As you know if you’ve been following my Photo of the Week posts, I’ve spent the last six weeks in Thailand… and I have another 13 weeks left here in Southeast Asia! I’m so excited to start sharing this trip to my favorite place on earth with you.
While this will mostly be a solo journey for me, I was joined by my baby sister Olivia for the first three weeks of the trip. She’s graduating college this May (hence my very-solid return date!) and going straight into the rigorous and prestigious Teach For America program. She won’t have time for a summer vacation, so she tagged along on this trip instead.
We started in Koh Tao — the island I lived on last year — to park it for a few weeks to catch up with friends and work, go diving, soak up the sun and visit all my old haunts. After, we headed up to Bangkok for a few days of nightlife (both of us), eating tacos (me), and shopping (Olivia). That city is one of my favorites in the world — the amazing markets, the hectic Khao San Road, the delicious street food, the luxurious yet affordable hotels — I love it all. For Liv’s last few days we jetted North to Chiang Rai, where I redeemed a bunch of hotel rewards points for a stay in a five-star resort. This was a totally new destination for both of us! You’ll be hearing all about it and more in the coming months.
For now, I’ll leave you with a little video introducing the next chapter of coverage on Alex in Wanderland… the Baackes sisters take Thailand by storm!
Anyone else find themselves drawn back to the same parts of the world? Or do you prefer totally new adventures?
Which place in Bangkok did you get tacos at?
Sunrise Tacos… pretty much around the corner from where I stayed 🙂 Any other recommendations?!
Cool video, you both look to be having a great time. I particularly like the scuba diving video.
Thanks! Those videos were just shot with my little s100 point and shoot. Does pretty well underwater!
Oh, you two are such dolls!! I wish I had a sister to travel with. Looks like a blast. The shots of Olivia diving are so cute… did you let her borrow your Swish wetsuit or did she get one too? And I have to know….what dive gear are you taking with you in that backpack!?! I can barely get my full set of equipment in a huge dive bag.
Thanks Rika! Yup, one of the conditions of her trying diving was that she get to wear the Swish Suit 🙂 Luckily I have a new Roxy surf top that I’m OBSESSED with, so I was just as happy to wear that!
And ugh, yes traveling with dive gear is a nightmare! I’ve got a full set in that backpack (along with the rest of my stuff!)… BCD, reg, fins, dive bag, wetsuit, rash guard and surf top, mask and snorkel!
SERIOUSLY!? I am so impressed! What BCD are you using? I have a Scubapro Bella, and there’s no way I’d get that beast in a backpack. What backpack is that??
Ha oh if only you could see my BCD… I’ll have to do a post with all my dive gear one of these days, but basically it’s a billion year old Scubapro thing that my ex-boyfriend liberated from a trash pile and repaired for me. It’s quite small, I think it might even have been child size!
Ooh I can’t wait until my sisters are a bit older and we can do this together!
As an aside, how do you pronounce your last name? I’ve been going with BAAH-kes.
Yay or nay?
You two are just adorable!! How lucky are both of you to have such an awesome sister to travel with. Having just gotten back, I’m enjoying reading about your experiences all over Thailand, and spotting things I missed out on that I’ll have to visit again for! Charming video!
Great video. Yout wo are so sweet. Are you coming back to Cambodia during your time in SE Asia?
Oh man, I can’t watch the video again due to Germanys stupid restrictions on music. oh well, guess this means we have to meet soon so I can watch all your videos then! =) Enjoy your time in Thailand!!!
Caty, I actually thought of you when I saw the video would be blocked in Germany! Ah well… as you said, I’ll have to show you in person someday 🙂
I loved this video! Oh how I wish I had videotaped my brother and I when we were in Europe. It must have been hard to see her go!!!
You guys are so adorable! Great video Alex, looks like you both had an amazing time. We’re heading to Thailand next month so I will have to email you for some advice 🙂
The Baackes sisters are so incredibly adorable, I can’t handle all the cuteness.
And wow! That vis in Thailand! Surreal.
Awesome! This video has got me so hyped to visit Thailand. Can’t wait to follow your posts, hope you don’t mind if I email you for some logistical info as my trip gets closer. Cheers!
Feel free, Frank! Glad this has got you pumped 🙂
Alex, Micki has been bugging me about heading back to Thailand and I have to say that quick video definitely helped remind me why we both love Thailand so much. We also learned to dive in Koh Tao and we can’t wait until the kids are a little older and we can all enjoy it together.
Enjoy your time there! It’s definitely one of our favorite countries in the world.
Thank you Charles! I agree. I am leaving Thailand in a few days and finding it difficult as usual to say goodbye to the place I’ve spent more time in than any other country (outside my home, of course!)
so i just found your site because im trying to plan a dive trip to Utila ….. but got caught up looking at other adventures you have done! looks amazing and would love to do someting like that ! im actually living in toronto canada and see ure from ny ! lol very close …. but my main question is how the hell do you travel all over and support yourself while doing it financially ….. ? please share so i can do something similar
take it ez
Adam
Hey Adam! Thanks for reading, I’m glad you’ve enjoyed poking around my site 🙂 This post might answer a lot of your questions about how I got started. Hope that helps!
OMG love the vid – I definitely want/need to incorporate more videos in my blogging! Maybe I’ll try to take some on my fam’s trip to Montreal/Quebec this summer…
Looks like y’all had a great time! 🙂
I always say I’m going to make more videos but I get so lazy. Anders was so great at creating videos for Alex in Wanderland, and he’s more talented than I am too!