Backpacking Thailand: Khao Lak, Similan Islands & Elephant Adventures
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- Опубликовано: 1 янв 2025
- Join us on an unforgettable backpacking adventure through Thailand as we explore some of the country’s most stunning destinations! In this video, we’ll take you through Khao Lak, a peaceful coastal town, before heading out to the Similan Islands, one of Thailands most stunning National Parks.
We'll also get up close with Thailand’s incredible wildlife-come along as we interact with majestic elephants and witness their gentle nature up close. From crystal-clear waters and vibrant coral reefs to unforgettable turtle encounters, this journey has it all!
Whether you’re dreaming of early retirement in paradise or planning your next adventure, Thailand is the perfect destination. If you’re into backpacking, wildlife, and breathtaking landscapes, this video is for you!
We are Richard and Jackie and we live in the UK. We retired from teaching at the age of 51 in the summer of 2022. Our plans for early requirement include relocating to the Yorkshire Dales, developing our forever home and travelling the UK, Europe and eventually the world in our VW campervan Nelson.
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Many thanks,
Richard & Jackie
You two looked really happy and the tours looked amazing. Happy Holidays!
Thanks Tina, the trips were amazing especially to the Similan islands swimming with the turtles. Its also good to be home now for Christmas with the family 😊
Another very good video guys. Those beaches are amazing. The snorkelling looked fantastic especially getting to see that turtle up close and personal. The Marriott Resort looked beautiful so you were quite right to take some timeout from filming. Keep safe. Irvine & Karen.
If only we could get up so close to the sea turtles in Florida (or the manatees) The Marriott was superb - a real treat for us. We were going to do a hotel review and more filming but decided it was too special to waste time rather making the most of everything they had to offer! Bet its lovely and warm for you in Florida right now x
Beautiful..thankyou for sharing ❤
Thanks for watching! 😊🏝️
Thanks for another cracking video. What an amazing location and trips out. A friend of mine and his wife have just returned from Thailand and they really enjoyed it. Good luck for your next destination.
Thanks Graham - Glad you enjoyed it. This was one of our favourite areas that we stayed in.We have enjoyed Thailand a lot more than we expected to - it is a very beautiful country and very different to the Yorkshire Dales!
Just returned from 2 weeks at the JW Marriott and wow it was fabulous! We did Similan as well, looking forward to your Koh Phi Phi vlog.
Wow 2 weeks would have been fantastic - how brilliant is that breakfast hall!! It felt like such a treat for us, although I have to say the Phukaolak hotel was also pretty amazing just down the road. Sadly Koh Phi Phi was a little bit of a disappointment for many reasons but the main 2 being the awful weather we had and Richard having man flu for a couple of days! Thanks for watching x
I’ve been following you for about a year now. I love your philosophy on life. I’m 51 now and I don’t want to retire yet as my job is a source of happiness in my life but your intentional way of living is helpful to any circumstance I have also just spent the past day fully planning 2025 so I have taken good, regular times off work ! Enjoy the rest of your travels in Thailand
Same here. I’m 58 I love my job snd would feel a bit lost if I wasn’t working even with how much else I could do instead
Thank you - we are just starting to think about our travel plans and goals for next year - it’s nice to have some direction especially now we are retired. Are your travel plans in a van?
It’s great that you are enjoying working - we both loved our teaching jobs. We were not aiming to retire until 55, but circumstances in 2021 changed our view of life. We have realised what’s most important is just being happy and doing what you love 😊
Have a great 2025 with all you plans x
You are absolutely not alone Lucy - we talk with a lot of people for who work gives them a real sense of purpose, happiness and social interaction being part of a community which is one of the things we do miss sometimes x
Great memories guys. Thank you for taking us on your journey.
cheers Alan - this was one of our favourite areas that we stayed at and the swimming with the sea turtle was just magical 😊
Oh wow, I would have loved the elephants.
It was such a magical afternoon 🐘 I loved the older elephant - Sandi and the young calf was adorable 🥰
Great video and good to have you back (online and home !)
Thank you 😊 it’s good to be home 🏡
What a great video! Thanks again for taking us along. It's almost like we are there with you . . . until we look outside at the snow. 😁
Glad you enjoyed it - we have really enjoyed our Thai travels with a bit of early winter sun! We are now back in the Yorkshire Dales where we wish for snow instead of rain 🤣
It's a diver thing but Jackie they are fins..... flipper is a dolphin 😅 Looked amazing the snorkeling and beaches. Very special when a turtle checks you out ❤
I can't swim with either flippers or fins 🤣🤣 Swimming with the turtle has been the highlight of my year ❤️
Wow, such stunning scenery and what a wonderful hotel resort ☀️
It felt like pure luxury for 48 hours 😊 Kkao Lak was a great base to stay for a week and explore x
Wow, amazing, I would be very happy staying at the Marriott ❤. Your trips looked fantastic, swimming with the beautiful and gracious turtle, what a memory. You must've been exhausted having had such an exhilarating time. Well done for stepping out of your comfort zone. Thanks so much for sharing ❤❤xx
As you could probably tell, we loved the Marriott - obviously we don't normally stay in hotels when in Europe as we have the van - so this felt like such an indulgence and a treat which made it even more special! I am so glad we went for the Thailand trip - it has at times put me out of my comfort zone, especially when we were moving around every few days to different towns so we slowed down in the second half of the trip. It just means we will have to keep going back to do all the things we wanted to do 😊
What a great video thanks
Thanks - we really liked Khao Lak - it was a great base to explore from 🏝️
Lovely. So where next?
We had a bit of a safari with a couple of days on Koh Phi Phi, then Krabi and our last island was Koh Tao which we absolutely loved!
Great video. Thanks😊
Thank you ☺️
Another fabulous blog, this is the best one yet ! The turtle swimming alongside you was priceless. Snorkelling is something we are both wanting to do and thinking of getting an underwater camera now ! Lots of ideas for us , I’ll be writing it all down ,our departure date is only 3 weeks away now. You both look amazing by the way . Looking forward to the next episode.😊
Hope you’re jet leg isn’t too bad .
I have never snorkelled before - it was fantastic. We did a couple of snorkel trips 🐟🐠🐡 we use a DJI action3 camera which is cheaper than the go pro and have captured some great footage. How exciting - it will fly by with Christmas in the middle! Have a great trip x
We have just about got back into a routine after a week. Struggled to stay awake past 9 but sleeping through until about 5am so a good amount of sleep 😴
@ thank you . I’ll have a look at that one . Yes flying by especially as we are
Working right up to 6 th January . ( entertainers )
High-end resort here prices even lower than an ordinary hotel in the west 😅 James Bond island is on my list, someone said, it would fall down soon, I must be there before 😄
It felt like such a luxurious treat but as you say - cheaper or equivalent to most hotels in the US and the UK. The James Bond island trip was great but very busy - we liked the kayaking in the mangroves and the stop over on Panyee island as well
Great vid as always guys 😀.I was starting to worry you had been kidnapped 😬.😂🇬🇧❤
Thank you - luckily not kidnapped - Richards laptop died completely so we couldn’t edit 🤣 all fixed now 😊
Great video, thanks for sharing! I don't think you've ever mentioned having any concerns with the language. Do you use Google translate or......?
For most parts we had no issues with the language at all - a couple of times the hotel staff used their phones with google translate if we asked anything out of the ordinary and a lot of the mini van and taxi drivers didn't speak much English but they had all the information they needed from the online booking so it wasn't an issue.
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Thanks! I assume you are back in the Dales now, getting ready for the Holidays. So, I hope that the both of you have a wonderful Christmas Season with friends & family!
How is your packed clothing working out- anything you feel you needed or anything superfluous
to requirements?
As I knew when I was packing - I had too many pairs of shoes 🤣 I wore my flip flops that have a strap at the back, my converse around the cities as they are comfortable and my Birkenstocks - I never wore my trainers as we didn't do any hiking. Apart from that we carried around our warm travelling clothes for 6 weeks (jeans and sweatshirts for the aeroplane) which was a pain but much needed on our return home. I took my handbag that I never used as I used a bumbag all the time. We chucked out a lot of our T shirts and tops on the way home as they were trashed after 6 weeks on the road!
@ it’s a constant learning curve for me too- every trip I think I’ve nailed it…. but context matters each time. This trip I’ve carried unnecessary stuff thinking I needed cool hot weather dresses…. I didn’t.