
Over Christmas we visited Phuket, Thailand. I told Brad as we planned the vacation that I really wanted a relaxing vacation. We'd been exploring all year, and I really wanted to just enjoy the beach together.

We've done a few beach trips, Bali and Kanazawa (Japan), but both were a bit hectic. Really fun, but definitely not the relaxing beach vacation I had in mind.

Brad, our family vacation planner, promised to deliver... and he definitely did just that.

Thailand was perfect! Brad found a fantastic airbnb at the south end of Phuket. He did a LOT of research because our airbnb experience in Bali was... less than awesome. Don't get me wrong, we've had plenty of great experiences with airbnb, but the accommodations in Bali were not good.

He found a beautiful private villa with great reviews and a very responsive, professional host. He had the host arrange for a chef to come to the house for most of our meals for a reasonable price.

This villa had access to a secluded beach, very quiet and safe. We'd go play on the beach every afternoon and come back and wash up just in time for dinner downstairs.

It was perfection. Just what I'd always dreamed of. I will remember this trip forever.

I still can't believe we had the opportunity to do this. It was absolutely worth the price.

Brad was kind enough to take some pictures of me with the kids because he knows I'm usually not in the frame. I really appreciated that. I'll treasure this for a long time--I actually have evidence that I was there!

A huge part of our reason for going to Thailand over Christmas was so that we could meet up with my parents. They are big travelers, and they've already done Japan--in 2016--so they said they'd meet us anywhere and we all thought Thailand sounded perfect.

We got to visit The Big Buddha, which was really cool. I loved the windy drive up the hills to get there and the sweeping views of the island from the top.

The kids wrote their names on tiles, a small way for us to contribute to the place, along with buying a little trinket for our Christmas tree, which we like to do at every temple or religious site we visit.

I really love that my kids have the opportunity to see different religions, cultures, and perspectives when we travel, because I feel it helps them to be open minded and curious.

We ate vegan food there at The Big Buddha, which they advertise as free with options to donate. It reminded me of the delicious vegan food at the temples in Seoul--so tasty and so healthy. And some of it unbearably spicy!

Back at the villa, we had lots of rest time throughout the week. It was just so nice to sit around and read and let the kids play while watching the boats go back and forth across the water, listening to the sound of the wind and waves and birds. Just heavenly.

Oh yeah, and Christmas! Christmas morning, we were all recovering from long flights (but especially my parents, who got to the villa around 1am after like 32 hours of travel or something horrendous), so we took it easy. We only brought the stockings, and exchanged a few small gifts and just relaxed. It was perfect.

Part 2 coming up...