27. June 2025
Location: Azores (Portugal), and Slovenia
Summer has officially begun.
Mansa left to Azores today – her trip is 10 days long, and she will have 3 such trips throughout July. Matt is in Slovenia with numerous projects around the house – some renovation, some doggy sitting (yes, family business is a dog hotel :D), some more painting and refreshing the looks of the house.
We planned some nice trips throughout the summer. Mansa stays at home only for 4 days each time, so days have to be planned ahead to make sure we still enjoy summer to the fullest. We’ll enjoy a brunch on lake Bled, hike a lot, visit beautiful spots around Slovenia. Stay tuned for some ideas!
20. June 2025
Location: Slovenia
Matt is still occupied with house renovation – who knew painting a humid basement would be such an extensive project. He also bought himself a 3-month climbing gym pass and he’s really excited about being back on the wall. Meanwhile Mansa has been preparing to spend most of July in Azores, which means packing the necessary gear and preparing social media content in advance.
The temperatures are constantly around 30°C, so having a pool really comes in handy when one needs to cool off to stop our brain from overheating.
One morning we headed off to our beautiful mountains. The mountain trails in Slovenia are so vast and diverse, that you can easily spend the whole day just observing the nature and the magnitude of the mountain ranges surrounding you. We both really needed a day in the mountains, just to clear our heads. We liked it so much that we’re already making plans for multi-day hikes in August, whilst staying overnight in mountain huts.
13. June 2025
Location: Kranj, Slovenia
Life is happening so fast.
We have successfully completed our first group trip to Ireland! A group of 9 guests joined us two guides and we visited everything from Dublin to Galway, Connemara, Wild Atlantic Way with Cliffs, Doolin and Dingle, the Ring of Kerry and Gap of Dunloe, cute Cobh and charming Kilkenny. We enjoyed pints of beer, fresh local food (did you know Ireland’s cuisine is so delicious?), local whiskey and beautiful views beyond the wildest imagination.
Ireland was a real treat.
Mansa has been working on new trips now, and Matt is helping with house renovation. November’s New Zealand has already been posted (a trip is almost guaranteed!), and January’s Thailand will also be online by the end of the month, Ireland next year, and soon Japan.
8. May 2025
Location: Koh Tao, Thailand, and Japan
Life is just flying by!
Matt stayed on Koh Tao, Thailand, and had a few courses, since we last posted. He had some fun dives, a few ReActivates and certified his first Open Water Diver student. Another 40 dives done in merely 2 weeks – talk about eat, sleep, dive, repeat! Saying goodbye to new friends wasn’t easy, but we’re going home now – another chapter finished in a Book of Life.
Mansa had a very successful tour in Japan (join us in 2026!) in the meantime. They visited Tokyo and the famous Shibuya, never-resting Shinjuku, charming Senso-ji and its bustling market, sky-high SkyTree, tuna auction market Toyosu, and even went to Tokyo Disneyland! Then came Kyoto and its beautiful bamboo forest Arashiyama, zen garden of Kinkaku-ji, oldtown Gion, Nara park and its large population of wild deer, a temple of thousand torii Fushimi Inari Taisha… Osaka offered EXPO 2025 and lively Shinsaibashi street, and Hiroshima served as a reminder to humanity about atomic weapons use. Japan offers such variety of experiences that Mansa can’t wait to be back in October 2025!
24. April 2025
Location: Koh Tao, Thailand
What a ride it has been…
Our diving Instructor Development Course has started and on all of sudden time had to be managed immaculately. We had training exams in physics, standards, physiology, equipment, rules, diving calculations, environment and our planet, then knowledge presentations, open and confined water presentations. At the same time you don’t want to miss a day of diving because underwater somehow became more relaxing than anything above the water. Managing 3 successful Instagram pages in between and lastly working on new projects and preparing for my (Mansa’s) upcoming tour to Japan.
A true rollercoaster.
But we made it. Yesterday we were proudly called diving Instructors for the first time and we expect it to open a whole new series of doors – whether that be professional or just for fun.
Today is Mansa’s last day on Koh Tao. Matt is staying 2 weeks longer, but Mansa has a group trip to Japan. She’s flying to Tokyo (Japan), but then returns to Bangkok (Thailand) and we both fly home at the same time. It will definitely be hard to say goodbye to all new friends we made here, but that’s just one of the cons why traveling can hurt – you meet a whole bunch of incredible people from around the world, who then you may never meet again in your life. But they surely made your time awesome!
7. April 2025
Location: Koh Tao, Thailand
We logged over 100 dives! What an adventure it has been so far.
We have officially started our Instructor Development Course. 2 weeks of classes and training, 2 days of Examination and we’ll officially be Diving Instructors!
We have had some incredible days in the past week. Sun, palm trees gently swaying in summer breeze, frangipanis and bougainvilleas started blooming so everything smells flowery and a touch of pink is added to otherwise green island scenery.
Whenever we have a morning off (and only meet for studies in the afternoon) Mansa takes time for a relaxing session of morning yoga on our balcony, followed by a slow breakfast with insane view over Tanote Bay.
When we dive into studies we learn about pressure, volumes, gases, effects on human body, physiology and physics, loads of equipment and how it works and crazy math behind RDP tables.
Fun. 😀
27. March 2025
Location: Koh Tao, Thailand
It was a nice week.
We’re nearing 100 dives on this island and yesterday was the first time we went to Southwest Pinnacle. An incredible diving site with thousands of fish, insane amount of anemone coral and surprising depth as well. The next day we had a morning off and we jumped to the nearest beach – and there were dozens of baby sharks right in the shallows!
Such an abundant life!
We haven’t officially started the Instructor Development Course in diving yet, but we’re already preparing for it. There’s a crazy amount of material to get through, so we’re glad we started early.
20. March 2025
Location: Kawthaung, Myanmar
We went on a “visa run”.
What does that mean? Thailand allows tourists 60 days of holiday without a visa (payment) upon entry into the country. After 60 days you have to leave the country or extend your tourist status for 30 days (this costs approx. €30). If you extend for 30 days, then you also have to leave the country at the end of that period – and you can only extend once.
We are staying in Thailand longer than that, so we decided that after the 60 free days we would leave the country for one day, cross the border of another country and get a stamp in our passport (in this case Myanmar), and then go back to Koh Tao, Thailand.
Such trips are no secret and not unusual in Thailand – it’s all done under the auspices of a ‘travel agency’. Slovenians do need a visa for Myanmar, which costs about 50$, but there is a grey area here too – a day trip is actually considered a trip and you only pay 10$ to “visit” Myanmar. The agency organises all the transport, you just turn up and give your passport. The whole venture costs about 4500 THB (about 135€) per person.
An interesting experience!
14. March 2025
Location: Koh Tao, Thailand
Time flies so fast! We’ve been in Thailand now for 2 months. We first had a group trip around Thailand, and then Matt and me moved to Koh Tao.
We’re doing visa run tomorrow, which means we will leave the country for 1 day, cross the border with Myanmar and then return back to our little paradise.
We still dive every day. Our Diving Instructor course doesn’t start until April, but we’re very involved in training already. Our course director Burak is very strict with all rules and how-to’s and that’s actually a fantastic thing – we learn by the highest standard.
6. March 2025
Location: Koh Tao, Thailand
We finished our divemaster training! Still, we stay involved and we dive every day. In the morning we assists the instructors and gather additional experience, and in the afternoon it is time to work at the computer – and we work a lot. The website is growing, which brings a lot of marketing as well. Mansa creates new content, writes articles and creates traveling programs, and Matt puts it all on the website.
But when we do take a free afternoon… Well, we head to the beach. Beach photo next time!
28. February 2025
Location: Koh Tao, Thailand
It rained all week. While locals are used to monsoon rains and their aftermath, tourists were quite confused – after all, it rarely rains for 5 days straight here.
Parts of beaches on this dreamy island were washed away. The island is quite hilly (347 metres at its highest point) and the meteoric water brought with it a lot of material from the forest and the hills. Some streets had more than 20 centimetres of material deposited and were flooded up to the waist. At one point the main road turned into a river and life stopped for a short time.
We are lucky. Our home is on a hill, so all the water flowed past. Also, all credit to the builders – there was no water leaking into the flat anywhere (except in the kitchen), which cannot be said in many other houses and commercial buildings.
It should clear up on Friday. We shall see!
