I never planned it to  happen this way but I have learned over the years that when an opportunity presents it’s self you say yes and worry about the details later. That is exactly what happened when I was asked to go to Thailand and Iceland within five months of each other and “yes” was the best think I could have said!

Having only been out of the country with out parental supervision once before to an all inclusive with some girlfriends, this was the most out of the box uncharacteristic thing I could do. Lets start from the beginning…

THAILAND

My little/best friend had been living abroad in South Korea for a year, I had said I wanted to visit her but was not exactly sure how to go about it, that was until we were texting one night catching up. She mentioned she was going to be backpacking after her teaching contract was up and next thing I knew I said yes to a ten day trip in Southeast Asia–Thailand to be exact. And not to sound totally cliché but this trip didn’t just open my eyes to a “whole new world” ( yes i will quote Disney if it fits) but changed my life! The experiences I had and the people we met were just amazing, here are some of my  favorite pictures  and a video of the trip!

ICELAND

I swear it all started with a text message again!! I had been back from Thailand for about a month or two and a girlfriend had just quit her job. She mentioned wanting to travel but being nervous to go alone, having just traveled half way across the world solo I mentioned going along for the first couple of days so she felt comfortable. A few weeks later we had one round trip and a one way ticket to Keflavik. The natural beauty of Iceland is something that words cannot describe you truly need to see it for yourself. I found myself behind the camera for most of this trip but the pictures I took are some of my favorites!

Both of these trips were amazing and different in their own way! Fitting two countries on opposite sides of the world with polar opposite climates was difficult and a bit of an expensive task and yes I paid for everything myself! These trips though have showed me that travel is something important to me and something I want to always have the opportunity to say yes to! While “things” are great (I am still a avid shopper) the experiences, photos, friends and life lessons I learned on both trips are something I would never be able to put a price tag on.