travel — Blog — The First Year

DAYS 52-63: SOUTHERN THAILAND

We’ve been looking forward to enjoying southern Thailand and its beaches ever since we first began planning this trip. We envisioned climbing its limestone cliffs during the day and spending relaxing evenings writing and reading on its beaches. We wanted to swim in the warm waters of the Andaman Sea and watch monkeys play in the jungle trees. All from a beach bungalow hut - you know, the ones so often highlighted in our Instagram feeds. And I (Brad) intended to do so as cheaply as possible.

TravelMcKenzie BurgtorfNovember 20, 2016Thailand, climbing, travel, Tonsai, Ko Phi Phi, PhuketComment

DAYS 35-48, EVEREST BASECAMP TREK, NEPAL

Sure, I love the mountains.

But I’m not a mountaineer.

I think all of those people you see in the documentaries, losing their limbs to frostbite, sleeping in tiny windblown tents and suffering through negative bajillion below zero temperatures just to stand on top of a summit are absolutely insane. Like they have to have a screw loose or something. But for better or for worse, I married a man who is a little bit crazy about mountains, and so sometimes I find myself agreeing to do things that I would otherwise reserve for those insane folks…like spending two weeks hiking through the Himalayas and eventually to the basecamp of Mount Everest at 17,600 feet.

TravelMcKenzie BurgtorfNovember 13, 2016himalaya, travel, hiking, trekking, nepal, everest, lukla, namchee Comment

DAYS 12 - 25: Bangkok, Thailand

After the Grand Canyon, we cashed in a few hotel points and spent a couple days regrouping in Sedona - sleeping in fluffy beds, spending afternoons by the pool, eating entire bags of halloween candy…it was lazy and gluttonous and absolutely fantastic.

After that we did a little climbing in New Mexico* and Brad took me to Santa Fe for my birthday. He treated me to this mind blowing Japanese spa*(a perk doing this type of thing in our 30s rather than our flat broke 20s), and patiently waited while I hunted for turquoise around the city plaza. Meanwhile, he seemed fine hunting for tamales.

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