Most people who've been to the North of Thailand will be able to recount a special moment they've had in the little mountain town of Pai. It combines good food and bustling market streets with picturesque mountain views and idyllic jungle hideouts.
While it's incresibly easy to find yourself caught in the center, moving between quaint coffee shops and never ending brunch options, it's essential you make time to explore the surrounding area.
Hire a scooter and strap a bag full of water, sunscreen and snacks to your back before zooming off to check out all the area has to offer. You'll catch wildflowers in bloom alongside winding mountain roads, bright green strawberry bushes in lines along the slopes of the mountains, and the ever present tropical jungle hiding rivers, streams and hot springs.
Whether you're the traveler who likes to hole up with one eye on your book and another on the people who walk by, or the kind who wants to explore and adventure, in Pai you'll find just about everything you need for your perfect holiday. - L
When I was younger it was often said among my friends how New Years is an overrated experience. We would build the day in our head as the pinnacle of the year, the party to top all parties and a chance to shake off the regrets and mistakes of the 12 months that were now behind us.
Really though, when the night was done and the new year dawned, what we'd be left with is some patchy memories and a familiar hang over. With nothing changed and with all the same thoughts and feelings clattering around our heads, it was easy to write it all off as just another day. While certainly my expectations around the day have been tempered, I now also have a better perspective of what the day is.
Surrounded by the views of Pai it's easy to see the new year not as an opportunity to forget what's been, but a day to celebrate all the wonderful things that are. - L
Having been away from home so long, occasionally the distance can cause an existential crisis. Your wander interrupted for a moment, caught between the world you came from and the place you are.
In these moments we look to the familiar to pull us back from our doubts and our uncertainty. It could be we find it in the faces around us, or in a comforting voice from home, but occasionally it's in something unexpected.
Without realising it, without knowing when it became so meaningful to you, the country you're in is all you needed to reaffirm your choices. Suddenly your clarity is found in a place that has begun to feel a lot like a home. - L
My friends are a constant source of inspiration and encouragement.
Every person has their strengths, and every friend a strength you admire. I watch one friend talk down a tour price, while another strikes up conversation with a stranger, and they embolden my approach to travel.
With my friends I'm more likely to go further, try harder, push outside of what's comfortable. So when I explore the world with friends I learn more, worry less and experience deeper.
The individual qualities of the people in my circle of friends are both a motivation to avoid complacency and a reminder of how personal growth can't happen in isolation.
Check out my new blog on travelling friendships in the bio! - L
Cc (@travel.with.purpose)
Since I was a little girl, people have called me stoic, a couple have even said morose. Sometimes when I stare out into the distance people ask me, "Are you okay? You seem sad." It's true that I don't always laugh easy, and sometimes I just need to spend a little time curled up in the comfort of a ball of blankets. But with Lex in my life, I do laugh often. I've never met anyone else whose playful humor and sharp wit can light up the eyes of a school full of children and have the exact same effect on a girl of 26.
Thank you for being a constant source of joy and happiness in my life. Happy birthday my love. - M
Photo credit: @bushido666
