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Top 4 spa hotels in the Algarve is a post from A Luxury Travel Blog

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The Great Escape: Month 57 Roundup

Oh, my monthly roundups. They are so ridiculously out of sync with real time now that I recently considered axing the series, but I decided to play catch up instead - so brace yourself for a couple of these coming up! Apologies for the delay, but I suppose better is late than never.

After a deliciously chill couple months, this one kicked off a period of absolute madness again. With one of my best friends visiting from New York and Ian's parents coming in from Canada, we were determined to craft the perfect itineraries for everyone. Us included! I was thrilled to not only visit a few old favorite domestic destinations, but also to conquer a logistically-difficult camping trip to Khao Yai National Park.

Where I've Been

• Two nights on Koh Phangan

• Three nights on Koh Tao

• One night overnight transit

• Two nights in and around Khao Yai National Park

• Three nights in Bangkok

• Seventeen nights on Koh Tao

Highlights

• Our Koh Phangan weekend! I left obsessed with Charm Beach Resort, my new go-to on my neighboring island. With beachfront massages, a beachfront fitness bootcamp, and a beachfront bar (sensing a theme?) serving the best cocktails I've had on the Thai islands, I was in true vacation mode heaven. Leaving my laptop at home on Koh Tao was really fun and liberating, too.

• Showing my friends around Koh Tao. Though the craziest storm of the year waylaid plans for diving and beaching, I had a blast bringing them to my favorite yoga studios, to my trapeze class, and to some of my favorite spas and eateries.

• Getting off Koh Tao when we needed to! For a while there, it was pretty touch and go - see below. Our long day and night in transit was a blur, but it all felt real when we were standing in a field watching two million bats spill out of a cave in Pak Chong.

• So many beautiful moments in Khao Yai National Park. I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite, from the freedom we felt on the winding drive into the park's visitor center, the exhilaration of spotting the big-horned deer we ate lunch next to, the joy at the first sight Haew Narok falls, the surprising thrill of the night safari, to the great satisfaction of having pulled off something fairly inaccessible for Western visitors to Thailand. I spent hours and hours and hours planning this trip… and it was magic!

• Using all that knowledge to write a comprehensive tell-all about visiting Khao Yai National Park independently. Professionally, I felt proud to produce a guide that is, in my opinion, more comprehensive than anything else on the internet regarding this beautiful area of Thailand. It was a lot of work to put together, and I was just thrilled to press publish!

• Sweet and simple: extending our visas in Bangkok couldn't have been smoother thanks to prepping all our paperwork ahead of time and arriving as the doors opened at the immigration office. As we normally have to plan a trip to Koh Samui to do so, getting this regular errand done on an existing trip to Bangkok was crazy convenient.

• Making new Bangkok discoveries in our brief three nights there. While we hit up old classics like the Chatuchak Market and Hemmingways, we also explored new favorites include Supanniga Eating Room restaurant and a whole roster of fun bars in Thonglor. I also ticked a big activity off my Bangkok bucket list: a high-end dinner river cruise down the Chao Phraya.

• Seventeen nights. The novelty of long stretches on Koh Tao never get old. For me, seventeen nights in a row before taking off on my next adventure wasn't long enough - but compared to my usual calendar chaos, it was a nice break!

• Going off trail. My first attempt at the Dusit Bunch Hike may have technically ended in failure, but it lit a fire under me to get back and nail it again in the future (and I eventually did!)

• Finally checking out Koh Tao Cooking School. Ian's parents being on the island was just the excuse we needed to finally check out this fun rainy-day option on our home island. I ate so much I pretty much had to be rolled out of the place, but I reasoned I burned off the calories laughing at my own ineptitude in the kitchen. Right?

• Getting back in the water! I so loved my PADI solo diver course with Master Divers and was really grateful for the nudge to get back in the ocean and back in the classroom. It ended up being the first of three courses I'd take this year in Koh Tao - and I can't stop thinking about what's next!

• A very happy Valentine's Day. I took the whole day off, which is rare for me! I made heart-shaped banana cinnamon pancakes for breakfast for Ian and I, and then we set off for the beach and spent the whole day in the sun with friends. That night, I went out for a proper girl's night with dinner and dancing. We had a blast!

Lowlights and Lessons

• The Full Moon Party and I are on a break, I think. There wasn't anything wrong with the party per se, I just think after three of them I've been there and done that. Not that I'm done painting myself neon by any means - I just think I'll seek out new places to do it.

• Holy weather wow! After a massive storm literally sank one of the piers and washed away the beach on Koh Tao, ferries were cancelled for days and we worried about getting off the island to make it to Khao Yai. In the end our ferry was the first to leave in days, which we cheered for… but it was a rough ride. We all felt seasick, and Ian had the extreme honor of being vomited on by a fellow passenger. Because the ferry was slow and late, we just barely made our overnight train. It was quite the wild ride, but we arrived in Khao Yai more grateful than ever to just be there!

• Hosting guilt. I felt awful when I had to back out of a cooking class in Bangkok and miss other fun in order to work, especially when Ian's parents were in town. Thankfully, everyone in my life is quite understanding of the fact that self employment can be relentlessly demanding at the most inconvenient of times.

• Another rough ride. This was not our month for smooth transit! After splurging on a flight to Koh Samui to make the trip down to the islands easier for Ian's parents, we had just about the worst ferry ride I've ever experienced to Koh Tao. With the air conditioning on the boat broken, the waves rough and the sun beating down painfully, people were stripped down to nothing and lying around languishing on the deck. Even we were miserable, and felt so bad for Ian's parents, who were definitely not acclimated to the Thai heat from Canada quite yet. We kept promising them that it was normally a painless journey!

• Missing my dad's 70th birthday. There are only a few events I've missed that have really haunted me and this was one of them. With almost all my family all together in Los Angeles for the big event, it just about killed me not to be there. Believe me, I won't miss his 80th for the world!

• All of the above paled in comparison to a terrible conflict I had this month with a person very close to me. I was absolutely devastated by our blowup and felt like I walked around in a trance for days just processing it. It still hurts my heart to think about.

Lols

On a lighter note, I don't know if I've ever laughed as hard as I did during a classic misunderstanding at Hemmingway's in Bangkok. We had splurged and ordered an elaborate cheese platter which was heavy on the good stuff but skimped on the crackers. When we ran out and asked for a few extras, the waitress looked distressed and fled the table.

When she returned, she explained there would be an extra charge of 50B (about $1.50) for extra crackers, and made a gesture with her hands that we thought indicated a small packet of crackers. “Let's go wild and get two,” Ian nodded, while I wondered aloud if that would be too much. The waitress, again looking extremely distressed, confirmed several times that we wanted two before again fleeing the table.

Just when we were starting to wonder what was taking so long, saw the waitress approaching with a small plate… and two single saltine crackers. While I suppose we probably should have been outraged at what might be the most outrageous pricing I've ever encountered in Southeast Asia, we couldn't catch our breath from laughing long enough to care. Oh, our poor waitress.

Best and Worst Beds of the Month

I'm skipping this section for the month, since everywhere we stayed was equally and boringly great.

Best and Worst Meals of the Month

Best: Karma Café. Fresh, organic, vegan and covered in colorful aloha-inspired artwork, this place could not be more Koh Phangan - it's almost like a parody of itself. That said, it's insanely good and was a highlight of my weekend on the island. I see many meals here ahead in my future!

Worst: Dinner in Haad Rin before the Full Moon Party. I can't remember where we even ate but it doesn't really matter because everywhere seems to be uniformly bad. If anyone has a recommendation for a standout in this area, speak up in the comments!

Spending

It was a reasonable month. When I was on Koh Tao I was laying low, as usual, and my trips off the island were cheap (the two night, three day national park trip cost a whopping 3328B, or $95USD) and I had free accommodation both in Bangkok (I used TravelPony credit) and in Koh Phangan (where the lovely resort owner Anne generously hosted me).

However I did have some splurges - the Bangkok dinner cruise for Ian and I ($125), a bunch of food,  toiletries and more that Zoe brought me from New York ($150), my contributions to my dad's birthday party (I won't say how much in case my dad reads this but it was over half my rent for the month!), the total interest after finally paying off my credit card bills after charging my new camera gear last summer ($130), my immigration extension ($65), a flight to Koh Samui ($75), and the Koh Tao cooking class for me and a friend ($55).

Saving

This was a fairly low-key month with no major new projects - I mostly focused on catching up on my ongoing partnerships, doing a bit of freelance writing for those existing sponsors and producing as much blog content as possible!

While I ended the month having earned half of what I did the previous one, it was still a healthy amount I was more than happy with. It was yet another month where my bottom line went up - what more can a girl ask for?

Health and Fitness

I think I did a decent job of mixing fitness into a month on the move. I did a boot camp class on Koh Phangan, took my friends to yoga and trapeze on Koh Tao, did tons of hiking in Khao Yai… okay, and did absolutely nothing in Bangkok (does walking around Chatuchak Market count?)

Once I was back on the island, I slipped into my now familiar and much loved fitness routine, one of my favorite parts of just being home on Koh Tao.

What's Next

A few final Thailand adventures to Hua Hin, Khao Sok National Park,the Khao Yai wine region, Bangkok, and Koh Samui!

Thanks for looking back over my shoulder with me.

Since I left home for my Great Escape, I've been doing monthly roundups of my adventures filled with anecdotes, private little moments, and thoughts that are found nowhere else on this blog. As this site is not just a resource for other travelers but also my own personal travel diary, I like to take some time to reflect on not just what I did, but how I felt. You can read my previous roundups here.

Want to share your own story?

Great news for all you fellow aspiring bloggers out there! This week is Travel Blog Success's Fall Sale!

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A Warm Bem Vindo to Brazil: Exploring São Paulo's Vila Mariana

I've been hemming and hawing about how to introduce my Brazil coverage - how to even begin to sum up six weeks of the most roller-coaster like weeks of travel I've ever had! I do promise to get into the deep stuff eventually, but I finally decided to stop procrastinating and start from the beginning, when I was fresh off the plane full of hope and hungry for caipirinhas.

From here forward, I'll be jumping between my Thailand and Brazil coverage until I wrap up Thailand. Let's do this!

One motorbike ride, one ferry, one shuttle, four flights over three different itineraries, and one cab ride. Fifty two and a half hours after I shut the door on the apartment I'd lived in for the past seven months in Thailand for the last time, I arrived in front of a new door: my hostel in São Paulo, Brazil.

It was my longest stretch of uninterrupted transit ever. No fun layovers, no leaving the airports. Just one big blur of boarding passes, security checks and baggage claims. It was worth it for the trip I'd waited a decade for.

Though I had six wild weeks in Brazil ahead, in that moment I was only focused on my first stop, the event that had launched this entire adventure: Tomorrowland Brazil.  I had strategically landed a few days before the festival in order to give myself time to recover from my long journey and adjust to a new timezone, and also to get settled and do a bit of last minute supply shopping.

São Paulo is the third or fourth most populated city in the world, depending on what ranking you read. Deciding which of the dozens of neighborhoods to stay in can be daunting, though my decision was made simple when I fell in love with the We Design Hostel, a mansion renovated into a hipster dream.

We Design Hostel is in Vila Mariana, a prosperous upper middle class neighborhood that borders Ibirapuera Park, widely regarded as the Central Park of São Paulo. I can't think of a more welcoming place to crash land after spending more than two days of your life in transit.

My sweet and simple room had a private balcony that was larger than my first Brooklyn apartment and left me longing for a yoga mat - I'd highly recommend they add some patio furniture to take advantage of the beautiful space. The bathroom was shared, which I didn't mind, and the mattress was absolutely to-die for - though to be fair, my standards were pretty low coming straight from the rock-like beds of Thailand.

In the morning We Design Hostel included a bitchin' breakfast buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon homemade cakes and fresh squeezed juices - one of the best I had in Brazil - to be enjoyed on a wraparound patio. A well-stocked kitchen was available to guests and as I was in deep hibernation mode I used it to make a few simple meals rather than go out and socialize.

Other amenities included a relatively busy bar, a tv room, a patio with a ping pong table, a work room with a huge conference-like table, and an English-speaking staff. As with every hostel I'd stay at throughout my time in the country, the guests were primarily Brazilian, though a large contingent - compared to the rest of the hostels I'd eventually stay at, at least - of international guests arrived the night before Tomorrowland.

My first foray out into the big bad world of Brazil was the afternoon after my very early morning arrival at the hostel, when my hunger demanded I go forage for food. Maybe it was the jetlag, maybe it was my slight unease in a completely new corner of the world, maybe it was the relentless warnings that had been drilled into me over how dangerous the country was, but despite considering myself a level-headed, experienced traveler, I mentally and physically prepared for a barrage of pickpockets and muggers as I set out for the market.

I literally grabbed nothing but an empty tote bag, my debit card tucked into my bra, and at the last minute, fearing getting lost, my cell phone hidden in my waistband.

I walked outside, steely-eyed, ready to face whatever desolate City of God-inspired hellscape awaited me… and found myself in pretty much the Park Slope of São Paulo. Trendy craft beer bars, hipsters walking purebred dogs, and moms with designer strollers chatting and snapping away on iPhones way nicer than the one I had hidden in my underwear. Once I stopped laughing at myself for my uncharacteristic paranoia, I realized that this wouldn't be the last time conventional wisdom about Brazil failed me.

Vila Mariana was laid back and charming, and I cursed not bringing my camera out as I snapped clever murals and adorable storefronts on my iPhone. Unfortunately it was a Monday, when the neighborhood is more or less closed for business, but I had a blast scouring exotic grocery stores and corner shops for supplies for the hostel kitchen.

My second day in São Paulo, I arranged for a tour that would give me a good overview of the city for subsequent visits. After all, my festival partner-in-crime Heather and I would spend a few days recovering there post-Tomorrowland, and I'd have to return to the city at least one more time again to catch my return flight the next month. It can be hard to wrap your head around such a sprawling, enormous city, and I knew just who to turn to for help.

Enter Dani Ruano, the brains behind Viator's Arts, Fashion and Architecture Trends Walking Tour of São Paulo, and the creative behind Instagram's @RealCoolSampa, an account I'd been following avidly in anticipation of this tour. As an artist and a marketing consultant that helps brands keep on the pulse of what's cool, I felt confident Dani would lead me to the best bars, shops, and urban art in the city.

I arrived early at Aro 27 Bike Café, our meeting point where customers can kick back with a gourmet coffee or tea, or shop for accessories and equipment for urban cycling.

We meandered our way through Pinheiros, stopping to peek in on a secret coding club Dani had recently discovered, a once-dilapidated public square revitalized by a cutting-edge architecture firm, and street art - so much street art!

We stopped for a fresh juice break at Pitico, an outdoor bar main a complex made wholly by shipping containers. Along the way we chatted about everything from Zika (“Why are Americans still talking about Zika?,” Dani wondered) to Instagram, from politics to the infamous São Paulo vs. Rio rivalry (“We are jealous of their beaches, they are jealous of our money,” Dani laughed.)

Our next stop was for a snack at Mercado Municipal de Pinheiros, a bustling market with fresh produce, meat and groceries on the ground floor and small cafes ringing the second level. We headed straight for Motocó Cafe, a casual spin-off of the wildly popular and oft-awarded Brazilian food restaurant Mocotó. We ordered the infamous tapioca squares - dadinhos de tapioca com queijo coalho - and I had my first taste of Guaranajá. What Irn Bru is to Scotland and Coca Cola is to America, Guaraná is to Brazil.

I was instantly obsessed with both and while I'd have many more Guaranás ahead throughout my time in Brazil, I never found another tapioca dish that compared to the one at Motocó Cafe. If you want to avoid the lines, high prices and inconvenient location of the original, head to this hidden gem instead!

We walked off our snack heading in the direction of Instituto Tomie Ohtake, a wildly unique piece of architecture housing a theater and rotation of art-filled galleries we quickly glanced through. I made note of dozens of bars and restaurants in the area that I hoped to return to for a longer look.

Slowly, we wound our way towards Vila Madalena (not to be confused with Vila Mariana), one of São Paulo's hippest neighborhoods and the one I'd be staying in upon my return. Every street seemed bursting with creativity, community and life. I was in love.

Along the way Dani pointed out boutiques and small fashion designers who focus on what she called “slow fashion” - sustainable materials, ethical manufacturing, and thoughtful design. Despite not being much of a shopper, I found Dani's explanations fascinating.

Finally, as the sun was setting, we made our way to the infamous Beco de Batman street art epicenter. As the light was low and casting strange shadows, I kept my camera in my bag and vowing to come back later for photos, simply enjoying strolling the street at a tourist-free moment and learning about the various artists and their work.

After popping into a few more galleries and shops, we hopped in a cab for the final stop of the evening - downtown. I have to admit that by this point my jetlag had gotten the better of me and I fell fast asleep in the cab. It would be my first taste of São Paulo's monstrous traffic, as to Dani's frustration we missed one of the tour stops - a Brazilian dance hall - while gridlocked at an intersection. Exhausted as I was, I didn't mind, and when I emerged from my nap we were downtown in Roosevelt Square, heart of the city's theater scene. There was a slight change in mood downtown in the dark and while I fully believed Dani's assurances that we were more than safe, I kept my camera tucked away and was grateful to be walking with a local rather than alone.

With one last stop at another boutique and a hidden trendy bar for celebratory drinks, we toasted to a fabulous day, and Dani presented me with a gift from the tour company - a beautiful reusable travel tote. Sweet! If you're heading to São Paulo, I cannot recommend this tour more highly. I felt like I got to see the city like a local, or a tourist lucky enough to be shown around by a hip friend.

Before I knew it, I was packing up for Tomorrowland. In my excitement over exploring a new country, I had made some very ambitious plans for the sixty-ish hours I was going to be in Vila Mariana in addition to the one tour I did make it to. We're talking yoga classes, runs in Ibirapuera Park, free walking tours, and all kinds of festival preparations.

Clearly, jetlag and travel fatigue had other plans and other than this tour and a few errands I barely left my hostel. But Vila Mariana was the perfect low-key 'hood for easing into Brazil, and my day with Dani was the perfect introduction to what to explore when I returned - which I couldn't wait to do!

Stay tuned for Tomorrowland!

 

I received a media discount for my stay at We Design Hostel and I am a member of the Viator Ambassador initiative and participated in this tour as part of that program.