Nantucket

Nantucket, Massachusetts is a tiny island off the coast of Cape Cod and happens to be the perfect destination for a long weekend away. With its cedar-sided buildings, cobblestoned streets, and quaint boutiques, Nantucket is one of the most charming places I’ve ever visited.  

My first (and only) trip to the island was this past weekend for a close friend's bachelorette party. Getting there was very simple, but there are a couple different modes of transportation, depending on your preferences and schedule. Many of my friends chose to fly from Boston, while others hopped on a ferry from Hyannis. I opted for the ferry and the faster one at that - arriving in only an hour. I bought my ticket online ahead of time and parked my car right across the street for $15 a day - not too shabby! Try to remember to bring cash, as parking is cash only. But don't worry if you forget because there is an ATM directly inside the ticket office. When planning your arrival, give yourself around 20 minutes before departure. The ferry's website recommends an hour, but I had no issues.

Once we arrived in Nantucket, there was no need to call an uber because taxis were all lined up waiting for passengers. We hopped in the taxi and headed over to Cisco Brewery, where all the other girls were expecting us. Cisco Brewery is very popular on the island, as it contains a vineyard and distillery as well! During peak season there is usually a queue line all the way down the street. We were lucky to be on the island a couple weekends before the high season tourists, so we walked right in! The brewery is unlike any I've ever been to - food trucks lined the outside, while live music flowed from within. If you venture through the brewery and into its "outside area", you will find fresh air, a fire pit, and picnic tables set up for groups to lounge together and enjoy a flight...or two ;). 

For places to stay, there are many different hotels and B&B's, but I'd recommend a house rental. We snagged a great deal for a beautiful home right on Surfside road. This was a convenient location, with an adorable breakfast place, Handlebar Café, right across the street and a pizza joint next door (in case you're one of those people who enjoy a late night slice – I know I'm guilty!) Also, just steps down the road was a bike rental business. My girlfriends and I rented bikes for $27 for the full day (I can't think of a more pleasurable way to navigate the island). The owners of the rental shop were very friendly and accommodating. We rode around the island exploring for a few hours while the other partygoers tried to rejuvenate from the previous night’s activities. Seeing the island was amazing - the streets were almost empty so we had plenty of room to make wrong turns as newcomers to the area. It was probably my favorite experience during the trip!

Another Nantucket highlight is Jetties beach bar. Jetties is an open air restaurant, where you can admire the dune-backed beach right from the bar. The oysters are a fan favorite and they have a few different fun drinks to try - Frosé anyone? Probably a little more enjoyable to drink frozen rosé in the warm summer months, but nonetheless everyone seemed to love them! 

For dinner we headed to a charming restaurant called Proprietors. The dishes were delicious! A couple of my friends and I split four different plates and each one was mouthwatering. We would have ordered more if we weren’t already stuffed (the empty bottles of wine along the table may have added to the gorged feeling). The meal was very reasonably priced for a high end restaurant, and I will absolutely visit again next time we’re there. 

The final stop of the trip was a place that had been raved about by everyone we met on the island. It was named the Chicken Box or as the locals call it "the box"...either way, let’s just say the box didn't disappoint. The live band was playing a diverse music selection that had all the girls dancing their tail feathers off (get it, ha). Not big on dancing, but enjoy live music? No problem. There are high top tables around the dance floor as well as pool tables in the back if you're looking for a more chill atmosphere. It's a "see for yourself" type of place, but if you are in Nantucket, do yourself a favor and visit the box. 

I can't believe it has taken me this long to find this endearing, isolated island. I will definitely be bringing Kyle on the next trip! Please make sure to keep in mind that I visited during the "off-season", so the island was much quieter than it is during the summer months. However, locals encouraged us to visit again during high season, so that I could enjoy the beaches, and the hustle and bustle the island has when it is filled to the brim with tourists. I may do just that because it sounds like a blast no matter what season we choose.

The Affordable Beauty of Chiang Mai

Dollar for dollar, Chiang Mai is the most valuable place that we have ever visited. It offers age old temples around every corner, distinct and delicious northern Thai cuisine, proximity to jungle landscapes and wildlife, open air markets, traditional Thai massages, and of course, it's people. Sounds amazing right? The crazy part is ... all of these experiences are extremely low cost by American standards...

Take our arrival into Chiang Mai for example. We had just touched down on our 10 AM flight from Bangkok and were heading for ground transportation. When we arrived, a woman dressed in a suit and holding a clipboard asked if we needed a ride. I had done some research ahead of time and I hadn't arranged a car to pick us up - planning on public transport. So, I obliged and told her we were going to the Chankam Boutique Hotel in the old city (about a 13 minute ride). She gave me a concerned look and said "sir will 160 baht be OK?" in broken English. I opened up my phone's calculator and punched in .028 (conversion for Thai currency to dollars) and multiplied it by 160 and got $4.48! Our cab ride cost us four dollars and forty eight cents. Oh and I hadn't even haggled her down like I was supposed to. Upon arriving at the hotel, I realized that I only had Thai Bahts in 1,000 bills (fancy huh?) and my cab driver couldn't make change for us. So I asked him to wait and I walked inside to the front desk, where the hotel staff was awaiting our arrival. I asked for change and they couldn't break my bill either. At this point I was getting a little confused. How much money is in my pocket? Because behind that 1,000 bill, there are nine others that look just like it ($280 total - not a ton for an "exotic" vacation right?). Get this...one of the staff members had to go into the back office and pay our cab driver out of his own wallet, in order for us to be all square. This would serve as a prelude to the kindness and hospitality of the Thai people, but lets continue to focus on the dollars for now. Once the driver was on his way, we were directed to relax in two empty chairs alongside a couple of ice cold towelettes and two glasses of chilled fruit juice. After cooling down a bit, the staff took some pictures of us in the extravagantly laid out lobby. There was Asian inspired art decorating the walls, a bubbling stream flowing and many comfy poof chairs to lounge in, if you so desired.  We then were led upstairs to our room. The key word here is "led", not directed. In America, we are used to being given a key and told to go find room 413. In Asia, they bring you to your room and make sure everything is exactly to your liking. There is no mistake about how you are supposed to feel - and it goes much further than I expected. Once inside, we were shown around - private balcony, king size bed, mini bar, marble bathroom with rain shower...oh yes and our $700 toilet (which our host proudly pointed out). Guess how much this hotel was? $70 per night. The equivalent of a motel 6 in America...

After settling into our room, we realized that we were both starving, so we headed downstairs and got direction from the front desk on their lunch recommendations. We had done "restaurant research" before we left, but I find it's always just as important to get the perspective of the locals. They pointed us towards one of the main streets in the old city, known for it's lunch cuisine. The old city in Chiang Mai, is aptly named because it is completely surrounded by a moat and a wall - both of which were used as protection in bygone eras. Inside the walls, you can visit many of the cities beautiful, historic temples. But for now, our goal was food. When we arrived on Rachadamnoen road, we walked the length of food vendors and makeshift restaurants to try and decide where to eat. Given that this was our first day and we didn't know the lay of the land, we chose one of the giant open air food stalls. We could see a whole chicken being roasted on a spit at the entrance and chicken skewers being cooked over open coals beside it - so we were comfortable with the food preparation. A waiter led us to our table and gave us rudimentary, but practical menus. We ordered the roasted chicken, with white rice, 20 chicken skewers and two 22 oz Singha beers. Sounds like a simple meal right? It was DELICIOUS. Probably one of my favorite in Thailand. And then we asked for the bill. I'm sure it's obvious where I'm going with this. The check read "300 baht". That's around $8.50! It's difficult to get a 20 oz beer at a restaurant in the United states, with tip, for $8.50. Say nothing about two beers and a full meal. At this point in the day, I was beginning to get concerned that I may not be able to spend the money I had so diligently extracted from the ATM a few hours earlier. Not a bad problem to have...

Although affordability was constant in Chiang Mai, there were two other experiences that really stuck out to us. The first was shopping. We were fortunate enough to be visiting on a Sunday, when they close several streets in the old city to street traffic and invite vendors from all over northern Thailand to bring their wares to be peddled. This is very literally called the "Sunday Night Market" by us English folk. You can find anything here. There is street food, handmade goods, art, bags, clothing and name brand knock offs - to name a few of the items. I purchased a beautiful pair of "Ray-Bans"...that melted in the sun a few days later (oh the irony). But the sunglasses were an exception and not the rule. I bought sandals for $5, a hat for $5, a new backpack with leather fittings for $10 and Kailah bought several pairs of light pants and other clothing items for $5 a piece. The wild part about this shopping experience for us Westerners was probably the ability to haggle. It is expected in Thai culture for customers to offer less than a listed price on an item. This gets very difficult when you realize that you are haggling cents on the dollar. "I'll give you $5.50 for that $6 t-shirt". It's sort of demotivating to even bother until you realize that this is their culture and it is required. So we learned to have fun with it and see how many dimes could be saved. Needless to say, we returned to the hotel with much more than we left with, in terms of goods and money. And since this wasn't the only Chiang Mai market, our bags were bursting by the time we touched down in Boston 10 days later. The other big Chiang Mai affordability surprise was the traditional Thai massage. These one hour massages are known for being rougher than the traditional American version and, as I learned, require more flexibility (Kailah laughed when I told my 4' 11'', 90 lbs masseuse that she was the strongest woman I had ever met). All in all, they are a great experience and can provide a nice option for down time and relaxation in Chiang Mai. In keeping with the theme of this article, the price is obviously not what I would have expected. In America, or even the western world as a whole, an hour massage will usually cost $100 or more. In Thailand however, we found one of the highest rated massage parlors on TripAdvisor and paid $11...for both of us! Essentially $189 cheaper than the most reasonably priced US version.  

I know I focused primarily on the cost of Chiang Mai in my stories above, but that alone isn't the main reason we should all spend time there. It is the value gained at this cost. There are many places that you can travel cheaply. But there aren't many places that give you this valuable culture focused on service, combined with amazing food, beautiful temples and sprawling landscapes. In addition, it is a great home base to head up north to the Elephant Nature Park (www.elephantnaturepark.org) where you can learn about these gentle giants and spend the day taking care of them. I am already looking forward to my next Singha, red curry and pad thai. 

Kyle

Nowhere On Earth: Month in Review

What a month! I was rehashing my travels on my 5 hour flight home this morning and realized it has been quite the four weeks. I've been on the road 18 days out of the past 28. This has included 10 flights for over 53.5 hours of total flying time (literally in the air, not counting airports, driving etc). I have spanned two separate continents and 15 total time zones. Wow. It's a bit overwhelming to put into words, but I promise I wouldn't have traded any of it for more sleep, or time at home. I was also fortunate to have shared these experiences with two awesome travel partners (My wife Kailah (Thailand) and future bro-in-law, Jared (Arizona)). Below are some of the highlights, as well as what is on deck for 2017!

Thailand:

This was Kailah and I's first time in Asia and boy did it not let us down. The cultural differences, scenery and Thai people, really made this a magical trip. We had three very distinct experiences, as we traveled north to the jungles of Chiang Mai, South to the beaches and limestones cliffs of Krabi and then finished in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. In Chiang Mai, we enjoyed traditional northern cuisine, haggled vendors at several open air markets (buying countless counterfeit merchandise), enjoyed a day pampering elephants and even found time to shut down a few bars in the evening. The most amazing part was certainly the day with elephants. We learned about their mistreatment, walked them, prepared food and then fed and bathed them. These gentle beasts are amazing animals and if you want to learn more about them and our experience, check out the Elephant Nature Park website at https://www.elephantnaturepark.org/. 

Moving south, we splurged on four nights at Rayavadee resort (and got a great deal through TripAdvisor). This was the nicest resort I've ever been to, on one of the top ten beaches in the entire world; Phra Nang. Words can't describe the relaxation. Turquoise waters, white sandy beaches, limestone cliffs and UNBELIEVABLE service. The Thai are head and shoulders above America in terms of hospitality. After days by the beach and pool, we enjoyed meandering into town to grab some Thai or Indian food and a few drinks.

To round out the trip, we spent a night in Bangkok. We didn't have much time there, but managed to explore more open air markets and have one of the best Thai meals on our trip. We stayed at the Peninsula resort, which was gorgeous and had a pool, so we could soak up a few extra rays before our afternoon flight.

Arizona:

The purpose for this trip was to attend the men's basketball National Championship game. I had purchased tickets through a friend a few months prior (Thanks Mike Preseau!) and Jared agreed to meet me in Phoenix for a guys trip. Both game days were a blast, as we made sure none of the bars outside of the stadium felt left out. We didn't have tickets to Saturday's Final Four games, so we watched from a TV like everyone else in the country. Monday we went down early and hung out around the College Gameday set, where we were fortunate enough to rub elbows with the likes of Bill Walton, Tom Crean and Jim Calhoun. Once inside the stadium, the atmosphere was electric, as UNC avenged its loss from last year. Basketball aside, we woke up Sunday and decided we were going to drive a couple hours up to see Sedona, Arizona - since we had a day off between games. Brilliantly, we decided we should go in style, and rented a 2017, two door, red mustang. Sedona is BEAUTIFUL. We visited a small brew pub in town and then drove up to a lookout location, where we hiked up to the top of Bell Rock. Check out the commanding view below.

Balance of 2017: Currently, we have three more trips planned for the year. Check them out below!

- Kyle to Tahoe/Reno in June for Jared's bachelor party

- Kailah to Chicago in May for Sossan's bachelorette party

- Both to Greece in August for a week!