Search results for: thailand

On a Normal Life

Water is cascading down from the ceramic-tiled roof of my apartment. Under the gray summer sky, even the terracotta orange of the tiles are muted. And the rain, with its plump droplets and thunking onto the sand-colored stones below my window, has a whirr about it. A gentle humming that hums along with my heart.Continue reading “On a Normal Life”

Finding Serenity at Sarinbuana Eco Lodge

Calm. The moment I arrive to Sarinbuana Eco Lodge and walk down the narrow path surrounded by lush jungle vegetation, a good two hours from crowded roads, I feel it. It’s everywhere as I walk towards the main part of the grounds, in the soaked pathway, in the droplets clinging to the leaves, in theContinue reading “Finding Serenity at Sarinbuana Eco Lodge”

Away Chiang Mai Thapae Resort

  There’s a calm as soon as you walk through the white archway of Away Chiang Mai Thapae Resort. Off of the party street (and feeling an entire world away) sits the new vegetarian resort. For me, after spending two weeks living off of a bustling road, the resort tucked into a quiet, winding soi is aContinue reading “Away Chiang Mai Thapae Resort”

Two Years of Home

December 15, 2015. I remind myself regularly of this date. When I’m up at night, my brain whirrs as I count the days, weeks, months and now years since I turned my back on expat life. It seems like no time has passed at all, and yet all the time in the world has passed. DecemberContinue reading “Two Years of Home”

There You Were, All Along

I stare out the window of my United flight, the last (and biggest) Super Moon of 2017 is suspended in the early morning light, surrounded in a pastel cloudscape of oranges and pinks and purples. Below, Belgium stirs. Vaulted roofs, green pastures, tiny winding roads witness to only a few cars play out below meContinue reading “There You Were, All Along”

Beach Bliss and Villa Mercedes in Puerto Vallarta

The humid air hits me on the jetway, causing a smile to remain plastered to my face from immigration to crossing the street outside of the airport to get a taxi (hint: it’s cheaper if you grab a cab off airport property). I hop in the front seat of my taxi and produce the addressContinue reading “Beach Bliss and Villa Mercedes in Puerto Vallarta”

Seven Years After Solo Travel

“I hope you find what you’re looking for,” the ticket agent said to me before we hung up the phone on that winter night in Atlanta in 2010. Pure joy shot through my veins after we disconnected. Sitting in my apartment in the 100-year-old house, listening to the cars pass my house on their wayContinue reading “Seven Years After Solo Travel”

True Story: I’m a Recovering Expat

Editor’s Note: This should have been published on Dec. 15, 2016. I was hella sick so never published it on the actual one-year anniversary of surrendering my status as an expatriate. Better late than never, right? Hi. My name is Diana. I used to be an expat. For almost four years, it was how IContinue reading “True Story: I’m a Recovering Expat”