and our attention was completely lost by my ridiculously bad choice of a movie, we decided to head back out and get our day started.
Mike parks his bike up at the top of the hill right before the steps to our bungalow, I park mine at the bottom where there is clear parking space. I take my keys out of my bike always. Mike never takes his keys out of his bike. If anyone reading this is on Koh Tao and needs a free bike, come find Mikes, his keys are sitting in there waiting for you to come drive off.
Mike’s other problem with leaving the keys in the bike is he doesnt turn the bike off resulting in a dead battery. Now, I wouldn’t be bashing on him if this happened once and he learned his lesson… but yesterday I believe this was the third time Mike found himself with a dead battery.
He tried to kick start it, and kept trying, and no success. So we think okay, we’ll take my bike and worry about yours later. When we go to start mine, that too is dead. (I swear its the Mafia, which by the way guys we love the sopranos)

Thank god we live on top of a mountain and the only way to town is down hill, because we both did the walk of shame with our bikes. Coasting down the hills, than getting off and rolling it up the flat surfaces, than rolling back down gaining full neutral speed. We were those American idiots, rolling with our dead motorbikes and laughing our asses off. We finally made it to Pong, the mechanic on the island that I’ve heard was the best. He’s doing a full service check on my bike, and recharged Mike’s battery. He told us to come back in 3 hours for Mike’s bike, so we took a walk. We walked down to Mae Head and across to Sairee. We went full on tourist, and went in every shop, book store, stopped at the street carts for a fresh mango shake and a nutella, banana, coconut pancake. We walked the beach and bought handcrafted necklaces from a man we watched working at his open stand. 







We stopped for lunch and played cards and hung out until it was time to walk back to pick up Mikes bike. When we finally got his bike back, it was 4:30 and we were finally ready to start our day as planned. 

We went to Freedom beach, on the southern most tip of the island and went for a quick swim in the water. To get down to the beach we had to climb down the craziest set of stairs and wind down through the trees. We climbed back up and headed over to the sign and arrow that said View and started following that path.  It was already beautiful just walking through the palm trees and being able to see the ocean views. We got to the end of the path and were greeted by 2 men who told us there was a fee to get to the view point. We paid our 100 baht total (about 3 USD) and continued, I wasn’t about to argue with anyone over a small fee after Mikes last post.




 The hike was a rock climb. Up and around and tight spaces. There were ropes to hold onto to help pull you up. Hiking is my favorite work out. You know you’re at the top when you reach the huge rocks and have to literally rock climb. The view on top was absolutely awesome. To one side you see Freedom beach and to the other is Thian Og bay! If you’re ever on Koh Tao, you need to check it out.  Yesterday was a perfect day off, and a great reminder that even tho some things in life don’t go according as planned, that’s okay because the view from the top is always just as beautiful whenever you finally reach it. 





Kidnapping 101

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Lets get right into it, shall we? The rain has come to lay over our little island for the first time since I’ve been here. As the clouds fill the air and provide us with another week of fresh water, it’s refreshing to see everything change. Yesterday for the first time in weeks, I put on a long sleeve shirt, and it felt foreign. The skin on my forearm feels fragile to its touch, but provides a sense of calm, I suppose it reminds me of home. Five minutes later… Literally as I sit here to talk about the rain, the sun prevailed and pushed through the clouds, drying everything and once again… reminding us were are on an island. Thats just how things are here. This week, the majority of my time has been filled with diving. Assisting with classes and occasionally fun diving, I have seen everything from juvenile black tips to large grouper. Anything worth seeing hides underneath the large pinnacles of coral or digs itself in the sand. Ive trained my eyes to spot these hidden wonders, and have become quite good at identifying the marine life as well. Of all the amazing things Ive seen this week, the most astonishing site has come from our boat captain. He is a peculiar man, but an interesting one. He doesn’t talk much, not that I would understand him anyway. The language barrier between us does not cloud our communication however. I return from a dive, in which the student I was assisting threw up into his regulator (I suppose he was very nervous about diving…I also suppose he was a little bitch). When I return to the boat and assure myself that the young man will live and be okay, I head to the back of the boat to grab some fresh fruit, and wash the taste of salt water out of my mouth. As Im doing so, I make eye contact with the captain, who is sunbathing on the hot floor and doing something with his hands (Get your mind out of the gutter people). In one hand he holds a bit of white rice, which he acquired from a silver pot to his left, I suppose his breakfast. In his right hand he is holding a fishing line about 5 meters (fifteen feet) long, with a small hook at the end. Just before I was going to ask him what he’s doing, he swings his right arm up, along with a nice size fish attached the hook. Immediately my attention is caught, and I walk up to him. In front of him is a bucket, half filled with water and they other half filled with ten fish. He looks at me and smiles, and through the language barrier I can tell he knows Im impressed. I bing my hands to my mouth and question him. “You eat?”, I asked Again he smiles, and looks at the fish, not before rubbing his tummy and saying, “Mmmhhh”. I recognize his answer and ask him if I can sit and watch. Im sure you are asking what the rice is for, let me explain. What he does is place one single grain of white rice onto the hook. Once he’s done that he takes a handful of rice from the bowl and throws it into the ocean, and immediately the fish start to bombard it. Once he notices the fish are feasting on the rice, he drops the hook (with the one piece of rice attached) among the other sinking grains. The goal is a fish will mistakenly bite the hooked rice, and once it does, the captain brings the line up with his bare hands. I was so amazed by this method of fishing I called my buddy later on that night, who is addicted to fishing, and told him to try it. Later on that night I went to the local butcher and acquired some fresh chicken and vegetables, since Cassie and I bought a hot plate, and can now begin to cook our own food. As Cassie was at work, I began to prepare our dinner… a slow cooked concoction of chicken, potato, vegetables, rice, and various seasonings. I love to cook, and somewhat pride myself on being good at it. Once I set everything to cook on the hot plate, I set off to pick Cassie up from work, a simple task. Well, it turned out to not be that simple. Before leaving the house, I checked my computers time to assure that I would be on time, 4:45 it said. Right on time because Cassie gets off at five. Once I arrive at the usual spot where I pick her up, Im bewildered to see she is not there. Perhaps she is still walking? I park the bike and make my way to the beach she has to walk from work to the “spot”. What the hell? She isn’t there. I loiter for a few minutes before I start to get worried. Twenty minutes later… What the hell! If there is one thing Cassie is, its punctual. She is never late. My mind begins to run wild… Did she fall off the bridge into shark infested water? Has she been abducted? WHO GETS HER MONEY IF SHE DIES?! (just kidding….but probably me). Now I start to run about frantically. I make my way back to the house to get my phone, something I should have grabbed when I left to begin with. Now, after a ten minute drive back to the house, I am driving back to the “spot”, to get wifi at the local cafe and check my messages. Maybe she is trying to get in touch with me? Maybe the man who abducted her is trying to call me for ransom ?! Now sweating bullets I walk into the cafe to join the wifi…but not before ordering a coconut shake. Kidnapping make me thirsty. I connect and check my messages…nothing. Not a stitch of email, text, or message. Something is very wrong. I message Cassie on Facebook and say, “What the hell, where are you,” and I wait for a response. I see that she begins to type and begin to bite my upper lip…Im about to hear the terms and conditions of her safe return. “What?”, replies Cassie. Okay, now Im confused. “What do you mean what, Ive been looking everywhere for you!” “I get off at five dude…”, she says to me. And now, the stupidity sets it. I look at my phone time to discover it says 4:45. Had The last hour not existed, have I entered a time warp? Perhaps I forgot to reset the time on my computer to island time, and not eastern standard time. Shit, Im an idiot. The sweat begins to dry from my forehead, and relieved I don’t have to spend money to ensure her safety I apologize and try to laugh it off. She laughs at me and thinks its cute I was so worried. I laugh at myself and think I need medication. I finally begin to enjoy my shake and await her arrival. a few minutes pass and there she is, right on time and punctual as always. We ride back home and laugh about the chain of events I went through, before walking inside to an aromatic meal cooking in our kitchen. Moral of the story? Always be prepared for a kidnapping…

It’s all about the Journey

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It’s hard to complain about today starting off as a bad day when in reality we are living on an island surrounded by beautiful oceans and breath taking views, but this morning started off rough. After the accident, (Yeah, Mike …you told me so) we’ve just dished out about 600 USD. And than we understandably found out we won’t be getting our deposit back from our shitty bungalow. So in total; we woke up about 1,000 USD poorer. In perspective, that money could have paid our rent for a quarter of the year. It could have paid for both of our visa trips, both times. (We are currently on a 4 month, double entry tourist visa.. Aka need to cross the boarder twice to still be legal immigrants) It probably could have paid for an unlimited supply of Pad Thai and Chang for at least 3 months. In this country, 1,000 American dollars can go a very, very long way. So you can see why we were a little bummed starting off our day like this, when we haven’t even been here for a whole week. Anyway, as Bob Marley always reminds us, “Every little thing is gonna be alright” and so we moved on with our day. 


Our landlords at our bungalow are sweat hearts. The woman is from here and her husband is Swiss. The man took Mike to go rent a bike from a more reputable place (we’re working on buying one) as I began to unpack our belongings and started to organize a little bit.

When he returns we head into town.
It’s a beautiful day. A little cloudy, and as always my skin is a little damp with sweat, and I can see the condensation rolling off my beer bottle. There’s a nice breeze blowing my hair off my sticky neck every so often. It doesn’t feel as nice as my already habitual float in the ocean would have, but no one can reject the enjoyment of a nice breeze on a hot day.
We agree to stop for lunch at a burger place we pass by. After we ate we headed to the market and bought some necessities – bleach, rags, plates, cups(utensils ect), beer, vodka and a few other items. We also bought a new lock for our bungalow (even though our landlords told us not to) but earlier we had discovered any key can open the door when Mike accidentally walked in using the bike key.
We head back to the bungalow, me on the back of the bike, holding onto Mike with an extra firm grip today. I take a mental note on how impressive my sense of direction has been since moving here. My backpack is weighing me down from everything we purchased.

It was about 5pm when I finished deep cleaning and almost had completely finished unpacking our new home. I sent mike off to enjoy some snorkeling and run a few errands, insisting that I was fine. I honestly don’t really mind cleaning, it’s even a little fun when your scrubbing and dancing around to “Dancing in the Moonlight” 
It’s pretty hot living with just fans and no AC, but somehow I think we’ll manage.
When Mike got home (home! We are home!) I finished what I was doing, we showered, and headed into town to check out the fair. Its only about a 5 minute ride on the moped. The fair was more of a NYC canal street, I managed to hassle my way to a pair of closed toe easy slide on shoes and flowy pants for only about 10$ total . For the first time in my life, I really actually needed to buy shoes. I don’t like riding on the moped with sandals and out of respect we need to take our shoes off at almost every place we wind up, so my little red converse did not pass the test on this island.

Anyway, the reason we went to the fair to begin with is I saw someone post on the FB Koh Tao community board that the fair was serving bugs. When we first decided to move to Thailand, Mike brought up how badly he wanted to eat bugs. So, since he took such good care of me last night, I decided to make my baby happy and feed him some bugs. 

EL OH EL

We spent 20 TBH (20 Baht: 60 cents USD) on a little baggy of cooked grasshoppers and larva. To my surprise.. But not really.. Mike forced me into trying one, insisting “it tastes like chicken!”

If that’s what Mike thinks chicken tastes like than I’m afraid to ask him for a bite of his steak.
It was crunchy, fishy, cat foody, salty, goosh-y, cockroachy, grossness.
But really, with all do respect; try it!
We left the fair soon after to find a real dinner.
We ended up in Sairee Beach, walking around a little and finally deciding on a little place right next to the she-man strip club. We ordered 5 beers, 2 water bottles, one order of yellow curry with chicken and an order of red curry with duck for a total of 590 TBH (14 USD). Per usual, we found ourselves together feeling good, happy, and free. …(and full)

So you know what? Today started off rough. But hey, that’s life. And even though we are yes, living in paradise, we also need to remember that we are still human beings and still living a reality. Life doesn’t always go accordingly but that’s never stopped us in the past, in fact, as I remember it’s always made us wiser and more understanding.
So here I am now, laying in my new bed, next to the man I choose to spend my days with, he’s rolled on his side enjoying some soft music from his laptop as we both share the only fan we have blowing heavily and directly on us. We hear thunder,
the leaves start to rattle and the wind is hitting them harder and harder with every new blow. The sky starts lighting up every few minutes as we anticipate a storm, I bring in everything hanging on our clothes line out front alone as mike has already fallen asleep.
So I’m going to end my story here, and enjoy this night with the man who deserves endless back tickles and all my lovin’
& As always, my heart is happy & today was wonderful.
Lots of love
– Cassie

Getting Lost and Finding Life

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Today, Sunday May 31st, 2015, has been hands down one of the top best days of my life

It started off with a 3:30am wake up. Mike’s body must have had a FOMO (Fear of missing out) with the jet lag game I’ve been playing, because after we got back from our snorkeling trip and hike yesterday he passed the hell out. He passed out hard. He passed out harder than that one freshman in your pledge class that dropped out before second semester was even a quarter of the way over. Mike was out for the afternoon and slept all the way until 3:30am. When he woke up, I realized his wisdom teeth were also playing the FOMO game, they chose to come in right in time for our trip to Thailand. I suggested Mike take some more Advil PM, or as I hear was once popular for babies growing in their teeth, he take a shot of rum… but neither would suffice, and we both lay awake until the breakfast buffet opened at 7am.

After breakfast we both spent our own time dilly-dallying (is that even a word?), I read a few chapters of my book and he learned a new song on his Ukelele.

Eventually, we decided it was time to take action with our day and we rented a moped. I fought for the right to rent 2 bikes, because as different as Mike and I are, one thing that we both have in common is that we both like to take control of things. Somehow, he convinced me that we only needed 1 bike with a promise that I would get my fair share of driving.

The only task on our to-do list today was find tampons and some pain medicine but man did we accidently accomplish so much more.

We decided to first start driving towards the main pier and as soon as I spotted a pharmacy we pulled over. After I spent 30$ on a small box of tampons and 12 ibuprofen, I knew I’d have to remind our friend who is visiting us next month to bring me a decent supply. (Hey Chris!)

After that we just drove, wind in our face, past the palm trees, up the dirt hills, getting lost but winding up exactly where we wanted to be. When I saw a sign that said “love view point this way” I made Mike turn around and go up that hill. It ended up being this spot that I’ve seen pictures of and it was a beautiful restaurant on the top of the island with the most breathtaking views. We enjoyed a few beers and I told Mike my philosophy on butterflies.

You see, this island has an incredible amount of butterflies. When I was younger, I lost a few close friends. Someone told me that when I saw a butterfly, it was really an angel coming to say hello. When I moved to this island,I quickly learned that it was home to hundreds of different butterfly species. More of our modest friends have been nicknaming our blog as SSS, and in the past 2 years, my good friends Stefan, Sage and Sam have all lost their lives way too early. I’ve always promised to live mine to the fullest for not only them but for all of my angels. Now you tell me, is it coincidence, that I find myself representing SSS on this butterfly filled island, or is it fate?

Anyway,

After we drank a few beers at that gorgeous spot, we continued to ride around and look for some lunch. We drove a bit and found this one spot, but decided to go for a swim in the crystal blue waters instead. We swam with the fish for a little, and floated in the sun until we decided it was seriously time to grab a bite. We drove up and found another cool spot overlooking Shark Bay. We got a strawberry smoothie, 2 huge chang beers, some prawn spring rolls, pad see-eww and pad thai, and only spent in total about $14.

When we left, it was for sure my turn to ride the bike.

Mike did NOT agree, and we had a little argument, leading to me walking a few feet, than him letting me drive, than him getting off and walking, than both of us agreeing to let him drive and we got me a beer…except almost as dramatic as a bad spanish soap opera.  For all of you out there, again, Mike and I are VERY different people, with very different opinions, yet all too similar qualities, resulting in the most annoying bickering you could ever imagine. But, if there is one thing for certain we can always agree on..it is the love we share for each other.

So anyway, we grab a $1.50 beer at this bar, and I’m about to jump into the pool until we get yelled at and told we can’t swim unless we’re staying there or pay, so I put my sundress back on, chug my beer, and we head onto the next path not exactly sure where we’re going.

We found ourselves at the Moov bar and restaurant because I heard it had a piano. The place was empty except for the one worker, who was jamming on the electric guitar. He welcomed us in and let Mike jam out on the keys for a bit before joining him on the drums. It was awesome. He invited us back for a bbq, jam sesh and few beers later tonight.

Than we headed back here and took a dip in the pool. Now I find myself sitting here at the table on the deck of our bungalow, needing another Heineken, as I hear the Ukulele playing, the birds chirping, the waterfall from the pool flowing, and look up with the sea view directly in front of me. I wonder how I got so lucky to be living this life and I remember it’s not luck, it’s hard work and motivation. The only lucky part is finding the right guy to spend all these memorable moments with.

We are HERE! 

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It’s 11:10pm and I just can’t fall back asleep. Maybe I’m overwhelmed by everything that has happened today, or maybe it has something to do with that 5 hour nap I took this afternoon. (Damned jet lag & 35 hours of traveling!) so anyway I decided to reflect on today and try and update a post to our blog while everyone else is sleeping and the wifi is solely mine. 


Our trip went surprisingly smooth. 35 hours of traveling is pretty rough regardless of your situation, but having Mike by my side to help throw in a few laughs during it all was a sigh of relief.
We left JFK around 1am on a Wednesday morning. During that flight we saw the sunrise over mountains, we saw the sunset into clouds, we saw the stars. Than again we saw the sunrise, it was unbelievable.
No, we did not join the mile high club unfortunately, (surprisingly my suggestion!) but we did take a lot of Advil PM and watch an abundant amount of movies. When we got to Taiwan we …
Aw! Mike just woke up and realized I wasn’t in bed and came to check on me, what a man…
Anyway, in Taiwan we got some breakfast.. Aka dumplings and some kind of beef soup with noodles.
 I think that’s when it hit me we were actually in Asia, or maybe it was the hello kitty world playground they had in the airport.
Our flight from Taiwan to Bangkok was a breeze, than we had to transfer airports. It was probably an hour drive through the city but only cost us about 20$ to take a taxi there. We got to the airport too early to check in, so we slept in a corner of the airport and ate some pad Thai. It was probably the worst part of our trip. When we finally checked in, we went down to our gate and eventually I saw they were boarding our flight.
“Mike they’re boarding row 9, what row are we?”
I check to see we are row 17.
“I didn’t hear anything, were fine”
Trusting my boyfriend, who hasn’t let me down thus far. I fall asleep.
“Cassie our flights really late, let me go check it”
…. I look at him, startled, not realizing I fell asleep, knowing he messed up big time
“Get your shit babe, it’s final boarding, we gotta go now!”
When we got to Chumphon (pronounced Chum Pon) we were taken in a shuttle bus to our hotel A-Te Chumphon. Everyone we’ve crossed paths with has been so friendly! We were so excited to see beds for the first time in 24 hours even though we were given two twin beds. We showered, relaxed ;), and headed to sleep with a 4:45 am alarm set.

When my all too familiar Alt-J alarm went off, we both woke up excited to head to the island.
After a bit of waiting and shuttle bussing, we were finally on the ferry on our way to the island.

The views were stunning each and every way we looked as we traveled into the gulf of Thailand towards our island.
When we got here, we saw a sign with our resort on it and Mikes name. The man took us in the back of an open bed truck down some windy roads into the jungle to our resort. We were greeted with cold drinks and nothing but smiles. Everyone here is beyond friendly. We’ve already learned the respectfulness of taking our shoes off before entering certain areas, we’ve explored the beach, found the pool bar, and mike snorkeled while I napped. He even saw a shark!

When I woke up from what Mike suspected as my never ending slumber, we explored the rocks, headed to the beach and sat in a little bungalow. We enjoyed a Heineken, the sunset, and Mike serenaded everyone with Ukulele. A worker here, Stone, came over to chat a bit after hearing Mike play. Tomorrow he will be bringing his guitar and we all have plans to jam out in the same spot around 9pm. His English was broken, but it’s incredible to see how music can connect people. We ate an amazing dinner right on the water at the hotel resort, signed up for a snorkeling boat trip for the morning, than headed back to our bungalow. Where we showered, relaxed ;), and fell asleep. In which I woke up and now found myself here. A man saw me writing and brought a fan right next to me. Again, people are so friendly. I am in love with today. I’m in love with my boyfriend. And I am in love with all the events in my life that have lead to exactly where I am now. Relaxing on this wooden couch thing, a fan blowing, my water cold, and my heart happy.

Sweet dreams my friends, and with love always.
Cassie