Preparations for Thailand: tips for new travelers

Hey guys, back again with some Thailand tips and tricks to optimize your experience in this magical place! So, first and foremost, do your research. You must be somewhat aware of the place your traveling to, so a little research doesn't hurt. I looked up things like weather for the time of year I was going, the area of the hotel I was staying at and the local spots near by that was walking distance. I wanted to know a little history of the country and the culture and what is acceptable and not acceptable when going to a new place. I wanted to respect the home of the people who live there as much as possible. I wanted to know if I went to a restaurant what's an acceptable tip? Or if I travel to a temple as woman what do I wear? Do I need to cover my shoulders or my head? Do I need to remove my shoes? What is transportation like and is it simple to find? I also learned a couple of words like please and thank you, that way I could communicate with the locals there and let them know I am grateful for their generous hospitality I wanted to be knowledgable while I prepared for my trip.

Packing my bags: pack light and easy clothing!!! I was traveling for nearly 3 weeks so I needed a substantial amount of items. Getting all these into one suitcase was a trial and error type of process. HUGE TIP: get vacuum sealed bags and prep a days worth of clothes and label them. You can find them on Amazon and they aren't expensive. In one bag I packed: under garments, socks, a pair of pants, and a top. I repeated this process for almost 3 weeks worth of pre planned outfits in these bags and it worked like a CHARM. Also, it cut down my getting ready time by a significant amount. I spent so much less time getting ready and so much more time outside my hotel exploring. I will do this now for every trip I go on whether its a 5 day or 25 day trip.

So I live in New Jersey, It took about 20 hours in total to take off from JFK to land in Bangkok. Jet lag was intense the first day. I never knew what time it was, what day it was, and was tired at random hours of the day. A big thing I did if I needed to close my eyes for a quick cat nap, I did it. I know some people suggest fighting the jet lag but that wasn't working for me. We took some long bus rides to travel to different parts of the country so I used some of these opportunities to take a quick nap but never let myself sleep for hours upon hours. I always set an alarm, drank lots of water (and caffeine don't let me kid you) and kinda just naturally adjusted. Your body and internal clock will adjust but I kinda just listened to what my body needed in every moment and let it take its natural course.