What I Did: A handful of nights in Bangkok here and there and over a month in Koh Tao. Overall: Koh Tao is a diver’s paradise and the perfect place to learn. You’ll be overwhelmed with options for where to do your open water, don’t feel pressured to sign up beforehand or on the ferry, where touts will…

So while I waxed nostalgic about having an unconventional travel partner in my previous post, now I’m going to get down to the nitty gritty of things. In the days leading up to my Dad’s flight I picked a guesthouse as our meeting spot for our late arrivals in Bangkok. A sad goodbye to Justine, a…

Sawadee Ka Ronald! My first day in Bangkok was a day of getting settled in. I woke up to Justine, the girl I would be volunteering with in Koh Tao, and her friend Anna knocking on my door and dragging me to Khao San Road, the infamous backpacker mecca, where we went to the bank, bought…

And it begins! Exactly thirty hours after leaving my house in Menands, New York, I arrived at my hostel in Sukhumvit, Bangkok. Things of note: As I was about to get off my first 13 hour flight leg in Tokyo, doctors boarded in the plane in getups that were some sort of odd combination of hazmat…