Travel to Thailand + Semester at Sea Embarkation
Guys what the actually heck!!!! My plan is to write this blog post in stages so you (& future me) can read and feel my actual emotions as each event occurs. However, this didn’t quite go as planned because of how exciting and crazy everything turned out to be. I was filming other content as well as trying to embrace and take in the moment so I didn’t get to write as much as I wanted to. I started this post on the flight from Atlanta to Korea and I am coming back to finish.
Korean Time: Sunday 12/29 @4:04 am
I am currently about 1.5 hours away from landing in Seoul, South Korea. I started my journey in Sarasota, Florida at around 5pm on 12/27. I left my house, headed to the airport, and took off at 8pm for Atlanta (it was a bit delayed). The hardest part of the flight was forcing myself to stay awake. I watched a great movie called “This Means War.” I landed at around 10pm and boarded my flight to Korea at 11:40pm. This flight is around 16 hours long which has honestly gone by super quick. It has been a combination to sleeping and eating with a splash of TV and music. My aunt recommended the show Ally McBeal . I’ve watched two episodes and I’m already obsessed.
I have a few things I want to do when I land in Korea like call my parents, call my phone company and credit card company, and finish/upload blog posts and instagram content, but I have 4.5 hours once I land before my flight to Thailand. When I land in Thailand it will be about 2pm local time and have no official plans. I want to just walk around and get acquainted with the area and i’m actually so excited it’s unreal. This does not feel like it’s even happening I can’t believe it!!
hii from the plane to South Korea!
Okay Korean Airport, go off.
1/7/2025
I landed in Korea and the airport was so fun. I called my parents and went to the awesome lounge for food before I boarded my final flight to Chiang Mai. They had every type of food you could imagine and I was loving already being in the culture. Since this flight was a daytime flight in Thailand time I forced myself to stay awake yet again to try and avoid jet lag. Pretty much the entire 6 hour flight I read a fabulous book called, “Deeply, Madly, Truly.” I typically like historical fiction or memoirs, but I have been wanting an easy beach read and this is THE one. It has me in a chokehold and I highly recommend if you need a page-turner.
When I tell you I have never felt more disgusting than when I landed in Chiang Mai I am being so serious. It had been around 36 hours of travel and I needed a shower. I met up with a driver that my lovely travel agent mom had arranged, got to my hotel, freshened up, and hit the town. I walked for hours and hours just simply getting my bearings and it was incredible. The sun was going down and my belly was grumbling so I figured I should find somewhere to eat. I did an in-depth google search to find the best place and stumbled upon the most gorgeous resort with a restaurant called Bodhi Terrace. SO freaking stunning. I was actually in awe and even more in awe when I received my food. Dinner started off with a traditional Thai appetizer that had some sort of leaf with lime, a sort of coconut paste, chile, etc. A nice little zing in my mouth before the best thing I have ever tasted: khao soi. This is an egg noodle dish typically with chicken and crispy noodles on top as well as with lime and chile. After eating khao soi every single day I can safely say this was the best one. The zing from the like paired perfectly with the spice of the chile and the hot slurpy noodles contrasted with the crunchy noodles on top. Maybe my new favorite food…
1/22/2025
Andddd I am back to finish writing for good this time. My entire life I have been a doer with the constant need to go go go, and I can finally say I have been relaxed and present throughout this experience and that is such a beautiful thing. With that being said, I haven’t felt like writing until now so I just didn’t. For once I didn’t push myself I simply went with the flow of what I wanted to do. Instead of focusing on school, internships, extracurriculars I focused on letting my extroverted self thrive. I have already met tons of fabulous people, laughed more than ever, enjoyed countless memories that I’ll never forget, and learned things about myself and the world around me. My favorite question to ask myself is what is life without joy, and this experience has truly allowed me to find joy. Anyways, let’s get back to where we left off.
Day 1:
The first full day in Chiang Mai started off with the best breakfast buffet ever at my hotel: Melia. I have experienced many a breakfast buffet and this is definitely in the top. Every dessert possible, salad, fruit, yogurt bowls, eggs of all types, traditional Thai dishes, and a chef making khao soi on the spot. I wad picked up by my lovely driver and tour guide to begin the experience that I had been dreaming of since the age of 7: an elephant sanctuary. Leading up to this point if you had ever asked me my dream destination or top thing on my bucket list it was visiting the elephants in Thailand and the time was now. The drive there was magical as I looked at the window observing the scenery. We stopped at a little stand on the side of the road and my tour guide bought me a coconut water in the coconut and a traditional Thai dessert/snack of sweet rice cakes. The coconut was so refreshing and was the sweetest gesture. He bought it for me to drink and then to give to an elephant when I got there so they would like me the most haha. Kanta Elephant Sanctuary was the best because of their sustainable practices. Each of us arrived and changed into an elephant outfit so we wouldn’t get our clothes all gross. My tour guide took me separately from the group to meet the elephants first and I thought I was going to die of happiness. Just me and the elephants hanging out with no one else around. These gentle silly giants were even better than I had imagined. We spent the day caring for them, feeding them, washing them, and learning about them. They pretty much eat all day long and we even got to make their food and put it right in their mouths. After a full day of being with elephants I was extremely content, but exhausted so I took a nap. News flash… it was not a nap I woke up 4-5 hours later at 9pm. I was originally annoyed that I had slept so much because I didn’t want to waste one second, but I knew my body needed this time to rejuvenate especially since I will be gone for 4 months. I took my mom’s advice (because mama always knows best) and ordered room service and watched a show. It was exactly what I needed.
Cute fit am I right ;)
The best day of my entire life.
Still in awe. I will never get over this.
Day 2:
Yet another fabulous day to be had in Chiang Mai starting with a workout at the hotel and then a solo cooking class. My mom organized this class for me and little did we know it was JUST me which I LOVED. I bonded with the chef and laughed with her as we walked around the market and cooked. We made papaya salad, sweet and sour soup, pad thai, and mango sticky rice. Let me just say that I freaking love Thai food. It’s interesting yet comforting and filling but not over the top. The cooking class was just in the morning so I decided to find a cafe I had seen on TikTok (trust me sometimes TikTok knows. Unfortunately spoiler alert it did me wrong this time). I walked around 2 hours (I love walking and yes I know I’m crazy) to this cafe and it was cute for a second, but kind of in the middle of nowhere. I decided to get a car back to a massage place which unfortunately didn’t have availability. I was striking out, but this was showing me that I needed to be able to go with the flow and enjoy where I was regardless of what happened. My third strike out was dinner. It was on a bunch of the best restaurant lists, but it was mediocre, warm food. Since the food wasn’t up to par I knew I needed a little dessert. I searched around and found a crazy cinnamon bun placer and walk my booty over there. I got a cream cheese biscoff one and enjoyed it in my hotel room while watching my show so the night ended perfectly.
Day 3:
How can you have three dream days in a row right? I am here to prove it is very much possible. If elephants and cooking wasn’t fabulous enough, today was the day I spent 12 hours exploring the rural parts of Chiang Mai with waterfall hikes, and ATV ride, and driving through the mountains. I was picked up at my hotel and watched the gorgeous mountains and plains as I drove by. The car parked at a beautiful area atop and overlooking the mountains. Little did I know people can actually sleep in tent like cabins so if I were to come back I would definitely do that for a night. Then, I hopped on an ATV and a different guide, a cute little local Thai man, took me all around. I had never been on an ATV before and it was so fun. We went around the rice paddies (they weren’t in season but still gorgeous), through the trees, waterfalls, and up and down the mountains. I met this adorable dog and played with him for a bit (he was not stray and was well taken care of). Coming back from the ATV, I had a full meal prepared just for me. I chatted with one of the guides as we both ate lunch. One of the best parts of solo traveling is the people you meet along the way. If I was with other people I knew, who knows if I would branch out, but by myself I am forced to. I know many people are scared of solo traveling, but as long as you keep your guard up and do your research you will have the best time of your life. Anywho, after lunch I was taken to explore for hours. I did a waterfall hike, went to the markets, national park, etc. It was called the Doi Inthanon National Park and it was even more beautiful than the pictures. This excursion was a full 10+ hour day, but so worth it. I booked this and a few other things on Get Your Guide and I highly recommend doing it through this site. I had also booked a massage at my hotel on this day, but I knew I needed dinner before my 8pm massage. It was my last night and I wanted to try the night market. I got khao soi of course, coconut water also of course, and a delicious crepe type of dish with Nutella. Such a fun experience and great food (the first khao soi I had was still the best). My night ended with a perfect massage and off to bed I went.
Day 4:
Bye Chiang Mai :( but helloooo Bangkok! Started with a workout but it went downhill after that. Day 4 was a travel day, and not the most enjoyable one. I unfortunately got the worst stomach ache of my entire life and thought I was actually dying (no not from the food but maybe tmi… my birth control (personally I don’t really believe in tmi we are all human get over it)). Nothing is worse than traveling while feeling like death, but hey I did it! I check into the Westin in Bangkok which was actually super nice. I took some time to chill in hopes that my stomach would get better. Luckily it did and I was able to go out on the town and meet new friends. My Semester at Sea friend Posh is from Bangkok so she took me and a few other girls to Chinatown and some of the bars. Honestly, one of the best nights ever. We laughed so much I simply couldn’t take it. One of my newfound friends and I had so much fun together that we drunkly walked to the hotel and had a slumber party. Endless smiles filled that night and I felt so excited to be with new friends.
Day 5:
I woke up from my slumber party and quietly went downstairs for another amazing breakfast buffet (there is nothing like a breakfast buffet to bring me joy). I then ordered a car to take me to my bike tour! I had never done a bike tour because my mom would actually rather do anything else so now that I was solo traveling it was my time to shine. I really liked the tour because I could be active while seeing the sites, and it took us to very niche places that were more rural. I would totally do another bike tour, I loved it however, I didn’t realize how narrow and tricky it would be. After the tour my silly little self walked back around 2 or 3 hours to the hotel and I saw all the sites. Markets, bridges, stores, anything and everything. I met up with my incredible, fabulous roommate, Melia. We found each other on Instagram, chatted for a short time, Facetimed once, and immediately decided to room together and I’m so happy we did. We hit it off right away and talked for hours. We got dinner and drinks in the hotel and while she tried to get over her jet lag I went to a Muay Thai fight in the first ever May Thai stadium. I went with some Semester at Sea people and it was so interesting and exciting. When the fight finished we all wanted to go out and we stumbled upon Khao San Road. Imagine a street full of clubs with music blaring and lights flashing and people dancing. So. Much. Fun. Some of the girls I went with didn’t want to dance, but if you know me I love to get up and have some fun. I found this local Thai girl who was also trying to get her friends to dance and we danced together all night long until about 2am. I had to get back because I had an early morning the next day, but the streets were still crowded and popping.
Day 6:
Me and Melia woke up bright and early for our beginners Muay Thai class. Yes you heard that right. However, the universe had other plans. We ordered a car that ended up hitting a motorcyclist and left us stranded on the side of the road. So… that was an interesting start to the morning and of course we had to cancel the class. We headed back to the hotel for the incredible breakfast and then hit the town. On my long long walk the other day I spotted a huge gold colosseum and saw that it was a Dior store so we obviously had to walk in. It was the most beautiful and thought out work of art I have ever seen. I went to the Dior Museum in Paris so this felt very full circle and really cool because Dior is a designer that is truly artwork. I was so insanely tempted to get a bag there was just one minor detail, oh yeah! I don’t have those funds at the moment lol. We kept exploring and when we were ready we decided to hangout by the pool at our hotel and have a chill vibe. We met some of our friends for drinks. I found this bar that had speciality drinks from all around the world and with each drink you ordered you got a postcard with a stamp on it as well as a small snack that matched whichever country your drink was from. We ended the night at the world famous 7/11. Sounds silly, but seriously Bangkok has such fun 7/11s. We bought loads of snacks and did a taste test in the hotel room while chatting.
Day 7:
EMBARKATION DAY!!! My assigned time to board my new home for the next few months was 8:30 and Melia’s was 9 so we went together and were able to board at the same time. It was a smooth process. We started exploring and walking around the boat right away and kept meeting people that would then join our little walk. When we got our bags back we unpacked and got settled. We had a lifeboat drill and a meeting, but overall the first day was just getting acquainted with the boat and everyone on it!
