Kyle and I have only done one big trip together so far, he’s never had a passport before, and I haven’t left the country in over five years, so we’re totally diving in to the deep end with this one. We were talking about going to Italy this year, and then discovered a Netflix show called Somebody Feed Phil (it is a true gem!). In the first season, he goes to Thailand and we were so enamored with his travels, that we had to plan a trip there. So here we go!

[[If you’re just here for the packing tips, scroll down tot eh bottom!!]]

Because of an unexpected work trip, I was unable to spend my usual full day packing and getting ready on Saturday, and because we both had to work hard Monday and Tuesday, we were fairly limited on the amount of time we could spend packing. So we did it all on Monday night and some touch-ups Tuesday night.

All packet & ready for our first #InternationalVacay together— Thailand here we come!! ✈️ Since we’ll be traveling for 12 days, taking 12 flights, and spending more than 55 hours traveling, we opted for backpacks. The packs will also allow us to wander cities when we’re between hotel checkout and flight takeoff without needing to worry about checking our luggage somewhere. We also chose to bring small backpacks that fold to about the size of a wallet, so we can store them in our bigger packs. #AirChina only allows 11lbs for a carryon (yikes!) so we needed to check our big packs. ✈️ I chose the @ozarktrail_mty 40L pack partly because it’s just cuter than regular packs, but mostly because it opens all the way like a regular suitcase, which means I don’t have to blindly reach into my pack like it’s Hermione’s purse (#harrypotterreference). Kyle went for the more traditional & industrial 55L pack with plenty of exterior pockets from #AmazonBasics. ✈️

We’re on the first of our 11 flights, in the air on our way to JFK (New York, USA).

A brief outline of our plans…

• ✈️Atlanta, USA ➡️ New York, USA ➡️ Beijing, China ➡️ Bangkok, Thailand ➡️ Chiang Mai, Thailand
• 🎇Yi Peng Festival- Chiang Mai, Thailand
• ✈️Chiang Mai, Thailand ➡️ Bangkok, Thailand
• 🕌🏙🌃 🚣‍♀️ 🛍 🍜 exploring the city, eating everywhere, night markets, boat markets, shopping
• ✈️Bangkok, Thailand ➡️ Chiang Mai, Thailand
• 🐘 overnight excursion with Elephant Jungle Sanctuary
• ✈️ Chiang Mai, Thailand ➡️ Phuket, Thailand
• 🏖 🏨 🏝 lounging, relaxing, spa day
• ✈️ Phuket, Thailand ➡️ Bangkok, Thailand ➡️ Beijing, China➡️ Newark, USA ➡️ Atlanta, USA
• This will definitely be a {wonderful} whirlwind adventure through the country, but we’re excited to share it with you!

Keep checking back here to follow along with our adventures!

But before you go, a few tips on packing and some things to remember before you go:

• Travel wallet that has RFID blocking. LINK.
• Seriously the BEST neck pillow. We wish that we’d bought them before the trip. LINK.
• LOVED this converter. A lot of places actually had US outlets (or the super multinational ones that allow everything to plug in) but I blew out my curling iron in Phuket. LINK.
• We also printed all of our confirmations beforehand and separated them by city. It was very VERY useful because our phones didn’t work at first, and even when they did, we didn’t want to waste data loading confirmation numbers. I loved storing them in these different envelopes. I also used them to sort souvenir post-cards, coasters, tickets, and other things that I picked up along the way. LINK.
• Backpacks. (IG pic.)
  • Kyle got this Amazon Basics backpack. We both went for about 40L, but his felt a lot bigger and more cumbersome than mine– mostly because i think it’s built for someone taller than me. LINK.
  • I got mine from Wal-Mart. I really really loved it because it opened all the way like a regular suitcase, so i wasn’t having to dig into this bottomless pit everytime i looked for something. It helped me feel more organized and less chaotic. LINK. [[I couldn’t find mine on Amazon, so this link is for Wal-Mart]]
  • We each got a foldable backpack to use for wandering during the day and to use as our carryon since we checked our backpacks (checking them on ChinaAir was free, and we weren’t allowed any carryon that didn’t fit under the seat in front of us). LINK. LINK.
• PACK MEDICINE! I got a cold about halfway through the trip and nowhere sold like DayQuil or anything! Trust me, you’d rather have packed a few extra doses of cold medicine or Aleeve and not have needed it.

• Check out our posts from Thailand.
• 25 hours later… we made it to Thailand
• Chiang Mai (Thailand- Day 1: Morning)
• Floating Lantern Festival in Chiang Mai (Thailand- Day 1: Evening)
• Chiang Mai Part 3 {Thailand- Day 2: Morning}
• Chinatown {Thailand- Day 2: Nighttime}
• Floating Markets {Thailand- Day 3: Morning}
• Shopping in Bangkok {Thailand- Day 3: Afternoon}
• Dinner at Err & the Flower Market {Thailand- Day 3: Bangkok at Night}
• Relaxing with the Reclining Buddha {Thailand- Day 4: Morning}