Our journey through Southeast Asia has relied heavily on ground transit, particularly trains and busses. After a buggy overnight train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, we gladly welcomed a bus ride . We ended up on the Greenbus VIP bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai. In this post, we cover how we booked …
In this post, we review taking the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, particularly Thai Railways #13, including how we booked our ride and our (sometimes a little rough) experiences on the train itself. Having started our two months in Southeast Asia in Bangkok, we decided to make our way north through Chiang Mai and …
During our year-long backpack trip around the world, we spent Christmas in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I recall that Christmas morning quite vividly. I was drinking a peppermint mocha and watching “A Christmas Story” on my laptop in a cafe. I knew that somewhere on the other side of the world, it was still Christmas Eve …
Lately, every time we tell someone we’re traveling long term, they always ask about two things: “What do you do about money?” and “What did you do with your stuff?” They’re both fine questions; they both actually seem to be major reasons why people don’t go on these long-term trips that often. While the money …
It’s easy to forget that after you’ve picked your flights and chosen your hotels, you still need a way to pay for things overseas. This post covers the basics of money overseas, including getting cash and what credit cards to use. Cash Is (Sort of) King When I first wrote this post almost a decade …
Back in 1383, the temple of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep was built on the top of Doi Suthep Mountain just outside of modern day Chiang Mai. Monks had to hike up Doi Suthep to get to the temple, and Wat Pha Lat was later built as a resting place for those Monks. Today, you can still …
Since you’re here, you’ve probably heard of an onward ticket and wondered when you need one and how to get one. Well, as I write this, I’m sitting on a plane to Bangkok from Hong Kong. The next flight I have booked is from Bangkok to Tokyo in two weeks. But I’m not going to …
After a 14-hour economy cabin flight to Dubai earlier this year, I vowed to stop flying over 8 hours (give or take) in economy cabins. It wasn’t an awful flight by any means, but when you save lots of money (and spend no points) flying low cost carriers on every other flight you take, you …
Planning a trip abroad? You don’t want to land and find out you can’t use Google Maps to figure out where to go or that you can’t make that phone call to mom telling her you safely arrived. We’re here to help you stay connected overseas. Here’s the problem, in short: If you take your …
The one word we learn in every country we go to is “thank you”. I’ve talked about this a few times here on Lattes & Runways, but we’ve really come to see how valuable this tiny gesture can be. Every time we get to a new city, we try to ask a local how to …