World Traveling Military Family

Ely Cathedral – Cambridgeshire

By: Mrs Bcomment

Ely Cathedral - Cambridgeshire

Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire is an beautiful sight with a rare octagon tower. It’s considered one of the 7 medieval wonders which makes it well worth a visit to this amazing cathedral! Ely Cathedral is also known as ‘The ship of Fens’ because it can be seen rising from the hills of Ely.

This building made the list of the medieval wonders made the list because of the amazing engineering used to design it and it’s unique octagon tower. If you’re curious about what other locations are on the list you can find it here. The Ely cathedral also has been used in filming of The Crown, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, & The Other Boleyn Girl just in case visiting film sites is something you enjoy as well 🙂

We wanted to visit the cathedral and tour a tower, although I didn’t realize that there are actually two tours at the cathedral. We choose to do the total experience for £19.50 adult, £16 concession (students 16+) so it was £55 for us and our teen. The total experience includes visiting the cathedral, a tower tour (you chose which tower), a cup of tea/coffee in the cafe, and entry to the Stained glass museum.

Our teen choose the Octagon tower for our visit and it was a great choice! It’s known as the crown jewel of the cathedral and I’d highly recommend touring it. The tower was completed in 1342 and the tour takes you behind the scenes as well as provides you with a ton of information. Our guide was great and super knowledgable about the cathedral and tower.

Note the tower tours are not for those who are claustrophobic or unable to walk easily. There are 170 steps for the tower tour and some of the passageways/staircases are only 18 in wide! Some of the doorways are tiny and you have to duck through as well. Those scared of heights may have some issues on the roof walkway as you can see down easily. My hubby & teen aren’t super fans of heights but they did well and just stayed away from the edge wall, LOL!

After we purchased our tickets we had about 30 mins before the tour was going to start. We headed into the cafe and had our delicious tea/coffee that was included in our ticket as well as a slice of yummy carrot cake. Then we met at the meeting location and read over all the ‘rules’ for the tour & signed a waiver.

As the tour starts you start on the ground floor with basic info about how the octagon tower came to be, and it had a tragic start. The original design had collapsed and a new structure needed to be rebuilt. They used ginormous timbers and stones to create this amazing structure.

While your in the cathedral if you gaze up at the octagon tower you’ll notice some amazing angel panels that surround all sides of the octagon. They are so high up and are beautiful! This info is important for later in the tour…

Then you head up into the first staircase where you’ll get your heart pumping on the steep and spiral journey to the top. After you’ve made it up the first set of stairs there is a storage area where you can leave any bags that you don’t want to carry up. This is locked up during the tour so it’s secure. From here you have a nice view of the lower ground floor and again you can see the angel panels that are higher up.

Another round of spiral and small staircases takes you up to the roof walkway where you get some amazing birds eye views of the area!

The entry door to the next area is tiny, as you can see from this photo of my teen climbing through it. We all managed to climb our way through.

It’s here were you enter the inner workings of the octagon tower. Touching the ginormous timbers that have been supporting the tower since 1342 is amazing, I just love how old and historic Europe is! As if walking around this amazing inner areas isn’t enough then comes the best part…

Our guide then opened some of the angel panels and we were then able to look down into the church from the panels! What a surreal experience! And then I flashed back to when we were standing on the ground floor looking up at the panels, I had to look again when we got back down…we were up so high!

There is plenty of time to peek out from all the panels opened and take photos.

Our last tiny stairwell trek led us up to the roof the of octagon tower! Again amazing views of the area as well as some great views of the other tower of the cathedral.

The spires are ornately decorated and you can get some good photos from the roof.

The trek back down is fairly easy, still a bit steep, but much easier than climbing up. I was highly impressed with the tour and the hour seemed to fly by!

We set off to explore the rest of the cathedral, including the Lady’s chapel, where your guide insisted that we should clap loudly to hear it echo. While we didn’t clap some fellow tour mates did so we experienced it through their clapping. Just past the Lady’s chapel is restrooms.

Our final stop was up to the Stained glass museum, this is back towards the entrance and up a set of stairs. You show your entrance ticket at the gift shop up there or entry. There is a free audioguide if so desired.

The stained glass works ranged from old to much newer, I found a few pieces that I loved! There was also and informative video at the entry area where you could watch an 8 min clip about how the stained glass works are made.

We were at Ely Cathedral for 2 hours and had a great experience. If we visit again to take family I’ll make sure to do the other tower tour, which I’m told has 288 steps! This can easily be combined with some other sights in Ely as well, see my Ely, Cambridgeshire – Easy Day Trip post.

Know Before You Go

What: Ely Cathedral

How To Get There: It’s located approx. 30 mins from the Lakenheath area.

Parking: I prefer to use Waze here in the UK, we parked at Barton Road Car Park and entered that into Waze. Free parking at the car parks in Ely. There are also free restrooms located at this car park. There are also a few other parking areas available as well. This one is a short walk from both the cathedral as well as the Tourist Information center which is located in Oliver Cromwell’s house. It’s easy to get to and there is quite a bit of parking available.

Cost: There are several options available:
Visiting the cathedral – £9 adult, £6 concession (students 16+), Free kids under 16
Visit + Tower Tour – £16.50 adult, £13.50 concession (students 16+), £7.50 Child tower tour (must be 10 yrs or older)
Visit + Stained Glass Museum – £13 adult, £9 concession (students 16+)
Total Experience – £19.50 adult, £16 concession (students 16+)
The total experience includes visiting the cathedral, a tower tour (you chose which tower), a cup of tea/coffee in the cafe, and entry to the Stained glass museum.

Traveling with little kids: Free restrooms located at the Barton car park, as well as just outside the cathedral to the left if walking towards the cathedral. Also restrooms near the Lady’s chapel in the cathedral. Children need to be 10 years or older to go on the tour of the towers.

Traveling with pets: Dogs are allowed in the cathedral but must be on a leash. They are not allowed on the tours, in the towers, the refectory cafe, or during services/events.

How long: Plan on at least 1.5-2 hours if taking a tour. The tours are an hour long and then you can walk around and visit the cathedral before/after, as well as stop in the cafe. There is also a stained glass museum on site as well. If not doing a tour I’d plan at least 30 mins to an hour to walk around.

Helen, GA – Bavaria of the US!

By: Mrs Bcomment

Helen, GA - Bavaria of the US

Did you know that Helen, GA is the Bavaria of the US? There is so much to see and do in the area. Tubing down the river, mini golf, eating German food, strolling through the themed down, browsing the shops, visiting an old mill, wine tasting, hiking, waterfalls, and more! This charming alpine Bavarian town has something for everyone!

Despite having lived in Alabama for 9 years of our life I had no idea about this place until recently. So while we were in AL this summer I was determined to get this crossed off our bucket list. One of the great things about the area is that there are a ton of cabins that you can rent for your stay. There are hotels too but we were going with 8 people and wanted to stay together. We also wanted to grill out at the cabin, have a hot tub, and game room so the cabin was the best option for us. Our stay at Kickin’ Back Cabin  and had a great experience. The cabin decor was cozy and charming, plus it has screened in porches. Wifi was great too which helped me to research the local places to explore.

We knew we wanted to do tubing while we were there and used Cool River Tubing. Our stay was great because we were there right after school started GA and it really wasn’t crowded at all. I do recommend bringing your own push sticks if you have them as they are $5 each to rent, we took our own and used them. There are lockers there if you need them and they will hold your keys with photo ID. They also have straps if you want to strap 2 tubes together.

The river is quite low so it was good workout having to use the push poles and even jump off the tube a few times to get us unstuck. By the time we got to the end my tube had deflated and I looked like a taco, LOL! But we had a great time and I’d recommend it. It was $10 per person, and we chose to take the 2 hour route. The bus loads you up and you get off at the first stop if you want the 1 hour route or the second stop if you want the 2 hour route.

Walking through the charming Bavarian style town is a fun experience. Having been to Bavaria a few times I liked all the colorful buildings and architecture. Lots of shops with all kinds of things from home decor to yummy fudge.

Also make sure to check out the windmill at the Heidi hotel. This is down near the Country store and some other cute shops. If you visit the Country store at the back of the store you can see bees making honey.

There is also a working mill that you can visit and watch as well as shop for goodies. Next to it is a neat coffee place, Jumping Goat Cafe. Across the street is a 3 floor Antique store and a Wine tasting/store with fun gifts to the left.

Also make sure to visit the German restaurants for some german cuisine. I was so excited to have jaggerschnitzel!

We had a great time exploring this area and I’m so glad we heard about this hidden gem! I hope you get the chance to check out Helen, GA and see what the Bavaria of the US is like.

White Water Rafting – Banks, Idaho

By: Mrs Bcomment

White water rafting - Banks, Idaho

Our family is always looking for some adventurous fun! So while in Idaho my sister and I decided we needed to get everyone together to try white water rafting! We used Bear Valley Rafting in Banks, Idaho. It was a fantastic experience!

Our group consisted of 10 people, all which were newbies to rafting except one. We decided to do the Main Payette route which was Class II and Class III rapids since we were all beginners. It was so much fun, although I will stay I was a bit nervous about Mike’s hole, especially when she told us not to look at it, LOL!! The cost was $50 per person, ages 13 and up.

When you arrive at location parking can be a bit tricky as it seems like that’s a happening area. There is also cafe there and you need to avoid parking in the cafe parking. After finishing parking you head down the stairs to behind the cafe area where the office is. There are no lockers so bring no valuables, they do have a key board where you can hang your car keys.

After getting checked in and getting the safety talk, some quick training, and life vests it’s time to climb down some rocks into the rafts. You do need to be able bodied to do this, as it’s a bit steep but manageable.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect as I’ve never done anything like this before. While it was SO much fun it as also a huge workout and my sister and I laughed how we were sore for days after! It’s some serious arm and ab workouts for sure. As we rafted down the river the guide gave some some local information about the area and we chatted in between the paddling sessions. We also seen a hawk with a fish and a marmot on the bank. It was neat to see some wildlife along the way.

At certain points you can jump in the river and swim, the water was a bit chilly at first but it felt amazing! Hubby and I both jumped in for a swim at the halfway point, I think. We swam for a bit and then our guide had to haul us back into the raft. That was the most awkward part, LOL! She threw me in like a dead fish, it was ugly but it worked, LOL!!!!! I wish I had a video of it because it was hilarious. At the next one we decided just stay in the raft while a few others in the other raft got out again and swam. Little did they know they’d be swimming all the way down to the end, so they were tired when they got done.

There was also point where one person could get on the front of the raft and ride the bull for the last stretch down the river, our son did that and it was hilarious! There is also a photographer set up along the way at two points to get some great photos. You also got to do fun things like give each other paddle high fives after completing a rapid, it was such a fun experience.

Also at the end you have to help carry the raft up the embankment and up to the trailer on the bus. It was heavy, even with 7 of us carrying it! So we really did get an extra workout. When you get to the bus there is a restroom area and they provided free drinks in a cooler. It was nice to have a cool drink after being on the river for 2 hours. The bus ride back is about 10 minutes so it’s not too bad. I didn’t take my phone with me so I didn’t get to take any photos while we were rafting.

Back at the base camp they have changing rooms so you can change out of your wet clothes. Because even if you don’t jump in and swim you are GONNA get wet! Then you can go to the photo shack and check out our photos. There are several packages you can purchase. I think we got one that was 5 photos for $40, it was worth it for the great photo memories of the trip!

The guides were fantastic and I’d highly recommend checking this adventure out! Our next goal is to do a one with bigger rapids, although I’m not 100% sold on that yet 😉 We had ages 15-60’s and all had a great time.

Unicorn Alpaca Walks – Beccles, Suffolk

By: Mrs Bcomment

Unicorn alpaca walks - Beccles, Suffolk

Ever wanted to walk an alpaca? When I seen this on Facebook I knew we’d have to go check it out! At Unicorn Alpaca Walks you get walk alpacas, meet other animals, and even leave a wish on the wishing tree!

Setting up a reservation was easy, I just contacted them on Facebook. It’s £25 per persons ages 14 yrs and up, £10 kids under 14. We were there for 2 hours, walking the alpacas was 1 hour of the experience.

Finding it was a bit tricky but just look for the Yoga Park & Church Farm sign, then turn on that road. There is parking in a gravel area, larger cars would be fine parking here.

Each person gets there very own alpaca to walk! We had Comet, Casper, and Blue. Comet has a hilarious personality and if he’s not ready to walk, he’s not gonna. As long as we stopped every few feet to allow him to grab a snack he was happy. We learned quite a bit about alpacas during the walk. The volunteers were very knowledge and were happy to answer any questions as we walked along.

I loved walking in the beautiful farmland area, it was so peaceful. We even got a treat as we got to watch an airplane land right near where we were walking. Apparently there is a landing strip right in the field next to the farm!

After walking the alpacas we were served drinks and given tags to write our wishes on for the wishing tree.

Then we met the chickens and goats. Bea even got to hold a chicken, a first for her! We had chickens when I was a teenager so I’m not a big fan, ha ha!!

We then hung our wishes on the wishing tree, mine was travel related, imagine that 😉

Our final stop was to meet Ralphie, the largest pig I’ve ever seen in my life! Mr. B even gave him a good back scratch with a broom and he loved it.

Once your finished there is a bathroom where you can wash your hands and use the facilities before leaving.

We had an amazing experience and loved hanging out with the alpacas! I heard that this summer could be a fun time to visit as they are hopefully expecting some baby cria’s, which are baby alpaca!

Know Before You Go

What: Walking with Alpacas and meeting other farm animals. They also offer other additives as well as some airbnb type accommodations.

How To Get There: It’s located approx. 1 hour and 15 mins from the Lakenheath area. Use Waze and enter The Hill, Beccles, England. You can also use the map/directions off the Facebook page but we found it uses google maps and that didn’t work as well for us as Waze. Look for the Yoga Park sign & Church Farm sign and turn in there

Parking: There is free parking on site

Cost: £25 per person ages 14 and older, £10 per person 13 and under

Traveling with little kids: There is a restroom on site. This is not a stroller friendly activity but the walk is on a flat surface out in the fields around their pasture areas.

How long: Plan on at least 2 hours on site.

Brigit’s Tea Bus Tour – London, England

By: Mrs B1 Comment

Brigit's Tea Bus Tour - London

Looking for a unique London experience? We checked out Brigit’s Tea Bus Tour! This delightful tour provides you with delicious tea and food while you ride around the city listening to an audio guide with highlights for each area. It’s such a unique way to sightsee around London!

Coming from the Lakenheath area we had to get to London for the tour. We went to Epping Station where we parked and took the train into London. Parking was fairly easy and you can pay by app. The drive was about an hour. The round trip train tickets were £6.20 per person for our destination. One of the great things about Epping Station is that it is the end of the line so there are plenty of seats as you get on, it does get more crowded as you get near/into London. We only had to change trains once and it was about a 50 min train ride.

We got off at Tottenham Court Road, and walked down to Trafalgar Square. The pick up location for the bus is about a 5 min walk from there so we decided to go sightsee for a bit since we got to the city a little early. The last time I was in London was 11 years ago so I was thrilled to be back and checking out some of the sights again.

Also note there are public restrooms here so we used those before headed the pick up area. There are no restrooms at the pick up area so make sure you’ve taken care of that before arriving, and there are none on the 1 hour and 20 min bus ride as well. Have change for the public restrooms, it was 20 pence at Trafalgar Square. Thankfully I remembered we often paid in Germany so I had snagged some change from hubby before we had left.

We walked to the pick up location and waited for the bus to arrive. After it did we took some photos with the outside of the bus while they were preparing it for our trip. Once they are ready you show them your reservation and they let you board and get seated.

As you enter the bus the tables are decorated nicely with the lovely food, there are menu cards with the drink options as well as the bus route map on the back. The elderberry mix tea was delicious! Note it’s HOT so don’t burn your tongue like a few of us did, LOL!

The food was good, although I wasn’t a fan of the cucumber sandwich. Each person gets 4 mini sandwiches, and 4 mini pastries, as well as pizza muffin, and a scone. If you can’t eat it all they offer take away boxes as well. Our group managed to eat all ours during the bus ride so it’s not hard to do 😉

The bus ride does provide audio highlights throughout the area, although we were talking so we didn’t hear it all. But it is nice that it’s included so you can try to figure out where you are and what is around the area as your driving along. Also the cups are adorable and you get to take them home!

The only downside of the trip is that we happened to go on a freakishly hot day for London, it was 86 that day. And while out walking the streets with the shade and breeze it wasn’t too bad. However on the bus it was a bit toasty. There was no AC and the windows didn’t really open to allow a breeze. So it made it a little less fun to drink hot tea as you sitting on a toasty bus. So I’d just recommend going when the weather is a bit cooler. The servers also offered water as well so that was helpful.

If afternoon tea is not your thing they offer other bus tours as well, I just seen a sneak peek on their Facebook page of a Chef bus!?!

The tour was £65 per person for the lower part of the bus when we booked. This is a great way to explore London while nibbling on some delicious food and drinking yummy tea. Hopefully you’ll get the chance to try it!

Narita, Japan Layover – Exploring the Town

By: Mrs Bcomment

Narita, Japan Layover

Ever have a long layover in Narita and wondered what to do? We were so excited to have a 7 hour layover recently so we could get out and explore the town of Narita! This short little adventure will allow you to soak up some culture and grab some yummy food to make the most of your layover experience.

There are some guided tours that you can go on for free from the Airport, you can find out more about them here. We didn’t do this option because they were not available at the time we needed and we generally just prefer to go explore ourselves. It’s really SO easy to do it yourself!

The airport as lockers that you can rent so you don’t have to haul all your carry-on luggage with you. We left all our stuff except one backpack so we could carry water and anything we bought.

We also rented a wifi puck from the airport. I rented it using Klook and it was super cheap! It was only $4.50 for the day. It was fast and was able to support up to 10 devices so we could all use our phones/maps as needed. I’ve seen quite a few people say that you don’t need to worry about a wifi puck or SIM as there is wifi all over in Narita. However the day went, a Thursday, it was a regular closed day for many of the stores so quite a few of wifi places weren’t open. You needed a password to access the wifi for most spots. I also like to be able to use maps while we are out to see what’s near us so having a wifi puck was the best option for us and it was super affordable.

To get to Narita you need to go to the first floor of the airport where you can get on the trains and buy your train tickets. The easiest option is to go to Keisei office and buy a Round Trip ticket. This way you already have the ticket for your trip back. There are ticket machines you can use in Narita but I had read a post about someone having a hard time because they couldn’t read Japanese so we just bought RT tickets to make it easier. The staff at the airport offices all speak English. For 4 adults it was approx. $18 round trip.

Then you get on the Keisei line and it’s just 2 stops from the airport. You get off at stop #40, which is about about 10 minute ride. Super easy! After you get off the stop and exit the station go straight down the street to the light and make a right. You want to head to Omotesando St. This is where you’ll find all kinds of shops, restaurants, and it’ll take you down to the temple area. There is also a Tourist Pavilion on this street where you can get maps and information.

The Naritasan Shimshoji Temple is a must see while you are there. There also some vendors at the base of the temple area as well. The walk down to the temple was about 15 minutes from the train station.

It was a bit warm the day we went, in the 80’s and it was a bit hazy out as you can see in the photos, but we still had a great experience. We had packed an extra set of clothes into our carry on’s to change into back at the airport so we didn’t have to the final long flight in sweaty clothes.

The temple area has quite a few things to explore, you could easily spend at least 30 mins to an hour walking around here.

There are some stairs involved if you want to walk up to the pavilion area with the pagoda temple and the temple with the buddha.

This area is also famous for it’s eel restaurants. You can watch them preparing the eels and buy some to eat if that’s your thing. We stopped to watch for a few minutes but none of us had the desire to try it. There are also quite a few ice cream shops along the way in case you’re there on a warm day like we were.

We also stopped into the 7 Eleven to grab some treats and were excited to find they had a coke machine at the front that gives out the frozen/slush cokes in a bottle! We’d first experienced this in Hong Kong so we were excited to have it again, especially since it was a bit warm out that day. We had planned to eat Japanese ramen in Narita but since it was Thursday the ramen restaurants were closed. So we just had ice cream in town. We had yummy ramen back at the airport.

Back at the train station we got on the Keisei line headed towards the airport. Again it was 2 stops and about 10 minutes. This route is quite easy, I’d say even for those who haven’t used trains much.

Narita city is a great way to spend a few hours during a long layover! I highly recommend taking the opportunity to get out and check it out if you get the chance!

We Have Arrived in England!

By: Mrs Bcomment

England

We made it! We arrived in England 2 weeks ago and have hit the ground running! We moved into our house but are living on temporary furniture until ours arrives, which is still a good 2-4 weeks away. We JUST got internet yesterday afternoon, and that was with calling from the US and having it ordered before we got here, LOL. It takes 2-3 weeks to get it turned on here in England. So now that I’m back up and running with the internet I plan to get back to getting blog content back up!

Upcoming blog posts – I’ll be finishing our Thailand/Vietnam vacation posts. The main itinerary for both is up, I am working to get each daily post up.

Our Stateside adventures – We went white water rafting, tubing & exploring in Helen, GA, Atlanta aquarium, and had an outrageously fun time at Candytopia in Dallas, TX!

Since arriving in England – We’ve been out and about exploring since we’ve gotten here. From London Bus Tea tours to walking Alpacas and visiting the most Eastern city in England! As well as the charming town of Ely and it’s fantastic cathedral. So I’ll be getting England content up soon!

Jet lag was a doozy but I can’t even tell you how thrilled we are to be here! Our travels took us on 8 flights From Guam to several US stops to our final destination in the UK. I think I’m over flying for a bit! I’m just loving this weather! I’m also looking forward to having fall this year and the other seasons after 3 years without them.

If you’ve been to England we’d love to hear your favorite locations to travel and explore to add to our ever growing bucket list! We love the off the beaten path hidden gems!

Paseo Stadium Park – Hagatna, Guam

By: Mrs Bcomment

Paseo Stadium Park Hagatna Guam

Paseo Stadium Park, also known as Paseo de Susan Park is located in Haganta, Guam. This hidden gem is located on a grassy peninsula behind Chamorro Village. Here you can find a tiny beach with sea glass, a small Statue of Liberty, as well as some amazing views.

statue of liberty paseo stadium park Guam

To get to this area you to behind Chamorro Village and there is some parking spots in front of the park. If you walk straight you’ll see the small Statue of Liberty.

paseo stadium park Guam

There are some great views of the amazing water, and you can see it with it’s many shades of blue! You’ll often find local fishermen out here enjoying the water and the fish from the ocean.

paseo stadium park Guam

To the left is a small beach area, and I really mean small. But this area has yielded quite a bit of sea glass for our trips. You can read more about my sea glass finds and sea glass hunting on Guam HERE.

To the right is some large breakers that you can walk out on. During one visit we witnessed a boat that got stranded here as a storm was rolling in and the water was choppy. The Coast Guard had to go out and make sure everyone had gotten safely off the boat! They had all gotten off and walked on the breaker directly across from the small beach area and up to the first responders waiting for them. It looked like everyone got off safely but I don’t know what happened to the boat as it was too dangerous for them to try to tow it back in.

There is also a sidewalk/walking path in this area that has some great views as well. And an elevated fishing area/walkway that always seems to have local fisherman out catching some fish.

paseo stadium park proa

As your leaving on your drive to the right there is a little hut area that works on the Chamorro proas, these are neat to see.

This park can be located in Google Maps or Waze. It’s approx. 33 mins from Andersen AFB and 15 mins from NBG.

I hope you get the chance to check out Paseo Stadium Park! It can easily be combined with visit to Chamorro Village for some delicious food and shopping.

Hoi An & Da Nang, Vietnam 3 Day Itinerary

By: Mrs B2 Comments

Hoi An & Da Nang 3 Day Itinerary

This is our Hoi An & Da Nang 3 Day Itinerary. It includes many of the must see sights as well as some of the hidden gems. Local spas are amazing, tailored clothes are a great deal, and cultural experiences are enriching. This location should be on your bucket list!

Vietnam has always been on our bucket list and being in Guam made it easier to get it checked off. We decided to do this on the same trip as Thailand but I’m going to share the itineraries separately because they can be done on their own. You can see the Thailand Itinerary HERE I’ve also included costs for those who are over planners like me 😉

This is just the overall itinerary, I’ll be doing a post for each day sharing more in depth info and how to’s in those posts. As well as more photos for each day/location.

We left Chiang Mai, Thailand at 10:40 am and arrived to Da Nang at 5 pm. We chose to stay out in Hoi An so we had booked a private driver from our hotel to pick us up. A quick stop to grab sim cards real quick that I had purchased for cheap on Klook, then headed for the hour drive to Hoi An. After getting settled into the hotel we hurried down to the Ancient Town area to grab dinner and get a first glimpse.

Village Lodge Hoi An Vietnam

We stayed at the amazing Village Lodge for the first 3 nights, I highly recommend this hotel! The owners are amazing and the location is located right across from a rice field. They go out of their way to provide you info and make sure your stay is fantastic. We loved being outside the crowded Ancient town area. Rooms are amazing, fantastic pool area, and the made to order breakfast was top notch.  I also loved that we had the option of booking private drivers through them, which we did on several occasions.

Our final night we stayed at a cheap hotel in Da Nang and it was is just OK. Beds were rock hard, wifi only worked by the door, but it was closer to the airport and we wanted to see the Dragon bridge at night so it did what we needed it to.

Hoi An Ancient Town Vietnam

Day 1 – (Wednesday) Hoi An Ancient Town
Started with massages at Phuoc Lavander Spa, explored the Ancient town shops and several ticket sites, got custom made clothing, and ate.

Golden bridge Baan Hills park Da Nang, Vietnam

Day 2 – (Thursday) Baan Hills Park (Golden Bridge)
Hired a private driver from the hotel to drive us to Baan Hills park, back in Hoi An we headed to Phuoc Lavendar Spa again, and Firefly for dinner.

Coconut Boat Tour Hoi An, Vietnam

Day 3 – (Friday) Coconut Boat tour, then headed to Da Nang for the day/evening. Explored Da Nang, grabbed mug from Starbucks, watched the dragon bridge light up, & had dinner.

We flew back to Guam the next day, our flight was not until 10 am so we didn’t have to be at the airport super early. We had a delicious breakfast at Happy Heart Cafe on the way to the airport. The food was so yummy and they had a great menu with something for everyone. Overall we had an amazing experience in Da Nang & Hoi An, Vietnam and I highly recommend visiting!

dragon bridge Da Nang, Vietnam

Trip Costs: 2 adults and 1 teens
Airfare – $2688 (we used Kayak and did multiple airlines, this airfare is for Thailand AND Vietnam from Guam, 3 adults (our teen counted as adult)
Hotel – $204 Village Lodge for 3 nights with breakfast
$21 Trang Ngan Hotel
Transportation – $108.48 (this included a private driver for 1 full day, and to and from Da Nang on arrival and day 4)
Attractions – $137.12
Food – $204.78
Visas – $77.88
Sim cards x 3 – $15.94 total
Massages x 3 – $73.13 (1 hour massage for 3 people on 2 different days)
Custom Tailored Clothing – $257 for 1 suit & jacket with 3 shirts and a 2 piece outfit for our daughter
Misc/Souvenirs – $42.40

Total w/airfare for both Thailand & Vietnam $3829.73

Total for Vietnam without airfare $1141.73

Total for both Thailand & Vietnam trip $4747.28

lanterns Hoi An Vietnam

I really hope you get the chance to check out Da Nang & Hoi An, Vietnam and all it has to offer!

Chiang Mai, Thailand 3 Day Itinerary

By: Mrs Bcomment

Chiang Mai, Thailand 3 Day Itinerary

This is our Chiang Mai, Thailand 3 Day Itinerary. It includes many of the must see sights as well as some of the hidden gems. It also includes an amazing elephant sanctuary experience! That was the highlight of our trip although we really loved the Chiang Mai area for our entire visit. This location should be on your bucket list!

When we found we were moving to Guam we knew we wanted to get in both Thailand & Vietnam. We decided to do both on one trip since we’d already be over that way. I’m going to share the itineraries separately because they can be done on their own. You can see the Vietnam Itinerary HERE (this will be active when the Vietnam Itinerary posts in a few days) I’ve also included costs for those who are over planners like me 😉

Into the Woods Cafe Chiang Mai Thailand

This is just the overall itinerary, I’ll be doing a post for each day sharing more in depth info and how to’s in those posts. As well as more photos for each day. There is SOOO much to see in do in these areas! We focused on the main highlights that we wanted to see and do while there. We also chose to stay in and visit the ‘hidden gem’ areas instead of the big cities. Which is our normal travel style. We love unique finds like the cafe pictured above, more about it in the Day 1 post.

As far as travel to there from Guam we used Kayak and booked hacker fare. While this was the cheapest route it also required having to go through customs at each airport and go check back in for each airline as they were all separate airlines. I will say this is not for the non-adventurous traveler! So keep that in mind. Also DO NOT go through Vietnam on the way to Thailand UNLESS you plan to purchase a multi entry visa or 2 separate visas. We found out that most of the budget airlines do NOT offer transfer service so you are forced through customs and need a Visa. We got denied boarding in Seoul because of this and ended up buying last min tickets through Bangkok. It was not the best lesson learned the hard way, so I wanted to share.

We arrived to Chiang Mai late on a Friday evening, we used the Airport Taxi for $5 to get us to our hotel. You just go to the window in the airport and they’ll give you a ticket to take outside. Super easy and legit. We stayed at Shane Hotel. The hotel staff was great and welcoming. The hotel room itself was pretty basic but we really were only there to sleep and the delicious free breakfast, free bottled water 24/7, free coffee/hot cocoa 24/7, the pool, and the price made it an awesome find. Also the wifi in our room didn’t work that great (we were on the 4th floor) but we bought local sim cards from Klook and picked up at the airport so that didn’t really bother us. It worked fine down by the pool.

Wat Umong Chiang Mai Thailand

Day 1 – (Saturday) Old City Area 
Silver temple areas, Wat Umong, Into the Woods Cafe, Women’s Prisoner Massage, Wat Chiang Man, Tops Supermarket, & Saturday Night Market

Doi Suthep Chiang Mai Thailand

Day 2 – (Sunday) Doi Suthep Area & Bua Thong Sticky Waterfalls 
Doi Suthep, Poo paper park, Sticky waterfalls, local fruit/food market, Blue mango dinner. This day we hired a private driver and it was the BEST decision!

Karen Elephant Retreat Chiang Mai Thailand

Day 3 – (Monday) Elephant Experience
Karen Elephant Retreat, this is part of the Elephant Nature park off site locations. Amazing experience, and I HIGHLY recommend this location! MAYA Lifestyle Mall for dinner & Starbucks mug.

Our main reason for visiting Chiang Mai was to visit an elephant sanctuary. After lots of research & talking with a friend who had visited recently we decided to use Elephant Nature Park because they are the most ethical & save elephants from abuse, being ridden, and give them an amazing life. They also help to educate people on the abuse & mistreatment of these amazing animals. Visiting a legit sanctuary helps to make sure that these animals are cared for. More on our amazing experience will be in it’s own post.

The next day we flew out to head to Da Nang & Hoi An, Vietnam. We had an amazing time in Thailand, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I really loved the Chiang Mai area! I hope you get the opportunity to check out Chiang Mai, Thailand!

Chiang Mai Thailand

Trip Costs: 2 adults and 1 teens
Airfare – $2688 (we used Kayak and did multiple airlines, this airfare is for Thailand AND Vietnam from Guam, 3 adults (our teen counted as adult)
Hotel – $165 for 4 nights with breakfast & 24 bottled water, coffee, & hot chocolate provided.
Transportation – $116.40 (this included a private driver for 1 full day)
Attractions – $390.53 (this includes a FULL day at our ENP off site location with the elephants)
Food – $171.59
Sim cards x 3 – $14.07
Massages x 3 – $24.02 (1 hour of neck, head, shoulder, & foot)
Misc/Souvenirs – $35.94

Total w/airfare for both Thailand & Vietnam $3605.55

Total for Thailand without airfare $917.55

Total for both Thailand & Vietnam trip $4747.28

I really hope you get the chance to check out Chiang Mai, Thailand and all it has to offer!

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