Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

One of the hardest aspects of living abroad is having to deal with the inevitable feeling of loneliness. It's hard to be far away from home during the holidays or important events. I'm really close with my family so I definitely feel very homesick at times.

When I was living in China, I was lucky enough to make some good friends to celebrate Christmas with. I was really grateful to go on a trip with a few of my good pals. It was my first Christmas away from home.

Thailand was also one of the first trips that I ever took in China. I've now reached a point where I'm extremely comfortable traveling and being by myself.

At the time, I was working at the Kindergarten in China. The school gave us 3 days off of work so we had a total of 5 days off to travel.

I flew with a few other teachers on a flight leaving at about 3 in the morning and arriving in Thailand around 5:30 in the morning. We decided to go to Koh Phi Phi island as a group because we wanted beautiful beaches and a distraction from being so far from home during the holidays.

We landed in Krabi just in time to watch the sunrise. I had gotten very little sleep, but I was really excited and full of nervous energy.

Since we were there so early, we had to wait around for about an hour for the first ferry to leave for Koh Phi Phi. We napped on the grass and waited.

After the ferry, I went and checked into my hotel and took a power nap for a few hours.

The beaches of Koh Phi Phi are beautiful. The water is an unreal blue color and the rock formations are incredible. It's a small island and there's not a lot to do besides shop, drink and lie around on the beach.

After my nap, I spent some time walking around the island and napping some more in the sand. You can see from my picture that I was pretty exhausted.

One of the signature sights of Thailand in general and Koh Phi Phi in particular are the beautiful longboats. If you get the chance to visit Koh Phi Phi then you will love how convenient it is to take boats to some of the beaches further away from all the crowds.

After I walked around for a bit, I met up with some of my other travel buddies where they were sitting at a rooftop bar.

After having a few there, we decided to go check out a Muay Thai fight bar. I'm way too much of a baby to really enjoy fights, but it was fun to watch and it's mostly staged anyway so there's not really much risk of anyone actually getting hurt.

I was pretty exhausted after the long day of travel so I headed back to my hotel really early and slept like a rock.

The next morning I had a super healthy breakfast of chocolate banana crepes and thai iced tea. Then we all set out for a snorkling tour.

One of Koh Phi Phi's big claims to fame is that it was the filming location for some of the most beautiful scenes in the movie, "The Beach," with Leonard Di'Caprio.

Before I went on the trip, I read the book and watched the movie in preparation. The people that I was traveling with had specifically chosen Koh Phi Phi island because they wanted to see Maya Beach from the movie. They had grown up watching the movie and dreaming of traveling and seeking out the best beach in the world. Finding the most beautiful place in the world.

At the time that I was traveling in Thailand, I hadn't explored enough of the world on my own to really call myself a traveler. This was at the beginning of my journey and I was naive and foolish. I was scared of everything still. Now that I've seen a lot more of the world, I connect a lot more with the story of "The Beach." Like the main character, I have tried to steer off the beaten path. I have tried to find the places that nobody has ever heard of and do the things that nobody has done. But, also like the traveler in the book and movie, not everything has gone according to plan.

Maya Beach is definitely no longer a secret beach. Everyone knows about it. Everyone goes to it. Koh Phi Phi is overrun with tourists, but it's still amazing.

Despite the big crowds of people, the water is still crystal clear.

After the snorkling trip, I was tired from being out in the sun so I went for another nap in my hotel room. It was a big trip for naps.

That night, we went out for drinks on the beach. We spent most of the night in front of the Slinky bar. This section is popular because it has a lot of live performers and dancers.

The following day was Christmas, we all met up for a gift exchange and meal at one of the restaurants. We were a huge group so it was definitely a big challenge to find a place that we could all meet up.

Me and a few others then rented a kayak and went out further into the water to watch the sunset.