My Dream Vacation: 2012

Sunday, March 18, 2012

If I could go anywhere in the world, I would go to...

THAILAND! And I would backpack! I've been dreaming of going on this trip for years, and it looks like it may actually come together in the near future! Keep reading to see how my DREAM adventure/vacation may play out!

Why Thailand?

Yeah, there are a lot of other really cool places in the world. I could find great beaches in Panama, great night life in New York city, and rich history in England, and yet I can say with a great deal of confidence that Thailand is where I want to go. I can't pinpoint the reason for that, I just know that something about it intrigues me.

I can't pretend that there's some deeper meaning behind going on this trip. I don't think that going there would help me "find myself", and I definitely don't have any roots to discover in Thailand. For me, it's come to represent this great adventure that I want to take. I've done many resort trips. What I want now is to take a trip with less structure, go in not knowing what to expect, and just see where I'll wind up, who I'll meet, and what experiences I'll have.

Thailand kind of has it all. For one, the capital is Bangkok. That is one city that has definitely been on my travel bucket list for quite some time. It also has amazing natural beauty, from beaches to jungles to scuba diving. The totally different culture is also something that I'm drawn to. Lastly, the country has many very interesting historical sites, including ruins and temples.

So... Why do I want to go to Thailand? It just has it all.

Thailand in motion

A couple of tips for backpacking Thailand...

I've never done a backpacking trip before, so I decided to look up a couple of tips for backpacking through Thailand. Here are the ones I found most helpful:

The bigger the bag, the more unwanted items you'll have
Bring a body belt
Don't bring any heavy clothes on the flight there, because you definitely won't need them in Thailand
Rolled clothes takes up less space than folded
Don't keep your cash or passport in your backpack

The Details

WHO: Me and my best friends/roommates Erin and Nikki (we've been talking about this trip all year)
WHEN: summer 2013, probably for the entire month of August.
WHERE: Thailand!
WHY: I will have just finished my first year in law school, and it would be the perfect time to take an adventure. I want to do this trip soon, because I know the older I get, the more responsibilities I will have, and more things will be holding me back.

The budget

Eek... the budget. Not something one wants to think about when planning a month long trip, but here goes...
The three of us have committed to being very cheap travelers. According to our research, we can realistically do Thailand on 30$/day without forcing ourselves into starvation or sleeping on the beach. This price includes accomodations (we will be staying in hostels and guesthouses), food and drink.

So, if we assume we will be gone for 30 days, this brings our day to day budget up to 900$. Of course, we will obviously be splurging from time to time on side trips, gratuitous purchases, and travel costs once we're in Thailand, so I would expect to spend anywhere from 1500-2000$ over the course of the month.

Here are a few sites I browsed while trying to establish our budget:
http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-guides/southeast-asia-travel-tips/
http://travelhappy.info/thailand/bangkok-on-30-dollars-a-day/
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006050218997

After comparing the prices of a few of the major airlines, I have come to the conclusion that the round trip will cost anywhere from 1700-2400$, depending on the deals available when I am ready to solidify my plans. We are going to make an honest effort to travel by foot or bike whenever we can (we are backpacking after all), but from time to time we will need to make use of public transit. I have incorporated these travel costs in the day to day budget.

All things considered, this trip is going to run each of us anywhere between 3200-4400$. Personally, I have been putting 100$/month into an account for the trip. When I have more steady employment in the summer, I will try to put aside even more. Hopefully by August 2013 I will have the money saved up.

Places we NEED to go: the big city

I don't have a set itinerary for our trip... I basically want to fly into Bangkok and figure it out day by day from there. That being said, I definitely have a couple of places that I know I want to see.

destination one: Bangkok

I'm going to cheat and refer to Bangkok as one attraction, despite there being several things I want to see and do there. I believe that it would just be a crime not to go to Bangkok while in Thailand. It has a reputation for being somewhat overwhelming for first timers, which I find a little intimidating, but it also has a reputation for having phenomenal night life and being rich in culture.

There are so many things I want to see while in Bangkok, but I'll limit myself to three. First, I definitely want to visit Wat Phra Kaew, the temple of Emerald Buddha. I am not a religious person, but the architecture alone may turn me into one.

Second, I have to see Chinatown. As a born and raised Torontonian, I am sorry to say that I find our version of Chinatown to be an unpleasant place where I'm constantly overwhelmed by things that am not familiar with. I can only imagine the culture shock will be significantly more intense in this version of Chinatown, but since I said that I wanted an adventure and to be removed from my comfort zone, I think that this is an important place for me to see.

Lastly, I definitely want to experience Soi Cowboy, the red-light district of Bangkok. As a student who likes to party, it would be an un-missable experience. Soi Cowboy has a reputation for having absolutely amazing nightlife, with over 40 bars compacted onto the strip.

If you need any more proof that Bangkok is a city full of adventure, check out Hollywood's interpretation of it...

Places we NEED to go: teach me some history

As I mentioned in a previous post (refer to: Why Thailand), part of the appeal to Thailand is that it has a colorful history that has been preserved through historical sites. As a history major, I am a bit of a geek when it comes to this kind of stuff. So keeping that in mind, another place that I definitely want to visit on this trip is the Phanom Rung historical park.

This park is considered to be one of Thailand's most beautiful and important historic sites. It is a religious sanctuary dedicated to the most important Hindu god, Shiva. It was later taken over as a Buddhist site. The site was built in the 12th century, making it one thousand years old. The sanctuary sits at the edge of an extinct volcano, over a thousand feet above sea level.

Here are some photos... The architecture alone should tell you why it's a must see.

Places we NEED to go: bringing a little familiarity with me

Two years ago, I became a certified scuba diver. Since then, I've been scuba diving in Mexico and Panama, both of which were phenomenal experiences. I titled this blog post "bringing a little familiarity with me" because although I have never been diving in Thailand, diving is a passion of mine. Regardless of where I'm doing it, there are few places where I feel more at home than under meters upon meters of water, so by scuba diving I can kind of be at home while being away from home.

I am super excited about the prospect of diving in Thailand because I have heard nothing but amazing testimonies to how great the diving is. One thing about getting into diving is that you become part of the community of fellow divers who all love to share their experiences with one another. Richelieu Rock has come up numerous times as a favorite site, so I have added it as one of my must-sees while I'm in Thailand.

One of the most exciting parts about diving is the high likelihood of spotting a whale shark, which is the largest fish in the ocean. I have never seen one before, so I'm really hoping I will in Thailand. There are literally plenty of fish in the sea at this site. With so many different kinds of underwater life surrounding you, there's never a dull moment. There is also tons of coral reef to explore while you're down there.

Although this is an adventure that I have already experienced in some ways, no two diving experiences will ever be the same. I can't what kind of adventure this world renowned site can offer me.

Places we NEED to go: which way to the beach?

Although I have traveled to many resorts which all claim to have white sandy beaches with beautiful blue water, I have yet to find a beach that has really blown me away. Every time we go somewhere new, the beach is one of the things that I look forward to the most. Thailand claims to boast some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, which is one of the many reasons I want to go there.

I have a cousin who visited Thailand a few years ago, and when she came back she told me about an amazing island in the Gulf of Thailand called Koh Larn. She said that it was one of the highlights of her trip, and after enviously going through her pictures, I decided that I had to visit this island if I ever set foot in Thailand.

Some might say... a beach is a beach is a beach. 99% of the time, I would agree with this statement, but the beaches on Koh Larn (all 6 of them) appear to be stunning and uniquely beautiful. For one, they're all coral beaches. You can see a lot of great things while snorkeling on the island. Inland on the island is a lush mountainous jungle where you can see wild life, and of course its also just pretty to stare at. The water really does seem blue in the pictures, and the beaches really do seem white. I can't confirm this yet, but if the testimonials I have found online are worth anything, then I don't think I'll be let down. Banana boating and parasailing are also offered at this beach, which pretty much put this beach over the top.

There's also just something about the idea of travelling to a "remote" (ok, maybe not so remote) island. It brings the picture of being a castaway to my mind, and is there really a bigger adventure than that?

Making the shift from an individual mass tourist to an explorer

As I've mentioned, I've never really gone on a trip without the comfort of being on a resort or with some sort of organized group. I have gone off and done side trips such as ATVing, ziplining, at other little mini adventures, but at the end of the day I always wound up back in my big comfy double bed with a belly full of buffet food.

I am nervous about venturing off into the realm of the explorer. There are things I've never needed to worry about before, such as organizing my own meals, carrying all my belongings on my back, and figuring out my own transportation. I will need to figure out all of these things as our trip unfolds. I'll also be working with disadvantages that have never really been issues before, such as not speaking the native language, and being a female in an unknown place. However, I am excited about these challenges and hoping I can conquer them.

I have always looked back on my trips as adventures, and I still see them that way. However, I am at a time in my life where I feel like everything is changing. I'm on my way out of my undergrad, I'm off to a new school next year, and leaving behind everything that has been normal to me for four years. I'm also entering what will probably be the hardest few years of schooling I'll ever have to go through, and all of these factors have come together in a way that has made me want to simultaneously hold onto the past while also creating a whole new adventure different from any I have had in the past. I guess that I want to experience something with my friends that will tie us together forever. I think that this is the reason I'm so set on moving away from mass tourism and exploring. I started off this blog thinking that this trip was just an adventure I was interested in going on. I was wrong. The more I've reflected on it, the more I've realized that this is something that my friends and I are doing for a reason. The destination may not be as significant as the timing and the company, but it will be the place where we create these new memories.