Lake Tahoe, CA

So this trip was sort of a travel fail. Nothing seemed to go our way at first. Our flight was delayed - meaning we got in around 2am our time, rental car line was ridiculous, we waited in line the next morning for almost 3 hours for prepaid lift tickets & ski rentals, I lost my phone on a mountain, we realized skiing is super fun...until it isn't.

But life is funny. As soon as we changed our mindset, things started to work in our favor. Someone found my phone (said it was half-buried) and returned it for me (and didn't even let me pay to ship it back home), we got both nights at our hotel room free (when we should have only had one), we made it flying standby on a sold-out flight coming home. And then small things like finding parking spots up front all day, walking outside right as the Southwest employee shuttle pulls up, finding a couple bucks in change on the ground, etc. I guess attitude is everything!

Heavenly, you are beautiful, but skiing, meh. Apparently Heavenly is not for beginners - and we believe it. Oops! We laughed a lot on this trip, so not all was lost. We have lots of hilarious stories now..."You having a rough day, bro?", "I believe I can fly!" When so many things go wrong, you just have to laugh...or cry until you laugh.

We'll be back to Tahoe in the summer, when we can enjoy the lake and hiking. Until next time! And thanks to my new favorite person in the world, Davante, below are the pictures from my phone that was returned to me!!

Next up: Bali in less than 2 weeks! Where I can properly celebrate my 30th birthday!

Lawrence, KS

My cousin got married this past weekend, so we took a short flight up to Kansas City to celebrate in Lawrence, Kansas - where they first met.

It's been the first travel Jason and I have done together since Vancouver WAY back in May. It was a little interesting getting there as Jason and I got separated and had to take 2 separate flights. I got in early, but Jason arrived right in time for the rehearsal dinner.

We all got a chance to catch up and eat some yummy Italian food at Maceli's. As always, seeing my family was a blast, so much fun was had.

The next morning, we walked around the University of Kansas's campus. It was really beautiful as all the leaves were changing colors and the weather was just perfect.

 

We walked along Massachusetts Street and grabbed a quick lunch at Wheatfields. They had delicious looking desserts, but we stuck with the sandwiches. We had a fun afternoon just exploring this little college town.

We got to watch the Aggies BTHO Mississippi State and then went straight to the wedding. Their venue was the Cider Gallery, a renovated cider vinegar warehouse - turned art gallery. I loved the original hardwood flooring, wood beams and stone and brick walls. It was the perfect setting for their wedding.

 

Congrats to Jenna and Doyle - the wedding was perfect! Seriously though, what a great couple.

Also, I have to say that Jason is the luckiest guy around. Dallas HQ was having a giveaway of Rapid Rewards points and guess who won? Those points will definitely not be wasted by us!

Next up: We have a trip planned that will let us celebrate Thanksgiving in a different country with some good friends! Wish us luck as standby around the holidays is usually nuts.

Bangkok, Thailand {Part 2}

Our next day in Bangkok, we started by taking a ferry across the river to visit Wat Arun. This is also known as the Temple of Dawn. We climbed to the top of this temple and were rewarded with some amazing views of Bangkok.

 

 

After this, we decided to head to the mall. It sounds lame maybe, but little shopping was done. We mainly went there so we could experience a 4D movie! There was only one option, Oblivion, so that's what we saw. You got to select your seats ahead of time and come back when the movie started. These shows sold out quick, so we had to wait around for a while before ours started. What an amazing experience. The seats shook you around - even throwing you forward to match with the scenes in the movie. There were wind, light, SMELL and smoke effects, moisture blown on you, things that poked to in the back...crazy awesome. It was expensive by Thailand standards ($15/person), but that is totally normal for us here in Dallas.

Somewhere between the tickets being bought and us going to get food while waiting for it to start, my credit card and driver's license had fallen out of our money pouch. Needless to say, that ruined part of the afternoon. We searched our path, but couldn't find it. I finally suggested going to the information desk where they ended up having my card...WHAT? I was kind of floored to be honest. Some amazing person turned it in. No driver's license though...

We went to watch the movie and after we got out, we figured we'd give it another shot. Guess what? They had my driver's license too. WOW, Thai people are amazing. Jason was equally as grateful since he was technically the one who lost both. My mom always says I have a lucky star hanging over my head - she just might be right!

Well, we had made it the whole day without getting wet. We even got on and off the metro rail unscathed. That is, until we walked on the street to our hotel. There were people with water buckets everywhere and they were prepared for us. Jason had a water bottle to fight back with, but I think we lost that round. Totally soaked but laughing was how we ended day 2.

The next morning, we had a flight really early out of a smaller airport in Bangkok. As we were checking out, we asked to have a taxi to take us to DMK airport. Our hotel called down and told us it would be waiting. We walked down, they said "airport", we said "DMK", "yes yes" and we were off. Problem: 15 minutes in, I see signs for the big airport - BKK. So I tell the cab driver, point to a map (which we will always do from now on) and then he proceeds to backtrack to where we came from. Then, in the middle of a downpour, he pulls over and tells us we have to take another cab because he is tired and "must rest". I make him hail us another cab before he leaves, but now we are starting to get close to that 1 hour check-in mark. After a 30 min stress-filled cab ride, we make it to the airport as they are doing last call. Once we checked in, we then had to run the entire length of the airport to our gate. Somehow we made it! Christy's luck part 2?

Thankfully, this stressful morning was followed by 4 days in Koh Samui, Thailand - up next!