I was planning a trip to Greece and going with a tour group until I was invited to Thailand! I have always dreamed of seeing other parts of the world, experiencing different cultures and indulging my taste buds in global cuisine. Twenty four hours in the air wasn’t that bad; you watch a couple of movies, do a little reading, eat, sleep, stretch and repeat. Please don’t forget to wear compression socks as to avoid the swelling of your legs and ankles and promote good circulation. When we finally landed, we did a happy dance and took pictures at the welcome sign. Grabbed a taxi and headed to our luxury hotel. As soon as we stepped onto the property, butlers ran to grab our luggage and a hostess handed us warm towels to freshen up and cool drinks to hydrate us. Our room was absolutely beautiful, complete with a waterfall shower, a stone bath tub and a private walk up pool.

I love that we hit the ground running; we changed our shoes and began exploring. The first thing we did was target practice. This was before I had my conceal carry license, so I didn’t have a clue of what I was doing. It was a lot of fun. We did a bit of shopping and before heading back, we grabbed some food. I have to admit that all of the flavors were fresh with a slight bite of heat. Our hotel provided a free, breakfast buffet daily, with mimosas and a Bloody Mary bar. A traditional Thai dessert consists of mangos and sticky rice, pretty good. Although, my favorite Thai indulgence were the grilled lobster tails on the beach. OMG!

We were a pretty energetic group discovering fun things daily, from visiting Big Buddha Temple, feeding cucumbers to baby elephants, visiting a cashew farm where a days work includes filling a bucket of cashews that are individually hand peeled. Visiting a honey bee farm and tasting some of the sweetest honey in the world. Riding elephants to entering the tiger’s cage only after signing a waver. Snorkeling in a neighboring island. Laying on the beach eating grilled corn and sipping cool drinks. Then there was the rooftop infinity pool. With an average of 88 degrees daily, what else were we going to do? The locals treated us like family always showing so much love. What an amazing trip; I am so grateful that I was invited to join this experience.