So as promised, a bit of a write up on my recent vacation to Thailand (with a stop in Finland):
Day 1: we departed CLT in the afternoon, landed in NYC without a hitch, and took a redeye on Finnair to Helsinki. The flights pretty much went without a hitch and Finnair is a pretty nice airline, would fly again. Bonus points in that they're linked with American, I think these flights pushed me over the limit into gold status for the year, may be able to reach Platinum by the end. American is shit, but CLT is their east coast hub, so I'm married to them. Slightly less shit with status, so that is cool.
Day 2: We hung out in Helsinki. We landed at 6 AM and didn't leave until midnight, so we had an entire day. All-in-all, Helsinki is sort of the Charlotte, NC of Europe. It's a pretty, clean, nice city that I'm sure is a great place to live but not super exciting as a destination. It was quite pretty, we saw a few cool churches. We tried the signature dishes - salmon soup was 5/7, would eat again. Reindeer was aight, no real interest in trying it again. Very enjoyable place to spend a day exploring, but I don't really think I'd take a trip there specifically.
Day 3: we had ANOTHER red eye to Bangkok... this flight got delayed and was long as ass. We didn't land until about 5 PM Bangkok time the following day. We then took about a pretty brutal two hour cab ride (traffic was rough) to our hotel, had dinner/drinks/met our group, and then passed out. Note that this two hour cab was like $12. Things in Thailand are cheap as fuck.
Day 4: saw a bunch of temples/explored Bangkok and Ayutthaya. Got to eat a bunch of local street/market food as well. Food in Thailand is soooo good and sooo cheap. The temples were super cool to see, built from 1200 AD or so on, many were amazingly well preserved and very beautiful. We ended the day with an overnight train to Chaing Mai (fortunately with beds)
Day 5: Explored Chiang Mai, visited the mountaintop temple of Doi Suthep in local songthaews (their taxis - covered terrorist spec pickup trucks with rows of seats in the back). The views up there were dope. I really liked this city a lot, it was a great size, not too intimidatingly huge like Bangkok but very beautiful, historic, more amazing food, incredibly kind and helpful locals.
Day 6: Walked around Chiang Mai some more with the wife, then went to Bua Thong waterfalls, locally known as Sticky Falls to hike and sightsee. They're called sticky falls as you can walk up them barefoot, which was a lot of fun hiking up/down waterfalls. This evening, we did a cooking class which was really 5/7. I don't really care for cooking at all, I do it to eat, but not something I particularly enjoy, but this was a lot of fun, getting
and cooking with our group. The instructor Thai guy was 5/7. That night we also went to a 'Lady Boy' show as it's locally called (drag show) at a bar. More
ensued and much entertainment/lolz.
Day 7: We visited an elephant sanctuary for most of the day. We got to hang out with elephants, make them food/medicine, hike with them, feed them, wash them off, etc. Pretty
experience, they are amazing creatures, very smart, gentle, and friendly. Fortunately most of the abuse that has gone on in Thailand (poaching, tourism elephant rides, etc) has been shut down.
Day 8: We took a flight to Krabi province (southern Thailand/beach area). We then went to a mangrove forest and did a kayaking expedition around the area and to some private beaches. Then we took a boat to our last hotel at Railay Beach. This was a very touristy area but was quite cool nonetheless. Amazing beaches, views, cliffs, monkeys everywhere, pretty dope spot.
Day 9: Did some hikes around Railay, watched local monkeys, ate more food and ice cream, did a night kayak where we saw bioluminescent plankton.
Day 10: Cruising around to the islands of the Andaman Sea on a long boat with our group. We swam, snorkeled, had a picnic lunch, drank beers (Chang was my go-to in Thailand). Fun times.
Day 11: We did some rock climbing which was very legit and pretty hard, definitely 5/7. We also did a hike through a cave and repelled down a cliff side from the top of it.
Day 11: We started the long journey home. By this point, I think we had COVID, felt pretty shitty, and it was not much fun. East Coast USA to Asia is FAR AS FUCK and man does that travel/time change blow, but very much worth it.
and I both have days off #teacherlyfe so we went to Rehoboth beach yet again to meet up with my cousins, so they met her. We went to dogfish (local brewery restaurant here in the mid-atlantic, 
knows). Also my cousin is also a teacher, her dog and her neighbors dog that she's babysitting were having a grand ol time. We got rained out in the beach earlier than expected. Now I'm on my ipad in chikfila while waiting for 
over the last 6-9 months for some odd reason. I think a lot of those that "fled" are coming back... but now everyone is priced out. My buddy just got his 3 bed crack-den for $1.15 and he was able to re-negotiate it a bit lower too (by 50k).... Prices are cooling. But I wouldn't buy shit right now. Prices will correct soon, but it won't be any "cheaper" to own a house. The current cost of owning a house in cali is just about 8% per year... so think about that... 
Hope things continue to go well for you 2.
just pay cash...then the truth came out...they don't have $20k in cash to spend. 
meaning putting girls you just met at pedestal when things took a wrong turn. Also once I find out the intentions aren't met, I 
Simple as that. Out of all the dates that went 
I think of a mindset that god was looking out for me before I eventually find out that they're not for me, which I've realized down the road. Do I miss apps in this current dating era? Unless I use it on a one night stand, sure. But generally, just no.
