beach – Katie Says Go!

March 13, 2019

Phi Phi Island Adventure

Our awesome guide, Boy with a map of the phi phi islands!

One of our favorite adventures was the Phi Phi Island Dream. It is an all day excursion that took us to three different beaches in the Phi Phi Islands.

We started at 8:00 am, which is early when you are on vacation! What is scarier is that they have the same excursion that starts at 6 am! Now that is just crazy talk!!!

Once we were picked up at our lobby, it was a 40 minute drive to the other side of Phuket to the Royal Marina. There we were given a specific colored bracelet depending on which excursion you were going on (we were team purple!). Once we donned our purple bracelet, it was to the lounge for food, drinks and so they could sell us stuff! It was crazy how many people were buying the water shoes at 400 baht a pair (that is 12 US dollars). They make mint off that! But honestly, they are needed in the coral and sharp rocks. (Hubby and I came prepared in our Teva’s which is what we have snorkeled in for years.)

Then it was off to the speed boat! Even in the speed boat, it took an hour to get to the first island. Then it was snorkeling in the lagoon. The snorkeling was AWESOME. We saw a ton of fish and coral. I even caught a school of squid! (Is it still a school if it is squid???)

Next was Maya Beach, made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Beach. The actual beach he filmed on was closed thanks to the tsunami a few years ago, but we went swimming in the lagoon where Leo swam. I have to say, I was a little disappointed when Leo was no where to be found…

Then it was odd to the Viking Caves, where workers are using down nests of these birds that make them from spit. Yep. Spit. Apparently the Chinese and Thai use the nests for soup (bird nest soup anyone???) and medicine.

Next was a stop to Monkey Beach. We didn’t get off the boat for this one, as I’m sure the monkeys wouldn’t have been happy, nor would I really want to swim with them!!! It was really crazy to watch the monkeys jumping into the water for bananas!

Next it was a short boat trip to the main island for lunch at a hotel. We ended up sitting with two guys from our trip, one from the UK who is in construction, and his friend, who is originally from New York, but is living in Singapore working for UPS! We had a great conversation and then did a bit of shopping.

After waiting on the boat for 30 minutes when a few people couldn’t handle being on time, we were off to Bamboo Island. There Hubby and I spent time snorkeling right off the beach and saw some amazing fish. The sea shells we found on that beach were HUGE! It has been a long time since I had seen anything like it.

Then it was back to the marina during low tide. When it gets low tide in Thailand, they mean LOW TIDE. Our captain was fantastic though.

This was definitely a trip worth taking. It was also insanely cheap. The entire day was a total of $120 US per person! That included getting us there, all the water and POP you could drink in the boat, and lunch. It was totally worth it!!

October 30, 2018October 30, 2018

Thailand!!!!!!

yep, that’s right folks! Thailand! We had a ton of people as Hubby and I, “why Thailand?” Our answer, “why not???”

Thailand has always been on my bucket list, between the jungles and the beautiful beaches. Hubby quite honestly thought I was crazy when I first suggested it, but luckily hubby is willing to go with some of my crazy ideas!!

Our trip takes us from Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, to Chaing Mia, one of the northern providences, and then finally to Phuket, on of the southern islands. This two week trip includes almost 4 days of travel between getting there and coming home, time changes, and all the little flights in between. I can’t take credit for putting this one together. Our awesome travel agent did it all. We just told her Thailand and the island of Phuket, and she did the rest!!!

August 5, 2018August 5, 2018

What to see in Miami

I’m not going to lie, I spent most of my time in Miami laying around the pool binge watching Netflix. It was GLORIOUS! However, I figured I hadn’t been to Miami before, so I should probably see a bit of it.

When you hear Miami, the first thing most people think about is South Beach and Little Havana. I knew I had to go to both of these places for the true Miami experience, but the question was how to get there since we didn’t rent a car. The hotel had the answer for me, The Big Bus Tour.

This actually was a great way for me to see Miami, learn a bit about the history and culture, and to see more than just one or two spots. My jaw dropped a bit at the price (at that time it was around $50 a person, but it was just me, and I loved the fact that you come jump off and jump back on whenever you wanted throughout the day. They have so many buses running, that you could get picked up every 15 minutes or so.

I was able to see some beautiful houses some famous houses (Scarface) all from the top of the bus. The tour guide did a great job at pointing out George Clooney and Julia Roberts houses! By the end of the day though, I was wiped and decided the air conditioning inside the bus was needed.

South Beach was as great as you think it will be. It was close to 90 degrees when I got there, so I decided to get some lunch before I wandered too much. If you are look for inexpensive food, don’t go to South Beach, because you won’t find it! The drinks were $20 alone, but you got two of them! When you don’t finish your drink before you need to leave, no worries! They will give it to you in a HUGE to go cup!

The beach was beautiful, but the water was rough that day. I kicked myself for not bringing my swimming suit with me, but I honestly hadn’t even thought about it! I wandered the beach for some seashells to bring home to show M, but I didn’t find a ton. I did make sure to take a picture of the Victoria Secret celebrity volleyball tournament going on at the beach. I didn’t recognize anyone though…

The architecture was really neat. If you didn’t see all the modern cars driving by, you would swear you stepped back in time to the 1940’s and 1950’s. I just wandered, and took in all the scenery I could.

I hadn’t known until I was on the tour, but Miami has a beautiful memorial to the Holocaust survivors. The history buff that I am, I decided to check it out. It was so moving, and the sculptures so amazing and lifelike, I almost cried a few times. This memorial is kind of off the beaten path a bit, but definitely worth the stop.

I spent all day on the Big Bus Tour, and I am actually kind of glad I did! There were some parts of the tour that were long and I had never heard of the buildings they were talking about, but it always fun to see the great architecture there.