I will be posting several reviews and trip diaries from our time away, but I wanted to take a moment to write up a few lessons for anyone who has never traveled around the globe in two weeks. Overall, we have few regrets, but a few things to keep in mind to ensure success. While this post will focus our time in Thailand and Maldives, you can substitute any destination that is very far away.

I. Business Class Really Helps

I know it is expensive (without miles), but 10 flights in two weeks are a lot and business class on all of them made a huge difference. It isn’t just the lie-flat seats and better food; but 10 flights means 10 check-in experiences, 10 airport visits, waiting to board and passport control. All these things are a million times easier sitting in business class. Check-in takes less than 10 minutes, there are lounges to sit in to have a coffee and snack, you board first so no need to worry about your carry-on bag fitting and obviously the plane is more comfortable. I could not imagine 10 flights in 2 weeks in economy. We would have had to cut our destination list.

II. Don’t Eat Everything

No, don’t panic, I am not suggesting you do not enjoy wonderful meals overseas. However, there is a difference between having dinner in a local trattoria in a small town in Tuscany versus the stale bagel in the airport lounge. I workout a lot at home and have a strict nutritional routine. However, usually when I travel, I let it all go for the week. Yet, 2 weeks is a long time, and I did not want to come home feeling like sh*t. Pick your battles on food. You do not need to eat everything, save the calories for the good stuff and leave the breakfast carbs alone.

III Sobriety is Wonderful

Matt and I used to plan our trips around drinking. We both got a little uneasy thinking about how much we would have consumed on this trip in the old days. We would barely sleep, walk around with headaches and just feel awful. Not drinking gave us energy, better sleep and tons of money to do actual fun and memorable things!

Exercise

Keep that body moving. 2 weeks is a long time, overseas is far. We ran, lifted, and biked ride several times and felt great. I did not return home feeling bloated which was wonderful. Isn’t that the worst, you have a great trip but come home feeling like a whale and have regrets?

Do Activities But Don’t Overdo It

This is a delicate balance. We were traveling to the other side of the world, we wanted to see everything. However, we were fortunate in that we did Thailand first and the Maldives second. There is nothing to do in the Maldives besides enjoy your bungalow/villa. We made the decision to cram our activities in Thailand and relax in the Maldives and it worked perfectly. We came home refreshed, but also fulfilled.

Plan all your Logistics Ahead of Time

I had all our tours, transfers to/from the airports and activities planned ahead of time. I leveraged our hotel concierges and Viator for most of these things. We had some open spots scattered throughout our trip if we ‘discovered’ activities or restaurants on the ground we wanted to try, but it was so convenient and one less thing to worry about while being gone for awhile to not have to worry about logistics. We just got to enjoy the ride.

Leverage Long Layovers to See Things

We had two 24-hour layovers in Bangkok and an 8-hour layover in Dubai. Without googling, what do you do in both cities? You have no idea, and so we never panicked about cramming action packed days. However, how often do you get to go to Bangkok and Dubai, so we wanted to see something.

Bangkok Layover 1 (after 22 hours of flying)

• Relax by beautiful pool
• Spa
• Local Dinner
• Custom Suits Design

We purposely kept this day easy as we were exhausted, but it was productive with relaxation and we got to enjoy local cuisine. We also had time to get our suits measured.

Bangkok Layover 2

• Private driving tour of the city
• Picked up our suits

We used this layover to see the city as we just completed a short flight from Koh Samui.

Dubai

• Uber to Dubai Mall
• Dubai Fountains
• Local Dinner

Got to see the fountains and pretty buildings. Dinner was excellent.

Live Somewhere You Want to go Home too

The problem with 2 weeks overseas means I am away from Maine for 2 weeks, which is sad. We were ready to go home despite having the perfect trip. Why do we ever choose to leave Maine?

Do Not Return to Work the Day After You Get Back

Always leave a buffer day to sleep in, get your life together, do some errands and get used to the time changes.

These are some of my lessons traveling around the world. What are yours?

Bon Voyage,

Andrew