London
It was so refreshing (and frankly a bit odd) to be in a place where English is the primary language. That alone made us feel at home in London. We also loved walking all around the city, riding the…
Mallorca
Mallorca was the summer beach vacation we needed. The weather was inspiring and the pace was relaxed. We stayed in Palma, the bigger city that hosts the airport. If we were to go again, I think we’d…
Barcelona
I’m so glad we went to Spain. We’ve already decided this is one country we’ll definitely come back to. The vibe is chill, the weather is perfect, the food is yummy, and the beaches are relaxing. We…
Paris
Attitudes about Paris are very divided. Half the people we talked to when planning our trip urged us to skip the “dirty & overrated” place. The other half lit up with starry eyes. We now fall in the…
Amsterdam
Amsterdam reminded me of Copenhagen’s frat-boy little brother. It has a lot of the same street appeal: Venice-like waterways, lots of bikers, and steep-staired houses. But, overall we were distracted…
Copenhagen
Bikes. So many bikes. Copenhagen feels like a city built for bikes where cars are allowed. At every intersection there are two sets of stop lights, one for cars, one for bikes. Each road has wide…
Bavaria
We spent 3 weeks in Bavaria at Zach and Jenn’s house. It was a grand time. We took some multi-day trips to countries a few hours away and also did day trips to cities nearby. The highlight was being…
Budapest
Budapest didn’t make our original itinerary. But, everyone we talked to who had explored Europe listed Budapest a a clear favorite. So, we booked our RyanAir tickets to spend a few days in Hungary. I…
Neuschwanstein Castle
Salzburg
The home of Beethoven. The stage for “The Sound of Music.” A beautiful, classic European city. We had a great time in Salzburg, here are some highlights: The mountain: The mountains provided a…
Dubai
Dubai is Las Vegas in the early 2000s. Lots of hype, some very unique, over-the-top attractions, and construction crews everywhere. Everywhere. The only parts of the city that felt complete were the…
Bangkok
Bangkok was much bigger than we expected. A drive through the city revealed pockets of modern skyscrapers surrounded by larger swaths of older buildings, making starkly clear the economic dichotomy…
Hong Kong
Hong Kong was a refreshing experience for us. Our friend Natalie introduced us to her parents who graciously hosted us at their house in Stanley. We felt like we were staying at a 5-star resort and…
The Gates at Fushimi Inari
Wow. This hike was incredible. The Gates at Fushimi Inari highly exceeded my expectations and earned the top spot on our Japan highlights list. Mount Inari is just 20 minutes by train from Kyoto. We…
Kyoto
Kyoto was a nice break from the big city of Tokyo and delivered the Japan I was hoping for. The city maintains an almost European feel (smallish and lazy streets, rich historical sites, and great food…
Tokyo
Our trip to Tokyo had some highs and some lows. Overall, it left us with a complicated feeling about the place, but we had a few great experiences here. We started off on a bad foot. We had a full…
Cherry Blossom Boat Ride
Serendipity. A perfect word to describe how we ended up on a rowboat enjoying an afternoon on a beautiful lake flanked by cherry blossoms on every shore. We planned to visit the Imperial Gardens and…
Disneyland Hong Kong
Our first trip to Disney with Stella! We had a layover in Hong Kong on the way to Japan. Disneyland is close to the airport and the hotel we stayed at, so we decided it was fate that we spend the day…
Chiang Mai
Can you say SMOG?! We laughed (that nervous, uh-oh laugh) when we touched down in Chiang Mai because it looked like we were downwind of a wildfire. The air was thick and smelt of smoke. A quick…
Chiang Mai Cooking Class
When I research what to do in any given destination, I basically just look at all the blogs that look interesting and slowly take note of which things all of the different blogs have in common. That’s…
Elephant Nature Park
We booked a day trip to Elephant Nature park, about 2 hours north of Chiang Mai. The trip included transport to and from the park, lunch, and obviously interacting and learning about the elephants and…
Phi Phi Islands
Lots of sleep + Stella learns to love the ocean. Ko Phi Phi is the largest of the Phi Phi Islands. We decided to stay there for 4 days. Unfortunately, Stella was quite sick during our stay (sores all…
Siem Reap
Angkor Wat + some good smoothies + thoughts on Cambodia. We flew from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. It was a short flight and a small plane. We saw the president of Korea’s airplane when we walked out to…
Phnom Penh
Our first travel flop + finding American treats. We ended up in Phnom Penh mostly by accident. When we decided to leave Bali earlier than planned and head to Singapore, Abe also added Cambodia to our…
Marina Bay Sands Hotel
Infinity pool + ridiculous hotel robes + tree garden light show. Have you ever relaxed on a rooftop balcony? What about a rooftop pool? What about a rooftop infinity pool spanning 3 skyscrapers on the…
Exploring Marina Bay Sands Garden
Flower Dome + Cloud Dome We headed over to the Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands area to explore. This area feels huge and there must be so much there to explore! We had planned to go to this…
Day One in Singapore
We decided we planned too much time in Bali so we went to Singapore. Traveling to Singapore + Little India/Arab St + SEA Aquarium + Stella having a blast in a splash pad And we are SO happy to be here…
Silence Day
Today is Silence day. It’s New Year’s Eve according to the 210 day Balinese calendar. But, I’m quite sure the experience here is unlike any New Year you’ve celebrated. Locally, it’s known as Nyepi and…
Nusa Lembongan Island
Nusa Lembongan is the Island we imagined when we thought of Bali: small, slow-paced, remote (but you can still get by with English). Lembongan is one of 3 Islands along the Southeast coast of Bali…
Balinese Culture
Bali has a rich culture steeped in ancient tradition and rooted firmly in inter-community connection and support. Religiously, Balinese people practice a branch of Hinduism that includes many of their…
Bali Rice Terraces
The rice terraces in Bali are one of my favorite things (if not my actual favorite). We saw SO many everywhere we drove with our host Ayu. We would drive past some small ones every time we’d head back…
Nung Nung Waterfall
Ok this is a MUST if you go to Bali. There are like 500 steps or something to get to this waterfall but it is 20/10 worth it and not that long of a hike at all. It is very clear what direction you are…
Planting Rice with a Local Balinese Farmer
We asked our host about planting rice and she said she would check on a connection she has to see when he would be planting rice. She set it up for us with a family member of some sort who is a rice…
DO NOT GO TO THE MONKEY FOREST
Okay so different people have different opinions on this, but I’d strongly recommend against going to any monkey forest in Bali. We went to the “less touristy” one as recommended to us by our host…
Temple by the Lake + Mt Batur
Day Trip Day One: Mt Batur + Temple by the Lake + Hot Springs + Tegallalang Rice Terraces This was our first day trip with our wonderful host, Ayu (when we met her and asked her name, she said “Ayu…
Sushine Coast
So we met up with some really good friends of ours from SF in Australia! They booked a trip to Australia and then realized we were going to be there at the same time. So we modified our hotel booking…
Brisbane
We didn’t stay in Brisbane as long as planned, because we had some really good friends to meet up with farther north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast! They booked their tickets to Australia and then…
Road trip: Sydney to Brisbane
We took a weekend to drive from Sydney to Brisbane thinking it would be more of a coastal drive. Unfortunately it wasn’t, but we don’t regret the road trip at all. It was so nice to have an air…
Sydney
We spent a week in Sydney with Ben & Buffy and their kids Lulu & Alexander. Sydney is an amazing city! After a few hours there I turned and said to Abe “So how does one go about moving to a different…
What's in Our Wallet
Not much money, to be honest. But, we do have a useful set of credit / debit cards that make traveling more enjoyable and cost effective. A few high-level points: Have cards from at least 2 financial…
Surfing at Haleiwa
The whole crew went up to Halewia to try to get some surfing in. We met up later with everyone to let Abe finish working. It was pretty stormy and we were all standing under a building close to the…
Favorite Treats on Oahu
My favorite treat is… all of them (ha). Matsumoto’s Shave Ice I love shaved ice. I have almost perfected my order, my two staple flavors are Melon and Mango, with sweetened condensed milk on top. I’ve…
Sunrise hike to Lanikai Pillboxes
We woke up early Saturday morning and drove to the trailhead. Buffy was so kind to let Stella stay asleep and watch her that morning when she woke up. It felt so good to go do an activity sans baby…
Hiking Koko Head
Hiking Koko Head in the rain was a challenge for me! Even though we knew our 4 year old niece Lulu has done that hike (seriously impressive Lulu!). I think I’m still getting used to hiking with a…
Hanauma Bay
Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay was amazing! I would 10/10 recommend this, especially if you can go on a day that won’t be as crowded (weekday, early morning, off-season). I went with Ben & Buffy and their…
Hiking to Manoa Falls
Now Manoa Falls is my type of hike. Not too long, not too short, a good bit of walking for exercise but not so much my legs feel like they are going to fall off. Plus the falls at the end are gorgeous…
Hawaii Week One
I was very interested to see how week one of our travel adventure would go. We took it slow. Let ourselves adjust to the time change (4 hours, not bad considering when we go to Australia we will be…
Vaccinations
What people don’t talk about when they travel: TRAVEL VACCINATIONS We’ve had many people ask us where we are going and how we decided on where. One of the influencing factors was disease risk and…
Makapu’u Lighthouse Trail
This is the first activity we did once we arrived in Hawaii! We headed to this trail after church on Sunday. It is a nice paved path, stroller friendly, and has great views! Parking can be crowded but…