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This was truly one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had in my life. These animals are absolutely magnificent. Tiger Kingdom in Phuket, Thailand is a really AWESOME place.
http://www.tigerkingdom.com/phuket-3/

Most of the animals have been born there and are VERY Comfortable with people. For the most part, they eat chicken twice a day… not people 😉

The location is pretty close the the “center” of Phuket so it was only about 30-40 minutes from the pier on the east side of the island of Phuket and it is only about 30 minutes from Patong beach which, as most people know, is on the west side of the island and arguably the Most touristy spot in Phuket.
The local neighborhood also allowed us the opportunity to stop and get some street food afterward. I nice contrast in price as opposed on the touristy prices of Tiger Kingdom.
Is it “overpriced”??
No, not really.
When I think about it, I would much rather pay “extra” and have no distracting thoughts about these beautiful animals being even the slightest bit mis-treated.
I can almost guarantee you that these animals are Living The Dream!

All the areas are very clean as are the tigers. The trainers are truly like brothers with these animals – growing up with them every day.

While some of you might think this video is a bit long, I wanted to include as much of the footage that I took so you can get the best idea of what you really get for your money.
Meaning: you will spend maybe an extra 5-10 minutes over the length of this video being with these tigers.

Also, it is VERY SAFE – I have already had folks asking me, “Were you scared?” Honestly, I never felt afraid. I think Gracie was a bit fearful at first but warmed up. I can understand why some might be a bit on edge. These animals weight about 300 pounds (~150 Kg) and basically ALL muscle.

I hope you enjoy this.
One final thing I will say. No matter HOW good the quality of the video or the photos you might see, there is Nothing like being there and touching the Tigers’ fur and feeling their huge paws.

I *highly* recommend it!!

Live the Dream!
~mikes

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While our time on Coconut Island has been quite relaxing there was road construction happening just outside our porch. While this was not a deal-breaker by any means it did signal us to head over to “the mainland” of Phuket from our little bungalow in the jungle to go see some tiger and ride and elephant.

I feel so blessed to be able to engage in these things are sharing them with Gracie is a real honor. She’s such a wonderful woman with a great soul and warm heart.
I also like to give her a hard time for being afraid of tigers… I mean, c’mon – what’s the worth thing that could happen??/
.. well, stay tuned! A full video of tigers tigers and more tigers is coming soon

Thanks for watching.
Live the Dream!

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Gracie and I decide to take AMTRAK from San Diego’s Old Town station to Anaheim, then the bus to Disneyland. The cool thing about the Old Town Trolley/Rail stop is the free parking. I realized the last time I took AMTRAK that the silly lot next to the Santa Fe station downtown is about $20 per day for parking… Actually, its probably more, i honestly cannot remember. BUT, the cool thing about Old Town is that there is a TON of parking. AND, if for whatever reason, the lots around there were full, I could park up at USD, walk down to the MTS station at Linda Vista and take the San Diego trolley one stop and BLAM: Old Town Success!
If it were a weekday, I could also take one of USD’s shuttle busses from campus right to the Old Town station. SUPER convenient.

Gracie and I came home to the US for exactly 2 weeks. We returned to LAX on a Friday evening, then drove our rental car from LAX to Las Vegas. We had about 3 days in Vegas of which about 36 hours I was focused on attending meetings as it relates to the CONVERGED User Group http://www.conver.ge/ that I am honored to be on the board of and serve as President.
If you have follow some of my life, my posts on social media, or know me then you know i CANNOT STAND Las Vegas.
Going to Vegas is under the classification of “necessary evil”. Almost all the conferences and conventions I attend are either always in Vegas or end up in Vegas. in 2018 every single one will be there: so, March, April, May, June, September, December. UGH!!!

Luckily, the majority of our time back in the states was spend in San Diego/Coronado… This was Gracie’s second time in Coronado. We never seem to get to do everything we’d like and I sadly, wish I had more time to show her around all the *cool* places in San Diego. BUT, when I am in San Diego, I am basically working. I have a WONDERFUL job that stimulates my mind while at the same time allows me quite a few freedoms, not the least of which is traveling… A LOT.

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Gracie and I go for a walk around the beaches near our little cottage. Coconut Island is a great place to relax and enjoy the beauty of Thailand.
thanks for watching.

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Sunday, Jan 14, 2018 I was reviewing my emails and various social media feeds I’m subscribed to. As you might guess the false alarm (thank Gawd!) of an inbound ballistic mission that was received on Hawaiian cell phones on Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 was top of the list! As I read a few of my friends’ posts about it on Facebook my first thought was about my folks; how would I get in contact with them!!?? Then, almost immediately, I thought about Gracie. Who, at present, is home in her country of the Philippines.
I thought to myself, “What would I do if this were Not a false alarm and I got this message on my phone?”… then, I thought, “Why am I here!?!!! and not with her?” 🙁

I know the answer obviously… My current work/career and home is in San Diego – hardly a horrible place to be, right?

While I am not saying that I will base my future life plans or decisions on the low probably threat that I could die tomorrow from an ICBM landing in my front yard, it did give me pause and think about what’s “Important” in my life….

Hours later I landed in San Francisco and have a conference I’m attending this week up here… I took a nice walk around the Oyster Point are just up the street from the South San Francisco conference center and thought I’d check in and share some thoughts.

Hope you’re Living the Dream!!!

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We I’m in a new environment, I do some comparisons. What I like MORE than other places I’ve been… What I like LESS. What I’m grateful for and what I need to add to my life. In this check in, I was thinking about the difference between NEEDS vs. WANTS.
In “the west” I think that I confuse the 2 sometimes. I need the ability to get from point A to point be. BUT, I want an Acura… I don’t really *want* a Kia or even a bus pass… Yet, I *do* want spending money to stay at an AirBnB on Coconut Island near Phuket Thailand so maybe the bus pass is an ever better option than I thought! HA!

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy my little check in from Coconut Island and hope that you ARE Living the Dream.
thats a need for ME.. maybe only a want for others.

Looking forward to learning more about how you define wants vs. needs in your life.
All the best,
~mikes

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Gracie and I found a great little house on AirBnB on this little island, just east of Phuket… So, an Island off the coast of… well.. and Island.
We had a great time just relaxing.
Additionally. one day we even venture off the island to check out a Tiger Park.
Here’s the link to sign up for AirBnB:
http://www.airbnb.com/c/mikes107

And Here is the link to Stacey’s place on Coconut Island.:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5041577

If you go, say hi to the great neighbor, Red – He’s one of the nicest guys on the planet.

I’m pretty confident you won’t be disappointed.