Something ironic that Al and I realized pretty quickly on our trip around the world, is that travel doesn’t really feel so foreign anymore. 

My first solo trip abroad was to Goodwood, South Africa back in the summer of 2008. I spent about a year planning and saving for that trip. I would take frequent visits to the Student Travel Agency (STA) offices on Kirkwood, the main strip on my college campus. I would sit with the STA Travel Agent pouring through brochures, looking up flights and hostels, and discussing prices and what my best options were.

Once I booked my flight with the agent, the reservation had to be routed through the airlines before I could finally receive the paper tickets in my hand 3 weeks later. I kept the tickets on me at all times, pulling them out and staring at them every so often, just to make sure they were real.

I remember laying in the grass of the front yard of my college apartment, next to my best friend who was scheduled to meet me 5 weeks after my arrival. We sat on a blanket and fanned through the generic pictures in our Nomad Africa pamphlets, reading and re-reading through every step of our upcoming trip with excitement, memorizing every word, and imagining what our adventure would be like.

When I arrived in South Africa months later, I was completely out of my element. I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. I navigated unfamiliar streets and public transportation holding a confusing map, and was forced into constant interaction with other people (travelers and locals alike) for survival. Over coffee and drinks we would share our most exciting stories, our favorite places to eat, the towns we loved, and all the areas we recommended the others avoid. I kept in touch with family about once every two weeks, whenever I could get to an internet cafe.  I tried to take pictures on my digital camera when I remembered to, but I usually forgot. After two months of traveling through South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, I had about 200 pictures to show for it, but I didn’t care.

 

 

As the months went by, the pamphlets I had memorized back at home came to life in a way I never could have dreamed of before seeing the destinations with my own eyes. I spent the trip completely immersed in a new life and culture, truly seeing and discovering each place for the first time. I had no idea if the places I was going to were on or off the beaten path; I didn’t even know there was a beaten path. Everything was brand new to me. I was just figuring it out as I went along.

Now it’s 2016, and nothing about our experience planning and living out this trip has been the same as that first solo trip. We planned our entire road trip online through Airbnb. All of our recommendations came through reviews left on popular websites of other travelers. We have seen most of our destinations in some capacity before arriving, through travel sites or the lens of popular Instagrammers.

We are constantly being bumped into by people taking selfies. Most times when locals get frustrated with my attempts to communicate in their language, they pull out a translation app and make me type in what I’m trying to say. I keep in touch with my family daily, because we have WiFi everywhere we stay. We rarely need to figure out a map, because we had every place on our road-trip pre-programmed into our GPS, or we are able to easily navigate streets using Google Maps. I really don’t have to talk to other travelers unless I want to, because I have my best friend with me at all times.

There are very few places left to go that haven’t already been walked across by another backpacker filled with ideas of travel and adventure.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not making the argument that this is a bad thing, or that it is a reason not to go places. 

I love technology and mentally thank it for helping me out in one way or another on a daily basis. It has allowed our trip to take us to places we never could’ve imagined before. I can read book after book on my Kindle instead of lugging around heavy hardback versions. Al and I can easily find delicious vegetarian food all over the world thanks to websites like happy cow. Because I have the ability to connect regularly with all the people I love, I have been able to go four months without feeling an inkling of homesickness.

There are so many positives, but the reality is that travel is becoming so much easier and accessible than ever before. What Al and I learned right away on this trip is that we will need to be creative in order to carve out a genuinely unique experience each place we go. This may mean that we often have to bypass some of the most popular destinations we were intending to visit.

We did this trip to get out of our comfort zone, see a new way of life, and have unforgettable experiences that we will share together for a lifetime. In order to do this, we will have to work a little bit harder than we thought. Simply being in a foreign country doesn’t guarantee adventure and discovery. Nowhere has this proven to be more accurate than in Thailand.

It is not a secret that Thailand is one of the most (if not the most) heavily visited country on the Southeast Asia backpacking trail.  When you arrive, you can see right away how much the country has been negatively affected by tourism, to the point that you easily forget you’re even in Thailand. Initially, we thought we would head to the southern islands after our northern motorbiking adventure. After talking to other people and doing some research, we knew that the popularity of these islands would prevent us from having the experience we were searching for.

I am sure that these islands are still worth visiting for many people, but Al and I couldn’t imagine ourselves spending days on end next to 21 year olds chugging buckets of rum while being forced to listen to loud techno music at all hours of the day and night.

We wanted to go somewhere that felt like a real Thai island, and was somewhat remote – but a place not so far off the beaten path that we couldn’t find basic necessities. We had an idealistic image of meeting locals, exploring jungles and beaches, and snorkeling through coral reefs. We were starting to believe this type of a place no longer existed in Thailand, until we stumbled on the relatively unknown Island of Koh Mak.

Koh Mak is a privately owned island located on the southeastern part of Thailand, near the border of Cambodia, and only has a handful of resorts and hostels. It refers to itself as the ‘Last Unspoiled Thai Island’ because of how unknown it is, along with the fact that the owners of the island are dedicated to controlling tourism and expansion in an effort to keep it that way. Another bonus: the island is part of a marine national park, so has excellent snorkeling and diving opportunities.

We spent two weeks on this small, natural paradise. We often felt like we were the only two tourists on the island (although there were plenty of others, they just weren’t in our faces at all times). We easily met locals and had the chance to learn and watch how they produce cinnamon on the island from tree bark, regularly ate freshly cooked Thai curries, swam in warm turquoise tropical waters, and even dodged wild boars while trying to get water from the closest shop.

It was amazing, but there were also some unexpected downsides to island life: Al and I had what felt like hundreds of new bug bites pop up every single day, and were constantly fighting off sand fleas. I woke up more than once to a beetle crawling up my leg, and after each nightly thunderstorm, we lost sleep by being forced to listen to the chilling sounds of dozens of rats squeaking and running around in the walls and tin ceiling of our bungalow. It had its ups and downs, and by no means was it a – sit by the ocean on lawn chairs, and have cocktails all day – type of island experience.

Koh Mak was perfect and not perfect all at the same time, and because of that, it was exactly the adventure filled island experience we were looking for.

And now, here is a little glimpse into what a typical day in Koh Mak looked like for us (minus the rats):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beach of choice for the day typically varies between one of three of our favorites: Ao Soun Yai, Laem Son, and Ao Kao beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our day spent swimming, snorkeling, and reading, it is time to head back home in time to catch the sunset.