Luxury, Laughter & Long-Lost Friends

This week, we’re celebrating Andrew’s 30th in serious style — five-star resort, ocean views, and the kind of robes that make you feel like you’ve got your life together. But the real surprise comes early — way too early — when there’s a knock on the door at 7 a.m. claiming to be housekeeping. In what world does housekeeping come that early? Turns out, it’s not room service — it’s Hannah, Andrew’s childhood friend, showing up after nine years with the best kind of surprise.

From there, the week becomes a blur of sun, stories, and a cooking class that promises “a culinary journey” but somehow leaves us hungrier than when we arrived. Between the empty plates and endless laughs, we spend most of the time rediscovering old friendships, finding humour in everything, and realising that sometimes the best trips are the ones where nothing really goes to plan.

Join us for an episode full of luxury, laughter, and long-lost friends.

We threw away the map and handed the compass to Divina. Hit subscribe to join us for the kind of rewards that only truly exceptional decisions deliver.

We traded the serenity of Ninh Bình's water ways for the subterranean magic of Phong Nha.

This week, Divina sends us deep into the Vietnamese jungle to Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park. This episode is all about the joy of getting truly remote, which, it turns out, is also the joy of getting up close and personal with nature’s most enthusiastic bugs.

We tackle the magnificent caves, which were vast and alien, it genuinely felt like exploring another planet. We were surprised by the lack of tourists in the area, giving us that sweet, satisfying feeling of being off the beaten path.

However, the real adventure was back at our guesthouse, where the dining experience included an unsettling number of resident animals that made tit feel less like a restaurant and more like a surprise petting zoo.

Join us as we brave the subterranean wonders and the extra-terrestrial weirdness, proving that travelling based on gut feeling always provides the greatest rewards.

We threw away the map and handed the compass to Divina. Hit subscribe to experience the wild, unpredictable rewards of life far from the familiar—and the fly swatter.

Trading mountains for the miraculous.

Recharged in Sa Pa, it was time for Divina to move us south. This week, we tackle the overnight train to Ninh Bình, and it was exactly the kind of travel irony we’ve come to expect. We paid for the comfort of a luxury sleeping car, only to receive the complementary, very unwelcome extras of incredibly loud rattling and seismic bumps all night long.

The journey was rough, but the destination was pure hypnosis. Arriving in Ninh Bình, we were immediately calmed by a landscape unlike any other in Vietnam. We explore the serene waterways filled with slow-moving rowing boats, the towering limestone cliffs that seem to rise straight out of the rice fields, and the beautiful, quiet power of the ancient temples we found. A perfect place for a prayer of thanks—or maybe just a plea for a quieter onwards journey.

Join us as we witness the rewards of endurance, and find out why this place is often called "Ha Long Bay on land."

We threw away the map and handed the compass to Divina. Hit subscribe to join us for the kind of rewards that only truly exceptional decisions deliver.