How we got here

Two trains, three planes, one bus, one van, and two boats brought us from cold and rainy Seattle to hot and humid Koh Lipe, Thailand. This is our first stop on a trip through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Singapore. More details on the itinerary coming soon.

Travel logistics aside, how did we arrive on our two-month-long sabbatical, and how did we choose Southeast Asia as the place to explore?

Both of us were lucky to have been shown the wonder of traveling to new places, experiencing new cultures, and meeting new people by our families while growing up. Kevin’s family took annual holiday vacations spanning four continents and Audrey’s family relocated to London (twice!) and explored much of Europe while her dad, Paul, taught abroad. When we started dating in 2017, travel was among our shared passions, and we both viewed traveling together as a critical test of compatibility. We took our first international trip — two weeks in Japan — in March 2019 and had a blast together. I guess we both passed the test since we got engaged in 2020 and married in 2022. Although COVID interrupted our plans to do more international travel, we made the most of it and traveled extensively in the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and California with our dog Willie in our trusty Sprinter van, Evangeline.

While we thoroughly enjoy our adventures in the van, we never quite kicked the desire to experience less familiar places and step outside our comfort zones. Neither of us had been to Southeast Asia, so we began renewing conversations about squeezing in a multi-month-long adventure before we start growing our family together. After we married in 2022, Audrey left her job and started a one-year program in holistic landscape design and permaculture which finished in August 2023. Kevin’s team at work is full of exceptional, tenured leaders who were gracious and supportive of his leave of absence to pursue this dream.

So with our desire and a rare window of opportunity, we began planning this trip. We settled on Southeast Asia for a few reasons. It’s a place neither of us has been, and we loved the idea of experiencing somewhere new for both of us. We’re young, able-bodied, and without children in tow, allowing us to take advantage of many more adventurous activities. And finally, the dollar goes a long way here, allowing us a nice balance of adventure and creature comfort within our means.

To kickoff the adventure and recover from some serious jet lag, we find ourselves in Koh Lipe, Thailand — a very tiny, hard-to-get-to, fully walkable island on the Andaman Sea. The slow pace of life here inspires us to turn inward and set intentions for our two-month adventure. We’re still fleshing these out; however, a huge priority is observing settings and patterns that spark inspiration, creativity, human connection, and gratitude.

If you’ve made it this far, we appreciate you following along and taking an interest in our travels beyond the bite-sized social media update. Stay tuned for more musings including detailed accounts of delicious bites, interesting people we meet, wild adventures, and unexpected hiccups along the way.