We're Off To: Southeast Asia

Hello all. I know we've been a little back and forth on our one "big" trip. We toyed around with the idea of the Phillipines, Indonesia, and Australia/New Zealand. After much research and many conversations including the phrases "oh my gosh, we can go there for HOW little?" and "let's just make a decision already", we have once again come back to the original plan of Southeast Asia! What it really came down to was that this was our first choice. All of those other options are still definitely on our constantly increasing wishlist.

Hotels have been booked (refundable, of course), visas obtained, and air travel is standby.

Our itinerary:

3 days in Bangkok, Thailand

4 days relaxing in paradise aka Koh Samui, Thailand

2 days in Hanoi, Vietnam

2 days cruising in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

3 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia

2 days of travel (really 3 due to time differences)

= 16 days in SE Asia!

People who are used to traveling in Europe and the Caribbean, beware! Visas are a pretty common thing for most other countries. The application process to obtain a visa for Vietnam is crazy. Either you go to a city with a consulate (Houston has one) between 9am-12pm Monday - Friday (so that's out), mail your passports, money order, and form to the consulate (I've heard horror stories of passports getting lost), or get your hotel to provide you with a Visa on Arrival for the "small" fee of $25/person. That doesn't include the stamping fee of $45/person. The whole ordeal probably took about 3 weeks to obtain.

By contrast, Cambodia's application is online and costs $23/person. We got our visas in 2 days. Thailand doesn't require a visa for tourist travel less than 30 days. Call me goofy, but I always ALWAYS check country information (http://travel.state.gov/) before traveling anywhere outside of the US. We might have been in big trouble otherwise!

Other than that, I've really enjoyed the planning process. We're even getting to knock off 2 items from our bucket list. We're in San Francisco right now, hoping to catch an early morning flight. On one hand, I'm getting crazy excited...on the other, I'm preparing myself for the realistic possibility that we might get there a day or two late. I don't think I will really allow myself to get excited until we're on that second flight to Bangkok.

Well, wish us luck, and hopefully we'll see you in 2 1/2 weeks USA!

In the NEXT year...

Exciting news in the non-rev world. Jason is a rockstar and won Internal Audit employee of the quarter. Along with the title comes...2 GOLD TICKETS! (I'm feeling a little like Charlie.) Gold tickets mean that it's a guaranteed spot! What do you mean Christy? You don't have to get to the airport at 4am to catch the earliest flight? Or sit in the middle seat because you're boarding last? You get a boarding pass the NIGHT BEFORE? Madness! With our impending Euro trip and my new job, I don't have any remaining vacation this year, but we will definitely put that to good use.

So, you guys have read where we've BEEN in my last post, now look where we're (tentatively) going! As always in the world of standby, these things can change. On our list for Jason's 2nd year at SWA (mid 2012 - mid 2013):

Euro Trip with John and Mal: Tickets have been purchased and it's insane how cheap they were. Thanks to airline partnerships, they were only $240/person roundtrip! We ARE paying for some airfare around Europe, but the prices were really good (Like $40 a person good)!

France (Paris, Normandy, and Burgundy)

Switzerland (Geneva)

Hungary (Budapest)

Germany (Munich...for Oktoberfest!)

Austria (Salzburg)

Czech Republic (Prague)

Weekend Trips - still up in the air:

New Orleans, LA

Boston, MA

Portland, OR

Boise, ID

Reno/Tahoe, NV

And the part I'm jumping for joy at...2 weeks of backpacking through Southeast Asia! I convinced Jason to go with me on the condition that I plan everything. What's new? Ha. 

Places we'd like to go:

Thailand (Koh Samui, Bangkok, Chiang Mai)

Laos (Luang Prabang)

Cambodia (Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat)

Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

Singapore

We also have a 3 year plan that includes Australia/New Zealand/Bora Bora, going back to Hawaii (Big Island, Molokai), and another couple of trips back to Europe (England, Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, Turkey, Croatia, Greece). Gotta get while the getting's good, right? Cheap flights can't be beat (except by free ones), and the only responsibilities we have involve our pup.

OH! And a big thanks to Southwest Airlines for providing Jason and I with over $5,500 (!!) worth of free travel so far. After our Europe and SE Asia trips, that number is sure to skyrocket.

Stay tuned for more travel adventures :)

The World is our Oyster

I think one of my favorite things in the world is researching travel. It seriously makes me so happy! I guess I love all the potential that it has. We have a few weeks before we do any real traveling, but we’re starting to plan out our trips. I’ve taken off 4 Fridays from work through April so far, so travel plans are brewing! Jason gets to work 9-80s and get every other Friday off.  I think we feel like this benefit is just too good to last, so we’re trying to take advantage of it now. During all this time, I’m training for a 10k that I’ll be running in February, so that’ll be interesting!

We will for sure be making a trip to Phoenix, AZ in a few weeks. The warm weather is definitely the main draw for us. I would absolutely love to go to the Grand Canyon while we’re there, but it’s a bit of a drive (around 3 hours each way). Also on our radar is a night ride through the Sonoran desert in an open-air Hummer. Of course, I want a lot of quality time just exploring the city and eating some great food. Maybe I could even convince Jason to go running with me along some of the trails in Phoenix?

For the remainder of the Winter/Spring, we would love to visit some of the following places: Seattle, Orlando (Wizarding World of Harry Potter!), Washington D.C., Taos and Minneapolis (to visit a friend who recently moved up there). 

We’re also planning 1 BIG trip. We’ll see where life takes us, but we’re hoping to go somewhere amazing. Another awesome thing about SWA is that they are partners with so many other airlines. That means we can also fly on these airlines, not for free, but for super cheap! We’re going to do this for sure, whether we go to Thailand, Europe or Australia. Who knows?

The crazy thing about this travel is that we could be at the airport and a flight is full, so we just jump on a plane to anywhere else. It will definitely make packing interesting!

If you have any travel suggestions for us, please let us know! Places to visit, places to eat, things to do…all is welcomed!

Here are some pictures from our Southern Carribean cruise in September to tide you over!

At La Mina Falls

Us and the famous Pitons of St. Lucia

Our wonderful travel companions (http://lively-hoods.blogspot.com/)

Snokeling with sea turtles - coolest thing EVER!

Hanging out at the beach in Barbados