Spring Break 2026…Nicaragua! Two years ago we took the family to El Salvador and had a blast. Both girls are in the Spanish immersion program at school, so we wanted to take them to another Spanish-speaking country where they could put their skills to the test in the real world. Although they were shy to use it at first, Nicaragua gave them plenty of opportunities…more on that later!

We flew from Detroit to Managua with a layover in Fort Lauderdale – total travel time of about 8 hours, not bad at all! Immediately upon arrival, things couldn’t have gone smoother. Customs pulled us to the front of the line and shuffled us through in record time. Grabbed our in-country SIM card, and rented the car without a hitch. Great start to the trip!

We packed into our Chinese mid-size SUV and headed straight for Granada, Nicaragua for the first leg of the trip. Granada is a colonial town about an hour from the capital of Managua and is colorful and bright – buildings painted in gorgeous yellows, greens and blues. Granada is a typical stop on the Nicaragua itinerary, but we didn’t run into many tourists and the city felt wonderfully local with day-to-day life buzzing all around us. We stayed at the colonial Hotel La Merced directly next to Parque Central, a lively park in the heart of the city. The hotel had a courtyard pool, which the girls jumped into the second we arrived. After getting our swimming fix in (Granada was HOT!), we took a walk through the winding streets exploring the city. The Parque Central is filled with local vendors selling handcrafted souvenirs, pop-up food stalls slinging quesillos and pupusas, and horse-drawn carriages offering “taxi” services for the tourists.

One of the toughest parts of traveling with kids is the food battle. No matter what they eat, nothing ever tastes like it does at home. “The ketchup tastes weird! The pizza tastes different! I want ranch!” As we were walking along Calle La Calzada, the pedestrian street lined with colorful restaurants and bars, the girls spotted a Little Caesars . As much as it pains me, their first meal in Nicaragua was Crazy Bread from Little Caesars. Although I’ll admit Little Caesars did sound pretty good after a long travel day, Sarah and I convinced the girls to keep walking and find a real restaurant. We landed at Eco Restaurant tucked off a side street and enjoyed a solid meal with a local craft brew and a good game of Jenga and Heads Up with the girls. Early night to bed.

A two-hour time change means girls begging to swim at 6:30am. Sure, why not…it’s vacation! After a morning swim, we hit the streets to wander the Mercado Central for souvenirs. Turns out the Mercado Central is a full-blown everyday marketplace with vendors selling anything and everything – not so much souvenirs. We wandered through the stalls and ended up at the Garden Café, a popular spot tucked inside a restored colonial home. While the girls swung in the hammocks, Sarah and I enjoyed an incredible cup of Nicaraguan coffee. Great spot.

After an afternoon at the pool, we set off for a sunset drink and snack at Boccadillos rooftop. Over a delicious local cocktail called a macua, Sarah hauled out the “Would You Rather” book for some laughs. “Don’t do a mean one!” Noa says .

Time to move on from Granada and head south to San Juan del Sur, the most popular coastal town in Nicaragua. Total drive time is roughly 3 hours, so we decided to split up the drive with a stop at the Masaya Craft and Artisan market for souvenirs and the Masaya Volcano, which we had spotted smoking from the rooftop the night before. Honestly, I thought the volcano stop would be kind of lame – just an opportunity to stretch our legs. I was wrong! It was genuinely incredible to peer down into the crater of an active volcano. You’re only allowed 5 minutes at the top due to the sulfur, but the view was spectacular. The girls were a bit iffy on it…when they heard “only 5 minutes,” I think they thought it was cool but weren’t exactly eager to experience “The Floor is Lava” in real life .

We arrived at TreeCasa Hotel, located just outside of downtown San Juan del Sur up on the hillside. We booked an eco-cabin with a loft for the kids, and they had a blast setting up their “room” and hanging up their clothes like they owned the place. The hotel had a private pool for guests and a separate pool with a water slide and waterfall jump – the kids had an absolute riot.

Unfortunately, the three days we were in San Juan del Sur happened to fall smack in the middle of Holy Week celebrations for the entire country. What this means is that basically the whole country takes off work and descends on SJDS to party. Pure insanity. Streets blocked off, people everywhere, wall-to-wall chaos. We drove into town looking for a restaurant and had no idea what we were walking into – but somehow managed to snag a parking spot and a table at a local pizza joint right on the beach. And this is where the Spanish came in! While waiting for pizza, the girls befriended a local girl and her little sister playing on the beach. All of the kids played with the beach ball and dug holes for them all to sit in, and Neeva introduced us and translated what the girl was telling us. Proud parents!

On the walk back to the car, Sarah was carrying Noa when three guys suddenly surrounded them and tried to pickpocket her. They grabbed her phone right out of her purse – luckily it dropped when they tried to take off. It happened so fast. Thankfully nothing worse came of it, but it shook us up. That’s the first time we’ve experienced anything like that on a trip, and it took a few good conversations over the next couple of days for the girls to fully grasp what had happened.

The next two days we stuck to the hotel pools and steered clear of the downtown craziness. We did find a gem of a restaurant called Dockside on the edge of town with a beautiful view of the SJDS bay – and they even had All Day IPA in a can. Before dinner, we drove up to the Cristo de la Misericordia statue for a bird’s eye view over the whole bay. Even though our timing in SJDS was far from ideal, the hotel and the surrounding areas were beautiful.

On to the third leg. An hour up the road, we rented a beachfront Airbnb in Popoyo. On the way, we made a pit stop at Hacienda Iguana – 1 of only 2 breweries in the entire country – which had two very mediocre beers on tap. Had to do it.

Popoyo is paradise. A tiny town along a massive stretch of beach with great surf, zero commercialization, and just enough restaurants to make it perfect. Our Airbnb was one of the best places we’ve ever rented – open-air home, private pool, direct beach access. Falling asleep to the sound of the ocean? Paradise.

One evening, our next-door neighbor called us over to see something special. Her family rescues sea turtle eggs along the beach so that poachers can’t get to them, carefully cares for them, and once they hatch, gathers the neighbors together to watch the babies make their first journey into the ocean. Baby sea turtles! What an awesome and unexpected experience for the girls .

This leg of the trip was so chill. We slept in, swam all day, boogie boarded in the ocean and ate at local restaurants every night. We loved the community feel of Popoyo and could’ve easily stayed another week. Oh, and the sunsets were on a completely different level.

The last leg of the trip was a day and night back in the capital of Managua. At this point the girls were pretty well traveled-out, so our Managua stop was low-key – trips to the mall for a Miniso run and a supermarket haul to stock up on snacks for the journey home.

Nicaragua was fantastic! City life in Granada, the absolute madness of Holy Week in San Juan del Sur, and the chill surf vibes of Popoyo. The girls got to meet new people, use their Spanish out in the real world and hopefully see that all those hours in the Spanish classroom are worth it. Adios!

May 2014

Friends trip to the Middle East! Jord and Jodi Ritsema and Sarah and me taking on the beautiful Arabian peninsula. If I recall, this trip was after Jord had gotten his masters in Petroleum engineering and we had been talking about taking a big trip all together. We floated lots of ideas around and decided on some destinations off the beaten path (not so much anymore…thanks instagram!) At the time, I was working for Irwin Seating company and had made some contacts and “virtual friends” from our logistics operations in Qatar and Kuwait and they had me convinced this part of the Middle East needed to be seen. So it was decided – Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and UAE. A whirlwind trip to the Arabian Peninsula.

The girls weren’t able to get as much time off of work as Jord and I, so we decided to fly out 6 days early to Qatar! Neither of us knew much about this tiny state located along the Persian Gulf. Jord was in the oil industry and knew this part of the world was sitting on some major oil money. What else would we discover? Upon arrival, we took a taxi from the airport through downtown Doha, the capital of Qatar, filled with ultramodern skyscrapers. I’m a nut for cityscapes and Doha was amazing. We booked an Airbnb and shared a villa with an Iraqi guy at The Pearl. The Pearl is an artificial island near Doha’s West Bay District. It’s known for its yacht marinas, luxury shopping and residential villas…wow, who would’ve thought we’d be here? $50 per night offered a beautiful view of the Pearl. 

We visited this part of the world in May. The summer temperatures are insanely hot and we were right on the brink of not being able to be outside. It was HOT. We weren’t going to let the heat deter us from wandering Doha. 

We spent the day strolling along the Doha Corniche which is a 4.5 mile promenade along the Persian gulf and downtown Doha. The corniche provides views of downtown Doha, the traditional dhow boats in the bay and a view of the museum of Islamic Art. 

At the end of the corniche is Souq Waqif, which is a must see and do while in Qatar. Souq Waqif is Qatar’s oldest Souq or marketplace. Wandering the narrow alleys felt like an authentic Qatar vs. the modern downtown skyscrapers we walked by earlier in the day. The Souq consists of tiny stalls and stores selling anything from spices and herbs, to garments, perfume and even birds. It’s also known for its many restaurants and cafes and by the time we arrived, we were looking for some traditional food and shisha! 

I mentioned earlier, I had made some contacts with colleagues from work, Hiba and Elias, who are both originally from Lebanon, but living in Qatar. They took us out for a delicious Lebanese dinner. Definitely a highlight from the trip. We ended that night with the most expensive pint of Guinness we had ever bought at the only upscale hotel in the country to serve alcohol.

Qatar is a very small country so we filled our remaining couple days enjoying the Pearl, visiting Katara cultural village, eating and smoking shisha. 

Off to Kuwait! A close virtual colleague of mine named Ragheda, lived in Kuwait City and over the years had been telling me about her family’s life in Kuwait. Sounded interesting. Why not visit? Ragheda picked up Jord and I from the airport late at night and dropped us off at our hotel in Al Salmiya, Kuwait City. 

Like Qatar, Kuwait is a very small gulf country. However, in May with temperatures so hot, Ragheda picked us up and drove us around Kuwait City visiting the highlights. We visited the famous Kuwait Towers, the Grand Mosque and the sea side fish market. Jord also wanted to get a very jersey shore-esque haircut from a local barber. 

Ragheda even used her persuasive Lebanese to get us into the top floor of the newly built Al Hamra tower to get a staggering view of the Kuwait City skyline at night. So epic.

The second night at the hotel, Jord and I received a frantic Google call from Sarah and Jodi. They had ran into major traffic on their way to O’hare and were not going to make their flight to Kuwait. All this planning down the drain! We couldn’t believe this was happening. Getting on a new flight the next day was going to cost $2k each!! Sarah was crying to the desk lady and at the last second, the ticket lady said there was a slight delay and if you RAN to the gate, you might make the flight. Those girls ran their tails off! Sweaty and out of breath, they boarded the plane for an enjoyable 15 hour flight.

Sarah and Jodi flew into Kuwait City with a bunch of army guys who asked what in the world they were traveling to Kuwait for. “Tourism!” they replied….those army guys thought they were nuts. Sarah’s luggage never arrived, so the girls had fun shopping for local dresses and garments at Souq Al-Mubarakiya, one of the oldest souqs in Kuwait. We spent several hours wandering the marketplace. Jord even got suckered into purchasing a keffiyeh and flip flops that were two sizes too small .

We ended the trip with Ragheda over a Lebanese meal and shisha at the Avenues Mall.

Off to Bahrain! None of us knew much about Bahrain, but decided it made sense to make a stop enroute to Dubai. Highlights from our short stop in Bahrain included the girls first experience hearing the call to prayer over the loud speakers in the middle of the souq, Al-Fateh Grand Mosque and Bahrain National Museum.

Bahrain is a Muslim country but is the most lenient with alcohol, so we took advantage of it by visiting a rooftop bar in downtown Manama and enjoyed a beer. We also enjoyed a laid back day at beach and yacht club along the gulf.

The epicenter of the trip was UAE…more specifically Dubai. Home of the Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world. This was a dream destination for us. We booked a ballin’ airbnb on the Dubai marina and as a cityscape nut, the skyline was unparalleled. Our balcony faced some of the tallest buildings in the world.

Dubai has an extensive metro that takes you to all the different neighborhoods and taxis were dirt cheap – land of the oil.

We made the most of our time here. We visited Old Dubai, which provided a window into the day-to-day life of the city’s local community. We enjoyed lunch and took a traditional dhow boat ride.

We accidentally snuck into the Jumeriah Beach hotel that took us onto the beach and offered us a perfect view of the only 7-star hotel in the world, the Burj Al Arab.

Again, as a Muslim country, for the most part, the UAE is a dry country. The only way you could get alcohol is purchasing it duty free when flying in. We picked up some coronas and enjoyed Papa John’s on our balcony watching the skyline come alive at night.

A highlight of Dubai was going up to the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa. The view was insane. From the viewpoint terrace you could see the Palm Jumeriah, home to the elite residential communities and the Palm Atlantis. You could get glimpses of the World Islands, the man made islands made to look like a world map, and the desert extending out to the horizon.

We also did a day trip out to the desert to experience the thrill of dune bashing (silver lake still beats Dubai!) 🙂 the day ended with a traditional UAE meal with camel rides, henna, belly dancing and shisha.

Our last day trip took us to Abu Dhabi, another emirate in the UAE and home to the magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Truly breathtaking. The mosque is open to all visitors, not only Muslims, and we were given the appropatrie clothes in order to enter. Amazing experience. We spent hours trying to capture this place with our cameras and couldn’t do it justice.

10 years later and us 4 reminisce about this trip often. The ridiculously close call of the girls making their flight is something we laugh about frequently. I remember our parents wondering why on earth we chose to this destination. Before Instagram, Kuwait brought up ideas of terrorism and war and the girls experienced that sentiment first on hand the flight with army personnel. Having Ragheda, Hiba and Elias to show us around provided in the inside track to these places and we were able to experience first hand the hospitality in this part of the world. Sure, experiencing the call to prayer blasting across the city, which is a normal occurrence in the Islamic world, while trying to sleep in a Sony hotel in the middle of a bustling Souq can be uncomfortable. However, it also brings these intense feelings of being in a new world – which is an addictive and fascinating experience for me. In the end, we had an unforgettable trip visiting this part of the world. Can’t wait to be back.

Pura Vida! We managed to get a week vacation just the two of us to Costa Rica. Huge thank you to our families and friends who provided many days of activities, pillow slides, hot tub dips and countless ice cream cones for our two girls back at home. We appreciate you all so much!

We flew into San Jose, Costa Rica…not San Jose, California. Three weeks before the trip, I was confirming our rental car with the agency and I received a “can you check your confirmation code again? I see that flight arriving in San Jose, California.” Crap! I booked our departing flight to San Jose, California, not San Jose, Costa Rica! Thank you car rental man for your attention to detail!

I should also note that 16 hours before we were supposed to leave, Sarah did not have a passport. Apparently, the passport agency has been overwhelmed and our expedited renewal was not going to happen within the 7 weeks we were quoted. After a stressful week of trying to land an in-person appointment and/or miraculously getting the passport overnighted, we decided to send Sarah to Detroit the day before the trip to get her passport renewed. A full day in Detroit later, 6:00pm, 12 hours before our flight, Sarah had a passport! Whew!

OK, back to Costa Rica…now that we were officially on our way. We landed in San Jose, the largest airport, after an easy 7 hour journey, and picked up our rental car and headed out on a 3 hour ride to our first stop – La Fortuna, the land of Volcano Arenal.

We stayed at a nice, laid back hotel roughly 5 minutes drive from the downtown touristy hub of La Fortuna.

La Fortuna is definitely a mainstay on every Costa Rican itinerary. It’s home to the Arenal Volcano, which is now dormant. The area is famous for adventure, with opportunity around every corner. We came for the hiking.

After devouring a less than average plate of Nachos in downtown La Fortuna, we found ourselves speaking with a local hiking guide over a Volcano IPA and he suggested skipping the usual route, Arenal 1968, but rather hike the El Silencio trail around the volcano. Local advice always trumps the guide books.

The El Silencio route was amazing. We showed up in the morning with two other cars in the parking and the trail to ourselves. A perfect half day hike.

In the afternoon we drove 5 minutes past downtown La Fortuna to a famous local swimming hole called El Salta. Turns out it’s a popular spot to grab a beer, swim in the waterfalls, cliff jump and take a turn on the rope swing.

Next stop on the itinerary was Monteverde, home to the cloud forest hanging bridges, the infamous ziplining and exotic flora and fauna. The drive from La Fortuna to Monteverde is near 3 hours so we decided to split that up with a side trip to Rio Celeste. Rio Celeste is a large waterfall located in the Tenorio Volcano National Park and is famous for its turquoise colored water. Other than getting soaked in a rainstorm, it was a perfect pit stop.

For the Monteverde portion of the trip, we booked an AirBnB in Las Juntas, which on a map, appears pretty close to Monteverde. Turns out I was wrong….mileage wise, yes it’s not bad, but I didn’t consider the condition of the roads in the equation. Once off the main highway, the roads become almost undriveable. The roads were steep and the potholes (more like craters) were destroying our tires. I thought for sure we were going to be stuck changing flat tires. By the grace of God, we made to the AirBnB and were welcomed by our host with an ice cold Imperial beer and some grilled steak. The view off the back porch was worth the bumpy ride in.

When you Google Costa Rica, ziplining is the probably the first thing that pops up. At first, we weren’t huge on ziplining. Seemed a little cheesy for $60/person. Totally wrong! The ziplining was a blast! 13 different zip lines with the longest being 1 kilometer long and 300 feet above the jungle. Definitely worth it and the sweeping views of the rainforest were incredible.

The Monteverde Jungle is also famous for the hanging bridges, which are long suspension bridges ranging from 60-300 feet above the trees.

On our way back to Las Juntas, we had to stop at Monteverde Brewing Company for a flight of beer.

La Fortuna and Monteverde are tourist hotspots and the towns cater to the tourists with many restaurants and bars to choose from. Las Juntas, the little town of our AirBnB was super local. Accessed mostly by dirt roads, with only a couple local restaurants, we had to get a glimpse of local life. Based on a recommendation from our AirBnB host, we decided to grab a beer at the local watering hole. Along with our Imperial beers, we were served a tasty salsa concoction of hot dogs, rice and chili sauce. Although I thought the place as fun, Sarah was feeling a tad uncomfortable being the only girl around. Understandable, but glad we did it.

Last stop on the itinerary was the coastal town of Tamarindo. Before heading out, our AirBnB host suggested we take a hike on the property to the river and check out their own waterfall and swimming hole. Good times chilling in our own waterfall.

Las Juntas to Tamarindo was roughly three hours along a (thankfully) paved highway. Not able to check-in until later afternoon, we had a beer at Volcano Brewing Company and walked along the famous surfing beach. The last two days consisted of rest and relaxation at the pool, cocktails at the Mercadito, pour over coffee at Tamarindo Coffee Roasters and watching the surfers with the sunset backdrop at Playa Avellana.

Pura Vida – Pure life or simple life, is a phrase heard everywhere in Costa Rica. So blessed to experience the Pura Vida lifestyle this past week!

From Kuala Lumpur we took a 3.5 hour flight into Colombo, the capital of the island country Sri Lanka. Up until this point, I had always been the one planning, scheduling, and researching where to go and what to do in the different countries we visited…this time, Sarah took the reins. We decided on Sri Lanka and it was solely up to her to decide what we were going to do! We landed mid-afternoon and took a 1 hour cab ride through the city out to our AirBnB on the outskirts of Colombo city center. We stayed with Jay and his wife, both Sri Lankans, who provided a nice room and travel advice for our stay. As we only had one day and one night in Colombo, we threw our packs down and went off to discover this new and exciting country. Neither of us had ever traveled to South Asia and we were a little apprehensive as we walked along the roads filled with trucks and rickshaws and questionable food stalls preparing local curries.

Our first stop, by way of Jay’s strong recommendation was a country club. We weren’t super interested in visiting a country club, but he insisted it served the best Kottu Roti and the coldest Lion Stout in the city. Apart from no one else in the dining room, Jay was right, the food was delicious.

After our wonderful lunch, we walked through colorful Buddhist temples and strolled around a lake in a local park. Prior to coming to Sri Lanka, I was picturing India with it’s chaotic traffic and hordes of people teaming the streets, but in reality, we found the parks and surrounding areas to be quite nice and serene. As we were planning to go to India after Sri Lanka, we thought it would be a good introduction to this part of Asia.

Our next stop in Sri Lanka was Kandy, the second largest city and the gateway to the rest of the island. We arrived by rickshaw super early at the train station and found out most of the train was sold out. We ended having to purchase 3^rd class tickets for the 4 hour train ride. Other than hugging our Sri Lankan neighbors most of the way, it was a decent train ride for only a couple dollars.

Kandy turned out to be a little underwhelming for us. It was small city and it was easy to walk around but we didn’t find there was a lot to do. We stayed in a small hotel with a bakery on the first floor and fell in love with the local donuts for breakfast.

We had fun discovering different curry restaurants to try for dinners, and enjoyed walking around the lake, but two days in Kandy was definitely enough. It was time to move on to the part of the trip we were most looking forward to.

One of the top things to do in Sri Lanka is to take the unbelievably scenic train ride from Kandy to the small hiking hub of Ella. The train ride is a windy 6-7 hour ride through the green mountains and tea plantations of Central Sri Lanka. Luckily for us, we snagged an open doorway and watched the beautiful countryside roll by.

We arrived in Ella and walked along the train tracks to our AirBnB that was perched on a mountain skid that offered an amazing panorama of Little Adam’s Peak and waterfalls cascading down other mountains. We couldn’t have asked for a better view from our balcony. Ella was a very small town with a center tailored towards visitors coming in to hike the surrounding area. There were a few local restaurants and shops located a 10 minute walk down the hill from our place. Sarah booked us for 4 nights in Ella and each day consisted of hiking a different mountain, swimming in waterfalls, and eating the most scrumptious homemade Kottu Rotti. Sri Lanka in general is a pretty quiet country without much going on after night falls. Sarah and I always had to purchase a beer to go from the restaurant if we wanted to enjoy a drink in our room as there aren’t convenience stores or bars. Ella was super relaxing and refreshing. Beaches are usually our go-to destinations to relax, but soaking in the mountain scenery was great.

Our last day in Sri Lanka we took the same train we took to Ella to bring us back to Colombo. It was a 10 hour ride all the way back so we booked a cart with AC and started to mentally prepare for our last stop for the summer…India.

From our hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam we took the free van ride to Noi Boi international airport to make our way to Kuala Lumpur (KL), the capital and largest city in Malaysia. KL feels and looks different than other nearby SE Asian cities. Immediately upon driving into the city and hopping aboard the monorail, it’s hard not to notice the Indian, Middle Eastern, and Chinese cultures and buildings all mixed together. On one side of the street could be a local mosque filled with KL’s  large Muslim population, and on the other side of the street could be narrow alleys filled with Chinese vendors. I previously visited KL in 2012 after studying in Taipei and I remember not loving the city. The only thing that came to mind when thinking about KL was how blistering hot and humid it was. For a second, I wasn’t thrilled to be going back to that immense heat, but knew KL deserved a chance to redeem itself!

So we took the 1 hour bus ride to KL’s city centre and took the monorail to our AirBnb’s closest station. We were ecstatic for our accommodation and decided to splurge a little ($50 per night) and enjoy the city for a few days. Honestly, that $50 per night was worth just the insane view from the rooftop pool. That was pretty much the only reason we booked that place J. For me, KL has one of the greatest skylines in the world. The Islamic inspired Petronas Towers that dominate KL’s skyline are truly breathtaking. From our Airbnb’s viewpoint, we were offered one of the best panoramic views of downtown KL.

We spent the next few days walking around and exploring the different areas of Kuala Lumpur. We poked around the colorful textile and spice shops in Little India and bought some cool Indian clothing. Later, we ventured into Petaling Street, aka Chinatown. This is one of best areas to shop for trinkets and souvenirs to bring home. The street is literally packed full of tiny stalls selling anything from pirated DVD’s to scrolls of Chinese calligraphy.

Nighttime is the best time in KL. Jalan Alor street has to be one of the greatest food streets in the world. Once night falls, the street erupts into a full blown food market with stalls and restaurants selling the local cuisines. We decided to pop a squat at a Malay stall and tried some of their tasty chicken and beef kebabs with an ice cold Tiger Beer.

After stuffing ourselves at Jalan Alor night market, we took the monorail to the most popular destination, KLCC Park, home of the Petronas Towers. It’s one thing to see these towers from afar, but it’s another when standing directly underneath them. At night, this area is filled with not only tourists, but local families relaxing along the ponds and enjoying the daily fountain shows while gawking at the size of the Petronas Towers. A little embarrassed to say this, but we definitely spent some time trying to get the perfect selfie with the towers J

Kuala Lumpur definitely did not disappoint and has become a favorite city of ours. The food is fantastic and views are incredible. Can’t wait to head back someday!

I was never super interested in visiting Vietnam until this past year. I had heard mixed reviews of backpackers loving the contrast between city life and nature, while others complained about the pushiness of the local touts and the constant hard selling tactics they used on travelers. Sarah and I decided to see for ourselves. A couple of my study abroad friends had taken trips to Vietnam and loved it…it was time for us find out first hand.

Vietnam is actually a very large country. There’s so much to see and discover between the southern city of Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), and the northern capitol of Hanoi. We started our trip in the largest and most populous city of Ho Chi Minh City. I remember walking out of the airport after waiting for hours to get through the visa line, to an incredibly humid day and a SEA of Vietnamese people. As I’ve said before, Sarah and I love to stay in AirBnB’s for multiple reasons, but one reason in particular, is the inside scoop of how to get to the accommodation. It’s hard to explain the feelings of arriving in a foreign country and having to walk out the airport doors to an unknown world. It’s very overwhelming especially when you have a million Vietnamese taxi drivers grabbing your arms and bags trying to get you to take their “cheap” taxi. Luckily for us, our AirBnB host gave us excellent instructions on how to get to the apartment while not getting horribly ripped off…like most first timers do.

Other than the extra dollar the taxi driver made us pay for having two bags or something, we made it to the apartment in one piece, not broke, and very sweaty. One note on the weather, Vietnam is ridiculously humid. We thought Taiwan was bad, Vietnam was insane. Plus our apartment was on the fifth floor with no elevator J

Ho Chi Minh City was fantastic. It had a large city look and feel, but was walkable if you had time. Sarah and I stayed right on the edge of where the uppity financial district meets the “everyday life” part of the city. We spent our days sampling the local coffee and the delicious Vietnamese Pho soup, while literally dodging the hordes of scooters on our way to shop for handicrafts at the Ben Thanh Market.

Another reason we loved Ho Chi Minh was the great backpacker vibe and nightlife. We enjoyed our nights scoping out tiny eateries and rooftop bars. The night that stands out the most was our first night in Vietnam. We were roaming the city streets searching for a restaurant in the pouring rain and quickly decided to run under an awning to get some cover. A group of 3 people from the Netherlands asked us to join them. Eight hours later we had exchanged hundreds of stories and made new friends…just from getting out of the rain. It’s one of the greatest joys of traveling. It’s meeting people from every corner of the world, not being afraid to look dumb or act a certain way, casting all judgements aside and swapping stories about life.

We spent roughly four days in Ho Chi Minh and decided it was time to move on. We took a 1 hour flight north into Da Nang city. This was the closest airport to our next stop and one of Sarah’s favorite places of the entire summer…Hoi An. Hoi An is considered the most atmospheric and romantic town in Vietnam. This little town sits on a river with old women offering people the chance to light a lantern and float their wishes down the river. The cobblestone streets are lined with lanterns and buildings built centuries ago. Hoi An had an old town feel that was so calming and enjoyable. We rented a motorbike during the day and cruised through the miles of rice paddies to the pristine coastline of central Vietnam. We’d haul out the hammock and hang or lay out at the beach and read. Hoi An was paradise not only during the day, but at night as well. We’d rent bikes in the evening and pedal to the old town and eat local Vietnamese cuisine over a 25₵ beer. It felt like a candlelit, date night dinner with Sarah every night!

From Hoi An in central Vietnam to Hanoi in northern Vietnam, we decided to take the local train. The ride was a measly overnight, 18-hour trip. I was actually looking forward to this ride because we booked sleeper berths to relax the ride away. We shared the 4 bed berth a nice couple from Switzerland and made it to Hanoi.

We arrived in Hanoi early in the morning and walked to our hotel in the popular French Old Quarter. Hanoi had a much different atmosphere than Ho Chi Minh. It was more cramped, with little alleys and streets darting around like a spider web. It seemed like we ran into an older Vietnamese woman, balancing baskets with a pole over her shoulder, with her triangular rice hat, on almost every corner. Others were crowding around little stove tops with beef noodle soup brewing, while sitting on little plastic stools for breakfast. Hanoi felt…local.

We spent our two days in Hanoi strolling around Hoan Kiem Lake, walking through the shops in the Old Quarter filled with knock-off goods and trinkets, and almost getting runover by a million motorbikes screaming through the city streets. Meal time was our favorite time in Hanoi. Sarah and I both concluded that Hanoi had the greatest food in all of Vietnam. There wasn’t much of a nightlife scene in Hanoi, so we found a little corner shop that we ate at every night. It was a tiny little place that looked to be family run, and the food was unbelievable. The soups and meat were to die for.

From Hanoi, we took an exhausting but very worthwhile day trip to one of the most popular destinations in Vietnam and all of S.E. Asia…Halong Bay. What made this Bay so breathtaking were the hundreds of limestone islands that rose up outstandingly from the ocean, covered in jungle vegetation. For the day tour, we boarded a junk boat which was essentially an old Chinese sailing ship that was used for sailing around the Bay. It was an overcast day, but we thoroughly enjoyed taking the kayaks around the cliffs and exploring the islands up close.

Our last stop on our Vietnam tour was Tam Coc, Ninh Binh. This part of the trip was completely last minute and not planned….and turned out to be our favorite part of the trip. Tam Coc is loosely referred to the Halong Bay on land. For us, we thought it was even more impressive than Halong Bay. The area was stunningly beautiful. The limestone cliffs and flowing rice paddies were never-ending and the colors that erupted over the cliffs at twilight were spectacular. It was such a peaceful setting. We stayed at a little B&B and enjoyed looking at the scenery from the porch in mornings and taking hikes through the cliffs during the days. The main attraction in Tam Coc was to get in a row boat and have a heavy Vietnamese lady row you, with her feet, between the cliffs and through tunnels along the river. It was probably the best $5 we spent the whole holiday.

Other than the sweltering heat, you were awesome Vietnam!

After a beautiful week soaking up the sun and surf in Indonesia, we made our way back to the airport only to find out that our flight to Singapore had been cancelled. Crap. I had purposely booked a full day and night layover at one of my all-time favorite city states, Singapore. Again, I visited Singapore 5 years ago on my previous SE Asia tour and fell in love with the city. It’s literally a melting pot of people, colors, religions, and languages squeezed into one of the most technologically advanced and wealthiest cities in the world. Jam packed into this concrete jungle are areas for anyone’s tastes. In one day, you can visit Little India for your slice of the Hindu culture, haggle in Chinatown, or shop ‘til you drop on Orchard Road. Immediately upon landing at Changi International airport and onboard the conveniently placed MRT line from the airport to the city, you are surrounded by people from all over the globe. I love that feeling.

Anyways, back to the cancelled flight BS. If any of you readers get over to SE Asia, avoid Jetstar Airways like the plague. Horrible airline on all fronts. We found out our flight was cancelled when we got to the airport and went up to the counter and asked to get rescheduled onto the next available flight to Singapore as we needed to catch a connecting flight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The Jetstar agent looked at us like we were idiots. He basically told us we were sh*t out of luck, go find another way. We couldn’t believe this! We ended up having to race around the airport asking every and all airlines if they had anything available to Singapore. Thankfully we found a flight for 7 hours later that evening, but we had to pay for it out of pocket, but even more disappointing was not being able to spend the day in Singapore.

Fast forward 9 hours and we finally landed in Singapore at about 8pm. I was in a very bad mood, and to top it off, I lost one of my flip flops. That really ticked me off. We weren’t flying out of Singapore until the following morning at around 11am, so we decided to make the best of our situation and go into the city. I originally had lofty plans of hanging out along the river at Clarke Quay over a nice dinner, spending time in Little India, and winning my money back at the ultra-lux Marina Bay Sands Casino and Resort.

None of that happened which disappointed me, but we were able to spend some time walking around the Marina Bay and the gardens, and finally laying on a bench watching the city lights of downtown Singapore. It wasn’t the ideal day, but it worked out. Sarah was still able to get a glimpse of one of my favorite places on earth.

We took a cab back to the airport around 12:30am tried to find a dark, quiet place to sleep. It just plain sucks to sleep in the airport.

That was a long night of waking up every 15 minutes with a sore back. Thankfully our flight to Ho Chi Minh City was right on track. Off to Vietnam!

The end to our time in Taiwan was incredibly bittersweet. On one spectrum, we were very sad to be leaving the place we came to love, but on the other hand, we were GEEKED about our 2 month jaunt around Southeast and South Asia!
After waving goodbye to a group of our closest friends at Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport, with our backpacks in hand, we were aboard a very cramped, direct AirAsia flight to stop number one…Indonesia!
Indonesia is, uncommonly known, the fourth largest country and has the highest Muslim population in the world. With over 18,000 islands, it’s a diver/snorkeler/layer outers dream come true. It was the perfect place for Sarah and me to start off our  summer of travel. She could tan the day away while I was able to revel in the underwater world with my favorite marine fish.

We flew into Denpasar International Airport on the super popular island of Bali. I visited Bali 5 years ago with my younger brother Jordan and his friend, Alec Green and we had the time our lives. I really wanted to share those experiences with Sarah, so we started in northern Bali in a place called Ubud. Have you ever read the book, “Eat, pray, Love?” In a nutshell, it talks about a girl who falls in love with an Italian guy while practicing yoga amidst the enchanting rice paddies that surround the villages in Ubud. My brother, Al, and I really regretted not going to Ubud last time, so I made it a point to visit this time. It did not disappoint! Southern Bali, especially the Kuta, Seminyak, and Legion areas are incredibly busy and don’t have a lot of local culture to experience, so Ubud was a great choice to start the trip.

It was about a 2 hour taxi ride north of the airport and we were dumped literally into the rice paddies. We spent the first 3 days in vacation mode…wandering through the paddies, watching the rice farmers gather their rice, laying out by the pool, and indulging in the native Nasi and Mie Goreng noodles.

A highlight from the previous trip to Indonesia was the Gili Islands. Gili Trawangan, Gili Air, and Gili Meno make up the Gili Islands, which lie about a 2.5 hour boat ride from the eastern shore of Bali, or a 15-30 minute boat ride from Lombok. 5 years ago, these were off-the-beaten path, unspoiled islands. At the time, many locals lived on the largest island, Gili Trawangan, and us guys were excited to be on a slice of paradise that the hordes of travelers hadn’t discovered yet. I knew Sarah would love this place. We debated and debated on which island to stay on as the smaller two islands were very laid back with not much to do once the sun went down. Present day Gili T had lost its “untouched” luster a little bit as many new restaurants and guest houses had popped up over the past 5 years. We weighed the options and ultimately decided to stay on Gili T. Although we lost some culture, it offered more opportunities for dining and accommodation, but most importantly for me, was the night market.

Gili T is the only island with a night market run by the local people, serving freshly caught fish, and unique chicken and beef dishes. Every night was spent scarfing down the delicious Indonesian cuisine washed down with a Bintang brew discussing the two most asked questions in the backpacking world, “Where’ve you been?” and, “Where you off to next?” Where in reality, no one actually really cares, because they’ve probably been there or they’re heading there next. Same stories over and over!

We spent our days snorkeling in what had to be one of the best off-the-beach reefs in the world. Just a few steps in the water and we were surrounded with fields of soft coral swaying to the waves, and colorful clownfish and moorish idols swimming through the mazes of hard stony coral. We even got to swim next to several majestic sea turtles!

We took one day to visit the smallest island of Gili Meno. The “port,” was very small and that was where all five of the island’s restaurants were located, with some upper class guesthouses surrounding. But once we walked 15 minutes farther down the beach, we could’ve been on our own private island in the South Pacific. It was unbelievable. We snorkeled among some of the finest reefs in the world with not a sole in sight…couldn’t beat that.

It wasn’t all paradise though. For the two months we were gone, we tried to stay within a budget of $30 dollars per night for accommodation. Now, that’s not that hard to do considering you can stay in a 40 person hostel dorm room for $6 per night, but do you want to be sleeping with 39 drunken people? Toss up. If you would’ve asked me 5 years ago, $6 a night was the the way to go – no matter what. Nonetheless, I’ve grown up a bit, and have really enjoyed having our own place. We used AirBnB whenever possible. Rather than your typical, sterile hotel room, AirBnB is a website where anyone can put their homes/vacation homes/treehouses/boats/castles up for rent. Sarah and I love to use AirBnB because it offers a true window into the lives of the local people. Instead of a one bedroom, one bathroom hotel room, we’ve stayed in 30th floor; three bedroom condo’s overlooking skylines of some of the biggest cities in Asia….all for a fraction of the price.

When places like the above didn’t work out or AirBnB didn’t have budget options, it was good ol’ hostelworld. We did our best to stay away from the dorms rooms and at least get our own room. This usually meant $30 for a board for a bed, giant cockroaches, and a mosque prayer playing over the loud speaker and an ear splitting level from 2-5AM EVERY single night…basically our experience on Gili T. Other than the hostel we stayed in, Gili T ruled. It’s one of our all-time favorite spots. The mixture of local culture, beach, ocean, and nightlife made for an incredible week. Indonesia is a must for anyone taking the hike to Southeast Asia.