Wanderlust

Okay okay heres the sitch, I think its 26 mesquite bites on my left leg,and 44 on my right leg, no wait those are bedbugs. I have successfully sweated so much that I could be mistaken for a wet canine. I have ran out of toilet paper in times most inconvenience, my backpack is heavy oh so gotta sit down to hike that bad boy on my back heavy. I've bravely ate the most blistering chili,spicy,hot,curry. Yet I have had the most rockin' three months thus far.  I wont lie I think of home. I think of 'merica. I think of cookie butter from Trader Joe's. I think of a nice dinner with dad and his finest cooking, perhaps a steak with some grilled veggies and endless Napa Valley wine. Man my bed, I think of my bed with my Bed Bath and Beyond down comforter you can hide a body in. WOW

but the adventure continues.

Last time I left you I was entering Cambodia. I adore Cambodia. Quick recap. Cambodia was shut down as a country for three years 1975-1978. Due to this horrific, rat of a man that somehow justified the act of killing his own people. Probably my saddest day of travel... Visiting the Cambodian Killing Camp. Walking the same very path of the people of this fragile country, while listening to the history and break down via "tour on tape". I fought back tears, and watched my every step for there were bones and clothing remnants that weather has naturally brought to the surface over the years. This place was a shithole, made me angry, crushed my smile, and made me wonder how the hell can one mans demand kill 25% of his country. Closing it down in less then a weeks time, and banning the existence of Cambodia for three whole years. Simmer on that. Heavy. Waking up one day to a cluster of disaster. Loaded up by the car loads to be killed in the most unpleasant ways. This day I wish to never revisit. Upon entrance, stands a tower of the millions of skulls found/dug up, as a memorial of this time in history. Something no eye should have to see. Cambodia is indeed a 3rd world country
and my God what a stand of ovation I give to this lands recovery. Cambodians age 40 and older most likely were apart of this hardship, I just cannot even wrap my brain around this one.


Onto more colorful things.

We finished our trip right back in Thailand where it all began two months ago.This time in the southern islands. Oh la la. We made it to two islands, both highly stimulating, and quite the way to wrap up SE Asia. One of my last days was spent snorkeling with majestic colorful fishes, attempting to stay afloat, and keeping Jen near to point out all the neat creatures we could spot. The blue blue blue water was like a personal show, the jellyfish danced for us and refrained from stinging. The fish ate rice from my hand, and nibbled on my toes. The warm water and  aggravation of Jen's inability to capture a fish concluded our Southeast Asia trek.



As I sit in row 39 of 40 in route to Rome, Italy. Southeast Asia was spectacular. We covered Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Though I can't say it was all showers of skittles, it was an incredible 2 months of education, confirmation, and happiness. I left SE Asia with a smile. I have confirmed that I still want to be a nurse, and follow through with nursing school when I return. I have added villages to my endless list of places I want to revisit once I am that nurse. Lastly, I have found this piece of me that I didn't know existed....

....
You alway strive as human to be this sort of person, or that sort of person, or to be super good at this hobby, or to have the coolest this or that. This far in my travels I think I have figured out the life I wish to lead for myself and those of my surroundings.
This is silly.
This is really far fetched.

But
             this is really the meat of my last two months. Something about traveling here in SE Asia has morphed this concrete idea of who I want Carissa to be like,act like, live by. Maybe it was the huge cultural impressions, or the many other trillion backpackers from all over the globe influencing me slightly, or maybe it was the many quiet moments I had to gather my own thoughts, organize these suckers, and prioritize my being in a way that made this trip of course memorable and self fulfilling. Not exclaiming to be the new Buddha of Asia, nor the girl that goes and travels and comes back this "holy hell she's so different" of a person, nor do I really need to explain myself.....but I can explain one thing. When given moments of peace, silence, ability to be lost in thought with zero distraction, I have experienced some of my happiest days. Days crystal clear of confusion. I am overbearing with happiness. Traveling is about seeing the unseen, doing the coolest things to tell mom and dad, taking that super eye appealing picture, but what I have found is that traveling is this, this happiness that's constantly running through me. It's toxic, it's fun, it's something I hope to carry through my day to day life when the adventure is over. This is simple, what am I thinking? I know. You have to agree everyday is an adventure whether stuck in the most boring lecture, or lost in the jungle in fear of a monkey snatching your sunglasses. Sometimes life is so busy we forget the main motives, like happiness. THIS is what traveling has unraveled for me.


I am the antsiest on the plane
I am ready to be cold
I am ready to feel clean
I am ready to continue on the adventure


Okay okay the wine cart is coming.


Uh and Jen has her blanket on her head....We are flying AirIndia, I gotta go. 

My true love....Vietnam.

Americans in Vietnam added a twist to our trip. Everywhere I have ever gone in this world, Americans were loved. Always. We were favored, trusted, and never thought of as evil.  Entering Vietnam quickly changed this view.  We soon learned to claim to be Canadian, where from in Canada that was the least of our worries.  Anything to keep us from getting the "oh you are Americans" look.  

With that being said, Vietnam has been a favorite thus far.  Vietnam is beautiful and I instantly fell in love with the country despise I couldn't be my own nationality from time to time.  But how can I be upset, Americans had totally destroyed Vietnam in the war, so I just had to be mindful of that.  

My one an only topics I wish to cover in this blog is my favorite town.  

Hoi An. 

"An Ancient Town that is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Its buildings and its street plan reflect the influences, both indigenous and foreign, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site."

 

Hoi An was majestic, all the buildings are painted this mustard yellow color. Each store/shop/mart/restaurant had its own uniqueness of design whether some rustic shutters, a immaculate arch way, or some colorful flowers that forced you to snap a picture.  This town was gold.  It made me smile. It held history within these yellow stone walls that made you question Hoi An's history.  This town ran along the Mekong River, many evenings Jen and I would sit on a rooftop bar and just soak it all in.  Not to mention the most precious elderly people would be waiting to canoe you down the river for a dollar a person.  It was romantic in its own way.  Coincidently we spent Valentines Day here, and I was truly in love with traveling at this point. So it made for a Valentine's Day I won't forget.  On the other side of Hoi An was the South China Sea, that you could take a bicycle out for the day and spend your day beachside.  

Now.  

Let me express to you this bike ride.  

Maybe my heart was just so full from this town already, but this bike ride was excellent.  We roamed through some small villages getting waved at by the local children, them shouting HELLO in their best English accents, we ran into some lost cows that seemed just as happy as us, we biked though the most lush green field of nothing that I have ever seen. We peddled and peddled and I never wanted this day to end.  I was beaming with joy and even more in admiration for this city.  

Hoi An is a place to see, put it on your bucket list.  

They are known for their tailor work, you could show them some Pinterest picture of this romper you've been dying to find, in half a day it was made for you for a great price and fits oh you know, perfectly.  

Maybe I was so head over heels for this place because is was so vastly different from the rest of Vietnam.  Maybe because  here I could be an American, maybe because I smiled the entire 5 days, maybe because we were sharing our time with two girls we've met from New Zealand that we equally adore, maybe because I got clothing made that fit my tall ass self perfectly, maybe because it was the buy one get one drinks, or maybe the pure beauty of this simple slow pace romantic history enriched city.  

Vietnam has a special spot in my heart, the many hardships this country has endured due to us "horrible Americans" puts life into a different perspective.  A perspective I have never thought of.  

Tata for now Vietnam.  I'll be back. 

Lovely Lavish Laos!

Friends here from Laos, missing home, slightly, but not coming home yet mom. Sorry.

Laos at it's slow pace, calm way of living, and aside from 1/3 of this country still covered with Unexploded Ordinance from Vietnam War, and the frequent beaming stares we get from the small school aged girls, Jen and I enjoyed our time here.

We realized that many, okay most of our days were spent in pure laughter. We hit up a few tourist sights, but in all honestly we were totally fine with gallivanting around doing much of nothing.We laughed so hard over the many differences that this culture shared with us. The laughter was so great that I felt compelled for my Laos blog to share our giggles.

Upon arrival our first laugh was of course how our squatting game is A+. Small holes in the ground are no longer a fear, and just a laugh over releasing the main vein. We finally figured out what the spray hose next to the toilet is for. AKA "bum gun". Pluming in most of Asia is either A. non-existent or B. hardly existing. SO bum gums are used to wash off after your duty is done so that you don't need toilet paper for most sewage systems cant handle toilet paper. Jen and I cant say we've been the best about this, hell we steal every roll of toilet paper we lay eyes on, but we can say we haven't had any overflows so we are two thumbs up thus far.

Ladyboys. Are a real thing. Ladyboys pass us, Jen and I look at each other and quickly assure our self that they are indeed cuter then us. Do we go and high five them?

Mealtime is getting FUN my friends, we are getting adventurous and ordering a variety of things YET it never fails when we find a dish we like and we go to order it again it is never. I repeat. never. the same. Frustrating at first, but now has us laughing. If you think you are going to get your dishes all at the same time, wishful thinking. The dishes come out approximately 5-10 minutes apart.  We always order chicken as the meat choice with our dishes, and Im convinced I have digested more then just "chicken". Which leads me to, if you have a food allergy, may peace be with you. No such thing of what the heck it means when you say, no peanuts, or no dairy.
We also have this sick obsession or maybe addiction to these fruit shakes that are every direction that you look. My favorite COCONUT, cannot get enough. With that being said, they use ICE,some more then others. And each damn good delicious shake is a HUGE risk. And now has turned into a gambling game of "oooo this ones great, not to icey" or "ohhhhh no, pretty icey" or my favorite when Jen ordered her most recent one, and we took it to the pool and she was instantly in fetal position, and as Im looking at her wondering if she's going to make it. She says, "but its soooooo goood" Like I said, sick obsession.
The wait staff here typically don't speak the best of English, so when we go to order something they just scribble something down and walk away, which is also reassuring that they probably just made up what you will be eating for this meal. Which could lead to why we never get the same thing. You know double dipping? That happens for every dish/shake. A big lick of the spoon to taste it while it's being made, then another lick and dip right back into the dish before it's served. It's like a cooking law in order to be a good cook/shake maker, you gotta double dip. Oh well. when in Asia.

My ultimate favorite laugh is the infamous Elephant pants. Hear me out. Most touristy places all sell the same items. Therefore most backpackers have a lot of the same purchases. The one in particular is these flowy, thin material, many colors,originated for females, elephant print pants. They cost somewhere around 4 US dollars. I personally own a pair. Hard to pass up, lil tank tucked into these babies an you have an easy outfit. Outfits are hard to come up with when backpacking, if its on the bottom of the bag you just simply aren't wearing it. back on topic. There is something so freaking comical, when you see a pack of 15 Chinese/Korean/Asian male tourist coming your way, all wearing a different colored elephant pant. Not to be stereotyping but its seriously hilarious. One maybe because the pants scream female to me. The sheer, thin,girl cut of these pants just aren't doing it for them. Or two do they not know? Or three do these men know how much of a laugh they are giving the female backpacking population. If its the latter option, then keep the elephant pants a coming.

Jen and I have decided we make a good team for traveling with one another. We like to leave our cell phones in our rooms and go on dinner dates. We love reacting the many hilarious things that we have encountered. We often gather around the "Southeast Asia on a Budget" book together in preparations of the following day or the next destination. Because backpacking takes work, organization, and is more planning then any "I want to travel" human can imagine. Promise you.

Im thankful for Jen as my right hand lady, we are having the most joyful time we can possibly imagine. We are meeting incredible people from all over this beautiful world. I personally am learning more about our world then I did my numerous of years in history classes. I love the English accent. Canadians are indeed so damn nice, say "eh" way too much, Netherland folks know how to have a riot of a time and can keep up with Americans humor,  Germans can drink, lots. Australians have an undying love for their country. And the list continues. Traveling is an experience in itself, and meeting people so different from you makes the experience that much more humbling.

Tomorrow we fly to Vietnam, nerves are high, but Vietnam we are coming for you.
PS. Vietnam is known for the many seamstress' aka you can have anything you can imagine custom made for you. Hellooooo tall girls dream.

.over n out.

Sawat dii!
Greetings!

Before coming to Thailand please promise me two things...you will practice squatting/hovering over a hole, and you will bring a Costco size package of toilet paper with you? If you can answer yes to both of these questions then Thailand awaits you.

But really The Land of Pad Thai....and land of no toliet paper.
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We started in Bangkok. Overrated. Moving on.

With two short nights there we scurried on out. The city is large, highly populated, and just simply spoke about a little to highly.

To escape the city we went a few miles outside of Bangkok where we enjoyed playing with kitties. Large 10 month old tigers, that had the hair on my neck standing straight up, but the cats were precious after all, and if you could get past the size of one paw being the size of your head then you were even able to enjoy the furry guys.

After, WHICH was really neat....We boarded our long tail boat aka boat very close to the water and if you are like myself you'd immediately search for life vests. Not to worry. There wasn't one onboard. But hey, the floating market was radical!!!!! Imagine going grocery shopping, you write your list and you get on your long tail and there you go floating down the highly packed river, everyone on boats, selling everything from clothing to local fruits. The sight was fascinating. I was wide-eyed the entire time, just thinking of life/grocery shopping in that way.

Headed up north our next pit-stop, Chiang Mai.Yes I love this place. Yes I want to return. Yes. Yes. Yes.
I was told by one of the moms I sat for that we must go to Chiang Mai, this small, not as busy, slower pace, touristy hub was perfect. The town has this adorable "old city" where we stayed, that is actually a moated area. The small area within the moat is all walkable, very cozy feel, and the area left a smile on our faces. Not to forget here they are known for this noodle coconut soup called Khao Soi. Woowers, wish I could have mailed you people some. Couldn't get enough.
We did a day tour our second day here and we covered it all. Ready.

-Visited the Long Neck Village, which is a refugee area for these women and their families as they escaped Myanmar(Burma), where they are sadly shoot still to this day. These women cannot leave the village and make all income from us tourists. What I saw was hard to believe. One this small village, the schoolhouse the size of an Americans "walk-in" closet. AND Lord have mercy these peoples necks. Was crazy, we bought some goods and I said a lil prayer. This world defines beauty in the most unreal ways. Fun fact they start wearing necks rings at age 4(females) and add a ring every 3 years. SOOO I would have 7 rings, now thats a thought.

-Elephant show, where a baby elephant indeed lifted me up over his head. Strong beebee.

-Rode a large few ton elephant through the jungle terrain. FUN! Especially when our guide insisted singing Justin Beeb the entire time. (what we get for saying we are Americans, oh well)

-Hung with some Cobras, and other killing snakes. Scary and the men putting on the show made us scream more then once. They would say tit okay tit okay si si downnnn miss amurika. Which we clearly translated to "Its okay sit sit down Miss America". But when these fools are kissing King Cobras that can have you dead in 30 minutes it was hard to sit down.

-We rafted down a river. Okay we sat on a bamboo raft and watched the gentleman meander us down the river.

We went back to our room, and since it was my birthday eve we hit the town. Had a lovely time chugging the local beer(Leo/Chang) and danced our night away.

druuuuuummmmroooolllllll

Woke up, and it was indeed the day of Birth. We headed to the countryside of Chiang Mai, to our Treehouse.

On the way we made a stop at the "sticky waterfall". Was pretty cool the waterfall itself had ample amounts of calcium in the water making the waterfall not only beautiful but easier then normal to climb, even when barefoot. Pretty neat.

Back to the Treehouse....Couldn't have picked a more remarkable place. We slept in a treehouse! With a toilet, a shower, lil living room, and a bedroom. As I climbed up into our home for the night we couldn't get over it. We felt like children. IT WAS PERFECT! Had some amazing food, and ended the birthday with a bottle of champagne as we listened to the nature that surrounded us.

Next Pai getting here was well, interesting. Our driver was either wasted, texting, or had a lead foot that would NOT give up. This 4 hour zig zag journey in a mini van with about 12 others, was a ride from Hell. We laughed, and we were shouting in the back, and held on with both hands.
Pai is this small small small hippy town, that was filled with dreadlocks, baggy clothes, and reggae music. We relaxed and tried to stay outta the way, we didn't exactly fit in. We hung for two nights visited the street markets, gallivanted around, and relaxed at a pool. We had the itch to carry on and I must have ate something that the tum didn't like sooo we woke up super early to catch our bus and not to long before the national anthem was blaring over the streets load speakers I lost my marbles, completely. As Im dealing with that I am also crossing my fingers we wouldn't have the same bus driver.

++we didd't, we just had his brother+++

Leaving Pai was equallyy Hell.

Lastly we finally made it to our last stop in Thailand, Chiang Rai here we visited the breathtaking white temple. A man devoted his life making this temple of all white, was quite the sight.

And thennnn we witnessed a Monk (age 54 ish)using a selfie stick. Taking a selfie.

And we left.

Now we just crossed the boarder into Laos, getting adjusted for the evening on our 12 hours bus ride to Luang Prabang, Laos.

Let's do this.

Oh yea the busses are "expected" to break down. Casual.

Kiwi Land

N Zed. New Zealand. Land of Kiwis.

rubbish means trash.
crisp means chips.
sweet as means cool
jandals means flip flops
motorway means highway
gutted means lost for emotions, lost for words
stubbies means VERY short men shorts
takeaway means togo
andddd Kiwis are what the native folks prefer to be called also is their national bird.

After being surrounded by a new vocab list when I didn't think it was even possible for we all speak perfect English, I was wrong. Was fun. Rubbish is fun to say, so is jandals!

New Zealand was divine. As I was talking to Hannah on our last day, I was lost on how to explain this country, so work with me here.

Picture your favorite artist sitting on a large plot of land, this land being NZ. This land is like an artists masterpiece drawn so perfectly using the most beautiful colored paints, pencils, markers, crayons, water colors. This land seems as if the ocean was poured perfectly around two large masses of land(North and South Island)The water was blue, deep, clean, fresh blue. The mountains were covered in sheer moss that seems as comfy and plush as my bed back home, the mountains were so tall that clouds could only reach midway, each mountain looks like someone spent decades chiseling each collision of Earth's plates into the most picture perfect mountain I could only dream of. The greenery was endlessly lush in every direction you looked, the perfect shaped leaves, the most gorgeous bark, the purest of waterfalls crash down leaving mist against your skin.
This land is breathtaking, and brought endless moments of stares of awe. I found myself frequently having to put down my camera for I couldn't capture what was being seen.

Amongst the beauty, there is safety. HOLY COW. What a uplifting change. New Zealand feels so safe, not because laws are crazy intense or cops are enforcing at every corner, because I saw maybe 4 cops the entirety of my time here. This country is peaceful, no ugly, no rude, no horrible terrifying news, and genuinely freaking pleasant people to be surrounded by.

America worries about the most peculiar things, when I step back and think its the many idiots that have ruined our once before relaxed country.  WELL if you need a refresher, head over to New Zealand. Every way we would look, we easily followed up with "this would never be allowed in America" such as

-no rail guards on anything, not along bridges that drop off into the ocean, none for street cable cars to instruct you to keep back, etc
-open container is fine
-driving with a beer responsibly is fine
-STOP signs are to harsh, here they say "Give way"
-parallel parking can be hard, who cares if you aren't right by the curb
-no signs saying not to litter, you know just not to
-a car crash is indeed an accident and is resolved with a sorry and a payment if needed
-no security when flying domestic, just walk up to your gate and welcome aboard.

I swear I could have 100 bucks taped to my back and no one would attempt to take it.
 You may think, well they are just asking for something to happen. Which isn't the case. Call me naive, you just gotta experience it for yourself.
The list is endless, the happiness here is visible. I have always been told, Never trust anyone, but here that rule doesn't apply.

It made exploring so carefree and such a joy, hard to explain.
two big thumbs up.

.....

While we were here we packed our time with adventure after adventure, traveling from the north tip of the North Island to the south most tip of the South Island!

Sheepville had me again in awe for my father dear used to be a rather impressive sheep sheerer himself so I was quite enthralled. From watching how sheep are sheered and how the oh so intelligent sheep dogs get these fur balls to round up and literally can force them into any direction within seconds and by applying death stares and standing at certain angles. Just awesomeness all around. Sheep industry here is like the wine making industry in California. huge deal.

We stopped at any water we saw, considering we were 100% surrounded by the deep blue it wasn't hard to take millions of pictures while constantly pointing "look at that" "woah look wow"

We got to enjoy the Haka dance, which is a traditional ancestral war cry, dance or challenge from the Māori people of New Zealand. It is a posture dance performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted accompaniment. And today is incorporated before the New Zealand Rugby team competes/ goes to war. Note to self, dont ask a local, " What is the haka?"

Milford Sound. google it. WOW, about all I can say. Breathtaking cruise tour we took in the great discovery of Milford Sound. When bored just look at google images. You wont be wasting your time. promise.

Visited SkyCity in Auckland, viewing he city from way tooooo high up, watching brave folks plunge off the top of the building, no thanks.

Went to the coolest concert in the towns botanic gardens of Wellington, then once sunset it transformed into a brightly lighted magical plant wonderland. Also interesting how a New Zealander can sing these American songs perfectly, yet when they speak they have such a thick accent. Talent.

In Queenstown we enjoyed the nightlife fully, and had our share of fun by riding these gravity controlled "luges" down the mountain side, was a complete release of our inner child, Hannah and I didn't want to leave.

And last but most certainly not least, we ate, and ate, and ate a lot. So much food and such good food at that, and so thankful for stretchy pants:)

If I haven't convinced you to add New Zealand to your bucket list, then I'll try now....DO IT!

takin' off shortly, next stop Bangkok
Jen are you ready?(and Alicia for a short period) Happiness overload...

The journey has begun! our flight to Fiji was a breeze, we departed pretty late so shortly after take off I was a snoozin' pup. Dad found a poker game on the individual TV screens we each had and was content for the duration of the flight. He also told me each time he "whooped ass" on the game, which was nothing shy of every 30 minutes. As the lights trickled on in the main cabin and we had been traveling for almost 11 hours, breakfast was being served ,and we were minutes from landing.

........


BULAAAA! First word Dad and I heard as we exited the plane, entering the wonderful island of Fiji. At first I was convinced they said Ebola and started to panic. Not to mention the Ebola form we had to fill out on the plane a few minutes prior. They smiled when they said BULA and never said it quietly so I had mixed emotions. Ebola or are they greeting us? Soon learned it was simply them greeting us. Essentially hello and farewell. We quickly fetched our rental car and were soon on our way. First impression I was reminded of Sri Lanka welcoming folks, humid as hell, and the tropical blue within sight.

In fact this country was a lot like Sri Lanka actually, minus the language barrier and the strict dress code that Sri Lanka has, so the memories began to fill my mind. It was relaxing and made me happy.
Fiji is poor, very poor, everyone runs around without shoes and lives in shacks some with electricity some do without. The average wage is 4 Fiji dollars an hour/aka 2 american dollars. PER HOUR. nuts.Makes you think. The people were happy, so damn happy it made me sulk in the numerous pity parties we americans have weekly, hell daily.

Children always catching my eye, here had me hooked. The family dynamic/parenting of the kiddos was one for the books.Children 3 or 4 years of age (shoeless) running around their village waving to us white folk like we were celebrities. I was really on the edge of my seat when we drove past this river bank, black as mud and these tiny humans again nothing shy of 4, cannon balling off the 15 foot bridge. No parents, no shoes, no swimsuits. The kids run around like monkeys so wild and free made me feel like I was living the life of the Jungle Book right before my eyes. Kinda loved it, was so stress free.

We stayed two nights in local hotels, nothing fancy and that was okay. The second night we travelled to the other side of the island were we spent new year and had a great firework show literally above our heads. As we drove through all the villages, my favorite part was when we stopped at a coconut hut and each got a coconut and chatted with the locals for a few minutes. So enlightening, such good english, and such hard workers. They shared with us about their families, their many kids, which coconut trees they prefer to climb and so on. I was avoiding questions about myself, what was I going to say "oh yea just some american girl traveling the world, thanks for your coconut that I'm sure took you a great deal of time to climb up a 30 foot tree and fetch for me", then to only gather cents for this coconut. man. Spoiled at its finest. I enjoyed the heck out of that coconut and Dad gave the men all his American change he had on him. They beamed with joy and we carried on.

The last two nights we stayed at an over the top holy moly exquisite resort beach front, yet spoiled again, but the fare was too good and having air condition was a huge plus. But the resort was seriously too nice.  We enjoyed live entertainment, lots of wine, and excellent food.
The last evening we took a small adventure, Dad drove around and we explored. We found this gravel road that took us past a cremation venue and we had the oh so pleasant joy seeing a cremation take place, mind you its nothing like the states, very visual, but thats what we get for exploring....not but a few feet ahead we found this oasis of a place that was just magical. This local resort that wasnt high class and just lovely. Ocean front and cheap messages, we helped ourself to an hour long message for 20 bucks. score! The best part was the lil hut for the message was literally feet away from the ocean and the misuse had me strip down and had no problem helping, slightly odd considering there was no privacy, and everyone staying at that resort had a great view of my transparent bod,  but I got over it and was knocked out minute 3.

Woke up this morning, packed up, and ready to head out. Dad had a little stomach episode this morning that had me freaking out so was it Ebola or Bula, now was the question.


Luckily it past quickly and now we are an hour away from landing in New Zealand.

Oh and Dad is at it again ''whoopin ass" at that poker game.

till we meet again.
ps having trouble uploading photos,bare with me

The craziest time of the year!

Tis' the season to personally partake in throwing back some hot chocolate with little snowman marshmallows, enjoying some Christmas colored M&Ms, a few home baked goods, and of course one or two of the holiday seasons must try Shocktop collection of beer that is simplify divine.  

This Christmas season is a bit of a hot mess wonderland. This week I closed down shop in the big ol capital city of Sacramento. Last day of work was yesterday and as I kissed my beloved babies goodbye, I know ill be in touch, and this is simply a see you later. 

Had a roaring last night out with the best of best friends that Sacramento brought to me as well as my high school friends that came to Sac to help celebrate. Now its time to pull the curtains and buckle up for take off.


Literally. 

Headed to the ranch today for one last kiss from momma bear before the adventure of my life. This Christmas Santa is bringing me tennis shoes, leggings, a backpack, and a map. 

Packing for this 6 month journey was nothing but a mess. My room was a wreck till this morning at 4am when I was forced to leave my bed, and California at that. I have no idea if what I packed will suffice. BUT it is what it is now.

and so it begins....

After Tejas, My dad and I take off for Fiji, beyond excited! New years will be in the great tropical island of pinapples and rainforest terrain, bring it.

Then a hop over to New Zealand, where my dear college friend, Hannah will be joining me! Last minute additions are always a treat:)

Thennnnnnnn mid January I leave my dad and Hannah for Bangkok, where Jen the travel partner and I take on the world!


The levels of excitement aren't even bearable. Will be updating frequently, stay tuned!