Reason #11 we should go to Thailand: We've never been there

In an earlier post about culture shock, I recounted my feelings on my first trip overseas to Paris. While I had a wonderful time on my second vacation to the city four years later, nothing would compare to the excitement of my first visit. I did not know what to expect and was amazed with everything, even the most mundane cafe, bakery, or shop. There is something wonderful about experiencing a place in person that you've only known through pictures and stories of others. Being able to see Paris for myself and to draw my own conclusions about the city was just as amazing as finally seeing Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower in person.

Two years later, I traveled to Costa Rica with my high school Spanish club for a different set of firsts. This was my first visit to the tropics, and I enjoyed all of the remarkable scenery, as I hiked through a rainforest for the first time, swam at the base of a waterfall, toured a coffee plantation, and saw an active volcano. I saw a thousand pictures of the area before I visited, but nothing compared to the feeling of flying through the trees on a zip line, or waking in the early morning to bird calls. I even found the insects amazing, which were five times the size of the ones back home!

I expect to have the same kind of feeling when I visit Thailand for the first time. Neither of us have been to southeast Asia, and if we're chosen to visit Chiang Mai, our YouTube subscribers and Twitter followers will be able to see our first impressions of the area and the country as a whole. We think these first encounters are among the most important for other first-time visitors to Thailand or to Chiang Mai. That's who we'll be talking to in our vlogs and tweets; the people who've never been to Thailand, but watching us as first-timers will want to go.

While we're out to discover Thailand right along with our audience, some other teams act as if Thailand is nothing new. They've been there numerous times, and they hope to trade on their knowledge of all the "inside places" and "hottest secrets" for your views and votes. To be honest, I'm not sure a seasoned, yet jaded traveler can show you Chiang Mai with the same sort of pure unadulterated wonderment we will.

Since we have traveled to so many different places and lived in different countries, we know how easy it is to accept what were previously foreign customs as second nature. We might not first consider etiquette to remember when visiting someone's home in Spain or Japan, but in Thailand, we'll be hyper-aware of these important details and ready to share them with fellow travelers. We can't wait to explore Chiang Mai for the first time and to document the excitement of our first impressions.