Why Southeast Asia?

A place I never saw myself going due to language barrier, heavy pollution, and an overwhelmingly large population: China. This was until I met a wonderful friend of mine in graduate school a few years ago that told me I was welcome to venture home to China with her on her next trip to visit her family. Shealee left home and moved to the U.S by herself to start high school years ago. She is bright, sarcastic, and drop-dead gorgeous. After we graduated from TCU we both started at local public accounting firms crunching numbers and adjusting to full-time adulthood.

 MEET SHEALEE:

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A couple years later the time finally came around for her trip home and she called me one day telling me to book the flight ASAP, because a direct roundtrip flight with American Airlines just dropped to $597. *jaw drop* In a matter of hours I had official travel plans to visit China! Her family invited me to stay with them and they were so eager for a visitor that they happily agreed to plan our daily agenda (touristy activities and all)! No longer concerned with language barrier and knowing I’d have a good roof over my head the excitement set in! Better yet, Shealee’s family encourages that I bring along  travel friend, because they have room to house one more visitor.

We chose a mutual friend to join the trip. A friend that we had met about a year prior when she moved from Georgia to Texas to join my public accounting firm. On a complete whim, this adventure-seeking, adrenaline junky, Abby, jumped on the idea of booking a trip to China. And just like that we had 3 bean-counters heading overseas for a girl’s trip!

MEET ABBY:

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✈️Follow Abby’s Travel Blog: here ✈️

Travel Plans Morph into something Magical: Abby and I realize that we both have aspiring plans to travel the world and we gawk at the idea of how cheap it would be to travel the Southeast Asia (SEA) area. Only a year or two into our full-time careers we aren’t rolling in the dough ready to take the world by storm, but SEA seemed like a realistic goal. Also a weighing factor: whether we wanted to try living in another state or attempt a different career path, we both knew our time with our current firm was coming to an end. What a better time to quit than when we leave for China? None. So we did.

So here we are in the present. Notice to leave has been put in at work. The reality of long term travel is established and we are more excited than ever! Our travel itinerary is semi-firm with room for flexibility as we discover people we want to travel with or places we want to go along the way. Without further ado, I reveal to you our (very rough draft) Itinerary:

1. Xi’an, China – Shealee’s hometown – 7 days
2. Beijing, China – Touring the big city and sending Shealee back home to America – 4 days
3. Koh Tao Island, Thailand – Scuba Diving – 5 days
4. Koh Phangan Island, Thailand – Full Moon Party at Haad Rin Beach – 4 days
5. Phuket, Thailand – Beachin’ it – 3 days
6. Sailing Tour of Thai Islands on a Catamaran – Someone Pinch Me – 7 days
7. Bangkok, Thailand – Exploring the City and Floating Market – 8 days
8. Kuang Prabang, Laos – Trekking the Kuang Si Waterfalls – 3 days
9. Chiang Mai, Thailand – Floating Lantern Festival and mountains of Northern Thailand – 6 days
10. TBD– Joining other backpackers on their Adventures – 15 days
11. Boracay, Philippines – Island Life – 5 days
12. TBD, Philippines – Island Life continued – 8 days
13. Honolulu, Hawaii – Working my way back into the US – 12 days
14. Home Sweet Home – Mid December

Wander On,

SK