The Definite Top 5 Olle Trails: Hiking on Jeju Island

Jeju Olle Trails have been the highlight of my last two years. With international travel being limited, I looked inwards to get my travel fix and was not disappointed. The Olle Trails quickly became hands down my favorite thing to do in Korea. Now having finished all 26 trails, I can finally compare them to each other and tell you which are the best. I’ll try to say enough to get you interested but not give away too much. And of course, this is just my opinion, and yours may differ. 

#5 – Olle Trail 2

Olle Trail 2 is really the one that set the tone to what I love about the Jeju Olle. You start in Gwangchigi Beach, one of the most crowded spots in all of Jeju. 10 minutes into your hike and you’re in an abandoned fish farm without a soul in sight. The calm lake reflects like a perfect mirror which leads to stunning pictures. There are plenty of surprises from view points to nice villages along the way. Make sure not to miss the fantastic Vietnamese restaurant “Tot Tot” at the end.

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Maldives Travel – The Local Islands of Mahibadhoo, Dhangethi, and Dhigurah

If you’ve read my previous article explaining the differences between Maldives travel in resorts vs local islands and decided to visit the “local island way,” you’ve come to the right place. You will find that there are many benefits in choosing an alternative to resorts and there are dozens of islands to choose from. For starters, there’s a cool map I got at the airport (ask in the information booth) with diving spots, manta points, and whale shark points all over the Maldives. Here is a zoomed in version of the Ari Atoll.
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Maldives Travel – Resorts vs Local Islands

(Note – Just a heads up, there is link to a downloadable google docs spreadsheet at the bottom of this post with a full financial report of this trip!)

Background

The Maldives is a country of 1200 islands, 200 of which are inhabited. But what to do with the nearly 1000 islands with absolutely gorgeous beaches? The Maldivian government decided to kill two birds with one stone Read more

The Coromandel Peninsula, The Kiwi Way

If there is one thing I have learned from living in New Zealand the last four months, is that nothing comes cheaply in this part of the world. Between $6 per gallon of gas and $3 for a 20 oz. bottle of coke, you really have to budget wisely if you want to ‘see it all.’ Kiwis are a resourceful bunch and use a brilliant system of bartering and connections to get things done. In a large country with only 4 million people, there is a plethora of small towns and with that, comes that small town mentality where everyone knows and tries to help everyone else out.

Coromandel Peninsula Read more