February 2022

Andres and Lina are a couple from Colombia who quit their office jobs 8 years ago to "take a trip with no return date." Since then, they have had life changing experiences, especially during their 2 years in Koh Chang, Thailand.

The magic of travel has given us a series of transformative experiences that have made us better people. But the one in this story takes the gold medal. Chance made us dog rescuers on Koh Chang right when we were the ones in need of rescuing.

When the pandemic was declared, we were just starting our journey through Southeast Asia. But then the world was closed, our flights were canceled and the possibility of returning home was practically impossible. We were scared by a disease that was killing people en masse, and which we did not want to catch, being so far from home. We waited 3 months in northern Thailand for the end of the pandemic and for a normality that has not yet arrived.

We found it easy to volunteer and we were contacted by the Action For Dogs Foundation. They wrote to us making an emergency call to take care of a house on Koh Chang, the second largest island in Thailand. They offered us housing, a motorcycle and everything necessary to give care and a good life to the dogs that would remain in our care. We accepted without knowing that this was going to be the beginning of a long story that changed our lives forever.

Let's start with Koh Chang, a paradise like few we have known in the world, located in the Gulf of Thailand, with a mountainous jungle full of extreme nature, crystal clear rivers, waterfalls in each corner of the island, blue waters, and golden sunsets like we had never seen. Our house was big, in the middle of the jungle, full of fruit trees and jungle life throbbing in front of us.

We are dog lovers and have experience with them. We have had dogs all our lives, so this volunteering, more than a job, was a daily source of joy for us. We were no longer desperate to return home but happy to have the opportunity to help these wonderful animals that have become our family in the midst of the pandemic. We were supposed to be dog rescuers but they were the ones who saved us.

Our job was to keep them well, with all that that implies. Feed them, take them for daily walks, treat their wounds if something happened to them, train them, take them to the vet, keep their vaccinations up to date and prepare all the necessary documentation to send them to their adoptive families in Europe or the United States.

We fell madly in love with them, life at their side was all happiness, and every day they were a reason to wake up happy and full of energy. We learned to understand them, to understand their behavior, and they very easily understood our rules. Every day we took them to swim in the river, at night we prepared fresh rice with pumpkin and meat. We saved several of them from certain death, all with a lot of love, perseverance, and discipline. At the same time, we made friends, enjoyed the island, and worked on our travel blog and youtube channel.

But the trip had to continue, and a week ago we said goodbye in the midst of immense sadness, but with great gratitude for having lived this transformative experience. The journey continues, new destinations await us. But forever we will carry in our souls the spirit of the 20 dogs that saved our lives during the pandemic in the middle of paradise in Thailand.

As travel resumes, we are revisiting some of the best images from years past.  Please #planethoppers your Instagram photos so we may follow all your future journeys!