Trains, Planes, and Vino

Read more about my Self Care Sabbatical and the other places I’ve visited! 

In the past four weeks, I’ve seen the sunrise 4 times. And quite a few beautiful sunsets as well. I have met some new friends, eaten delicious food, and saw one of the manmade wonders of the world.

So I have found myself getting behind in writing recently, mostly because I have been so busy traveling in Vietnam, Cambodia, and now back in Thailand. This is a good problem to have!

I have so many things I want to write about Vietnam that it seems almost overwhelming to start. After spending a month there, I got to see so much of the country (and eat so much of the food), that I want to share all of it!

Cambodia was special in other ways. Though I only stayed 10 days, I had one incredible week in Siem Reap (which happened to be my birthday week). I had been a little unsure about what spending my birthday alone, away from home, would be like…but it was wonderful and so much more than I could have imagined. Visiting the temples at Angkor was unbelievable, exceeding my expectations and being the perfect place to kick off a new year. And the people…I met some of the most incredible people during my time in Siem Reap, both locals and other travelers, that I felt truly lucky to be in that place at that time.

Everything just came together! I felt such incredible joy and gratitude, it was overwhelming at times. But it also reminded me that I am right where I need to be.

And now I am back in Thailand, just arriving in Koh Tao from a few days in Bangkok. BKK felt a bit like a necessary evil, somewhere I had to go before getting to my island destination. And after what felt like a neverending journey (okay, it was 14 hours), I am officially on island time and, in a few hours, starting my PADI Open Water certification!

I continue to be busy. And I continue to want to write, to put into words all of these experiences I am having…but for now I am just going to let myself EXPERIENCE.