A Travel Blog by Katie Chavez
I can’t say that I had heard of Les Saintes before I started my trip research on the French islands of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. Hell, I knew almost nothing about Guadeloupe at all, let alone that there was a secluded archipelago of mini volcanic islands, south of the main islands of Grand Terre and […] Read more…
I decided to go to Coron for different reasons than most. I don’t dive so it wasn’t for the ship wrecks that attract divers from all over the world. And it certainly wasn’t for its beaches as it really doesn’t have any to write home about. The main reason I ended up there was a […] Read more…
The word ‘paradise’ is bandied around a lot, I know. But sometimes there just isn’t a better way to describe a place that looks like, well, paradise, and Kalanggaman Island definitely fit the description of paradise for me. Uninhabited, tiny Kalanggaman Island is visited by day trip, from either Leyte or Malapascua Island off Cebu. With […] Read more…
The first time Malapascua Island in the Philippines popped up on my radar was when a British expat, who lived on the island and owned one of the dive shops, was murdered there. This didn’t stop me wanting to visit, but it could be one of the reasons why my time there felt clouded with […] Read more…
Maybe I would have felt differently about Koh Tao had I not been sick. But maybe not. Sairee beach on Koh Tao was the first place I stayed in Thailand that lived up to the bad stereotypes. It was overrun with young, drunk teenage backpackers, tourist bars blaring annoying pop music, rotten smelling streets that […] Read more…
I had heard good things about Koh Lanta. How it wasn’t full of tourists and that it wasn’t overly developed. That the locals were still friendly, not jaded like on some of the islands that have been engulfed by tourism. How it had a peaceful vibe, great food and beautiful scenery. It sounded like my […] Read more…
Turns out I was about 15-20 years too late to see the Thailand untouched by tourism. With a lot of beaches being overcrowded, dirty and developed to within an inch of their lives, I didn’t know if I would be able to find the beach paradise I was searching for. Luckily beach paradises do still […] Read more…
I always suspected that Kauai, known as the Garden Island, might end up being my favorite Hawaiian Island. It was a sneaking suspicion based solely on what others had to say about it. It was the greenest island. It has the most beautiful beaches. It is more laid back and less touristy than the other […] Read more…
Have you ever been somewhere, absolutely loved it, even considered maybe moving there one day, then returned a few years later and thought: meh. That’s how I felt about Victoria, Canada. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the city. There were even things I loved about it. I was just underwhelmed on the whole […] Read more…
The first time I visited Denman Island I knew within days that it was special. Like with people, some places you just click with straight away and Denman Island was one of those places for me. It is one of my favourite places in the world, along with nearby Vancouver, and somewhere that I left […] Read more…