Tag: Tickets

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Our Arrival to Southern Thailand

Ooops!

Ooops!

Well we had our first significant travel logistics ooops. We flew from Chiang Mai down to the beaches in Southern Thailand. We found a cheap flight into Phuket, but Alvin and Jennifer were going to Krabi, so we really wanted to just get to Krabi. We thought, no problem, it’s just a 2 hour ferry ride from Phuket to Krabi… a few minor details we overlooked.

  • That’s the time it would actually take, yes, BUT all ferries make it a day long trip with a stop on Koh Phi Phi for 5-6+ hours.
  • That means that the ferries really only run in the morning
  • Also buses only run mid morning
  • Our flight landed in Phuket at midnight
  • The Phuket airport is in. the. middle. of. nowhere. – an hour and half cab ride into the town of Phuket. An expensive cab ride. And the bus to town quits running at 8pm.
  • The bus to Krabi leaves from in town, not out by the airport.
  • The Phuket airport shuts down at midnight and kicks everyone out.

So basically our options were, sleep outside of the airport until the morning (not really an option, there was no where to sleep), cab ride to Phuket (expensive), or cab ride to Krabi (slightly more expensive, but at least at our destination).

We did the cab ride to Krabi, and arrived at 2:30am. We tried to book a room online en route – when we got there we looked for the place for about 40 minutes. It was a little guest house. Everything was shut down. Our sweet cab driver was so nice and got our and helped us walk up and down the street searching for our place, asking the 7/11 clerk, more searching, trying to call. Finally Rick walked really far down this alley and found our place. It’s now after 3:00am… and there’s no one to be found. The front of the guest house is this sorta open courtyard, there’s one leather-ish couch.

So I pull out my camping air pad (thanks, IMM!) and hunker down on the ground, and Rick takes his spot on the couch. And we slept semi-peacefully amidst the mosquitos and cats. Until 6:30am when the front desk lady found us and woke us up yelling “No! No! No! You can’t do this. You can’t sleep here!” we tried to explain what happened, but really she didn’t care, she kinda shoved us into an empty room and told us to sleep there. Heck yea! Free night’s stay!

sort of.

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One Way Ticket to Kathmandu!

If you’ve gotten here then you probably know that Rick and I are about to head out on an adventure! We are leaving for (what we think will be) about a year to explore the world, experience different cultures, and serve God’s people wherever we can.

That’s right, we’ve quit our jobs, sold our house, gotten rid of most of our possessions.

 We have a one-way ticket to Kathmandu.

Well, that’s the first stop at least. Check out the map to see our rough plan and the countries we hope to hit, but who knows it could all change as we explore along the way.

We know God has created this path for us and we’re excited to serve doing mission work along the way in different countries. We have one specifically planned out – that’s Seed Effect – a microfinance ministry we have supported for the last six years or so. Read more here about our personal connection to Seed Effect, what we are doing with Seed Effect, and how to help us get there. We have contacts for other opportunities to serve along the way that we’ll solidify as we get closer to those places (and we are still looking for more contacts, so please let us know if you have any)

When we really started thinking seriously about the possibility of doing this, we set up “pillars” for the trip – the things that if we didn’t get to them we would come back from the trip disappointed. Turns out it’s a big world and there’s a lot we wanted to do – so we had to prioritize! Among all of these we know we want to volunteer, travel locally/authentically to really gain an understanding of the culture, and enjoy the outdoors.

Drumroll… here’s our list:

  • Visit and serve with Seed Effect in South Sudan (Rick & Liz)
  • Hiking and trekking in Patagonia (Rick & Liz)
  • Spend around 6 months in South America (Rick & Liz)
  • Become fluent in Spanish (Liz)
  • Hiking and trekking in the Himalayas (Rick)
  • Experience the culture and volunteer in India and countries in Southeast Asia (Liz)

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We definitely want to stay in touch along the way, so please fill out the contact info and we'll put you on the list to get occasional updates

…check back tomorrow for a post on why we're going…