It’s that time of the year when you look back and count your blessings and we certainly have a lot to be thankful for this year – from travels and adventures to friendships and new beginnings. It’s only fair to be wrapping up 2015 in style.
2015 has indeed been a great year and that includes some of the misfortunes as well because nothing is ever perfect – and why should it be? That’s not how life is.
Now that 2015 is coming to end, we’d like to share with you all (and for us to reminisce) some of the great and not-so-great things that have happened.
Friendships
We’ve made some amazing friends over the year, both in Thailand and abroad. To old and new! Some we met at events while some through social media. Some of them we have yet to meet and some of whom we keep on meeting. We’re definitely most thankful for them and their unrelenting support.
Hot Sauce networking party
Kolour in the Park concert
We’ve also lost some friends, either through a falling out or just haven’t kept in touch as much.
We started Dose of Life
This is one of the biggest thing we have to be grateful for. After months of debating, going back and forth, we finally launched this website in October. We’re very happy we did it and it’s been a slow start but hopefully in 2016, things will pick up.
In addition to the blog and the social media channels, we also recently started our weekly vlog series called ‘Life Through Our Lens‘ on YouTube that shows more than just our travels but a look into our daily lifestyle as well. Be sure to check that out. Thanks 🙂
Travel & Adventures
It’s not like we haven’t traveled before but this is the first year that we’ve done it with a purpose. We started Dose of Life partially because of it. It is after all, a lifestyle blog, not just travel.
in 2015, we’ve visited 3 international countries, 6 domestic destinations and explored dozens of hidden gems within Bangkok. Also check out our Facebook album – Rediscovering Thailand.
Countries Visited: South Africa, Seychelles & one night in Kenya
View from Victoria, Mahe Island, Seychelles
Pilanesberg game drive, South Africa
SunCity, South Africa
Thailand Destinations
- Koh Samet
- Exploring Kanchanaburi & Ayuttaya
- Pattaya
- Snorkelling in Koh Tao
- Chiang Mai (upcoming trip)
Climbing up to this awesome viewpoint at Koh Nang Yuan
Misadventures
Since we are so new to travel blogging, we realized how wrong we did things this year. For example – packing heavy and not smartly when we went to Africa. It was a big hassle lugging two large suitcases plus a backpack plus a huge duffle bag (since our luggage was overweight) around was the stupidest thing we ever did. I’m surprised the airlines even let us carry that onboard.
Wrong turns and ineffective planning have also led to some regrets have also been part of the journey. Few that come to mind are not staying in Kenya for longer, not seeing more of South Africa more and not learning to ride a bike so that we could explore Koh Tao.
Luckily we’ve learned from all that and hope to improve on our adventures in the future.
Work has come our way
Some good amount of work has come our way and it goes to show that if you do what you love, with passion, good things do come your way.
We attended the Travel Massive kickoff party for TBEX with no expectation but to meet some cool travel bloggers, which we did, but we also came across some startups who were looking for content writers and bloggers. We were lucky enough to get some work through them.
Some great collaborations/guest posts have also been done as well where we shared our experiences and inputs. You can see some of those posts here:
- 7 of the hottest travel destinations for 2016 by What Doesn’t Suck
- Travel Bloggers Reveal: Best Trips 2015 & Top Destinations 2016 by Big World Small Pockets
- Around the world in 13 epic road trips by Lizzie Meets the World
What’s next for 2016?
We don’t want to give away too much, because quite honestly, we haven’t really planned it out and don’t want to jinx it but Northern Europe to chase the northern lights is on top of the list. Exploring our neighbouring countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are also a must-do.
Let’s see what else we can make some time and money for.
Well, enough about us, what about you? How has 2015 faired and what’s next?
Love you guys!
Love you too Sneha!