Exploring Thailand: A Luxurious Honeymoon Adventure with Kensington Tours

In this episode of All Things Travel, Julie and Ryan welcome special guest Emily to share her incredible honeymoon experience in Thailand. Highlights include:

• Planning a multi-stop honeymoon to Thailand and the Maldives
• Tips for long-haul flights and adjusting to time differences
• Detailed breakdown of a 5-day luxury itinerary in Thailand
• Unforgettable experiences like feeding and bathing elephants at a sanctuary
• The benefits of booking with Kensington Tours for a private, customized trip
• Exploring Bangkok's temples, palaces, and vibrant night markets
• How having a private guide enhances cultural immersion and photo opportunities
• Advice for future Thailand travelers on trip length and itinerary planning
• Emily and her husband's next dream destination: A South African safari

Whether you're considering a honeymoon, looking for luxury travel inspiration, or curious about Southeast Asian adventures, this episode offers valuable insights for planning an unforgettable Thai getaway. Join us to learn why Thailand should be on your travel bucket list!

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Transcript

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 0:00

Yep.

Julie: 0:12

experts, Ryan and Julie. He is your travel professor, teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation. And I am a Disney loving Maryland mom of three and specialist in family travel. Whether we're discussing incredible destinations, top vacation tips, or sharing personal stories, it's always all things travel. Hi, Ryan. How are you?

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 0:36

Hi Julie, how you doing?

Julie: 0:37

We are good. I feel like I haven't seen you for a while

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 0:40

I know well you were off doing fun stuff, right?

Julie: 0:43

I was doing fun stuff.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 0:44

We know that our destination Episodes are our most popular episodes, right? Because people search for hey i'm traveling here I want to know more about this place and I am super excited tonight because I know very very little about Thailand, but I also know from working with Kensington that this was probably a fantastic trip.

Julie: 1:07

I've been really excited to share this trip with our listeners and our friends. Thailand was a new destination for me to plan. And I chose to use Kensington Tours to plan it because I thought it would be a great fit. And full disclosure, this was for my really good friends, James and Emily, for their honeymoon, or, part of their honeymoon. Thailand was a stop

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 1:28

Yeah. Let, yeah, let, let, let's pull that out right away. This is not their full honeymoon. This is the precursor to another part of their honeymoon,

Julie: 1:37

Yeah, so we, and we have looked at like a couple options, we looked at Dubai. Because, going to the Maldives is a super long flight. So we of looking at like where you could stop. I think you could stop in like Paris. We talked about like Italy at one point, but we settled on Thailand. Because there was such cool stuff to do there. So today we have a very special guest, my really good friend, Emily. So hi, Emily. Hey, guys.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 1:58

Hi Emily. Welcome.

Julie: 2:00

Thank you. So give us like a little bit of who are you and how do you know me and how'd you get here? We were former neighbors and I had never really worked with a travel advisor. So when you started talking about what you do. It kind of intrigued us and we were like, okay, we know this is going to be a big trip and we're going to need some help. So we were able to kind of start dipping our toes in the water and I don't think we will ever get back.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 2:29

I'm glad that you said it that way, Emily, because I had the exact same discussion this week with somebody where they're like I'm not used to working with somebody when I plan trips and I just said do you enjoy planning the trips and she's like absolutely not It stresses me out the entire time and I said well my job is to make that easier for you So, you know i'll help you narrow it down before you even start to look and so I think it's not just We're here to book your trip. We're here to help you find what's right for you

Julie: 3:01

Right. And like, along with that, Emily wouldn't have known What companies are going to do this type of tour or that type of tour? know, You're just going to Google like going to Thailand. Yeah. And I'm not one to plan trips. I like to have them planned for me, which I learned in the past few months. During all of our travels and especially this trip is the way to go. Yeah,

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 3:23

good

Julie: 3:24

Emily has discovered her vacation style and we'll get to that later on.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 3:28

Well, I am super excited to talk about that before we get going I do want to remind folks Hey, if you did not take a listen to last week's show, it was really fun It was you have three vacation days What are you gonna do and we had help from you our listeners on our Facebook page to create that show So make sure to go back and listen if you haven't So I want to ask the first question. Is that all right Julie?

Julie: 3:54

Go for

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 3:55

Emily, why were you interested in traveling to Thailand?

Julie: 3:59

Yeah. So full disclosure my husband actually picked the destination. So I picked the Maldives part of the

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 4:07

okay.

Julie: 4:07

And so we were kind of looking at other places. We were sitting at Julie's house, talking through the different options. And he was like, Oh, what about Thailand? And so I was like, sure, why not? Like, we're probably never going to

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 4:22

I mean, you're going all the way to the Maldives. What's

Julie: 4:25

right. But what's a little bit further. it was like six, seven hours further, but you know, like the likelihood to get to Asia. It's very slim. It's a very long flight. It's a lot of travel. know, I was kind of on board and knowing that Julie was going to be able to help us plan what we were doing. I felt very comfortable. Cause I've traveled to Europe and and that's a whole different experience than going to some of the Asian countries. So yeah, that's kind of how we picked Thailand. He just was like, let's go to Thailand. I was like, all right, let's do it.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 4:55

way to start a marriage.

Julie: 4:57

Yeah

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 4:57

compromise there.

Julie: 4:59

Compromise I pick half

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 5:01

Yeah. Yeah.

Julie: 5:04

Emily when you talk about the trip being really like a very long travel time Were you concerned about the travel time and the long flight did you guys? Have a strategy going into the flight because I know that that is something that everybody has reservations about like, Oh, it's so far. I can't go there. Yeah. So I was very concerned about the flight. It's the longest flight that either of us had ever taken. And like I said, it was a lot of travel, so there were a lot of flights. I think for the two weeks we took six flights in total. Getting there was great because going on that side of the world is a little bit shorter and you have the added bonus of being just so excited to start your vacation.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 5:46

got that momentum. We're

Julie: 5:47

the 12 hour flight over was beautiful. We left on a Saturday morning. We got into Dubai on Sunday morning and we were like, okay, like we're feeling pretty good. We run through the Dubai airport to get to our flight to Thailand, which was very close after, which I was very thankful for. The flight to Thailand was a little bit rougher. We started to get like tired and hungry and, eventually eating plain food while exciting at first, not as exciting. So we didn't actually get to our hotel in Thailand until Sunday night. So it was a full two days.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 6:24

yeah, wow.

Julie: 6:25

was another like seven hours from Dubai to get to Thailand. As far as strategies we had, I'm an over packer, just come by it honestly. So we packed extra snacks. I had like a travel bag with face wipes. toothbrush and toothpaste. I looked up some of the things that you should pack on a flight because you really want to stay hydrated. So I brought a refillable water bottle so that we could constantly be drinking water. They give you like little socks and stuff. So we put those on and took our shoes off. So like compression socks? No, they're just like socks. They're just regular plain socks. They're just like thin plain socks.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 7:04

I call those bathroom sponges because you see all those people walking into the bathroom in their socks and their bare feet and I just sit there and the germaphobe in me just like dies a little bit every time I see

Julie: 7:19

All right. Well, thanks for that image. Thanks for that. I wear the plane socks and not my own socks, but full disclosure. I did put my shoes on anytime I had to go to

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 7:26

Very good. Good for you, Emily. Good, plain hygiene. Mm

Julie: 7:33

by the whole plane being there for like 12 hours. But so we had lots of snacks. We downloaded a ton of like Netflix movies and shows. We had books. They have plugs on the plane so you can recharge everything. Did you have first class? We did not. So we had economy, we flew Emirates, but we were able to upgrade all of our flight seats. So we picked the seats based on the, the length of the flight. We would pick, okay, this one, we want the one that's in the front with extra leg room where like the emergency exit is, or the second flight we're back against the wall. So not as much room, but We wanted to be close to get off the plane for our second flight of the day.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 8:17

some really good strategies here. You, you really thought this through. Yeah.

Julie: 8:25

I I feel like those were super helpful thinking through and we paid probably a thousand dollars extra over six flights for all of those upgrades, but it was worth it a thousand percent, especially not being in business or first class, like worth it to have

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 8:42

kind of made that the best of your economy experience, if you

Julie: 8:45

Yeah, for sure. Because we were able to get up easier and like walk around. We had space in front of us to stretch. I actually did stretches on the plane. To warm up your Peloton class, right?

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 8:56

Ha ha ha ha ha

Julie: 9:04

So it's a little bit better. That is definitely something that we considered when we planned the trip. Do we put Thailand before the Maldives or after the Maldives? And I feel like that's what you and James talked a lot about was, okay, well, let's put it before because if we put it after, we might be too tired. Whereas while we're going, we're so super excited. And then we have the Maldives to relax.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 9:25

let's talk a little bit about that. Thinking about the trip, going into it, I know, and I know Julie's going to break down your itinerary here in a few minutes, but what were some of your must do's with you and your husband as you thought about the trip?

Julie: 9:38

My husband is more of an adventure. He likes to do all the things and not, you could put me on a beach for two weeks and I will just read books and listen to the ocean and be fine. So we, again, had that compromise. And so we did it in the beginning to get the adventure out of the way. We had the adrenaline and then we were able to relax. So for Thailand I really wanted to and I think he did too. I really wanted to see the elephants. And so we found an elephant sanctuary we did a full day. It was like a three hour drive to get there. And luckily with this tour, we had our own guide and our own car they stopped for us so we could go to the bathroom and get a coffee whatever we needed. They were just so great about making sure that we had it. And so we got there, we got to hang out with the elephants. And that was really the biggest thing that I wanted to do was just spend time with them. He, I think. I don't think there was anything in particular about Thailand that he wanted to do. That's, the beautiful thing about working with Julie. We said, okay, we want to see the elephants and then like, what other cool, you tell us what

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 10:40

there's got to be something else in Thailand, right? Give us

Julie: 10:42

do.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 10:42

options.

Julie: 10:43

And that's the benefit of, like Emily said, like having a travel advisor because we have access to like all these, Various itineraries and various companies. So I think what we started with was I went to Kensington and because I really love Kensington Tours as one of our travel partners, I think their itineraries are awesome and they can be customized. Like pulled maybe two or three itineraries and was like, So these are what you can do in Thailand. This is what people like to do in Thailand. Let's look at each of these and pick what you want in your

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 11:16

Right, I want a little bit of A, I want a little bit of B, let's do this first part of C, and all of a sudden we've created our own trip.

Julie: 11:22

like, I could just tell the guide, like, Hey, they definitely want to see the elephants, but then they're open to this and this. How can you make that into an itinerary? And they take care of the rest. They just send it back to us

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 11:33

I know we've talked about Kensington before on this show, my experience has always been, I'm calling the Africa department and I'm talking to somebody from Africa.

Julie: 11:42

Yeah. Who

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 11:43

I'm not, I'm not talking to somebody who's reading something off of a screen. They understand what the client is wanting in the experience that they're having.

Julie: 12:21

and and they know what's available, like what makes sense, what doesn't make sense as far as going from here to there and all that kind of stuff. When you think about Thailand, there's a bit of travel involved as well, once you get there, right? the elephant sanctuary is not next to the temple. No, definitely Didn't you go to a Buddhist temple Yeah. We saw a lot of Buddhas, a lot of temples. The elephants were, it was a three hour ride out there and it was a three hour ride back. So it was a full day

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 12:46

Yeah,

Julie: 12:47

So emily tell us a little bit more about the itinerary so we can get an idea of If I want to go to thailand, what would my trip look like? Sunday night we got there pretty late. So our adventure started on Monday morning. We met our guide and we started a beautiful city tour of Bangkok. And we went and looked at a bunch of temples. We saw the Grand Palace and walked around the grounds, which was absolutely beautiful. Our guide took so many pictures of us. He set us up. He was like, oh, let me take a picture of you here. And so he got so many good pictures of us, around the city.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 13:24

Let me jump in here because you just said something really really important, right? Why pay the extra money to have a guide with you? If you didn't have that guide, well, how would your pictures have been different?

Julie: 13:38

Yeah. Oh, they would have been terrible. They would have been all selfies

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 13:41

would have been selfies or they would have been Pictures of one of you but now you have pictures of you on your honeymoon

Julie: 13:49

Yeah. Which is spectacular. And he took pictures that I wouldn't have even thought of. Cause I'm just there seeing the sights and trying to be in the moment. And he was able to say, Hey guys, like, stop. Let me take a picture of you here. He did a great job too. The pictures are amazing. So just put that in the pro column of why you pay the money and why you go.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 14:10

yeah

Julie: 14:11

and then he got us on a little tuk tuk, which is like their

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 14:15

love it like the whole time you're talking about this trip I just imagine you guys on your own private tuk tuk

Julie: 14:21

Tuk. Wait, what is

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 14:22

thailand.

Julie: 14:23

it?

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 14:26

Love it

Julie: 14:28

It's like a little motorized, like, thing. And, like, you have to, like, bend down to get in there. They're very tiny. And they, drive you around the city. Are you in, like, a cart? It's like a cart. Sort of.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 14:39

It's like a golf, it's like a golf cart with a motorcycle front.

Julie: 14:44

Yes, but like not as fancy and big as a golf cart. It's a little more smushed. Like we were definitely hunched over in the tuk tuk and I was like peeking out the side.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 14:53

Heh heh heh

Julie: 15:02

one of the long boats, which was cool and terrifying in the beginning because it's a very long boat and it's pretty close to the water and where we got on was right on like the main river. And so there was a lot of boat traffic. It was intense, us, they really had to get across the river so we could go down the canal. And he had us stop so that we could go to this little like outdoor market which was really cool. So we walked around, he got us the little, they almost look like the puffy cheap Cheetos, like not the, like the, what are they called? Cheese curls, cheese curls. They look like colorful cheese curls. Threw them into the water and all of these fish came up. Yeah, so he was like, Oh, you guys got to do this. So he bought the cheese curl looking things and he was like, okay, like feed the fish. So we fed the fish colored cheese curls in Thailand. They're very popular. They're literally everywhere. So we got to see that, which was really cool and walk around the market. And then we got back on the boat and finished through the canal. We actually saw on the water in the boat, this. Humong is the biggest Buddha I think you will ever see. It was so cool. And I actually, the next day I saw it from the highway and I was like, how magical is it to just be like driving along the road in Thailand and to see this big golden Buddha statue. So we got to see it kind of up close and in person and then juxtapose that to seeing it from far away, which was insane. Wow. So we did the canal and then he took us to lunch and he took us to this little spot and ordered us food. And again, he was just so great. He. Got us set up, ordered He's like, what do you guys like? So we kind of told him and he ordered us food. And then he went and I think he had to make a call and he saw a friend. So he had some food with them. And then he came back like two or three times. I was like, Oh, I ordered you guys this. You have to try it. Oh, I ordered you guys this. You have to try this too. And I was like, sweet. So we got some mango sticky rice. He got us some kind of soup that we had to try. And then like, obviously what we ordered. So was, was that food extra? No, so that was included in nice. Yeah. So our lunches all days were included. Awesome. And then we had breakfast at the hotel, which was included. So it was really just dinner. Okay. Good to know. Yeah. So, and then we saw more temples. We saw the Buddha that was laying down which was really cool. And we walked along and it was another humongous, like, I couldn't even get it in the picture, even like from a weird angle, trying to look down, it was so big. So we did that and then. He had offered because James wanted to get some suits. Cause I guess like it's a good place to get suits. He was like, Oh, I'll take you guys to like go shopping.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 17:44

little random, but all right.

Julie: 17:46

very random, but he was like willing to take us. And I was like, Oh, that's so nice. He was like, yeah, sure. Let's go. Just wait until we hear more about how James style evolved on this trip. And we will be posting some photos of what his style is today.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 18:00

Gotcha. Okay.

Julie: 18:01

Um, Yeah, so then we, we kind of finished up the tour. He showed us a bunch of stuff and then dropped us back off at the hotel. We had some time to hang out. We went to the pool and then went to the restaurant had recommended a place close by. So we went, we went to dinner. Yeah. That's

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 18:18

And that was all day one. All

Julie: 18:21

now. Woo. So they were only there for five days. So we packed a lot into five days. Yeah. But day two was a really fun day. Yeah. So day two were the elephants. So we got up early and again, it was a three hour drive out there. So we got to the elephant sanctuary and immediately there were elephants and we got to start feeding them. We walked one of them down to like the main area that they hang out and then took pictures with them, got to just like love on them, which was so cool.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 18:53

people were there? Were there a lot more tourists or did you feel like you had some space? Mm

Julie: 18:59

Because we were there for a full day, it was a little bit of a smaller group. So there are some people that will come for a half day and they have a very different experience because we did the full day. Ours was a lot more relaxed. But we were just kind of relaxing and hanging out with the elephants. And then they made us lunch. So we had a full buffet spread of lunch. So we went back and we ate lunch. And this day was. Insane. So after lunch, we hopped on the back of a truck and they drove us over so we could chop down elephant grass with a machete, which was wild. So then they put the elephant grass in the truck and we hop back in. And James and I were like at the very back. So closest to the cabin of the car. So we're driving back over to the elephants and there's probably like 10 or 11 elephants. Spread throughout. And there's a mom and a baby. They were very cute. Baby's like five years old, couple tons, like still a large animal. So everybody starts to get off the back of the truck so we can and pull the elephant grass out. Well, mom and baby saw that we had snacks for them. And they started charging. The truck and I was like, Oh no. So I popped out while my phone fell out of my pocket and the baby elephant stepped on my phone

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 20:11

Oh no!

Julie: 20:12

started freaking out. It was like your phone, James was still in the truck and trying to push the elephant back. He was like, well, this was not

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 20:19

He's like, gosh, I wish I didn't wear my new suit today.

Julie: 20:24

Oh man. But luckily they have soft padded feet and it was soft dirt, so it didn't break the phone. Although the touch screen's a little wonky. I need a new

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 20:32

You know, but it's a great story. I mean, I would take my phone being a little glitchy if I could tell people why.

Julie: 20:39

Yeah, like, oh, baby, the elephant stepped on my phone. That's amazing. Yeah, it was so cool. In the afternoon is when we really got to do a lot. So we fed them more snacks. There's an older elephant there that she has to have, extra special snacks. So we went and made her these, little, rice and yeast balls. And we actually got to feed her. And it was funny because everybody took one turn, but there were still more there. And so she went over and started eating it herself. She was like, well, if you guys aren't going to feed me, I'm going to eat this. And so then everybody got back in line and we were doing it again. So then we got to go and take them into a mud bath. And so they'll lay down and grab the mud and you rub it on them. One of the elephants decided it would be funny splash me right in the face with mud.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 21:26

well he he heard about the other guy that tried to break your phone so they're picking on you all day

Julie: 21:32

Right. So we did that and then we took them over to the river and then we washed all the mud off cause they can't keep it on them. to, they can put it on, but then they have to wash it off by the end of the day. So we got to wash it off of them. And then they Set us up so we could take pictures. There were three elephants in the water. And after we cleaned them, each elephant has their own Mahout. So it's like their person. So they only listen to their Mahout. Obviously we can't understand what they're saying. And they're speaking in a language the elephant understands. And they started spraying people with water, which was hilarious. So you're like getting ready to take your picture. And luckily we didn't go first, but you're getting ready to take your picture and he's like, Oh, like saying stuff. And then now he sprays you in the face of water. And I was like, you better not do that to me. I'm good. So it was really magical. And then, you know, yeah. And Emily is going to send us some pictures from this. Cause we're going to post a couple. That's okay. Yeah. Because they're just So cool. I remember you sending these to me, while you were on the trip. And I, I probably sent them to you, Ryan, just being like, look what my friends are

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 22:37

I do. I remember, yes, I remember you sharing those specific pictures.

Julie: 22:42

right. So after elephants, what was next up? Then the next day we went to a smaller, like ruined city called Ayutthaya. And we got to see all of the different ruins. I forget exactly what happened, but essentially like. Whoever, it might've been the Burmese came over and chopped all the heads off the Buddhas. And so there were no heads on Buddhas and it was just like the coolest thing, like the ruins, knowing how old they were. We got to walk through again, take a ton of really cool pictures. They took us to lunch at another really great place. We saw another temple and this one was cool. Like the outside of it looked like a boat. It was very cool. So we got to do that. And then we found another Buddha that was laying down. And the pillow was a lotus flower. It was beautiful. So we took a bunch of pictures there, which was really cool. So when you guys were in the temples was were things going on in the temples or was just like you guys there? So in Ayutthaya, the one that we went to was a lot smaller and it was in a lower key area. So we were the only ones in there when we went. In Bangkok, because they're so much bigger, like there were bigger lines. There was a lot more people. So We went to the summer palace as well. That was our first stop on, on our way to IUT. It was the king and queen summer palace and it was insanely beautiful. Everything was pristine. They had bushes that were carved into the shape of elephants and like a little elephant family. There were flowers everywhere. It was really cool. And that's where James, so he ran out of pants and only had shorts. You have to cover your knees for any temples or anything like for that to show respect. it. Well, he did not have them. So we had to buy elephant pants. Obviously, obviously James packed for himself and Emily did not pack for him.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 24:38

He's enjoying married life from the very beginning. Right.

Julie: 24:41

So he had to buy cat pants, which I will share a picture of because it's epic.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 24:45

Okay, all

Julie: 24:46

He really wanted elephant pants, but he got, did he also get elephant pants? Yes, he bought a pair of elephant pants, but I was like, don't buy a second pair of elephant pants. I would like cat pants. So I made him buy the cat pants. And then he had to wear them with his like polo shirt around the palace. He could not get them off faster when we left. The minute we stepped down, he was all good. He was like, I'm done.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 25:09

Yeah, okay

Julie: 25:12

Because of all of these elephant and cat wearing pants, James new style is wearing animal themed clothing.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 25:19

not?

Julie: 25:20

When we got back from Ayutthaya we went to the night market, which was like a 15 minute walk from our hotel. And it was this huge, huge, huge, huge market. It opens at four and is open pretty late. And they have a bunch of restaurants, a bunch of food. There's a bunch of shopping.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 25:39

absolutely love a place like that

Julie: 25:41

So so cool. So we went and walked around there for a while And they had a ferris wheel which is another thing that this man likes to do on vacations when we were in James Yeah, Germany, we went on a ferris wheel. There was somewhere else. We went on a ferris wheel in Thailand There was a ferris wheel. So he was like, let's do it. And I was like, why are we doing this? He likes ferris wheels and animal print clothing. What a guy He's a catch. James in a nutshell. He's a catch. I do really love James. Oh, so for the, for IUTEO, we also on our way back Stopped at the million toy museum, which was a little creepy. It's literally like a million toys in cases from like different periods of time. There's a bunch of like Disney Pokemon, authentic tie toys. Like it was very strange. Nobody was there except for the two people that work there. it was a little weird. And again, going off of that, like when we're reading the itinerary, like obviously James and Emily have never been there before. So we wouldn't have known, like,

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 26:36

well they they have it on there for a reason so it must be something to see

Julie: 26:40

Yeah. Yeah. Just maybe not for us. Yeah. That sounds amazing. We're going to get into a couple other things about the trip, but first is Ryan is going to do his where in the world.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 26:51

I'll let Emily choose and she's the guest

Julie: 26:53

Oh,

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 26:53

I have an international

Julie: 26:55

I never think it

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 26:56

I have a domestic option. Which would you like to hear about, Emily?

Julie: 27:00

Let's go domestic.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 27:02

Domestic. Okay, so when I went back to the statistics this week, a new place that popped up for us is a small town in Texas called Whitney, Texas. 60 miles south of Dallas Fort Worth It's a small town of just about under 2 000 people And I know that we often highlight big cities and international spots So I wanted to make sure that Whitney, Texas got it to do And we are super glad that you are listening to all things travel so, hey Whitney, do me a favor, reach out to me or Julie via Facebook or email, because I've got a nice little thank you gift that I'd like to ship all the way down there for you being featured on the show today.

Julie: 27:44

Earlier, we mentioned that we chose our preferred partner Kensington Tours to plan this trip with. So they're a preferred partner of our agency, we have good experiences with them. They work well with our

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 27:54

we have trust in what they're going to do for our clients.

Julie: 27:58

Tell us a little about the experience that Kensington Tours provided, because we know Kensington Tours, the pricing is not cheap because Kensington Tours is known for private and custom tours. So tell us, about the experience they provided and, why that was worth it. Yeah, so interestingly enough, in December we took a larger group tour. And so it was nice to be able to do that and then have our own, private guided tour. And James and I actually talked a lot about the differences, what we liked better. And I think we're both kind of in alignment that Kensington and doing this kind of trip is like the only way that we want to travel moving forward.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 28:38

might be a little spoiled after this.

Julie: 28:40

Yeah, just a little Emily has found her travel style. You have to think so you're on a 12 hour flight You're rushing through the Dubai airport to get on your next flight and then you got another seven hours And then you are in a foreign place where you cannot read the language. You cannot speak the language. And so you're like dazed and confused, getting off the plane. Boom. Immediately we found the woman with our names and she literally got us off the plane while we were coming off the plane. And she walked us through the airport, through the customs line, it wasn't super long, but she scooted us to the front somehow. And she waited for us while we went through customs. And then walked us over to luggage. She helped us get a cart and our luggage. We just stood there. I took a selfie of us and said, Hey, we made it. And then she walked us out to our guide and our private car, which was pretty cool. So. I don't think we realized like the experience that we were in for. Our guide was the guy that was with us the entire time until we got to the airport to leave Thailand. And our driver and the car that we had was the same one throughout the entire experience. And they spoke English to you and they spoke English. Yeah. They were really, really sweet. So when we got to our hotel, the guide came inside with us and he made sure that we got checked in and we got our room and then he left. So he made sure that we were all set for the evening, which was great. Every morning he met us at the hotel so Thailand is insanely hot. like really, really hot. Anytime we got back into the car, it was a, of course, air conditioned. They had fresh, cold bottles of water for us and fresh, cold, like frozen towels to put like our neck with our hands, our face, which was incredible because of how hot it is. So I felt like we were well hydrated. We were well cooled off when we needed to be I think I mentioned earlier, he walked us everywhere. He ordered food for us, even stuff that we probably wouldn't have ordered. He was like, you have to try this. Like, this is a staple made sure that we had all the best stuff took pictures for us and all of the places I forgot to mention at the elephant sanctuary, they obviously stayed with us all day. In the morning we had gone down to the To see the elephants and we came back for lunch and he was like, Hey guys, I saved you this table it had the the most perfect view of the river. And I was like, oh my gosh,

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 31:03

And again, this is just for you and James.

Julie: 31:06

Just for me and Jason saved us this Pacific

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 31:09

of working with Kensington. And I love this.

Julie: 31:11

It was incredible. And they stopped there and back. We got coffee. They like chatted with us, answered all of our random questions about life in Thailand. He would just like spit off all these random things and just that they were just so knowledgeable. And just really great. We felt so incredibly comfortable. Like just getting around and navigating the city. Yeah.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 31:34

mean, just think of the stress and mental energy that you saved by having somebody taking care of all this background logistics that we don't always think about when we're planning a trip.

Julie: 31:49

Absolutely. Right. Like that mental relief that's what allows you to immerse in the destination and experience it. And then on top of that, the guide is giving you all this background information. You wouldn't have learned that you would have just been like, Oh, Oh, a temple.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 32:05

I remember a few years ago when my family traveled with Adventures by Disney, which is very similar at the level that Kensington is, and the first day we're at the Coliseum and our guide said, I want you to unplug. I want you to engage with where we are, but you need to unplug mentally. And I'm kind of like, yeah, right. I'm still going to be thinking of this, that. And by the end you are, you're like, just lead me around, please tell me what to do next. Because I, I have complete

Julie: 32:31

you're like, I don't know how to function.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 32:33

Literally because you're feeling so taken care of I don't have to worry about any of this other stuff. I can just enjoy where I am and what I'm doing

Julie: 32:42

I think that's something that a lot of people don't think of going into it, they're like Oh private right? They see the price tag and they're like, nope. But you have to think about what kind of experience you want to have. And this is something we talk a lot about in the agency is what experience do you want to have or say that you had when you leave the trip, right? Do you really feel like you got immersed? I remember Emily text me the first day that you guys got to Thailand and you were like, oh my God, whatever this transfer is that you got us is amazing like I remember you just like raving about the experience. Even like the first day you guys were there and that was just so cool. We're getting off of a long flight and immediately we are just feeling like. we don't have to stress about anything. They're going to get us where we need to go. They had water in the car. They had those cold towels so we could just like semi clean off. Cause it was like a 40 minute ride back. And to your point, Ryan, like to be able to just be present for our guide to say, Hey, let me take your pictures here. Like, Let me do this for you was just incredible know, you want to be present, but you also want the memories and to be able to do both was something that I hadn't really experienced before. that first night know, it's like eight o'clock, we've been awake for like 20 plus hours. We're like barely hanging on. And I was like, this is already amazing. I don't even care that I'm so tired. I'm like falling asleep. This is great. So to have that level of service was just incredible. And I think especially when we take these bigger trips, we've been talking about South Africa and some other places like to do that, it's well worth the money to pay a little bit extra to know that you're taken care of in a place where you're so far from home. You're so far from your creature comforts and you may not speak the language or be able to read anything to just know that you are. safe and taking care of and the thing is that you got pampered, but you still had a very adventurous experience.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 34:34

when we say pampered, we mean taken care of.

Julie: 34:37

But sometimes people are like, Oh, I don't want to do that because I want to experience it. You got to experience even more because of that.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 34:43

Well, then, Julie, they need to go back and listen to our episode on Luxpedition.

Julie: 34:47

they do need

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 34:48

and they'll learn that there's a way to do it.

Julie: 34:50

One last thing I will say, the itineraries were packed full, during the day, but we still had time at night hang by the pool, go explore the night market, which was recommended by the guide, and do those things on our own of experience that local ish life without like, you know, straying too far, getting lost or anything like that. To your point, like it was very adventurous and he made sure that we had all the things that we needed and if we wanted to stray at all or do anything he was willing to be like, okay, let's go do it. Because it's just you guys. Yeah. There's no one

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 35:22

right. If you said, Hey, I saw this restaurant that Anthony Bourdain went to, or, my college roommate said, Hey, we got to check this out. They would have been all up for it.

Julie: 35:32

Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. That's awesome. If I said, Hey, Emily, I have a client that wants to go to Thailand. What advice would you give to them? I think that we were both in agreement that we could have spent easily a full week in Thailand. There's a lot of places that we didn't get to see and that we didn't even consider or know about like Chiang Mai. There's some places further South from Bangkok that are more tropical. So spending a week or two in Thailand is, you know, Insanely easy to do. Yeah. If we were to go back, we would spend more time and try to go visit some of those other places as well. Right. But we were like restricted on our timeframe. Yeah. We didn't have a ton of time, we couldn't travel all the way down there and like the time we, we had, so, but yeah. But if you're gonna consider going to Thailand, like go, go longer, spend more time there, know, we made the best of what we had, but definitely worth it to make it a full trip, on its own.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 36:27

You've talked a little bit about this, but what would you have done differently now looking back on the trip?

Julie: 36:33

Not really knowing much about it and we were also sort of in the throes of wedding planning which probably didn't help because we were like What?

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 36:40

Yeah.

Julie: 36:40

Off of our list. I would have read the itinerary a little bit more carefully. Cause we saw so many temples, which were all beautiful. We got to see a lot of cool things, but maybe try to find different things to do versus like two city tours with elephants in between know, is there something else that we could do close or see or something? So that was the one thing that we just didn't do was make sure that we read the itinerary and like really thought about. know, We've thought about the flights and how we wanted those to go, but we didn't really think about what we were actually doing. So that's something that for any trip, I think we would do going forward, going forward. Other than that, Thailand was absolutely perfect. Love that.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 37:18

Emily, you've talked a little bit about you and James getting the travel bug, especially with this style of travel. Where are you headed next?

Julie: 37:27

I think the next big trip that we plan is going to be South Africa and doing a safari. That's one that we both like, I, I love all of the safari animals. Elephants obviously are my favorite. Lions are also my favorite. So to go on a safari and see that in real life, had, I have no, a couple of people that have done it. They've been to animal kingdom theme park. I didn't as a kid. James still has not been to animal kingdom theme park,

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 37:55

that, you know, that's

Julie: 37:55

one

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 37:56

get him ready for South Africa. That's going to be the prep trip.

Julie: 37:59

It will be the prep. I think James would go to Disney World just to go to Animal Kingdom. There was one time, Ryan, that he was at our house and, and I don't know why we were talking about this. It was just James, us, and like a bunch of kids. And James doesn't have children yet. So, you know, all these kids come around and he's like, what is going on? And all he did was look at the map of Animal Kingdom and tell me how amazing it was. He was like, I can't wait to go here. it's just like this running joke that he really wants to go to animal kingdom.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 38:25

And I could see I could see your son running up and say, what's up with your pants? Why are there elephants on your pants?

Julie: 38:32

Luca would love them. Luca would love that. Luca would totally rock a pair of elephant pants with sandals, that's his style. So, and what does James want to do in South Africa? What's his must do there? Oh, his must do is swimming with sharks.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 38:47

Very cool. Yeah,

Julie: 38:48

We snorkeled with nurse sharks in the Maldives, but he wants swim with great whites.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 38:53

he wants to swim with sharks that can eat him.

Julie: 38:55

Yeah, I was like, cool, cool, cool. Like you got me to swim with an earth shark, which is essentially harmless, but still looks very sharky. like, You will not be able to talk me into swimming with actual sharks. Does he want to be like in a cage? Yeah. And like lowered down? Yeah. Oh, good Lord. Like He wants full on shark week, in real life. And I was like, there's no way. It was hard enough for me to get into the water. To snorkel with nurse sharks, which are basically like sting rays. Like they eat from the bottom of the sea floor. And the guy on the boat was like, look, they're harmless. And I was like, sir, I hear what you're saying. My body is saying, no, thank you. So there's no way I'm going to swim with real sharks.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 39:31

I'll wait. I'll wait for the videos.

Julie: 39:33

yeah, there will be videos of Emily on a beach while James is doing that. Leave me on the beach, you go off, I'll see you later.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 39:39

Well emily. Thank you so much for joining us today to talk about thailand super excited to learn more I knew that kensington was a really good partner for us and it's always great to hear examples of how They are treating our clients. So i'm so glad that you helped us with that.

Julie: 39:54

Yeah, thanks for having me.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 39:57

Do you want to plan a trip to an amazing destination with a partner like Kensington but you don't know how to get started? As your travel advisors we work with you to create a customized itinerary for your vacation and take the stress of planning away so that you can focus on the fun and creating memories. You can reach me at Ryan at CreatingMagicVacations. com.

Julie: 40:18

And you can reach me at julie at creatingmagicvacations. com.

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 40:23

We look forward to talking to you next week on all things travel

Julie: 40:29

That So that was really cool. their tongues are very slimy short. So you really got to get in there so that you can feed them. It was wild. I was like, what is happening?

R Thailand-Ryan-webcam-00h_00m_00s_414ms-StreamYard: 40:38

could say so many things right now that I won't include in the podcast And that julie's what's going to go at the end of this episode

Julie: 40:45

He's gonna cut that, but it's gonna be at the end of the episode. And she's gonna say, their tongues are slimy and short. Oh man, okay, okay. Tell us more about the elephants.