Once our minds were set on leaving our jobs, we had to figure out the destination. South America and Southeast Asia were at the top of our list, specifically Argentina and Thailand. In the end it came down to the place where our money would go furthest. Aside from being cheaper, Thailand is geared toward a younger crowd, has a larger ex-pat presence, and a bunch of surrounding countries worth exploring.

With some wedding money still in the bank, we started saving as much as possible.

It didn’t make sense to keep our apartment in Los Angeles so we put in our 30 day notice and found a cheap storage space to keep our necessities. Most of our furniture was either sold or left out for grabs in our back alley.

Leaving our fur babies behind was, by far, the most difficult part about moving. If you know me, then you are aware of how obsessed I am with my dogs. The thought of not seeing them everyday was going to be near impossible. Luckily they have always had a second home with our parents and we knew they would be in good hands.

We booked our one-way flights, a hotel in Bangkok for a week, and an apartment in Northern Thailand for one month. There is a lantern festival that takes place in Chiang Mai in mid-november and we want to be around for that. You do not require a visa if you are in the country for less than a month so we booked a side trip to Singapore to visit a friend for a few days and exit the country before our 30 days are up. We also arranged a trip to Phuket to meet up with our friend from the states and do some island hopping before heading back to our apartment in Chiang Mai. Basically, we know where we are going to be for the first month of our trip. Besides that, our plan is to wing it. We’ve researched the area and have some ideas of places we want to check out – Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar – but the beauty of having an open ended trip is that we have the ability to figure it out as we go.