Adventure Encounters

Yesterday, I was blessed to turn 38! 🙏🎉🧡 As time keeps ticking, my priorities & everyday life have been changing because TIME is taking on a new meaning.

I like to call these 'new to me' priorities, my
"Non Negotiables".

Non negotiable, because these are things in my life, that no one can take from me, nor stop me from repeating on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, in order to reach my goal of being the best version of myself, EVERYDAY.

Do you have any of these?

They are what make me (Ashley), "tick".

I block out a certain time, and I put these priorities first.

🕛 I'm taking control of my ME time.

I'm using my time wisely because it's the one thing that I will never get back.

⚠️ I HIGHLY recommend that you start doing this (if you aren't already). It's truly life changing! ⚠️

As some of you may have noticed, I haven't been posting on our social accounts as often, especially the past 6 months.

🤔 I was asked "WHY" I created the Adventure Encounters & WHY I give it a lot (like, aaaaallllooootttt) of my time.

Truth is... I couldn't answer that question right away, and that really bothered me.

Once I started to seek clarification, with myself, I realized it no longer took on the same 'WHY' as it used to.

✅️ Yes... I'll still make travel & adventure posts.

✅️ Yes... I'll still give a ton of details on places we experience.

I'll just be approaching social media at a different pace & with a different purpose... while focusing on living more in the moment, with more intentionality 🙏

🎂 For my birthday wish, I hope you take my message & re-evaluate "WHY" you are doing certain things...
➡️ Does it bring value or stress?
➡️ Are you living your life with intentionality?
➡️ Are you devoting your time to those who mean the most?
➡️ Are you challenging yourself daily, to being the best version of yourself?

Many thanks to YOU for taking the time out of your busy life & stopping in 🫶

🙏 As my nephew .07 would say...

I appreciate you!

Cheers Fam 🥂...
✨️ Español Abajo ...

❤️❤️

Remember to pause a take a moment to recognize the men and woman who sacrificed it all, for our FREEDOM 🙏 Grateful beyond words — today and every day.

Hey Fam 👋
Just wanted to give you the heads-up—our latest blog + YouTube review is live! This one was definetly giving off some cozy vibes!

🎬 Video: https://youtu.be/3UM-WOF9zsI

📝 Blog: https://theadventureencounters.com/home/f/lake-tahoes-hidden-gem---red-wolf-lakeside-lodge-honest-review

Sharing is caring 😘

🫶 Ashley & Nate from Adventure Encounters
📍 Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge
Nearest Lake Tahoe, CA...
¡Hola, familia! 👋
Solo quería avisarles: ¡ya está disponible nuestra última reseña en el blog y YouTube! ¡Esta sí que transmitía un ambiente acogedor!

🎬 Video: https://youtu.be/3UM-WOF9zsI

📝 Blog: https://theadventureencounters.com/home/f/lake-tahoes-hidden-gem---red-wolf-lakeside-lodge-honest-review

Compartir es cuidar 😘

🫶 Ashley y Nate de Adventure Encounters
📍 Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge
Cerca de Lake Tahoe, CA

Best Stay in Lake Tahoe, CA?! | Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge Review & Tour - What to expect If you're looking for an excellent year-round location near Lake Tahoe & Palisades Tahoe, consider the Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge in California! Did you know th...

Thanks to YOU 🫵,
our amazing Adventure Fam for the love & support — and a special shoutout to Luis Alberto Vera for adventureing with us another year! 🙌

When Australia is on your Mom’s bucket list too… it becomes so much more than just a destination 🥹

⏳️ Is it just me, or can we all agree that as we get older, time starts moving differently?

It sneaks up on you — and suddenly, you realize your parents are getting older too. And somehow, the moments you share with them now feel even more precious than they ever did before.

🙏 I (Ashley) am feeling so incredibly blessed to not only mark Australia off my personal bucket list, but even more blessed to experience marking it off of my Mom's list too, and both experience a few more 'firsts' together...

🦘 1st time getting matching tattoos... JK 😆 I couldn't talk her into a real tattoo, so we settled for an airbrush tattoo instead (📸 1 - )

🇦🇺 1st time vacationing to 📍 Australia... and experiencing an insane amount of jetlag for nearly our entire trip. We traveled nearly 22hrs, ONE WAY 😵
(📸 2 - )

🤿 1st time snorkeling the 📍 Great Barrier Reef & wearing stinger suits so we don't *possibly* die of a jelly fish sting 😳 Mom was an absolute champ at doing this! If you don't know, she is not a fan of water... she is actually petrified, but she braved this one out because she didn't travel 22 hours to Australia, just to miss experiencing the largest reef in the world 🙌 (📸 3 - 5 )

🚢 1st time taking the ferry to Airlie Beach and exploring the cute little (but big) beach town. You can find some great souvenir shopping here, along with excellent food and drinks too! Make a pitstop 📍 and grab a beer, then head over to the 📍 to soak up the sun & beach for the day. Then grab a late lunch 📍 (📸 6 & 7)

🦭 1st time exploring and discovering what the island has to offer! Our favorite place to take in the BEST views, grab a beer & listen to live music, was at the 📍One Tree Hill Lookout & Bar. We also learned about the beautiful hikes on the island and discovered📍Coral Cove! Then, back to our VRBOs pool by to cool off after the trek (📸 8-18)

❤️ 1st Airport Lounge - Love you Mom (📸 19 & 20)

Postcard from 📍 Australia - *Goofy Edition*

💾 First, save this for your next Australia trip!

Typically, everyone posts the best pictures from their vacay... so I'm changing it up 😅

📸 1: Selfie with the Cockatoos 🦤 - One of the coolest first impressions and experiences on 📍 Hamilton Island/ Whitsundays, was seeing all the wild Cockatoos, flying all over the island. Then we learned how sneaky and aggressive they get when you leave your food on the table... especially bread & fruit!

Every morning, we would eat breakfast on our balcony, and like clockwork, they all showed up the minute they saw us sitting with food in front of us. It's like they had a food detector alert lol, and they were hilarious when they saw themselves in the phone 📱(VRBO by )

📸 2 & 9: Jellyfish Stinger Ninja Vibes 🥷 - What we didn't know about checking off the 📍 Great Barrier Reef from our bucketlist... JELLYFISH SEASON! Between November to May, be prepared to wear a stinger suit, because the stinger of the Irukandji jellyfish packs a punch & can be deadly ☠️ They arrive when the oceans temps are above 27°C (81°F), and typically disappear at 26°C (79°C) & lower. (charter by )

📸 3: Fishing Charter 🎣- Need I say more?! My Dad is an avid fisherman, and he always likes to charter a fishing boat, especially in different countries! If you've never been on a fishing charter... be prepared to get a little dirty and an occasional blood splatter on your clothes 😬 (charter by )

📸 4 & 11: "No More Pictures" - I admit, I get picture and video happy when experiencing new destinations, and Nate can only deal with my picture craze for so long (📍 Opera House, 📸 taken nearest Hickson Road Reserve & our first 15hr flight)

Anyone else's better half like Nate?

📸 5 & 15: Cheeky Smooch 😍 - If Nate snaps the selfies, it's become my tradition to get in a quick kiss pic, but it has to be when he least expects it, that's my favorite type of pic! ( #5 Coral Cove swing, #15

📸 6: Cont. In Comments ⬇️

✌️ Peace out, USA... See you soon, Australia! Here's what we discovered about the airport lounges at SFO 🛫

We decided to check out 5 airport lounges here at San Francisco International Airport - which 3 of 5 are at the International Terminal A!

➡️ 4 because of our VentureX card
- The Club SFO (terminal 1 attached to the International Terminal)
- Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse
- Golden Gate Lounge
- China Airlines Lounge

➡️ 1 because our parents have guest passes, and they still loved us enough to donate 2 guest passes 😂
- The Alaska Air Lounge (terminal 1 attached to the International Terminal)

OUR OPINION :
✅️ The lounge was hands down our favorite because of the largest variety of food & drinks included, along with how large & clean the lounge area was, with the best view of the tarmac. We HIGHLY suggest you go to this one if you can! A day pass was $65pp, not terrible and absolutely worth it in our opinion! PS... did I mention it's brand new, too?! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 📸 1, 2, & 3

✅️ The Club SFO was our second favorite, which was comparable to the Alaska Air Lounge, but MUCH MUCH busier. It was hard to find a seat for 2 people, let alone 4, but we made it work! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📸 4

💢 Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse was a decent size, but the same as China Airlines Lounge in regards to food, and it was not very well kept (imo). This was the only lounge that we noticed had a shower. They supplied Shampoo, but the towels were an additional $15 🙄
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 📸 5

💢 China Airlines Lounge, it was very cramped in size, with a minimal amount of complimentary food & drinks. I'm not a meatball fan, but these were delicious! ⭐️⭐️
📸 6

➖️ Sadly, we couldn't get into the Golden Gate Lounge because there was a large corporate meeting going on, and by the time we tried coming back, we had already ate and drank like kings & queens in the top two lounges ✅️ and were basically taking off 🛫

🧐 Have you been to any airport lounges before? Any favorites? .
✨️ Español Abajo En 🧵.

⚠️ CANCUN MEXICO TRAVEL BLOG UPDATE ⚠️
We just got back from a quick weekend trip to Cancun for a friend’s birthday celebration 🎉 and learned a few new must-know tips for anyone heading there soon!

🗣 Here's the direct link to our Cancun travel blog:
https://theadventureencounters.com/cancun-mexico

TOPICS WE DISCUSS:
✅️ Arrival into Cancun & getting through customs

✅️ The apps we utilized most for smoother travel

✅️ Getting around Cancun

✅️ Best grocery store & liquor store (because Duty Free is a ripoff!)

✅️ Peso's vs USD & how much we took

✅️ Where we have stayed in Cancun

✅️ Departing Cancun & paying the "Visitax" (hot topic recently, and we explained the details)
.
✨️ Español Abajo En 🧵.

👋 Hey, Hey! We’re Ashley & Nate, your travel-obsessed guides. Our mission? To explore the globe full-time and share every discovery with you! Join our adventures through our social accounts, blogs, & YouTube channel (bio). Follow for travel tips, road trips, hidden gems, & hotel recommendations (that we can book for you 😘)! Welcome to the AE Fam 🫶

✨️Hotel Review✨️ Welcome to the beautiful Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 and our new favorite All Inclusive Resort...

📍 Lopesan Costa Bavaro Resort, Spa & Casino
Lopesan Costa Bávaro Resort Spa & Casino Lopesan Hotel Group

💭 WHAT OUR TRAVELING CLIENTS SAID:
After watching our full room & resort tour on YouTube, and recently returning, they said:

"We thoroughly enjoyed the resort & it was exactly what you described! The food was excellent & we would definitely go back!"

ps - they are HUGE foodies, so food was an important factor in their decision! In our opinion, although it's an All-Inclusive resort, the Lopesan is way above average on the food, and this is not always typical for AI's!

🎬 Here’s our full room & resort via YouTube:
https://youtu.be/UN6PLgne9_Q

📖 Here's our travel blog regarding some tips and our personal insights about the resort & traveling tips to Punta Cana:
https://theadventureencounters.com/punta-cana-travel-blog

🤔 Have you been to Punta Cana? Where did you stay?.
✨️ Español Abajo .
👋 Hey, Hey! We’re Ashley & Nate, your travel-obsessed guides. Our mission? To explore the globe full-time and share every discovery with you! Join our adventures through our social accounts, blogs, & YouTube channel (bio). Follow Adventure Encounters for travel tips, road trips, hidden gems, & hotel recommendations (we can book those for you 😘)! Welcome to the AE Fam 🫶
✨️Reseña del Hotel✨️ Bienvenidos a la hermosa Punta Cana, República Dominicana 🇩🇴 y a nuestro nuevo resort Todo Incluido favorito...

📍 Lopesan Costa Bávaro Resort, Spa & Casino

💭 LO QUE DIJERON NUESTROS CLIENTES VIAJEROS:
Después de ver nuestro tour completo de la habitación y el resort en YouTube, y de regresar recientemente, comentaron:

"¡Disfrutamos muchísimo del resort y fue exactamente como lo describiste! ¡La comida fue excelente y sin duda volveríamos!"

PD: Son unos grandes amantes de la gastronomía, así que la comida fue un factor importante en su decisión. En nuestra opinión, aunque es un resort Todo Incluido, el Lopesan está muy por encima de la media en cuanto a comida, ¡y esto no siempre es habitual en los Todo Incluido!

🎬 Aquí tienes nuestra habitación y resort completos en YouTube:
https://youtu.be/UN6PLgne9_Q

📖 Aquí tienes nuestro blog de viajes con algunos consejos y nuestra experiencia personal sobre el resort y consejos para viajar a Punta Cana:
https://theadventureencounters.com/punta-cana-travel-blog

🤔 ¿Has estado en Punta Cana? ¿Dónde te alojaste?..

👋 ¡Hola! Somos Ashley y Nate, tus guías apasionados por los viajes. ¡Nuestra misión! ¡Explorar el mundo a tiempo completo y compartir cada descubrimiento contigo! Únete a nuestras aventuras a través de nuestras redes sociales, blogs y canal de YouTube (bio). Sigue a para obtener consejos de viaje, viajes por carretera, tesoros escondidos y recomendaciones de hoteles (¡podemos reservarlos por ti! 😘). Bienvenidos a la familia AE 🫶

🇩🇴