Taking this trip was so out of the box for us, as the furthest we have been out of the States is Hawaii, but of course that is still the U.S. so it doesn’t quite count lol.

Bangkok was an amazing experience, and we are so glad we went to experience Songram, Thailand’s New Year celebrations. The whole supersoaker-hose ennima-water bucket challenge-getting extremely drenched while drunk experience was a once in a life time thing for us, and so thrilled to be there. It is safe to say, once is plenty to experience this celebration, and was thankful to be able to cross this off our bucket list. The JW Marriott Bangkok made our stay beyond memorable, unfortunately the New York Steakhouse wasn’t anything close to fine dining, but that didn’t alter our 5 star rating during our visit.

Phuket was just beautiful with all the water and beaches-definitely instagram worthy pictures. While I loved the location of the Amari Resort, I’m not sure I would stay there again. It was a great clean resort to sleep, we had a great room view, but the service is just eh. If you have any type of handicap, elderly, or small children, this may not be the place for you as there are stairs…tons of them….all over the resort! Good thing we like stairs!!

We loved the Patong beach area and the street food and bars, that was really neat to have experienced. Thailand as a whole was inexpensive in comparison, and had an absolutely amazing experience.

I think 2 days in Bangkok, and 2 days in Phuket was enough time if you dont mind jamming everything in. Only thing I think I would have wanted to do was stay overnight in Phi Phi and have just a r&r beach day. I didn’t feel like we were rushed and overwhelmed, I thought it was the perfect amount of time.

Dubai was well, just a whole other type of experience. Everything we learned about the Muslim culture was so eye opening. Everything I hear is from the media, which typically talks about the bad since everyone is more attracted to bad vs the good. It’s unfortunate the Muslim community is so stereotyped negatively, I didnt see any of that during our visit. Everything is so clean, we didn’t see any litter or beggers anywhere. For the most part the locals seemed very kind, and friendly. I felt more safe in Dubai than anywhere else I’ve ever been, even in the States. It was very nice to witness such a huge influence of safety in a different country. There was no poverty that we saw, and doesn’t seem like there is any as there are plenty of jobs available, they hire from out of the country to fulfill all the construction they are building.

Thankfully, that first toilet experience in the Dubai airport was a one time experience, and that there were actual toilets everywhere. Thailand didn’t seem to use toilet paper, as there are hand held bidet showers everywhere in both Thailand and Dubai, so I made sure to always have with me.

I almost forgot! We saw these green signs everywhere, and took a while to figure out what these signs meant, other than what Eddie called as “running stations!” Apparently, they are “emergency exit” signs, and not running stations, lol!

I am so glad I decided to blog about this trip, as it was so jam packed everyday with great things to do, after going back and reading what I wrote, I almost forgot about some of the things. Even though we were up at 530am everyday to start our day, I would not have done it any other way. Going on a 10 day trip is so emotionally difficult as I prefer 4 day trips, but this was so worth doing I think everyone should put it on their bucket list.

xox~j