Brian and I were laughing the other day because who names a travel blog “Beaches & Backpacks” and then travels for just shy of two months without setting foot on a single beach. Well, apparently we do! We highly doubt you’ve been holding your breath anxiously anticipating a beach blog post but on the off…
Using your iPhone on the cheap while in Southeast Asia (or anywhere for that matter) is actually pretty damn easy. However, because domestic carriers like Verizon and AT&T would much prefer you pay them exorbitant fees to use your phone abroad, the simple steps to accomplish this are not widely known. Here are the basic…
There is a place called Tiger Kingdom just north of Chiang Mai where, for ~$12 USD, you can go into a holding area and expose yourself to wild tigers. You literally just walk around petting and taking pictures with them as if they were house pets. It’s pretty crazy (and a little scary). We didn’t…
Most of the street side restaurants and vendors in Thailand rarely have a menu listing the dishes they offer, and if they do, the menu is almost always written in Thai. If you stumble upon a street vendor that not only has a menu but has the menu written in both Thai and English, well…
A quote from Joy, our lovely host at U-Baan hostel in Bangkok. We decided to check out Sukhothai anyways in search of a small town change of pace from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok and to break up the trip to Chiang Mai. Turns out, we loved the place! Although there wasn’t a heck…
In case it got lost in translation, that’s a reference to The Hangover II. We always envisioned jumping off the plane in Bangkok, Armageddon style, with wide-eyes and ready to take the city by storm. However, the reality was a little less glamorous. Jet lagged and absolutely exhausted from our 30+ hours of travel, we…
Each of the major airline alliances (Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam) offer round-the-world (RTW) flight options. Generally the tickets are either mileage or segment based, meaning you receive a maximum number of miles allowed to travel or a maximum number of flight segments. Mileage-based tickets typically allow for ~20,000-30,000 miles and segment-based are typically ~14-18 segments (all connecting flights…
We booked our flights to San Juan on a whim a few months ago after finding dirt cheap airfare, knowing basically nothing about the place. Warm weather, beaches, and a trial run w/ hostel stays all sounded like a great plan. A few anecdotes and takeaways to frame our initial foray into this whole travel/ hostel…
We had heard all the stories about how unique and vibrant Austin is and after paying a visit there, we can say without a doubt that Austin was everything we were hoping for and more! It’s no surprise that quite a few celebrities call Austin home but our favorite Longhorns are our great friends, Baker and Elizabeth, who graciously…
We somehow managed to fit our lives into a 10′ x 10′ storage unit and made the road trip to Cincinnati this weekend to get some family time in before heading to Austin, TX and Puerto Rico for a few weeks. The all too familiar overcast conditions and light rain popped up in the WV mountains and continued through our arrival in the “other” Queen City. …
Beaches & Backpacks 